WHERE IS THE WIND? VIDEO LINKS SUGGEST OCOTILLO WIND FARM IS UNDER-PERFORMING

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

By Miriam Raftery

View our full investigative report here. 

January 23, 2013 (Ocotillo) -- Videos shot by award winning photojournalist and engineer Jim Pelley suggest that the Ocotillo Wind Express Facility is thus far not living up to projects made by Pattern Energy, which claimed in early December that "with wind forecasts looking favorable" it expected to power 125,000 homes, News 8 reported.

It takes sustained winds of 8 to 10 mph before wind turbines are productive.  Thus far there is little evidence of any such sustained wind speeds in Ocotillo during the first seven weeks of the wind facility's operations--not even on a day when high winds were forcecast for the region.  View videos below.  Such underperformance is not unusual, an ECM investigation has found.  Watch for more details soon.

Dec. 5   Wind farm goes online – but there is no wind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bico5ub2wtM

Dec 7 – not a single turbine spinning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJsZo8hBrho

Dec 9 – 4-8 mph, turbines not spinning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jvF5RzLBL4

Dec 10 – 90 turbines installed, not a single one turning:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXgHsF7_6EE

Dec. 11  4-8 mph, turbines not spinning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1SQzqToYZs

Dec. 12 anenometer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e9weS-HRUY

Dec. 12  8-10 mph wind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGkahJensCI

Dec. 17 no wind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWM_6COr7JM

Dec. 19 no wind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RMDnbBbk3c

Dec. 20 no wind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXVlvPD3508

Dec. 22  No wind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F63BghKQ02I

Dec. 22: Wind turbines spinning backwards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxQRF5qmbtM

Dec 28:  dead calm “monuments in the desert is all they are” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yOao4jzax0

Dec 29: turbines not moving

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV4Ol57R1rs

New Year:  Jan. 1 2013 No wind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69cblyFw32Q&feature=youtu.be

Jan. 3, 2013 – no turbines spinning – this was a day when high winds were forecast

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI1elrMBJos   

Jan. 3 2013 later in the same day, wind turbines turning very slowly,” I doubt if there is a load on them probably just free spinning,” engineer Jim Pelley says, estimated wind speeds 5-9 mph

http://youtu.be/18TydKpRejg

January 11, winds spinning in two directions at once: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UapSlQG7HrE&feature=youtu.be

 January 13, no wind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-T8ztI_ZTo&feature=youtu.be

January 14 – no wind-which way is the wind blowing? 4 mph, moving different directions! (Wind changes directions frequently)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JCUdha0tmw

January 15 – 2 mph wind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG7N1TNtINc&feature=youtu.be

Jan 16 – not one turbine turning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVLHt8NLI4k

January 18 -  1 mph winds in Ocotillo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opj_ggi1GYg&feature=youtu.be

January 19 – no wind – 1 mph

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECquoDQX1BU&feature=youtu.be

Jan 20: 2 mph: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v5Vodrhe-Q&feature=youtu.be

Jan. 21 no wind 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZSu3qDb-JU&feature=youtu.be

Jan. 22: 2 mph

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6YthuKDkTI&feature=youtu.be



Jan. 23: no wind, red-tail hawk on project site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOrvwtgPMGM&feature=youtu.be 


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

Comments

Ocotillo Wind

Good work Jim. I visited the area on a late December morning and could have lit the candles on a cake. It will be interesting to see what happens when there's a real windy  day or night. Will there be problems? Failures or fires?  

Reality

I reject your reality and substitute my own - A. Savage

I drove to Ocotillo to view the International Space Station a few weeks earlier and saw the same conditions that Jim documented, one turbine at about 2 rpm,

the rest were in stasis mode.

Tom

Zillions of dollars spent and

Zillions of dollars spent and countless, prescious acres destroyed. All for nothing. Nothing but the satisfaction of progressive wish lists and insatiable political vanity.