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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Barred Wobbler" data-source="post: 3302551" data-attributes="member: 69394">The infamous 'will provide power for x thousand homes' that they love to trot out (ignoring that industry is a bigger user of electricity than 'homes') is based on what a turbine or collection of turbines will produce when working at optimum wind velocity. They use the nameplate capacity of the turbine, so a 2MW turbine is deemed to be producing 2MW. They then divide this by a notional figure of the average electricity demand for a 'home' and they come up with a figure of several thousand 'homes' to make everyone feel rosy.It ignores the fact that because of variable wind speeds and the intermittency of their output as a result, the average wind farm produces only about 26% of it's nameplate capacity over the course of a year. It also ignores transmission losses.I say 26%, but that might be a bit optimistic. The John Muir Trust did a two year survey of Scottish wind farms and produced a report in 2011 (so quite recent) and came up with a figure of only 22% IIRC.<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12985410" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12985410</a><a href="http://www.windsofjustice.org.uk/2014/08/analysis-of-uk-wind-power-generation-report-by-stuart-young-commissioned-by-the-john-muir-trust/" target="_blank">http://www.windsofjustice.org.uk/2014/08/analysis-of-uk-wind-power-generation-report-by-stuart-young-commissioned-by-the-john-muir-trust/</a></blockquote>

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