When we left off in the 1960s, what few wind power efforts that existed had largely stalled. Commercial manufacturers that supplied wind power to rural customers disappeared as electrical grids and transmission lines were extended to reach them, and research efforts were cancelled or scaled back as conventional electricity prices continued to fall. Focus was placed on nuclear power as the next generation of electricity technology.
It's interesting to contrast the history of wind and nuclear power. Wind power scaled well. Larger wind turbines were cheaper per unit of power, more reliable and more efficient. Nuclear power scaled poorly. Larger plants were much more expensive to build as they grew larger and made it harder to control the damage of a catastrophic failure. We seem to have roughly topped out on wind turbine size, at least for land based turbines, with limits on construction and transportation of components. Meanwhile, we're seeing a next generation of smaller, modular nuclear plants that might make it easier to control costs and deal with failures.
It's interesting to contrast the history of wind and nuclear power. Wind power scaled well. Larger wind turbines were cheaper per unit of power, more reliable and more efficient. Nuclear power scaled poorly. Larger plants were much more expensive to build as they grew larger and made it harder to control the damage of a catastrophic failure. We seem to have roughly topped out on wind turbine size, at least for land based turbines, with limits on construction and transportation of components. Meanwhile, we're seeing a next generation of smaller, modular nuclear plants that might make it easier to control costs and deal with failures.
Engineering is fascinating.
They don't fit the grid and they still kill off large birds, (unlike cats)
Great overview of wind power history. I now understand better how the wind industry developed, and displaced some interesting misconceptions.