Ted,
No, what I mean is why can't the generators alternate between say wind and NG. When the wind is blowing, it motivates the generators that produce electricity. When the wind is down, NG takes over and powers the generators. Again, much like a hybrid car.
The generator is build right into the wind tower. Rotating blades spin the electrical generator (and there may be a gearbox to optimize the speed to what the generator needs).
Natural gas and other fossil fuel plants work by burning these fuels, boiling the water in process, and resulting high pressure steam drives a turbine. To achieve the desired efficiency, this is done on large scale, and the turbine is huge. The turbine drives the electrical generator, but the size of this generator is 10x or even 100x the size of the generator in the wind tower.
So there are basically no common parts between NG power plant and a single wind tower.
But, actually, I think now I am getting what you mean. I guess your question is: If natural gas can be used in an internal combustion engine, why not attach one of those to the generator in the wind tower?
The answer is efficiency. The steam turbine has efficiency that can be 3x the efficiency of internal combustion engine, so such an engine would be completely un-competitive for electric power generation.
Joe |
