Solar and Wind Plantations Don't do Well in Hurricanes, Hail, or Lightning Storms
In contrast, conventional power plants are almost impregnable from bad weather
wind damage
The top picture is of hurricane destruction in Puerto Rico. Debris is scattered throughout a solar panel field in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Humacao, Puerto Rico on Oct. 2, 2017. Credit: Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images
That was before I was paying any attention to grid scale solar. Hopefully the local landfill had room for all the busted panels.
Solar panels and wind turbines both are exposed to all kinds of weather.
hail
wired.com did a story on hail damage.
“Solar developers and manufacturers have taken steps to reduce the risk from hailstorms, which involves a combination of sophisticated weather forecasting and panels that can turn to avoid direct hits.”
That’s a way to lessen the damage, but it will depend on the vagaries of weather reports, and there are already millions of solar systems that would have to be retrofitted to be able to turn on command.
seia.org said on 12/4/24 “Total Solar Systems Installed in the U.S. were 5,289,576”.
Of course, some areas are more prone to hailstorms and hurricanes than others..maybe we shouldn’t build these ugly, view-destroying, farmland ruining, land hungry monstrosities, at least not in areas that tend to get hurricanes or hailstorms every year.
Oh, did I mention lightning strikes?
envistaforensics.com posted and commented on a video of a wind turbine blade on fire.
“A wind turbine blade is constructed with fiberglass, resin, and balsa wood, which is the fuel that can sustain a fire when hit with a high enough ignition source. After lighting strikes the wind turbine blade in the video, a fire is ignited by the high heat of the lightning. The turbine continues to operate as the fire spreads because no alarm thresholds have been exceeded. After the blade separates, the turbine likely registers a vibration alarm and begins to shut down the turbine. A large burning blade fragment is seen draped over the turbine nacelle, indicating that the fire may have spread to the nacelle cover. Most nacelle covers are made of fiberglass and resin, if the nacelle was constructed of steel, the damage might have been limited to just the blade.”
Why do we subsidize these things? Coal, gas, nuclear, and hydro plants are relatively immune to weather events, and they are more energy efficient, only need a little bit of land, and are actually reliable day in, day out, year round.
I learned a few things in this, even short, discussion Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
We moved from Big Rapids, Michigan, where Gotion (transliteration of Chinese meaning roughly National Endeavor), a Chinese-owned company, convinced the town supervisor and others it was a German firm. They tried to buy up land in this very rural area, to build a huge battery factory. Michigan state officials approved everything without any environmental studies, let alone traffic analysis, required of everyone else. Popular resistance grew. Big Rapids Township recalled the entire Board, and went to court. Eventually, Michigan Governor Whitmer and her cronies (Nessel and the other one, Secretary of State and Attorney General) engineered a redistricting of electoral districts and got control of both houses of legislature, and Michigan passed a law that prohibits local governments from objecting to projects the Michigan government wants to do. We moved out of Michifornia, but I think they are still fighting. This should be in the national news as an example of government overreach, with many hurt, and total disregard for national defense and environmental concerns.