I saw my first wind turbines along US-52 where it curves from south to southwest. Their shadow makes it easy to spot them on a satellite image. Since then, I've seen new high tension lines built in the area. And now you can see wind turbines from I-65 also. The first ones arrived in Goodland, IN, in 2008. [
OrangeBeanIndiana] I was seeing some of the wind turbines of the
Meadow Lake Windfarm.
I was impressed by how slowly they turn. But at night birds can't see them, and they get killed. The current estimate is about a quarter of a million birds a year. But to put that in context, domestic cats kill about 2.4 billion in the US. [OrangeBeanIndiana] And I'll bet Chicago skyscrapers also kill more each year.
NIPSCO plans to buy electricity from three new wind farms and retire their
Schahfer Generating Station in 2023 and their
Michigan City plant in 2028. The three wind farm contracts add up to just 800 MW. If the two plants are producing less than a gigawatt, then they are old and they do probably need to be retired. [
NWItimes-1] Bailly Generating Station was closed earlier this year. By 2028, they plan to have no coal fired plants and only one gas-fired generating station. "Ultimately, the company expects the transition to renewable sources to save money — estimating total customer savings of $4 billion over 20 years. And, it will reduce its carbon emissions by 90 percent by 2028." But a rate hike is needed to make the transition. [
NWItimes-2]
No comments:
Post a Comment