While I think that PV systems have their place -- and will be ever more economic as the methods advance -- I'm convinced that wind power is destined to be forever a niche source.
What cripples it is the absolutely extreme nature of wind energy. Engineering has to build for the worst, most intense winds... which are brutally strong. Having done that, there's no way to recover the over-engineered designs at any competitive power rate -- to include PV systems.
And then, windmills kill birds -- and self-destruct at rates that are kept hidden from the public. The truth is that windmills need immediate repair after any serious bird strike. They mess up rotor balance to the point of ruining the transmission -- the single most expensive item of the mill.
Further, every location with favorable characteristics is also a bird migration highway. The birds like the same winds that the mills do.
We can't live without birds. Without them we'll be overrun with insects and mice. It's not a pretty picture.
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As for PV: it's a mistake to retail them. For overall system reliability PV needs to be integrated and distributed by the big bad power company.
Further, PV makes the most sense when it's ground mounted -- and no one is falling off the roof. That's no joke. The workman's compensation insurance for roofers is through the roof -- for just that reason. They're not burning themselves on tar.
Now that electrical contractors are clambering all over America's rooftops -- you can BANK on our workman's compensation insurance to absolutely explode. Roofer's rates are fantastically high -- like ten to twelve times the worst seen by electrical contractors.
And then, wait until the lawsuits breakout: now ECs will be sued for water damage and leaks. And just how will roofers attend to their warranties when an EC has been trooping all over their work?
Plainly, our trade is under reserving funds for the lawsuits awaiting in the near future.
PV out in the American Southwest has merit. Areas of New Mexico have cloudless days put near forever -- and at high altitude, too.
This is open, dry high desert -- typically Federal land -- large enough to power the entire nation with PV power if the price was right.
There are 3,097,600 sq-yds in a sq-mile...
At 15% conversion and, crudely, 1kWe-peak/ 1 sq-yd...
You get 464,640 kWe-peak / sq-mile...
Ten miles on a side = 100 sq-miles ...
One hundred miles on a side = 10,000 sq-miles
Or, crudely, 4,646,000,000 kWe; 4,646,000 mWe; 4,646 gWe...
A seriously big nuclear plant is 1.3 gWe...
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Of course, nothing like such a scheme will ever be built. The calculations just show that New Mexico, alone, would never run out of collection area.
And it has the best collection statistics in the nation; high altitude collection beats sea level numbers.
