top of page

WIND POWER

 

Wind power generation is not viable for having high capital cost, low efficiency and unreliable power supply. A capital cost of about USD2.5 million per megawatt installation with an estimated average capacity factor of 20% are factors for failure. The wind blows erratically the whole day and not always as strong enough to generate base power. Another setback is that peak wind for base generation does not always coincide with peak demand. The problem is that any shortfall on wind power investment is subsidized by the taxpayers and end-users but not the investors.

 

Construction of large power unit requires massive foundation and because they are commonly located in remote areas transmission lines have to be built. The energy required to manufacture wind farm construction materials such as cement and steel are equivalent to several hundred tons of CO2 dump onto the atmosphere. In other words wind power is uneconomical and not environmentally practical.

 

Other countries with massive wind power installation experience avian mortality problem from which thousands of bird death are recorded from wind turbine blades. The Philippine as a bird sanctuary definitely will have the same fate. There must be study that wind turbine must not be installed in avian sensitive areas.  

 

Wind farm is a land demanding project of about 1 hectare per megawatt. The power generation strategist must look for practical site that would not be a crop counter-productive. However, it is virtually difficult to do that since the Philippines has limited space, filled with farm lands and shrinking virgin forests. 

bottom of page