Wind power energy for cellular base stations

It is still my opinion that South Africa's energy needs would be met by the construction of more wind farms than power stations. There is so much empty space in this country especially on the tops of hills where nothing grows and the wind howls that wind-turbines would be to the country's advantage.
 
I find it quite interesting that these systems have a zero maintenance cost.
I simply cannot fathom how that can be possible.
No maintenance, none at all?
 
davemc said:
I find it quite interesting that these systems have a zero maintenance cost.
I simply cannot fathom how that can be possible.
No maintenance, none at all?
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If they use batteries for storage, they will need to be replaced after a number of years.
 
Lets learn from Europe and the East, nuclear power is the only way to solve the problem, wind and solar are somewhat unreliable and unpredictable. These are alternatives, and must be utilised, yes, to spread the load. If we want to move forward we need another nuclear power plant.

I'm not saying, forget about solar and wind, but to generate enough energy, we need nuclear.
 
FrancTheTank said:
Lets learn from Europe and the East, nuclear power is the only way to solve the problem, wind and solar are somewhat unreliable and unpredictable. These are alternatives, and must be utilised, yes, to spread the load. If we want to move forward we need another nuclear power plant.

I'm not saying, forget about solar and wind, but to generate enough energy, we need nuclear.
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Hit the nail on the head..
 
FrancTheTank said:
Lets learn from Europe and the East, nuclear power is the only way to solve the problem, wind and solar are somewhat unreliable and unpredictable. These are alternatives, and must be utilised, yes, to spread the load. If we want to move forward we need another nuclear power plant.

I'm not saying, forget about solar and wind, but to generate enough energy, we need nuclear.
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yeah but we need Nuclear fussion not fission.
 
This article is not about nuclear vs wind, it is about how you can power a rural cell tower. One that is kilometers away from the nearest power source. When you weigh wind vs diesel generator for those scenarios then wind wins hands down (if there is enough wind in the area).

On a large scale to feed factories and cities, yes, bring on the nuclear stations :D
 
Big difference between using wind for power generation on a cell tower base station that don't have access to grid power and using wind generated power to supply base load to the grid for normal consumer usage. We are already starting to pay through the neck for coal fired power - just imagine the cost for base load wind power.
 
Wind power is LOW maintenance, with maintenance done at regular set intervals and little chance of break down.
I always worry when people start calling for more Nuclear power, even coal driven power.
Overseas people are able to generate surplus electrical power at home via sun and air and then sell it on to the Power companies, now that it what we need.
The moment we are put in a position sell electrical energy onto Eskom it will help drive innovation and that it what we need.

Wind power I think its a great idea, does not matter if its in the city or out.
 
DGremlin said:
Wind power is LOW maintenance, with maintenance done at regular set intervals and little chance of break down.
I always worry when people start calling for more Nuclear power, even coal driven power.
Overseas people are able to generate surplus electrical power at home via sun and air and then sell it on to the Power companies, now that it what we need.
The moment we are put in a position sell electrical energy onto Eskom it will help drive innovation and that it what we need.

Wind power I think its a great idea, does not matter if its in the city or out.
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I agree.. More innovation is needed
 
Tweak said:
I agree.. More innovation is needed
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One of the best concepts is to use house roofs to generate solar power and feed extra back in to the grid. This technology (low cost low efficiency solar cells built into roof tiles) have been around for a while. Various problems such as high cost compared to normal roof tiles, wiring, batteries, building regulations, legislation to feed back into the grid etc has prevented this from becoming a large scale reality. IF the powers of the day can do two things:
One - allow power to be fed back into the grid.
Two - allow for low cost financing and/or subsidizing.
then this could become a low impact power generation tool with real benefits. But it means they must apply their mind to the problem AND have a long term vision. Both are mutually exclusive wrt politicians and burocrats.
 
VanZan said:
One of the best concepts is to use house roofs to generate solar power and feed extra back in to the grid. This technology (low cost low efficiency solar cells built into roof tiles) have been around for a while. Various problems such as high cost compared to normal roof tiles, wiring, batteries, building regulations, legislation to feed back into the grid etc has prevented this from becoming a large scale reality. IF the powers of the day can do two things:
One - allow power to be fed back into the grid.
Two - allow for low cost financing and/or subsidizing.
then this could become a low impact power generation tool with real benefits. But it means they must apply their mind to the problem AND have a long term vision. Both are mutually exclusive wrt politicians and burocrats.
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For this to work you need to be able to have anyone provide power into the grid, and get compensated for it. Then people will do it willingly. Let your solar panels run during the day, powering the grid, and at night you draw back from it. Of course, getting Eskom and NERSA to allow this and properly administer it is a whole different story.
 
VanZan said:
One of the best concepts is to use house roofs to generate solar power and feed extra back in to the grid. This technology (low cost low efficiency solar cells built into roof tiles) have been around for a while. Various problems such as high cost compared to normal roof tiles, wiring, batteries, building regulations, legislation to feed back into the grid etc has prevented this from becoming a large scale reality. IF the powers of the day can do two things:
One - allow power to be fed back into the grid.
Two - allow for low cost financing and/or subsidizing.
then this could become a low impact power generation tool with real benefits. But it means they must apply their mind to the problem AND have a long term vision. Both are mutually exclusive wrt politicians and burocrats.
Click to expand...

Solar power equipment theft is a massive issue for current telco operators (VC, MTN, Telkom), especially in the rural areas. They now only use it while waiting for Eskom to provide direct feeds.

While the use of wind turbines is a noble thought and might work elsewhere in the world, I foresee the same issues. I'm sure Mr Vilander is also very aware of the theft issue or else his company would have rolled out turbines aplenty already.

I'm sure he is aware that they target the batteries, which is a scarce commodity in areas without Eskom power... fully charged too!

And to place a 60m mast on a hillside on tribal ground? Good luck with that!!!
 
Actually, if we can get rid of the power spikes then we can solve our immediate problem.

Our power spike consumption is ridiculous, when 17H30 rolls around, the coal plants are pushed to peak and extra massive generators are brought to life to get enough juice into the lines for the suppertime splurge.

If we could build a massive and decent power storage unit that can be fed during off-peak times and then utilised later to provide the extra boost electricity required, then we'd be plain sailing.

I have often wondered why we don't just crank a massive chunk of concrete into the sky, or even a massive body of water into a massive container, and then let it's weight generate the extra electricity as it is allowed to fall when required.

I just don't think that we're being smart with our production of electricity, well, that's if you can believe anything that Eskom is spewing out of it's 2 faced head.
 
davemc said:
I have often wondered why we don't just crank a massive chunk of concrete into the sky, or even a massive body of water into a massive container, and then let it's weight generate the extra electricity as it is allowed to fall when required.
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Interesting thought, although what about the energy to get the thing into the sky?

The energy generated by the thing falling would be less than the energy required to get it up there in the first place.

This could be due to the energy lost through heat and friction. This would not make it efficient at all.

Just my 10 cents
 
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ITCynic said:
Interesting thought, although what about the energy to get the thing into the sky?

The energy generated by the thing falling would be less than the energy required to get it up there in the first place.

This could be due to the energy lost through heat and friction. This would not make it efficient at all.

Just my 10 cents
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Agreed. However I think what dave is trying to suggest is for us to harness and store the "extra" energy produced during off-peak hours somehow so that when the peak hits, we don't need to fire up additional generators or power stations or burn more fuel than we have to to provide the energy-hungry consumer with what it needs... even though we all know that 45% of this country's power is consumed by smelters who actually only contributes 5% to the GDP, exporting all their **** instead...

But why tackle the problem when we can just tack on more "solutions" by "investigating" (till the cows come home) into alternative energy and/or arguing for 10 years whether or not to build a nuclear power station or not.... who cares about solving the actual problem hey? we have so much money to burn and so little worries about our energy needs a year/5 years/20 years from now.... let's break for lunch and deliberate :)
 
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