Few disagree that with current technology and costs, there are limits - although in most cases, very far from reached - as to how big an impact wind turbines can make to a nation's electricity supply. In brief the decisive issues are;

• energy storage or the lack of it


• relative cost of rival electricity generating technologies


• the availability of international cross-grid stabilisation


• the liquidity of the electricity spot market to cope with fluctuating supply, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year


• the extent of the regulatory support mechanisms


• and perhaps most of all, the average annual windspeed

None of that is to say that this industry will not keep on growing - it will. But global electricity demand, I'm pretty sure, is still outstripping the rate of wind power electricity consumption growth and certainly for now, the rate of technological change that could make it cheaper.

So this story here "Wind fires desalination plant", got me thinking . . . has there not been too much emphasis on wind power providing electricity to the grid, when it can provide a much less time and market sensitive contribution, either pumping water or desalinating it?

The latter idea has particularly caught my interest. If you follow the link above, you'll see that this wind-powered desalination plant will be in Australia - a nation that is going through the longest drought in living memory. As per the article, " . . . the AUD $1.7 billion project will demand almost one-fifth of the country's wind-generated energy, providing the biggest ever boost to the state's green energy industry . . . because the plant will need 400,000 megawatt hours per year."

Global demand for freshwater is at least as great as the world's demand for energy. Friends of mine in the think tank world seem to think that the problem lies in not pricing all of the earth's freshwater and that desalination is a waste of money. Lay down big pipelines say from Scotland and Wales to London and the problem is solved - which strikes me as quite naive. If the biggest source of water nearest to you is the sea and you need it yesterday, then use it now. Don't wait for the planning bureaucrats to approve 100s of miles of pipelines up and down the country, wherever you are. So no wonder Thames Water wants a desalination plant.

The point is this; growing energy and water consumption are highly linked. The average world citizen still only makes $7000 a year and more than a few of them aspire to shower twice a day and drink a few beers, whilst sitting by their own swimming pool.