can we replace gas power stations with wind turbines?

Answer 1

as near as I can tell, the annual electrical consumption of the US alone is about 4 million megawatts. Of that 800,000 megawatts is produced by natural gas. (2.1 million megawatts are produced by petroleum and coal fyi)

as near as I can tell the best wind turbines have a capability of up to about 800,000 Watts. Although there are exceptions, (like Germany claims to have a turbine that can produce 5 megawatts) I'll stick to the known. Any by the way, typical units produce about 100,000 watts.

so to duplicate gas only with current wind turbines would require about 800,000 wind turbines operating all the time and together on one well managed grid. To replace all fossile fuel plants would require about 3.2 million turbines. Again, that's if the things were working all the time. let's say they are only usable 10% of the time. Now we're up to say 10 million or so turbines all working together. Today there are only about 5500 natural gas turbines operating in the US. imagine the complications increasing the number of turbines by a factor of 2,000 times...

so no. Wind power can suppliment our power resources but not replace them

Answer 2

Maybe if the winds blowing when you need the power. The big problem is that public utilities are government protected monopolies. They are allowed to pass on their energy cost right on the electric bill (See the fuel adjustment part of your bill). So they don't care what the fuel cost why should they make the higher capital expense of building wind, nuclear, or hydroelectric power plants.

Gas turbine power plants are the cheapest to build. They don't require all of the scrubbing equipment of coal fired plants and the regulatory hassle of nuke plants. Or the amount of space (and capital cost ) needed for wind generation. And as noted above these companies are government protected monopolies they have no competitors and can pass the energy cost directly to consumers.

Answer 3

Yes u need that reliable wind turbine to furnish light for u on the operation table. Wind is just a stop gap power not a reliable source.