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Sometimes a short, simple statement can be better than a long detailed argument.

The figures in the statements on this page were true for 2014. The sizes of wind turbines and the average solar rooftop installation have increased since then, but the gist of all the statements remains true in 2023.

For every hour a 3MW wind turbine operates in Australia one tonne less CO2 goes into the atmosphere.: This is for an average generation at 35% capacity factor in mainland Australia, and is based on report by Sinclair Knight Merz.
Electricity generated by wind turbines replaces electricity that would otherwise be generated by burning fossil fuels.
A 3MW turbine at 35% capacity factor will generate an average of just over 1MW (that is, 1MWh per hour).
Average fossil fuel power stations in SE Australia release 1 tonne of CO2 into the atmosphere for each MWh of electricity that they generate.
Every three hours operation is equivalent to taking one car off the roads for a year.: An average new passenger car or light commercial vehicle in Australia produces 199g/km CO₂, see National Transport Commission.
The average distance travelled is 15 530 km per year, see Roy Morgan.
Therefore an average passenger car produces 3090kg of CO2/year.
One turbine equals 2000 average domestic solar PV installations.: Utility scale turbines in SE Australia averge a capacity factor of 35%, solar PV has a typical cf. of 18%. A typical new turbine is 3MW, the average domestice solar PV installation is less than 3kW. (Data from the Clean Energy Regulator gives the average size of domestic PV installations up to February 2014 as 2.7kW.)

The evidence that wind power does not harm anyone's health is overwhelming.

Burning fossil fuels causes millions of deaths each year from air pollution, is one of the main causes of climate change, it causes ocean acidification, ocean warming and sea level rise. Wind (and solar) power harms neither people nor the environment.

Update - by 2023, 68% of South Australia's electricity was coming from wind and solar.

More information on the wind farm power generation of South Australia's Mid North can be read here.

More information from Wind power in SA

As of May 2014
More information on the wind farm power generation of South Australia's Mid North can be read here .

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