Abstract
To the layman, the exploitation of natural resources that are now going to waste may appear a good opportunity of getting power cheaply. To the engineer the obstacles in the way of their economic application often appear well–nigh insuperable. Thus the proverbially fickle wind has rarely been regarded seriously for the generation of electricity on any appreciable scale. This is not the opinion of the Central Vermont Public Service Corporation which, according to the Electrical Review of August 22, is connecting to its 44–kv. system a 1,000 kw. 2.3 kv. wind–driven alternator, said to be the first of its kind. In describing the equipment Power states that the plant, which is installed at a height of 2,000 ft., is expected to run. for about 4,000 hours in the year, nearly three–quarters of the time on full load. Possibly the most important feature of the station is its association with a wind–power research laboratory, in which fundamental and engineering knowledge can be gained for the economic design and construction of wind–driven generating units in the future. In contrast to the erratic behaviour of the wind is the exactly predictable ebb and flow of the tide, which in this respect has an advantage over waterfalls that depend upon seasonable and weather vagaries. Its punctuality is not enough, however, to compensate for its intermittent action, and so a purely tidal scheme would have to be debited with the standing charges on steam plant required for filling in the valleys.
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Wind and Tide. Nature 148, 404 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148404b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148404b0