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PUBLISHER'S LETTER www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD Production Manager Greg Swain, B.Sc.(Hons.) Technical Staff John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.) Robert Flynn Ross Tester Rick Walters Reader Services Ann Jenkinson Advertising Manager Brendon Sheridan Phone (03) 9720 9198 Mobile 0416 009 217 Regular Contributors Brendan Akhurst Rodney Champness Garry Cratt, VK2YBX Julian Edgar, Dip.T.(Sec.), B.Ed Mike Sheriff, B.Sc, VK2YFK Philip Watson, MIREE, VK2ZPW Bob Young SILICON CHIP is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. A.C.N. 003 205 490. All material copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Printing: Macquarie Print, Dubbo, NSW. Distribution: Network Distribution Company. Subscription rates: $59 per year in Australia. For overseas rates, see the subscription page in this issue. Editorial & advertising offices: Unit 8, 101 Darley St, Mona Vale, NSW 2103. Postal address: PO Box 139, Collaroy Beach, NSW 2097. Phone (02) 9979 5644. Fax (02) 9979 6503. E-mail: silchip<at>siliconchip.com.au ISSN 1030-2662 and maximum * Recommended price only. 2  Silicon Chip Wind power and marketing hype This month we feature a short story on the new wind farm at Crookwell in New South Wales. This was opened in August last year but for a number of reasons the story had to be delayed until this issue. It is a good development for the electricity industry in this country but it is nowhere near as significant as the marketing people have tried to make it out to be. To hear the speeches on the opening day, you would think the management people at Pacific Power had invented wind power! The truth turned out to be somewhat more prosaic, as I found when talking to the Danish commissioning engineer from Vestas Wind Systems A/S; it was a straightforward turnkey project. In fact, on the opening day, in spite of there being hordes of people from the various power companies, I could not find one Australian engineer who could give me any technical background on the project. Years ago, Australian engineering would have had a very significant part in a project of this type and it probably would have been much larger. Crookwell was promoted as the first “grid connected” wind farm in Australia. The publicity handout was very careful about that point “grid connected”. But at no time did they mention other wind power installations in Australia and especially not the one at Esperance, WA which has nine turbines, compared with Crookwell’s eight. The reason that the two power companies involved, Pacific Power & Great Southern Energy, were heavily promoting the Crook­well wind farm was to publicise their commitment to “Green Power”. This concept of Green Power has been heavily promoted to their customers and it has been very successful. At last count, over 30,000 people had agreed to pay more for their electricity, quite a few in the mistaken belief that they were going to somehow be sup­plied with the “green stuff” through their electricity mains. The fact is that a wind farm with a total capacity of 4.8MW is tiny indeed compared with the total generating capacity of New South Wales or any of the other states. We’re talking of tens of Gigawatts here, not megawatts. Of course, half the trouble is that the public doesn’t know what a megawatt is, let alone a Gigawatt. A Gigawatt is equal to 1000 Megawatts. Nor has it probably dawned on these enthusiastic green power customers, that while it might be a windy place at Crookwell, it doesn’t blow all the time and when it doesn’t, there is no “green power” being generated from that source. In any case, all the Crookwell wind power is supposedly going to the Great Southern customers and Pacific Power customers won’t get a look-in. To get some idea of how small 4.8MW is, you have to think in terms of two medium-powered railway locomotives, or perhaps 12 large semi-trailers. Throughout Australia there are many hundreds of such locomotives and many thousands of semi-trailers. If we wanted one Gigawatt of wind power, we would need 1,666 wind turbines, each rated at 600kW. At Crookwell, we’ve got eight. Isn’t that exciting! If Australians are really concerned about greenhouse gases, they should not be hoodwinked by marketing hype about green power. They should be getting serious about energy conservation. It is clear to me that most people don’t even know what energy conservation is! It means not driving your car when you can take the train and a whole host of other measures. And it means not wasting electricity. If every Australian could turn off one 60W electric light bulb, or in other words, permanently reduce their electricity consumption by that amount, Australia’s generating capacity could be reduced by one Gigawatt. That makes 4.8MW of wind power seem puny indeed. Reckon it will happen? Leo Simpson