Norwegian fact-checking website faktisk.no debunked a myth stating that wind turbines generate electricity only four months a year.
In its conclusion, the website states that wind turbines generate electricity most of the time, but that the level of production varies according to wind conditions. For the “four out of twelve months” claim to be correct, wind turbines would have had to be expected to produce all hours of the day, all year round, which they are not.
NorthWind research centre director John Olav Tande, interviewed for the article, says that the Norwegian term brukstid (use time), which was the basis for the claim, often gets misinterpreted. «It’s meant to be a ratio; a practical way to compare different numbers. It does not mean that the wind turbines don’t generate power the rest of the time», he says. He adds that the concept of use time exists for other types of power plants, such as hydroelectric dams, which are also not generating power at full capacity 100 percent of the time.
The original claim debunked by faktisk.no was made in a flyer prepared by Norwegian wind power opposition group Motvind Norge.
You can read the whole fact-checking article on the faktisk.no website (in Norwegian).
