Re:The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (2006)
by Someone on Monday March 04, 2013 @11:43PM
(#5322960)
The largest turbines are more like 300ft in diameter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine_design#Turbine_siz...)
Also, the effect is important. At 1/4 mile distance, you can only place about 20 or so on a square mile of land. Looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine#Horizontal_axis_wi..., that gives you less than 18MW peak power.
That same square mile has 2M plus m^2. So, you would need only 10W per m^2 peak solar power to beat that wind turbine.
Yes, there is lots of hand waiving here. For example, I am assuming equal duty cycle; that will vary with location. The crux still is that there is way less wind power than solar per m^2.
This is not an important effect. The optimal spacing for wind turbines is 5-15 times the rotor diameter, and the largest turbines are 75ft in diameter, giving a largest spacing of roughly ~ 1/4 mi. In the rare cases that this is an issue, property liens can handle the conflict.