Wind power is overrated

Published: Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008 12:10 a.m. MDT
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An article of Aug. 19 praises the wind-turbine facility at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. But it's misleading. It says this is a 19-megawatt facility and is expected to produce energy 80 percent of the time. But that doesn't mean it will produce 19 megawatts 80 percent of the time.

I have driven past this facility several times this year. Each time, most of the rotors were stopped with one or two turning very slowly. So, technically, the facility was "producing energy," but probably at only a tiny fraction of its much-hyped capacity.

Wind power and other alternate energy sources are currently way overrated. Yes, they should continue to be explored, but in the meantime we should aggressively pursue nuclear and continue to take advantage of the wonderful resource of fossil fuels.

Gerald Larsen

Kearns

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