The second is a minefield because the technical responses make a rich mix, ranging from "it's not a problem because if you have enough wind turbines they compensate for each other" to "you need a fossil fuel power station on standby for every wind farm".

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National Grid is currently consulting on plans to develop its network to carry electricity from the proposed wind farm and the planned new nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey.

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Other companies, like wind and solar power companies, perpetually maintain their station at the government pork trough, yet never produce products at a remotely competitive price.

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Such a grid is being tested at the army's model forward operating base (FOB) in Fort Irwin, California, along with prototypes of a mobile, hybrid power station that combines solar panels and wind turbines with a conventional generator.

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As more turbines are approved, the National Grid is legally obliged to extend the power infrastructure - and that's why there are plans for pylons and a sub-station to be built in Powys so that the power generated by wind farms is taken to the rest of the country.

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Consider: An 86-kilowatt hydroelectric station in Argentina will provide power to a tiny rural community there while a wind and diesel hybrid system of the same size will supply another village.

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This week EDF Renewable Energy officially unveiled the 140-megawatt Pacific Wind farm in the Tehachapi-Mojave region of Southern California and the nearby 143-megawatt Catalina solar power station.

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He told MPs that wind turbines were "probably the most beautiful and graceful form of energy generation and certainly prettier than the average nuclear power station".

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