Eskom wind farm running at full capacity

[MickeyD]

The JBay ones are small. The blades are around 55m and the shaft 100m. They are made from a fiber glass polimer to shed weight and retain strength and are about 2m in diameter.

Lara was referring to the Coega windfarm...

Electrawinds has invested R1.2billion in the Coega Wind Farm Project to build 25 turbines. Each wind turbine has a capacity of 1.8 MW which translates into an annual yield 5,700,000 kWh, enough energy to power about 1,700 households. The electricity generated by the wind farm will be fed into the national grid and will be distributed by Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan to households within the metro.

The wind turbine is a VESTAS V90 with a 95-meter tower and a 90-meter rotor.

http://coega.co.za/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=16

 

[MickeyD]

The JBay one... where's Paul? This is his 'favourite' Eskom gripe!!

Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm has sixty Siemens 2.3 Mega Watt machines. See their height and weight statistics below:

a hub height of 80 meters
a blade length of 49 meters
a rotor diameter of 101 metres
the rotor weighs in at 60 tones
the nacelle weighs 82 tones
the tubular steel tower weighs 162 tones

http://jeffreysbaywindfarm.co.za/about-jeffreys-bay-wind-farm/technical-fact-sheet/

 

[Mighty]

lol, a wind farm to blow some more smoke up our A$$e$

 

[LaraC]

http://jeffreysbaywindfarm.co.za/about-jeffreys-bay-wind-farm/technical-fact-sheet/

Seeing the figures like that it makes it look unreal.

What is more impressive is that it only took one year to construct the wind farm. Something that could have helped alleviate Eskom’s short term power woes.

 

[km2]

I took the build cost of R2.5 billion and multiplied by 48. The price tag for 100MW seems huge.

Doesn't 2.5 * 48 = R120 billion rather than R1200 billion / R1.2 trillion?

 

[LaraC]

Doesn't 2.5 * 48 = R120 billion rather than R1200 billion / R1.2 trillion?

Oops, I omitted a zero. Medupi could supply 4.8GW.

 

[hawker]

Wind turbines are really really common in Germany. I hope they become a normal thing here in windy areas.

 

[Chris.Geerdts]

Doesn't 2.5 * 48 = R120 billion rather than R1200 billion / R1.2 trillion?

You need to multiply by 3x (at least) for capacity factor so that's more like R360bn

However you can't just multiple as there's obviously economies of scale. Also, for Medupi, you have to add the NPV of 30 years' supply of coal, and that's for a very rough comparison

 

[LaraC]

You need to multiply by 3x (at least) for capacity factor so that's more like R360bn

However you can't just multiple as there's obviously economies of scale. Also, for Medupi, you have to add the NPV of 30 years' supply of coal, and that's for a very rough comparison

I know I simplified it excessively. It seemed as if the average price of building a 100MW wind farm is ±R2.5 billion. To get to Medupi’s 4.8GW a total of 480 farms would have to be build costing R1.2 trillion.
The running cost of the wind farm, as you said, would make it cost effective.

 

[km2]

I know I simplified it excessively. It seemed as if the average price of building a 100MW wind farm is ±R2.5 billion. To get to Medupi’s 4.8GW a total of 480 farms would have to be build costing R1.2 trillion.
The running cost of the wind farm, as you said, would make it cost effective.

Hang on this is where the maths is throwing me. 4.8GW is 4800MW. 4800MW / 100MW = 48, not 480. 48 * R2.5 billion = R120 billion.

That's excluding all the other bits about the variable output of renewables.

 

[f2wohf]

Both will take a very long time to construct if I'm not mistaken. Those options, for me, are preferable to coal.

Hydro is +/- 5 years, a lot of potential dams have already all the studies done.

Nuclear is roughly 6 years, a coal plant is around 3 years.

 

[LaraC]

Hang on this is where the maths is throwing me. 4.8GW is 4800MW. 4800MW / 100MW = 48, not 480. 48 * R2.5 billion = R120 billion.

That's excluding all the other bits about the variable output of renewables.

The day was too long...

 

[LaraC]

Thanks to km2 who corrected my horrendous math error I came to the conclusion that Eskom could, in theory, double its generating capacity in one year with wind power. That is if they scrap the nuclear project.

 

[Johnatan56]

Thanks to km2 who corrected my horrendous math error I came to the conclusion that Eskom could, in theory, double its generating capacity in one year with wind power. That is if they scrap the nuclear project.

But there are less chances of bribes. How could one let that happen?

 

[f2wohf]

Thanks to km2 who corrected my horrendous math error I came to the conclusion that Eskom could, in theory, double its generating capacity in one year with wind power. That is if they scrap the nuclear project.

The problem is that the country would pretty much have to be covered in wind farms and there's not necessarily enough sites with adequate wind (which must not be too low nor too strong), and in the less windy months, we'd be pretty much f***ed.

The adequate areas are these (in blue):

 

[furpile]

35% capacity factor in average for onshore wind.

Very accurate assumption. They state

annual energy production of about 298 000 MWh

, divided by number of hours in a year, you get 34 MW per hour, so 34%.