Can't Wind Them All

[XLFD]

Zeeland is a cozy little town just a little smaller than Manistee and located northwest of Holland in Ottawa County.  Back in late 2008, about a couple of years before Mason County's wind farm would be approved by county officials, the Zeeland Board of Public Works (ZBPW) had the idea to install a couple of 50 watt wind turbines near their facility in order to generate electricity for their use.  The foundations for the 145 ft. tall turbines were erected 600 feet apart near soccer fields at Holland Township's Helder Park; the township had approved of the use.  

A Boulder, CO firm named Entegrity Wind Systems Inc. was to put in the foundations by year's end with hopes of getting the two turbines erected by the end of January 2009 at a projected cost of about $600,000.  It was estimated that the two turbines could supply the energy used by twenty or more homes-- at full capacity.  Completed in March 2009, it was estimated the 180,000 Kilowatts per year the turbines produced would satisfy about 1% of the ZBPW's electric generating capacity.  Despite the low-sounding numbers, it marked part of the county's commitment to renewable energy, a harbinger of a future where fossil fuels would be a thing of the past (no pun intended).

The township had a 25 year lease with the ZBPW, reasonable since the lifespan of turbines is generally between 20-25 years, but in 2019, just ten years into the lease, the ZBPW called it quits, and removed the turbines.    Why would they do such a thing when various municipalities are looking into supplying their own energy needs fully with renewables?  

Here's what happened in those ten years.  Entegrity Wind went out of business shortly after the Zeeland units were installed, making it difficult to get replacement parts or maintain the two units.  Andrew Boatright became Zeeland Board of Public Works utilities manager at the beginning of this year he observed:

"In the nine to 10 year period we were operating them, it was without support from a manufacturer and cobbled together resources.  It was difficult for us, if not impossible, to obtain replacement parts.  He added:  "We were nowhere close to covering our costs.  We lost money on this particular venture.  Our mission was to at least make back our capital cost, plus maintenance; that didn’t happen, our net situation was in the red."

The project was originally supposed to recover its costs within its lifespan 20-25 years, but that didn't come close.  The output from the turbines was less than half of what was predicted back in 2008, and that was before part of one of the blades broke off in April 2018 and tomahawked into the nearby soccer field, prompting both turbines to be off-line ever since.  

Despite the problems with the two wind turbines and their removal taking place, Boatright said the city of Zeeland is still strongly committed to renewable energy and achieving goals set by the state. 

[shinblind]

The only feasible long term energy source for the future is nuclear. 

[Willy]

These wind generators are a leftist dream and a sane persons nightmare. It may come as a surprise but many years ago it was discovered that petroleum is not a fossil fuel and is continually  being created deep inside the Earth, so I'll just stick with petroleum thank you very much. Oh that sticky messy petroleum.