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风车是澳大利亚南极地带能源的基础
 
 

  Windmills to power Australian Antarctic bases

  SYDNEY (Reuters)—Australian scientists plan to powe r their Antarctic bases with giant windmills, harnessin g the cold gales which sweep across the icy continent.

  Australian Antarctic Division scientists say that i f the wind turbines survive the freezing environment, w ind power could replace conventional diesel powered gen erators at all Antarctic bases.

  "It could replace diesel fuel, which always has the risk of a spill, reduce greenhouse gases and there are cost savings," the division's Peter Magill told Reuters on Wednesday.

  Several Antarctic bases operated by nations such as Australia and the United States already have small wind turbines for recharging batteries.

  These small turbines generate only around 10 kilowa tts of power, while Australia's planned giant windmills would generate 280 kilowatts each.

  The first scientific base to be connected to the wi ndmills will be Australia's Mawson Base as it has an av erage annual wind speed of 27 mph.

  "In terms of annual wind that is probably the best in the world, there are high constant winds," Magill sa id.

  Mawson, which houses 40 scientists during summer an d 20 in winter, will be powered by three windmills.

  Australia hopes to also build windmills at its Davi s and Macquarie Island stations, but as the winds there are not as constant five windmills will be erected at e ach station.

  The Antarctic windmill project is estimated to cost about $1 million.

  Magill said some scientific bases were already usin g solar power, but this was limited to the summer month s.

  "The beauty of wind is that it is available all yea r round," he said.

  Scientists had previously thought windmills could n ot survive the destructive Antarctic winds, which can r each 155 mph, and freezing temperatures which plummet t o minus 31 Fahrenheit.

  But when two windmill turbines survived a cyclone i n India three years ago, scientists believed they could finally harness the Antarctic winds.

  "Before that manufacturers were not interested in t he project," said Magill, adding German wind-power firm Enercon was now modifying its windmill turbines for use in Antarctic.

  The windmills will be constructed with special stee l and coated with an insulating substance to avoid meta l fatigue.

  Magill said the temperature of windmills must be ke pt above minus 68 degree Fahrenheit to avoid metal fati gue.

  Working in the scientists favor is the fact that de structive Antarctic winds do not usually coincide with extreme freezing temperatures. "The wind and cold has n ot been as great a problem as we thought," he said.

  by Michael Perry

 
 

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