The foregoing paraphrases the Britney Spears song, but those IWT (industrial wind turbines) factually; “did it again”, on August 12, 2022, as we Ontario ratepayers/taxpayers experienced!
Now if CanREA (Canadian Renewable Energy Association) would simply put out a press release and use the line from the Britney Spears song that said; “Oops, you think that I’m sent from above, I’m not that innocent” and admit they are both unreliable and intermittent some of us might be inclined to appreciate their candour! We would still be upset their “first-to-the-grid” rights and their solar friends, caused energy prices to more than double in less than 10 years and now hit taxpayers for an additional annual cost of around $6 billion just to keep electricity prices at somewhat affordable levels.
IWT at Ontario’s peak hour on August 12, 2022; occurring at Hour 18 (hour ending at 6 PM), generated 211 MWh which was 1.1% of the hourly demand of 18,581 MW! Thank goodness our natural gas plants were available as they generated 2,800 MWh which was 15.1% of demand.
Looking back on the day at Hour 1, demand was low at 13,784 MW and naturally that was when those IWT were humming and generated an unneeded 1,365 MWh or 9.9% of that hours demand! At that hour nuclear generated 10,403 MWh and hydro 3,260 MWh demonstrating wind’s uselessness, forcing IESO to sell it off our surplus generation to our neighbours in Michigan, NY and Quebec for $13.96/MWh after paying the owners of the IWT $135/MWh.
If we then look at Hour 10 those IWT were probably consuming more then their output at that hour as IESO reported they generated 75 MWh while demand was climbing and peaked at 16,284 MW meaning those IWT produced 0.46% of that hour’s demand.
As is obvious, they “did it again”!
NB: Today (August 13, 2022) at Hour 9 those IWT generated 8 MWh with demand at 14.236 MW so their contribution at that hour was 0.056% clearly demonstrating they are totally unreliable!
Parker Gallant Energy Perspectives 
They are not expected to be “reliable” ie dispatchable to meet peak needs. They were installed for the energy that they produce, when they produce.
But agreed that for that kind of service is the huge “green” premium appropriate? If and when sufficient energy storage is built, then the energy they produce *will* be dispatchable but whether the cost of the storage makes it economic is another question
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Those turbines will be replaced several times before there is an economical storage System/device available. Thats a whole lot of fibreglass, steel and concrete being consumed. Not to mention the landfill for the spent blades.
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I drive up Hwy 10 once week north of Shelburne where there is a plethora of wind turbines. Last week over 80% were not working, even with a steady breeze. The active 20% were turning. #busted #moneypit
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