The neighborhood in St. Lucie County is organized against Florida Power and Light’s proposal for wind turbines on their Beaches. Hell, they even have great signs! These people don’t want those 400 foot plus high turbines (actually they measure taller than the Statue of Liberty) to cause whatever it is they are against: strobe effects being one complaint. There is only one thing wrong with this picture: The neighbors are already looking at two nuclear stacks next to the proposed site. Mind you, nuclear cooling towers can be over 600 feet tall. (I was just corrected by a reader by comment: they are Reactor Containment Buildings 243’ tall).I think that the Turbines are a red herring that FP&L is floating so the residents don’t pay attention the the third Nuclear Reactor they want to put there. And, it is working. The neighborhood’s biggest complaint about the third nuclear stack: It won’t match the other two. I am not joking!
We have our own nuclear cross to bear: It was announced March 18th that State of Florida regulators approved two NEW nuclear reactors at Turkey Point - one giant step closer. The Governor is a putz on this issue. Glad I don't live near it.
17 comments:
NIMBY's need to pick their battles. I'd choose wind turbines in my backyard over nuclear any day of the week.
Not trying to be picky but there are no “stacks” at Plant St Lucie. The tall things you see are the containment buildings. If you haven’t driven by there, do it some time. You will be surprised at how small the two nuc units are. Most of the buildings are support and admin buildings. The generating part of the site is surprisingly small.
I don’t think that the Turbines are a red herring, FPL Group is the largest wind generator in the US. I do believe that FPL is trying to diversify its generation mix.
Thanks EX -- how high are these containment buildings? I did drive by there. My cell phone photo does not do justice to the size of the facility from the other shore. I could see plenty more. I found it pretty intrusive. The red herring part: Why there on public property? Why not offshore where they generate more because the wind is higher? I windsurf, wind is hard to come by in Florida but it is always a bit higher off shore.
From the FPL PSL web site:
Reactor Containment
Buildings: Concrete and steel construction
3’ thick, 154’ diameter, 243’ tall
As for The red herring part: Don't know. You have got me intrested though. I will do some research.
I did find this dated Tuesday, February 26, 2008 :
"Florida Power & Light Co. announced Tuesday morning it would no longer pursue turbines on state-owned land managed by the county at Blind Creek Park and would instead move ahead with just six turbines on land it owns around the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant."
at
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/feb/26/30gtwind-turbine-project-gets-25m-grant/
So it looks like its 6 turbines at the PSL site only.
If I build a house in the shadows of the new reactor's smoke stacks, do you think it will cool my house enough to lower my FP&L bill?
moderate
You Not A Moderate will be corrected by ExFPLer very soon. We have experts on this blog.
My initial feeling was that of NIMBY....but if we continue to speak out against any kind of renewable energy and give it any negative spin, it makes the battle even harder to change. And I agree I would rather have wind turbines in my back yard then turkey point! In fact if someone literally wanted to erect a turbine in my back yard I would let them! Lets all get behind the GREEN wagon and push harder...it is time to support change.
I would rather dye of cancer than have to look at a windmill slicing birds into little pieces all over my lawn or having my mobile home decrease in value because of the view of wind turbines.
a conservative
los nucleares van!
Subject: Update you on our big Battle with FPL and their proposed wind farms on Florida Beaches!
Hi Everyone,
This is an update on our big fight with FPL and their plans to install 430’ giant wind turbines on our most pristine beaches here in St. Lucie County and throughout Florida’s coastal barrier islands.
Here is a story that appeared in the Orlando Sentinel yesterday. FPL continues to change their facts to place turbines in Florida even though we do not have a wind resource that would support their ever changing facts.
We have now killed 7 of the proposed sites all of which were on public lands. We have 6 more to kill on FPL land which shares the same environmental characteristics as the Blind Creek property described in the article below.
This issue is not about going “Green” it is about industrializing our most sensitive beach front lands and protecting public access. Walton Rocks beach is the next big fight! This is a famous surf beach which is now being targeted and will be closed to the public if these false “green” giant turbines are installed there.
This is a huge issue not just for St Lucie County but for all of coastal Florida because it will mean that FPL opens the door to developing our most sensitive lands, beaches, dunes and wetlands to private enterprise for private gain at the expense of the tax and rate payers who will have to pay for this boondoggle. This is about the transfer of wealth from ordinary citizens to corporate giants on a false green promise that is not viable in Florida.
We encourage all to send e-mails to Gov. Charlie Christ and say NO to wind Turbines on Florida Beaches. Here is his e-mail Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
Thanks for your support! Adam Locke
PS also check out our site at www.save-st-lucie.org there is a song from musicians against wind turbines linked there that will BLOW YOU AWAY!
FPL backs off on state beach wind-farm project
categories: Florida
link: http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/03/19/fpl-backs-off-on-state-beach-wind-farm-project/
Bowing to unexpected public opposition, Florida Power & Light is abandoning plans to use a state-owned beach on Hutchinson Island for Florida’s first industrial wind farm.
Instead, the utility will try to confine a smaller version of its original $61 million clean-energy proposal on its nearby coastal property, adjacent to its St. Lucie nuclear-power plant.
“We’ve spent a lot of time listening to the concerns of commissioners as well as the residents of St. Lucie County, and that’s what led us to our decision to limit the project to our property,” said Eric Silagy, FPL vice president for development.
“We’ve built wind farms in 55 locations across the country, and we just didn’t expect this kind of backlash,” he added.
The largest producer of wind energy in the nation, FPL had planned to erect nine turbines — each 400 feet tall — that it said would generate energy capable of powering more than 3,000 homes. It wanted to put six of the 2.3 megawatt turbines on a popular surf spot it owns south of the plant, and the other three just to the north at Blind Creek, a 400-acre river-to-ocean parcel that the county and state helped buy in 1998 for $13 million.
That appalled environmentalists and St. Lucie County Commissioner Doug Coward, who as county environmental planner had asked voters to approve a bond issue to buy the land. They warned that letting a private utility build on public conservation land would violate the public trust and invite projects in parks across the state.
Coupled with a vocal grass-roots campaign, the arguments apparently were convincing. The third of five county commissioners recently announced she would not support windmills at Blind Creek.
FPL’s decision to restrict the wind farm to its property removes the biggest obstacle, but opponents plan to fight on. It’s unclear whether FPL has the three votes needed to proceed.
By Maya Bell
Orlando Sentinel
19 March 2008
GOD
I’m not sure if you wanted a response but here goes.
Moderate: There are no smoke stacks at a NUC plant. Turkey point may have given you that impression. Although in the press references the Turkey Point plant as a NUC the site has 5 generating units. Units 1 & 2 are fossil plants that can run on Oil or Natural Gas, units 3 & 4 are Nuc’s and Unit 5 is combined cycle natural gas. The only “smoke stacks” are the 2 for units 1 & 2, the nuc’s and the combined cycle have no “smoke stacks”. A,t as FPL calls the St Lucie site, Plant St Lucie or PSL for short, there are just 2 Nuc units and no stacks. Just want to set the record straight.
On wind generation: Wind generation does come with its negative aspects. Chopping up birds is one of them. Many on the west coast of the US have protested the wind farms because of the killing of protected birds of prey. There are other negative areas of concern, noise and believe it or not “ice slinging” . There is also the concern over Grid reliability due to the lack of predictability of wind force. BTW: Solar has this same predictability issue.
On exFPLer as an expert: I am not an expert on power generation, that was not my area of expertise at FPL. In my career at FPL I did work on projects that involved generation and distribution of electric power. In doing so I visited all the FPL plants in Florida many times and was badged for unescorted access to the Nuc’s. In doing so I gained some insight on the plants and power distribution. I also do not think FPL “walks on water”, they are like any large company and have their good points and bad points.
Exfpler hints at the flaw in the nuclear vs. wind question raised by several commenters. There is no such choice being offered. Nor is such a choice possible.
Nuclear provides a large amount of steady base load power, and wind provides a relatively small amount of intermittent, highly variable, and largely unpredictable power.
The only reliable thing giant wind turbines provide is tax avoidance. Which FPL well knows. As the largest owner of wind energy facilities in the U.S., they are the poster child for using their wind division to avoid paying taxes throughout their operations.
chopped up birds....where is audubon on chopped up birds, where is Eric Draper? He will probably speak at the dedication after they are built.
Fplis an exlert at using conservation as a scam. I took their much touted energy audit and they gave me some canned advice about lowering my bill in the summer when its "usually highest" however I am not in FL during the summer and my bill is always significantly lower then than the rest of the year. How much did it really cost them to created this "customized" home energy project and really how serious are they about having us lower our electric bills?
People arguing about ecological impact of wind turbines are talking out of their asses. Atlantic City installed several units at their sewage treatment plant in the middle of marshland, speficially to measure the effect on the extensive bird population.
Impact: NADA.
I spent an afternoon fishing within a few dozen yards of them: all you could hear was the gentle rush of wind blowing past; palm trees are louder.
New poll: 80% of St. Lucie County residents
want the turbines.
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