Wind power hot air

Each time wind energy is discussed, proponents claim it “is the equivalent of the annul electricity demand of 27,000 households.” My guess is that a typical household will use about 7,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electric energy per year. (If your electric bill is about $100 per month, you are using about 7,000 kWh per year). Based on this, the Stetson Mountain installation will produce about 0.2 billion kWh per year. The New England grid requires an annual generation of about 130 billion kWh per year.

Based on preliminary data from Mars Hill, that installation generates about 0.15 billion kWh per year. If all the wind power installations now proposed in Maine are put into production, the output would not reach 1 percent of the New England electric requirement.

Any proposal for new generation schemes should start with: “New England uses 130 billion kWh per year, here is what I bring to the table:” If the proposal is for wind, solar or tidal energy, the answer will be: “Not much.”

Richard C. Hill

Old Town