Study: Solar, wind project viable in N.C.

[ccharles000]

In a new study that will cheer advocates of alternative energy sources, a retired Duke University economics professor and administrator argues that a combination of dispersed wind energy and solar energy generators in North Carolina could obviate the need for costly new nuclear or coal-fired power plants.

John Blackburn, professor emeritus of economics and former provost and chancellor at Duke, challenges the widely held view that this state's wind and solar resources are so inconsistent that their use would still require significant backup power plants or additional baseload generating stations. This theory takes the view that winds in many places in this state are not steady or strong enough to provide substantial generating capacity, and that the sun does not shine strongly enough in winter months to produce enough power.

But Blackburn, in a study for the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Maryland, argues that a carefully planned combination of wind and solar generating units are capable of providing for North Carolina's electricity needs with only modest assistance from hydropower plants, natural gas generation and purchased power.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/03/06/1292368/study-solar-wind-project-viable.html

[taterguy]

1. Kite boarders are gonna be bummed when they get blown into a turbine

Film at 11