79-02-A7
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Wind Energy in Denmark
TranscriptOut on the North Sea coast of Denmark, is a little college called Tvind (TUR-VIND). It has 500 students and 80 faculty members. It also has a 175-foot concrete tower topped by three 89-foot rotor blades which generates 2,000 kilowatts of power. The remarkable thing about it, is that the entire wind generating plant was conceived, built and financed by the students and teachers at Tvind College. For comparison, take a look at the [https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19760071719/downloads/19760071719.pdf wind generator two U.S. government agencies built in Ohio three years ago]. It cost over a million dollars, and it generates 100 kilowatts of power -- when it works right. The Danish wind generator cost $720,000 U.S. dollars; it produces 20 times the energy; and it works the way it was designed to. There's an interesting story behind this project. In 1974, following the sharp increase in OPEC oil prices, the college found that it was paying $43,000 a year for electricity, with more increases in sight. And yet, on Denmark's Atlantic coast, the almost incessant wind went untapped. The faculty and students decided that that wind could be harnessed as a source of clean, renewable power. But they didn't head off to Copenhagen to get a government grant. They decided to build and finance it themselves. None of them had ever attempted such a thing before. But their little college had a unique "can-do" tradition, and they were determined to succeed. They recruited some volunteer help from aerodynamic engineers and computer specialists throughout Denmark. They got the Danish Army to lend them a huge tent to serve as an assembly plant. When no plastics manufacturer would agree to sell them the three 89-foot rotor blades they needed, the Tvind College people set out to learn what they needed to know about fiberglass molding. They built three fishing boat hills for practice. Then they spent 18 months to craft the giant rotors. Workers went to Holland and salvaged a drive shaft from a scrapped oil tanker. They found a 1:19 ratio gearbox at the elevator shaft of an abandoned Swedish iron mine. A Swedish paper factory sold them a second-hand generator. And, in only three years, without a nickel of government funding, Tvind College had a 2,000-kilowatt wind generator not only providing all the college light and much of its heat, but also selling electric power to the Danish national power grid. It is now estimated that the wind generator will result in annual savings of $72,000 adding together the cost of the energy formerly purchased from the outside grid, and the proceeds of wind power sold to the grid. When in continuous operation, the Tvind generator will produce an average of four million kilowatt hours per year. That's what 450 tons of oil would produce. The college people point out that 1100 similar generators could be built instead of the proposed 800 megawatt nuclear plant at Gylling, at far less cost, and without any of the expense and problems associated with nuclear fuel. When Danish government officials first heard of the Tvind project they laughed and said it couldn't be done. They aren't laughing any more. The government has appropriated $11 million for advanced wind/energy research. Some people think the government would have been better off leaving that $11 million in the pockets of people like those who built the plant at Tvind College, who have the enterprising spirit to tackle a big job and get it done. I think they're right. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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