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A Server Farm Powered By a Wind Farm

Posted by timothy on from the nice-and-symmetrical dept.

1sockchuck writes "A Texas startup called Baryonyx plans to build data centers powered entirely by renewable energy. Its first project will be a wind-powered server farm powered by 100 wind turbines in the Texas panhandle. The company has also leased 38,000 acres in the Gulf of Mexico, where it hopes to build hundreds of 300-foot wind turbines that can each generate up to 5 megawatts of power to support additional facilities. Baryonyx plans to sell excess capacity to the local utility, which it will use as a backup when the wind dies down."

6 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. wake up folks need more nuclear power! by unix_geek_512 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We need more nuclear power.

    Wind turbines are great and all, except for the fact they need tons of copper, aluminum, fiberglass and other resources which require a heck of a lot of energy to mine and produce.

    All those resources are best used elsewhere, where it is more efficient.

    Nothing beats nuclear power at providing base generating capacity.

    Let's get some hydro in there too, hydro is a dirty word nowadays, which is insane. It's more green than all the "fashionable green technologies".

    Give me an all of above approach please!!!

    And don't forget we need to return to the moon and start mining Helium 3 now();

    1. Re:wake up folks need more nuclear power! by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Is wind really "free"? If we install enough wind turbines, wouldn't we slow the spin of the earth because of the collective resistance of the turbines?

      Nope. Angular momentum is conserved. You'd just be modifying the distribution of it between the atmosphere and the ground's motion - and the planet is a LOT more massive than the atmosphere. (Also: In the temperate zone you'd SPEED UP the Earth by slowing the wind. But not by enough to measure.)

      As for weather effects and the like: A wind farm has about as much effect as growing a forest or raising some skyscrapers. It's a drop in the bucket, atmospherically speaking.

      Give me a call when they're powering the whole planet by using dirigible-borne wind turbines to slow the jet stream by a few percent. It might make a detectable difference in storm tracks.

      --
      Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  2. Re:Why not just use the grid? by bugnuts · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You calculate your average annual load, and scale your wind farm for that load. If you produce more, it goes into the grid for someone else to use. If you produce less, you draw from the grid and pay rip-off prices from the local power company. Basically you're using the power grid as a huge battery and hoping your numbers were close enough to produce what you draw.

    It's better than just a net sum of zero. It's actually better when you use the produced energy yourself, because there is far less energy loss than if the power company sent it to you. Transmission losses for a short distance from the wind farm to you are much lower, assuming you don't skimp on the wiring, and any excess energy will be sent to downstream customers with less loss, too, especially if they make it a high voltage generating station (and I suspect they have to due to the size).

  3. green marketing gimmick by Necron69 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Baryonyx plans to sell excess capacity to the local utility, which it will use as a backup when the wind dies down."

    Translation: the local utility will need to build/buy additional generating capacity to cover the lack of base-load power from the wind farm.

    This is a gimmick that isn't near as 'green' as they want you to believe.

    - Necron69

  4. Re:Umm... by tthomas48 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think that, yes, our modern lifestyle is excessive. But this is happening with coal too. You just don't appear to live in a state where it's extracted, nor downwind of where the plants are releasing pollutants. Texas has a LOT of land that's not particularly good for animals, humans or plants over about 3 feet tall, and is perfect for wind farms.

  5. Re:59 Sq Miles for 1500 MW. Nuke Plant Better. by johannesg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd wager in 20 years there will be a booming business in wind turbine demolition as it becomes painfully clear, even to many wind power advocates, that their efficiency is lousy and the ongoing maintenance, especially as the turbines age, far larger than inticipated; many will be glad to see the eyesores turn down.

    I live in the Netherlands, and I can tell you that windfarms can be turned into a thriving tourist business after a couple of centuries.