Introducing Amazon Wind Farm Texas • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing Amazon Wind Farm Texas

#11

Post by mtmail » Sun, Sep 18, 2016, 1:35 PM UTC

dqv wrote: post #2

Stop trying to hoard the air! Serious question - as of right now, does Amazon have wind farms to reduce their own costs or do they plan on making a profit by selling the energy to consumers?

Lincoln Clean Energy owns and operates the wind farm. Amazon is in a long-term contract to purchase 90% of the energy produced. It's open what happens to the remaining 10%. I'd say Lincoln Clean Energy sells those and any energy Amazon doesn't need to the grid.

Re: Introducing Amazon Wind Farm Texas

#12

Post by TazeTSchnitzel » Sun, Sep 18, 2016, 1:40 PM UTC

dqv wrote: post #2

Stop trying to hoard the air! Serious question - as of right now, does Amazon have wind farms to reduce their own costs or do they plan on making a profit by selling the energy to consumers?

Wouldn't it be the same difference? They either profit by offsetting costs (selling the energy) or they profit by reducing costs (using the energy). Energy is fungible, right?

Re: Introducing Amazon Wind Farm Texas

#13

Post by brianwawok » Sun, Sep 18, 2016, 1:45 PM UTC

regularfry wrote: post #6

From the press release: Amazon today announced “Amazon Wind Farm Texas,” a new 253-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Scurry County, Texas, that will generate 1,000,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of wind energy annually Seems optimistic. Rule of thumb is that onshore wind generates 30% of its plate rating. That's 660GHw, not 1000, for a 253MW plant. Still a nice, impressive number, just seems over-cooked.

It perhaps Texas better than average? 30% seems too round to really be across all areas of the country.

Re: Introducing Amazon Wind Farm Texas

#14

Post by Arnt » Sun, Sep 18, 2016, 1:46 PM UTC

johnm1019 wrote: post #3

Are these wind farms located near data centers and such use the power directly? Or do they dump into the grid and sell it as power then claim all their power usage is renewable because it is "offset"?

What's the difference?

Re: Introducing Amazon Wind Farm Texas

#15

Post by achow » Sun, Sep 18, 2016, 1:56 PM UTC

Seems that in a single swipe Amazon would more than double the total USA’s wind generation capacity when this goes into production in 2017. A really fantastic achievement (or am I missing something in the data?).

Total US wind energy in 2015: 73,992 megawatts [1]

Amazon’s Scurry County Texas capacity: 1 million megawatts

[1] http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/7-Charts-That-Sh...

Edit..

From the replies it seems it would be at best ~0.3% of total wind generation capacity in USA.

Re: Introducing Amazon Wind Farm Texas

#16

Post by mark_l_watson » Sun, Sep 18, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

It seems to me that the long term value of wind farms is locations with a lot of wind at night, to keep generating electricity when solar systems shuts down for the night. This helps solve the energy storage problem.

Re: Introducing Amazon Wind Farm Texas

#17

Post by dmclain » Sun, Sep 18, 2016, 2:06 PM UTC

achow wrote: post #15

Seems that in a single swipe Amazon would more than double the total USA’s wind generation capacity when this goes into production in 2017. A really fantastic achievement (or am I missing something in the data?). Total US wind energy in 2015: 73,992 megawatts [1] Amazon’s Scurry County Texas capacity: 1 million megawatts [1] http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/7-Charts-That-Sh... Edit.. From the replies it se…

They listed MWh/y which is a pretty strange unit. The farm is 253 MW, so not a significant percentage of total US generation.

Source: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-ne...

Re: Introducing Amazon Wind Farm Texas

#18

Post by csours » Sun, Sep 18, 2016, 2:07 PM UTC

achow wrote: post #15

Seems that in a single swipe Amazon would more than double the total USA’s wind generation capacity when this goes into production in 2017. A really fantastic achievement (or am I missing something in the data?). Total US wind energy in 2015: 73,992 megawatts [1] Amazon’s Scurry County Texas capacity: 1 million megawatts [1] http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/7-Charts-That-Sh... Edit.. From the replies it se…

I upvoted you for contributing to the discussion, not for being correct.

It looks like Amazon is adding 1 gigawatt across five projects, to the existing 75 gigawatts.

Re: Introducing Amazon Wind Farm Texas

#19

Post by Retric » Sun, Sep 18, 2016, 2:07 PM UTC

achow wrote: post #15

Seems that in a single swipe Amazon would more than double the total USA’s wind generation capacity when this goes into production in 2017. A really fantastic achievement (or am I missing something in the data?). Total US wind energy in 2015: 73,992 megawatts [1] Amazon’s Scurry County Texas capacity: 1 million megawatts [1] http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/7-Charts-That-Sh... Edit.. From the replies it se…

No, "1,000,000 megawatt hours of wind energy annuall."

/ 365 / 24 = 114 MWh per hour on average. Or ~250 MW nameplate power depending on capacity factor.

Ed: They list 253 MW.

Re: Introducing Amazon Wind Farm Texas

#20

Post by david-given » Sun, Sep 18, 2016, 2:07 PM UTC

achow wrote: post #15

Seems that in a single swipe Amazon would more than double the total USA’s wind generation capacity when this goes into production in 2017. A really fantastic achievement (or am I missing something in the data?). Total US wind energy in 2015: 73,992 megawatts [1] Amazon’s Scurry County Texas capacity: 1 million megawatts [1] http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/7-Charts-That-Sh... Edit.. From the replies it se…

That's one million megawatt hours. Watt-hours are the most confusing unit ever, and measure energy, not power. (A watt-hour is the amount of energy produced by one watt for an hour.)

1e6 MW hours = 3.6e15 joules. The power plant generates this over a year, so that 3.6e15 joules / year = 114 MW on average.