My Visit to Toronto Hydro’s Failed Wind Turbine
I took a walk along the water this afternoon. For those who know me well, they know that I do my best thinking literally on my feet, and generally even better if I’m walking. I thoroughly enjoy the lake, and being near water in general, so on a day like today, paying a visit to the shoreline seemed like a great idea.
As I walked west from the ferry docks at Bay Street, it became clear around the HMCS York base that Toronto Hydro’s much fabled wind turbine was operating! I arrived during the 12% of the time that money loser does something. But alas, while I was there, it stopped. The 41 km/h wind recorded at the Toronto Island weather station at this very time clearly wasn’t able to make it happen. I have included two videos of my visit, both with commentary on Toronto Hydro Energy Services and the Scarborough Bluffs project.
This is the video where it moves
This is the video where it gets ‘shy’
Tags: Toronto Exhibition Turbine, Toronto Hydro Energy Services, Urban Wind Farms, Windshare
April 28th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Whooee! Of course, I have no way of knowing why that windmill stopped when winds were as high as they were. I do know that these behemoths have a clutch system that prevents them from going unsafely fast when winds are abnormally high.
Because our nuclear power station cannot be ramped up or slowed down as electricity needs fluctuate, we actually paid customers to take our excess energy for 9 entire days in the past month. Wind and other renewables take a back seat to access to our transmission lines. OPG has contracts with Bruce Power to buy its nuclear energy whether we need it or not.
Sometimes, the reason why alternative energy initiatives seem to underperform has more to do with contractual arrangements and the inherent inflexibility of nuclear baseload power than it has to do with the unreliability of wind, solar and hydro power. The full reasons for that stopped windmill are not known to the public — at least as far as I know.
Your conclusion that it is a malfunction is now backed up by any evidence other than it stopped. That may be like saying a lot of cars are failing because they are sitting at a red light and not moving. Or, it may have been that there was a malfunction. Who knows? Not me. Not you, either.
JB
April 28th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Hi Jim,
This project is the worst example of a renewable energy project anywhere in Ontario. It’s five year operating capacity is just 12%. It is a heavily subsidized money loser and I doubt any Nuclear plant can be blamed for its utter failure to work.
What can be blamed is the ridiculous politics and rhetoric that surrounds Toronto Hydro and the Toronto City Council when it comes to the idea of urban renewable projects.
My commentary on why it stopped was a suggestion of ‘performance anxiety’ or ‘stage fright’ – it was a joke. Clearly I could not have that kind of impact on a wind turbine – heck, I don’t even seem to have that kind of impact on the asses at Toronto Hydro who seem eager to continue with the Bluffs project.
Although we will stop them one day… it will take a far bigger group and more time, than just one of use.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Typical operating efficiency for wind generators is 33%, so I agree that the 12% up time for the TO unit is poor.
While I believe we need to do a lot more study on the effects of wind gen noise and vibrations on public health; and we need to look at setback regulations compared to other areas (like Spain) where utility scale wind generation is more widespread and has been in use for a longer period of time.
When renewable energy or other “green” initiatives fail to live up to expectations or hype, we need to be careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water. Even at the 33% efficiency, the US deployed enough new wind power in 2008 to equal the output of three large nuke plants. They didn’t deploy any new nukes, so wind is winning the race in the US.
All that said, I am not the biggest proponent of wind. We have hundreds of small “mill ponds” and dams in cities, towns and villages all over Ontario. In bygone days, the local utility companies had small scale hydro electric generators connected to those dams. Today, those communities are dependent on centralized power from a few large generators. This is inefficient and unreliable.
We should be re-utilizing the same water power that was used to run spinning mills, sawmills, flour mills, feed mills and electricity generators 100 years ago. These sources of energy are going to waste. They require no new flooding of land and are much more unobtrusive (not to mention efficient) than big wind turbines.
JB
April 28th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Jim,
The USA may have advanced it’s wind capacity ,but, at the same time the same health problems are being recorded across the country as are here in Ontario. Take the Mars Hill,Maine documented health problems by Dr. Michael Nissenbaum.
It isn’t about efficiency of turbine projects it is about the health of the people like myself,my family, our neighbours, those Ontario citizens in Colboure township, Shelbourne and across the province being harmed everyday!
My neighbour has given an open invitation to the members of the Standing Committee on Green Energy(Wed. April 22 2009 in London,Ont.),our MPP Carol Mitchell,Min. Smitherman and Pre.McGuinty to pack their family and bags to come and live in his home for 10 or 14 days.(If they last that long.)As usual their all talk and no show.
So stop with efficiency sidetrack topics. Insist, as Dr. McMurtry stated last Wed. at parliment,for a comprehensive epidemiological health study be completed.Why should Ontario set the bar so low when it comes to industrial wind turbines?
We in the various projects have experienced harm that would have caused animal rights legislation to be enacted. WE SHOULD BE PROTECTED AS WELL AS OUR PETS AND FARM ANIMALS ARE PROTECTED.
Again, do not counter with some industry standard comment that Dr Colby of Cathamen-Kent has done peer reveiws. Dr.Colby’s reveiw is just that a litature reveiw. The Province didn’t do a peer reveiw for the citizens of Walkerton as the populations health deteriorated.Also, a close examination of the reveiw shows biased towards the industry by the litature which was not considered.(The work by Dr. Nina Pierpont on wind turbine syndrome.)Or the latest industry ploy to a group of school children by a Skypower representative when asked about people getting sick. “well they must have MOLD in their home making them ill.”
Think intelligently, do the research and do the studies.Do not rely on the industry to spoon feed selective information. Remember the industry payed scientists in the 60′s and 70′s countering the health effects of smoking.We should be a lot more critical in our thinking by now.
Sandy MacLeod
April 29th, 2009 at 1:10 am
Keep up your hard work Sandy!
April 29th, 2009 at 11:13 am
John, thought you might be interested in the fact that when we drove by the Ex wind turbine on Easter weekend, a no-wind day (all flags along the Gardner Expwy were absolutely flat), the Ex turbine was actually proudly spinning away. Is this a way to impress and fool the public at large? How do they operate a wind turbine with no wind?
April 29th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Andrea,
I once heard there was a motor installed within the turbine to make it appear to work on occasion as THES was slightly humiliated by their project and needed some movement for the PR front.
I’ve not been able to verify this, because like virtually everything else these folks try to do and mess it it is deemed to be ‘commercially sensitive/humiliating’ and not for public consumption for that reason.
Keep in mind the 12% is based on a rounded number from their 2007 financial statement. We’ve watched these clowns lie their way through an environmental assessment, project evaluation report and throughout public meetings….
How big of a stretch would it be to think folks operating in the ethics vaccum that sees folks like Joyce McLean and Jack Simpson get away a total disregard for laws and the truth, may be ok ‘alter’ the data?
I’m not saying Toronto Hydro has, I’m just saying this organization is so ethically challenged and irresponsible if you assume the Simpson/McLean freakshow of project management is considered ok – what exactly wouldn’t be?
Incidentally we know both of them made untrue statements to either guildwood residents or WindShare investors about that turbines performence… Are they the only ones who lie on this front?
May 12th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
John,
Something you might want to mention to Andrea, instead of the ridiculous suggestion that they have installed a motor to make it turn, is that the wind profile changes from ground level to the tip of the blades which are at almost 300 feet in the air. This is one of the reasons wind turbines are installed on towers that are higher than required for the blades to just clear the ground. Therefore the reason the blades were turning when to Andrea there was “no wind”, is that there was wind at 300 feet even though there may have been little wind at ground level.
I also noticed in your video that you say “it does only work 12% of the time” and you make quite a point about this both in the video and then again in your text. Unfortunately this seems to demonstrate your lack of understanding about what this number means. It actually means that it generates 12% of the power that a turbine operating at rated nameplate capacity would generate if it operated at that level 100% of the time. A turbine operating at 12% of its operating capacity every second of every year would have a capacity factor of 12% but would be operating all the time. You actually cannot determine the percentage of time that a turbine is operating based on its capacity factor and to suggest you can demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of wind turbine technology. There is another figure that does that. Wind turbines are specifically designed to operate with capacity factors much less than 100% such that they capture more energy per dollar spent on the project. I understand you are trying to oppose wind turbines and you want to present material that shows wind turbine are bad, but I would hope you would try and do this without misleading people and dispensing misinformation.
In further regards to suggesting that they installed a motor to make the turbine spin for political purposes you might want to do some more research on synchronous machines and the differences between a synchronous motor and a synchronous generator. You will probably realize how ridiculous your suggestion was. This is a mythical criticism that was created by the antiwind movement and when mixed in with any genuine concerns severely discredits the person who includes it as a problem with turbines.
As this is your website I am sure you will reply with something on the order of I don’t know what I am talking about, but I will be content with letting people make up their own minds after they look at the information. If you have genuine concerns with wind and wind projects, lets bring them up so they can be addressed, but let’s not waste everyone’s time spreading false information.
May 12th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Quoting “For a Renewable Planet Decade:
“Dale Dolan is the chair and president of the board of directors of Windy Hills Caledon Renewable Energy. He is an executive Chair of the 7th World Wind Energy Conference 2008 (WWEC 2008). He is a member of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and Town of Caledon Wind Committee and has served on the OPA Transmission Constraints and Generation Options Working Group. He has earned BASc. and MASc. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto, and an Honours BSc. in Zoology and Environmental Science and a BEd from the University of Western Ontario. His research interests include wind power generation, electromagnetics and power electronic applications for distributed generation. He will be completing his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Toronto shortly and joining the electrical engineering faculty of California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo in early 2009 where he will continue his renewable energy research. He is committed to making renewable energy a strong component of the world’s supply mix and to this end is currently involved in developing a Standard Offer Program Wind Power project in the local community.”
http://www.altruismproductions.com/decade/solarKQ.php
Folks know who I am… and who you are.
The fact is this turbine is a money loser and has been for five years. It delivers less than half what Toronto Hydro Energy Services promised it would when it was installed.
November 6th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Holy smokes…am I ever out of the loop…just found this..I have dealt with Dale Dolan and Windy Hills back in 2007. The readers digest version is that “they” wanted to put up 5 Industrial turbines…right in my backyard…literally. We fought on health and safety issues for larger setbacks..(at the time 350 meters)…I will let everyone know that all we ever asked publicly to WINDY HILLS CALEDON was if there where health issues???? if turbines where placed too close to family homes…schools..hospitals..etc are there health issues????..funny we, Caledon Concerned Citizens and the Town of Caledon Council never received an answer from Dale Dolan or WINDY HILLS CALEDON….never….funny how one can come up with all the above crap but cannot answer a simple question… “do industrial wind turbines cause health issues when placed too close to family homes? Yes or No?…Lets not mention or get into that turbines capture more energy per dollar spent on the project.
We in Caledon want to know were the couple hundred thousand dollars Windy Hill received and where it went?…all tax dollars and were it was spent….certainly not on health and safety issues….want some credibility…answer the questions.
Respectfully,
Andy May
hey…what ever happened to dale Dolan??