Finally, an explanation for why it was in Simmons Flashback that Peak Oil made windmills not work

[james_davis_nicoll]

“Now, to add insult to injury, The University of Maine, Presque Isle – anybody here been up there to see that damn windmill in the back yard? Guess what, if it’s not blowing wind outside and they have somebody visiting the campus, they have a little electric motor that turns the blades. I’m serious. They have an electric motor so that they can show people wind power works. Unbelievable. And that’s the government that you have here in the state of Maine,” said LePage.

Comments

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

I saw that; is it true?

[resonant.livejournal.com]

My company makes wind turbine controllers, so I have a squid in this race.

Many turbines do have an electric motor that turns the nacelle to face the wind. For ones with variable-pitch blades, the swash plate can be moved with an electric actuator. Some Darrieus-style vertical-axis turbines have a starter motor to start them moving. But I know of no horizontal-axis turbines that have a motor to make them spin.

You COULD take grid power and use it to turn the blades. However, the inverters my company makes for wind applications only work one way; you'd have to completely rewire it (and the generator on the turbine) to do so.

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

I thought that would be the case.

But I don't know enough.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

So LePage may be in fact using that little technical detail in order to confuse the issue. In whose service, if the suspicion's correct, has yet to be determined.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Yes - except the photo in the link shows a horizontal-axis turbine that doesn't need a starter motor.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

"if it’s not blowing wind outside ..."

Having grown up in the region, I can say that it's never true that it's not blowing wind outside.