Windmills have historically played a major part in the Netherlands by providing an alternative to water driven mills. Do the Netherlands trains really run on http://elering.ee/cross-border-physical-flows/, http://ast.lv/eng/power_system/current_situation_in_power_system/state_of_power_system/, http://www.litgrid.eu/index.php/sistemos-duomenys/79, Antidotes were hard to find this week as one cheering message after another was debunked only Positive News was buoyant | C 3000: antidote to gloom, International Energy Agency Electricity Production Statistics for OECD Countries 2014 2016 | Blogging about energy and transitioning to clean energy, Drone Strike on Saudi Arabia Knocks out 5% of Global Oil Supplies, Grazing, desertification and climate change. The turbines have a hub height of 135 metres (443ft) and each new turbine can generate as much electricity as all 50 turbines of the old wind farm combined. Grid power in fact reflects the overall generation mix, which in the case of the Netherlands is dominantly gas and coal with only a small contribution from wind. One windmill running for an hour can power one train across about 200km (120 miles). It goes back to the start of 2016, and includes the Netherlands as well as Belgium and the Nordic countries (and Germany) that NS claim to be supplied by. Rail networks source this electricity from the grid, and just like for our homes, its transmitted to them via high-voltage lines. Ive included a (slightly-edited) mini-excerpt from my recent book, Science and the City, to explain: Electric locomotives dont have conventional engines. The 113,3 Twh exported far exceeds the actual exports of course, but were good business for the power companies selling their power twice. The evidence speaks for itself. <, 4C Offshore, Key project dates for Gemini, Princess Amalia (Netherlands) offshore wind farm, List of offshore wind farms in the North Sea, "Wind energy in Europe in 2019 - Trends and statistics", http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1021714.stm, "Dutch government supercharges offshore wind target", "Windvermogen in Nederland, 1990-2019 | Compendium voor de Leefomgeving", "Windenergie maakt forse inhaalslag in 2020", "IEA Wind Annual Report for 2015 (Netherlands)", "The Windpower, Netherlands, Manufacturers", "New Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap | RVO.nl", "Windenergie op land; productie en capaciteit per provincie Windenergy on land; production and capacity per province", "Windenergie; elektriciteitsproductie, capaciteit en windaanbod per maand (Windenergy; electricity production, capacity and wind per month)", "Werken aan een nieuwe toekomst met windenergie", "Windpark De Drentse Monden en Oostermoer - Home", "Eneco en Vattenfall openen Windpark Slufterdam 2.0 met dubbel zoveel vermogen", "Windpark Deil Duurzame voorsprong in Deil", "Innovation site Borssele Wind Farm Site V fully commissioned | Van Oord/", "Gemini Offshore Wind Farm - Fully Commissioned - Netherlands | 4C Offshore", "Vattenfall Hollandse Kust - Windpark op de Noordzee", "BASF to pay 1.6Bn for green power from offshore windfarm", "Netherlands' Friesland province to invest in 320-MW wind park", "Largest Freshwater Offshore Wind Farm At Full Tilt", "Fryslan Wind Farm, a near-shore wind project in Netherlands", "Feiten, cijfers en planning Westermeerwind", "Planning en voorgenomen tenderschema windenergie op zee - Publicatie - Rijksoverheid.nl", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wind_power_in_the_Netherlands&oldid=1133669799. 2009. Over the course of this year the average will be around 11%, equal to wind powers share of the Netherlands annual grid electricity consumption. The Harried Dutch commuters who are travelling on one of the most environmentally friendly rail networks in the whole of Europe, if not the world are being sold a bill of goods. OK, these days its less than the bandwidth to your mobile, but mumble years ago it was the real deal. [37] Other large wind farms are located in Delfzijl-zuid (43 MW),[30] Lelystad (46 MW), Terneuzen, (Koegorspolder, 44 MW), and Biddinghuizen (WP Kubbeweg, 34 MW). 14 October 2009. Wind farmsboth onshore and offshoreare regarded as a key component in renewable energy policy and an important tool in mitigating the risks of climate change. Random House Canada. The rationale is: If the Dutch railways sourced 100% of the 1.4 tWh of energy they needed each year from within the Netherlands, this would decrease availability and increase prices of green power for other parties. In Norway 132,2 million guarantees of origin for hydro power were issued in 2014, corresponding to 132,2 Twh. Rather they act like a component in an electric circuit. Sign up for our email newsletter! It probably has a lower calorific value, a greater CO2 content (up to 30%/40% from some sources), and your local regs may insist it be odourised. Wind turbines feed electricity into the grid and the electric company credits them for the electricity. Updated [5 February 2019]: Original version of this article attributed this quote to Thomas Homer-Dixon. All Dutch electric trains are now powered by wind energy, the national railway company NS has said . Up until the Westereems Wind Park was commissioned the largest onshore wind farm was the Princess Alexia Windpark in Zeewolde (122MW),[36] consisting of 36 REpower turbines and a 3.2MW/33MWh battery storage power station of BMW i3 batteries. [5] In 2020 wind power provided 11.54% of the Dutch electricity generation (see table above) while solar power provided an additional 7.25% for a combined 18.79% - easily meeting the target without taking other renewable sources into account, even though the target for onshore wind capacity was not met. You bet. Its own wind farms, built in the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, and Sweden, aim to generate enough energy to fulfill NS's demand of about 1.4 terawatt-hours for 2017 (enough to power a million . However the electricity is delivered to the train, once its there, it is used to power lights, and air-conditioning, as well as the traction motors, which are what turn the trains wheels. In August 2015, a meme posted to the Google+ group "The Secret Society of Anti-AGW-ACC Cultism," an organization that claims climate change is a hoax, reproduced the words allegedly written by Thomas Homer-Dixon, the Associate Director of the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation, on the subject of windmills. The wind farm's 86 wind turbines will produce 1.4 billion kWh of electricity, enough. [61], In 2008, a second, somewhat larger offshore wind farm was built: the Princess Amalia Wind Farm, consisting of 60 Vestas V80 2MW turbines totaling 120 MW, sufficient to power 125,000 homes and help the Netherlands cut 225,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. I guess I could have found something cheaper still if Id looked hard enough. I did not say wind energy is Idiot Power.". More than 12% of the Netherland's electricity is generated from renewable sources, mainly biomass and waste (5% of the total) and wind (7% of the total). Earlier this week, one of their national railway companies, Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), announced that, since 1st January, every single one of its electric trains have been running on energy harvested from wind. And how does NS justify this lesser claim? But lets be real. [1], The Dutch government has expressed the aspiration to build 4.450 MW of offshore wind power by 2023[5] which will have a considerable impact on the Dutch electricity grid, operated by TenneT. At least they are investing in renewable energy. Many small scale wind farms exist throughout the Netherlands which bear testament to earlier models of wind turbines and lesser known manufacturers which provided a range of niche products, ranging in size and power output. There is, however, a problem. The ns also solved the issue of delayed trains by changing the defenition of delay from 3 minutes to 5 minutes. So how does NS justify the claim that all Dutch trains run on 100% wind power? Furthermore, both solar panels and wind turbines are capable of functioning under cold . They arent directly powered by wind. That's something. [10] [11] [12], 2015 There are many reasons, of course, why NS would claim its trains run completely on wind power and even more reasons why many would celebrate this apparently breakthrough. Yeap. Supply from all generators is monitored in any case, all youd have to do is add up the "Since 1 January, 100% of our trains are running on wind energy," said NS spokesman, Ton . You buy green energy elsewhere to offset your fossil fuels. Do the claims about Netherlands trains also require further explanation? That is, a windmill could spin until it falls apart and never generate as much energy as was invested in building it. [9] As a first step, the government has determined 65 sites for offshore wind farms in the North Sea and IJsselmeer. Other peoples Money doesnt matter to you.. wrong! it MATTERS to those like heavyweather all savvy investors who have installed PV on their rooftops, PV which funnels 29 cEuro/kWh (on average) for each useless and counter-productive kWh which they dump on the network sums charged on the electricity bill of all the OTHER germans, of course! The story of Apple data centre in Denmark: Overall, the Netherlands has over 2,000 wind turbines spread across the country. So even if this claim were true, it would require exponentially more windmills and/or solar panels to cover any significant portion of the continental United States. It doesnt add up, I would say about Euro 47 million is big money especially when you consider it`s for nothing.. Consumers in NL can choose suppliers that deliver 100% renewable, or 100% wind, or 100% dutch generated wind, etc. NS claims 100% wind power because it has a contract with various wind farms to produce enough energy to power its rail system, but this is just an accounting transaction. And given that the company carries 600,000 people per day, the amount of electricity they need isnt trivial around 1.2 billion kWh of electricity a year. Several commercial parties have now caught onto the PR value of claiming they are not getting government subsidies for their investment in renewable energy. Produced at least 19 models at 250, 750, 1500, 2000, 2300, 2500, 2600, 3000, 3600, 3800, 4000 and 4500kW. But you can arrange for a proxy burn of biogas in another state, say Colorado, and buy the rights to say you consumed it. Google will allegedly power all its operations with renewable energy this year by doing exactly the same thing. The only way we could get close would be to take this measure of the citys population (813, 562) and this value for electricity consumption per person (1800 kWh). Intercity train arriving at Leiden Central railway station, Netherlands. Active 2016. Were these conditions to repeat themselves now, and if NSs trains were powered exclusively by wind, they would almost certainly come to a halt. supply from NSs contracted windfarms,and if their supply drops below the train systems demand, The Netherlands national railway company, NS, has announced all of its electric passenger trains (not the freight trains) are now 100% powered by wind energy. For high-speed trains, overhead wires are the better choice. As of January 1, all electric passenger trains on the Dutch rail network have been run on wind energy, according to a statement from operator NS (via EcoWatch ). Grid connections for the Luchterduinen and Nordpoostpolder wind farms (locations approximate) are shown in black. 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