| > Wind turbines generate 690v three phase. It isn't stepped down until it gets to a substation near the consumer. Large utility-scale wind turbines do not have power leaving them at 690V. It's many kilovolts. If they put out 690V, just for the sake of example a 2MW turbine would be generating ~3,000A. > The power needed onsite (lights, control systems, energy to start the blades spinning, etc) Self-motoring is only necessary on stall-regulated turbines. Most large utility-scale turbines are pitch-regulated. Here's video of a turbine starting up, showing its control panel with power in/out indicated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bYZ14eebFw > usually comes from a natural gas generator or a direct feed from a fossil fuel plant if one is nearby That is not how electrical grids work. If a wind generator is not generating power and goes online, the power for its control systems comes from the grid, which encompasses all the electrical generation devices attached to said grid. Power for control systems could be coming from other wind turbines, solar, hydro, stored energy, nuclear, whatever. > Due to circular dependencies, you can't power them off the energy they generate. If the generators are connected to the grid and generating power, all the control systems, lighting, whatever - is connected to the same grid. If it's not generating power, all those systems are still connected to the grid. |