Public 'ignored' on fracking and wind turbines by 'undemocratic' energy policy, says Dale Vince | Western Daily Press

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Wind-farms-v-fracking-Turbines-favo

DIY 1000 watt wind turbine

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-1000-watt-wind-turbine

Applied Sciences

http://www.applied-sciences.net/library/zoetrope.ph

Oil Billionaire Weighs In On Wind Turbines: ‘Once They're There, They Haunt You'

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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/20/2494801/harold-hamm-wind-e

Siemens receives major U.S. wind order | Business Wire

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http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130820005530/en/Siemens-receiv

Oil Exec: Oklahoma is "haunted" by wind turbines - Salon.com

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http://www.salon.com/2013/08/20/oil_exec_oklahoma_is_haunted_by_wind_t

A Nuclear Weapons Facility In Texas Will Soon Host The Largest Federally-Owned Wind Farm | ThinkProgress

The wind farm will supply 60 percent of the facility's energy needs, and will not cost taxpayers a cent. The post A Nuclear Weapons Facility In Texas Will Soon Host The Largest Federally-Owned Wind Farm appeared first on ThinkProgress.    
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/14/2465541/texas-nuclear-wind

Wind Energy Prices Hit Lowest Level In 8 Years As Industry Explodes | ThinkProgress

In 2012 wind energy installations soared to 13.1 gigawatts and average long-term wind power prices fell to their lowest point since 2005, according to a new report by the Department of Energy. The post Wind Energy Prices Hit Lowest Level In 8 Years As Industry Explodes appeared first on ThinkProgre
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/06/2419991/wind-energy-indust

In India, Cost of Wind Power Competes with New Coal

According to a recent report by HSBC Global Research, wind power has become cost competitive with new coal capacity in India. Solar is not far behind; the report also claims it is likely to become cost competitive between 2016 and 2018. While policies like the reinstatement of the Generation Based
http://www.ecogeek.org/wind-power/3881-in-india-cost-of-wind-power-com

Green Car Congress: US to hold second auction for renewable energy on Outer Continental Shelf

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold its second competitive lease sale for renewable energy on the US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) on 4 Sept., offering nearly 112,800 acres offshore Virginia for commercial wind energy leasing. The...
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/08/ocs-20130805.htm

New Maryland Legislation Will Drive Offshore Wind Energy Development

At least 200 megawatts of offshore wind energy will soon be built off the shores of Maryland, thanks to new legislation passed this week by the state senate, now on its way to the governor.
http://theenergycollective.com/jessejenkins/196881/offshore-wind-energ

Wind Power Isn't Perfect, But It's a Hell of a Lot Better than the Alternatives

If we were to stick with our coal phase-out strategy without wind, we would need to burn more natural gas. The reality is that when the wind blows it gives us the opportunity to burn less natural gas when it's being used to displace coal. This is partially why greenhouse-gas emissions associated with electricity generation in Ontario have fallen by two-thirds since 2003.
http://theenergycollective.com/tyhamilton/174181/wind-power-isn-t-perf

California hits wind energy milestone: About 5 percent of power from wind

California now gets about 5 percent of its electricity from wind power, according to data released Tuesday by the California Wind Energy Association. The majority of California's electricity - 42 percent - comes from natural gas, followed by nuclear power and hydropower. According to 2010 figures from the California Energy Commission, wind made up 4.7 percent of the state's electricity mix and solar was 0.3 percent. But in 2011, wind projects that generate 921 megawatts - enough electricity for more than 400,000 homes - were installed across the state, which the wind association says should put it above the long-sought-after 5 percent threshold.


http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-california-energy-milestone-percent-power.html

Koch Brothers Fund Bogus Study Bashing Offshore Wind in New Jersey

New Jersey has a reputation (earned from the areas around Newark) of bad air quality.  So bad the American Lung Association awarded them F's in a grade card.

The Koch Brothers funded group, Americans For Prosperity, Gov. Chris Christie to kill NJ's participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.. AND.. last month another Koch Brothers funded group, Beacon Hill Institute, released several slanted cost-benefit analyses of offshore wind projects.  The reports dramatically overstate the costs and underestimate the economic benefits of offshore wind.

Furthermore, the study assigns zero value to increased energy independence and vastly underestimates the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions New Jersey’s targeted 1,100 MW of offshore wind energy would produce.

Bill Koch has long been a vocal opponent of Cape Wind thanks in no small part to the fact that his seaside mansion in a gated, country club community in Osterville, MA overlooks the area of Nantucket Sound where the company is slated to begin construction of turbines as soon as 2012.

Summary of: Koch Brothers Fund Bogus Study Bashing Offshore Wind in New Jersey

How the Western US can implement large-scale implementation of wind and solar power

Most of us desire a clean environment, and desire electricity to be generated with no negative consequence. As it stands electricity generation has huge negative consequences from the coal emissions, to the mining operations to get the coal, to disposing of the coal residues, and the CO2 etc emitted from burning natural gas. It's a bad story that can be fixed through using more wind and solar energy. But wind and solar needs some sort of energy storage to balance out variability and the troughs in production.

Debra Lew, of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, gave a presentation at the Energy Seminar at Stanford University discussing models for how the Western US could adopt large quantities of wind and solar energy. One conclusion they came to is that large scale energy storage systems aren't as necessary as conventional wisdom would believe.

Wind power - mostly occurs at night - Solar power - mostly occurs during the day. Hence the simple assumption is you need to store energy from when generation is at its peak production and release stored energy when it's in a trough. That is, next to the wind farm you install an energy storage system that fills up overnight, and releases energy during the day.

However.. Ms. Lew says this isn't necessary, if the grid operators make some changes to how the business is run.

Observation: Wind and solar energy complement each other. One has its peak when the other is in a trough. Hence energy storage isn't required so much as having enough generating capacity. A factoid about energy storage systems is they're currently rather expensive. The grid operators will want to minimize energy storage systems, and the cheapest way to do so is to not buy it but instead by enough wind/solar generating capacity so that one system makes up for the other system's trough.

The Western US is covered by WECC which is an electrical interconnect zone. In most of WECC there is little cooperation between the utilities, leaving each utility on its own to balance its load.

Ms. Lew gives regional "balancing area cooperation" as a primary change to implement for renewable energy to make a big impact in the West. For example Wyoming has huge wind resources, and could be supplying electricity to the rest of the West if only there were enough cooperation and transmission lines.

She gave a bunch of other recommendations. The whole pile of them boiled down to: greater flexibility

Their study shows it's operationally feasible for the Western US to adopt Wind and Solar at a large scale.

She did say that historically this region has tried to set up more cooperation but ran into political problems. Essentially the individual utilities have resistance to their autonomy being undermined by a regional cooperative. But she went on to say that as they get more experience with renewable energy they'll realize regional cooperation is vital.

Links: 

http://energyseminar.stanford.edu/node/299

Department of Energy - DOE Announces Clean Energy Projects for Low-Carbon Communities of the Americas Initiative

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In support of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas announced by President Obama at the 2009 Summit of the Americas, Secretary Steven Chu announced today that the U.S. Department of Energy has selected three initial projects under the Low-Carbon Communities of the Americas (LCCA) - a program launched in June 2009 to assist countries in Latin America with sustainable energy market transformation initiatives.

“DOE is committed to advancing clean energy technology development and deployment globally,” said Secretary Chu. “The Low-Carbon Communities of the Americas initiative offers an opportunity for the Department to work closely with our neighbors to reduce energy use, increase energy security, and promote a low-carbon future across the Western Hemisphere.”

Through the LCCA program, DOE invited countries to submit proposals for collaboration in areas including renewable energy development and building and industrial energy efficiency. DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), along with other National Laboratories, will provide technical assistance to countries receiving support under the initiative.

Later this year, Secretary Chu will host his counterparts from North and South America at the Energy Ministerial of the Americas to continue developing and expanding joint clean energy and climate efforts. The Energy Ministerial will be held from April 15-16 in Washington, D.C.
DOE and NREL have selected the following three projects under the LCCA:

Energy Efficiency Center in Costa Rica

The government of Costa Rica, along with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), will create an Energy Efficiency Center in Costa Rica that will train and certify professionals in energy efficient technology and auditing procedures, and help expand the technical knowledge base and capabilities of countries across Central America. Once established, the Center will partner with leading energy efficiency organizations to conduct its own research on efficiency programs and energy savings in tropical areas. The results of this research would benefit the Central American and Caribbean region as a whole, as well as provide important information for other nations with similar climates. The project will bring together DOE, Costa Rica’s electricity and telecommunications group ICE, the NRDC, and the University of Costa Rica to create the program and training materials, train the Center’s future instructors, and run two initial energy efficiency auditor training courses.
At an event earlier this week in San José, Costa Rica, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sánchez joined with DOE officials and representatives of Costa Rica’s Ministry of Energy and Environment, ICE, NRDC and the University of Costa Rica to launch the Center.

Building Low-Carbon Communities in the Caribbean

This proposal from the Organization of American States (OAS) and several Caribbean governments will enable participating countries to expand the development and use of renewable energy and energy efficiency systems, helping to increase the sustainability of their energy supplies while reducing carbon emissions. The project will target local training and technical programs on how to conduct energy efficiency audits and retrofits. There will also be a focus on strengthening communities’ capacity to review and evaluate resource assessments related to indigenous renewable natural resources. This project will engage St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, The Bahamas, Antigua & Barbuda, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines.

Dominica Wind Project

This project proposed by Dominica aims to prove the viability of smaller, distributed wind generation as an alternative to traditional, megawatt-class, utility-scale turbines. Efforts will take into consideration available technologies, economics, and constructability to identify and model appropriate turbine technologies under 250 kilowatts. The Dominica Wind Project will also model commercialization strategies and the impact on the electrical grid of small distributed wind generation, assess the impact on energy costs for consumers, purchase and install initial pilot turbines, and implement a public information campaign to expand the use of renewable energy.

Article Reference: 

Department of Energy - DOE Announces Clean Energy Projects for Low-Carbon Communities of the Americas Initiative

Aruba's New Windfarm - How to keep on financing wind farms when banks have no money left.

A new wind farm set up in Aruba shows how good choices lead to an excellent power source. While in most places the wind is gusty and unpredictable, certain places have very predictable winds. In this case the wind farm was set up on the eastern end of Aruba which gets consistent trade winds, which are highly regular and almost always in the same direction (allowing to put the turbines very close to one another). This wind farm has one of the highest capacity factors in the world, with 50% more power output per turbine than European offshore windfarms.

The wind farm was installed in September (4 months ago) and is already providing 20% of the islands power needs.

The wind farm directly replaced oil fired turbines that used to provide the electricity for Aruba. Hence it directly improves their environmental footprint.

The financing is very simple due to the predictable nature of this wind source. The utility buys the electricity from the wind farm at a fixed price over 15 years which is roughly equivalent to what it costs to produce electricity from their traditional (dirty) generators with oil prices at $45/bbl.

Banks are engaged in a massive deleveraging exercise right now. New lending activity is therefore much more scrutinized from a risk perspective. Read more on the financing here: How to keep on financing wind farms when banks have no money left.

Article Reference: 

The Oil Drum: Europe | Aruba's New Windfarm

How to keep on financing wind farms when banks have no money left.

Wind energy factoids from the American Wind Energy Association

In 2008 the wind energy industry brought online over 8,500 MW of new wind power capacity, increasing total capacity by 50% in one year. Phenomenal growth!! Keep it up!!

The U.S. market for small wind turbines (capacity less than 100 kW) grew 96% in 2008. There were 19 MW of additional small wind turbines installed.

Wind turbine or component manufacturers added or expanded over 70 facilities during 2007-8.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 includes a three year extension of a production tax credit (PTC) and a new program that allows renewable energy developers an option of securing a grant from the Treasury Department in the amount of a 30% investment tax credit. It also authorises an additional $1.6 billion of new renewable energy bonds for tribal governments, public power providers, and electric cooperatives.

Wind energy now contributes over 42% of all non-hydro-electric renewable energy generation.

The U.S. Department of Energy has a goal that 20% of U.S. electricity needs be met by wind power by 2030. A report: 20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply found this could be met in one scenario. That by 2018 installations of new wind power capacity would have to increase to more than 16,000 MW per year and continue at that rate through 2030. A total of 300,000 MW of onshore and offshore wind power capacity would have to be installed.

Fortunately the actual rate of new installations in 2008 exceeded the required level to meet the 2018 target.

Article Reference: 

Wind Energy Industry Growth, 2008

Wind Power Outlook

http://www.awea.org/projects

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Jellyfish Wind Appliance

URL: 

Jellyfish Wind Appliance

Description: 

Clarian is a Research and Development firm focused on developing technologies that enable organizations in the energy and transportation sectors to transform their operations to profit from the latest in energy-related information technology and the emerging smart-energy web.

They have developed a wind turbine with interesting capabilities.

extvideo: 

Green light for Europe's biggest windfarm

21/07/2008

Europe's largest onshore windfarm has been given the green light by the Scottish Government.

First Minister Alex Salmond said the 152-turbine Clyde windfarm near Abington in South Lanarkshire would be capable of powering up to 320,000 homes.

This development will bring £600 million of investment while during construction the project is expected to create 200 jobs, with approximately 30 staff employed when fully operational.

Speaking ahead of the World Renewable Energy Congress in Glasgow, the First Minister said:

"The Clyde windfarm will represent a very important step in the development of renewable energy in Scotland and in meeting shared European targets. It is another step towards making Scotland the green energy capital of Europe.

"The Scottish Government has an ambitious target to generate 31 per cent of Scotland's electricity demand from renewable sources by 2011 and 50 per cent by 2020.

"Today's announcement makes it virtually certain that the 2011 target will be met early and exceeded by the end of this Parliamentary term and represents a significant milestone on the way to achieving the 2020 target.

"Scotland has a clear, competitive advantage in developing clean, green energy sources such as wind, wave and tidal power.

"We have put renewable energy at the heart of our vision of increasing sustainable, economic growth.

"Installed renewables capacity is already greater than nuclear capacity. But this announcement demonstrates that we are only at the start of the renewables revolution in Scotland. Combined with the crucial announcement of a new biomass plant in Fife on Friday, the Clyde declaration today makes this weekend one of the biggest advances ever in energy technology in Scotland."

The Clyde windfarm application was submitted by Airtricity. The windfarm will be built in clusters of turbines on either side of the M74 motorway. It will have a total capacity of up to 548 Megawatts (MW). At present, the largest consented windfarm in Scotland is Whitelee, on Eaglesham Moor, south of Glasgow, which is currently under construction and will have a total capacity of 322MW. Currently the biggest operational windfarm in Europe is the Maranchon windfarm in Guadalajara, Spain which has a generating capacity of 208 MW.

The Scottish Government's Energy Consents Unit is currently processing 36 renewable project applications - 26 wind farm, nine hyrdro and one wave project, which equates to 2.5 Gigawatts (GW) of electricity.

Current installed renewables capacity in Scotland totals 2800 MW. Installed nuclear capacity is 2090 MW. Approval of the Clyde windfarm means that the total installed capacity either built or consented and under construction will be 4.55GW - just 450 MW short of the 5GW needed to reach the Scottish Government's interim target of generating 31 per cent of Scotland's electricity demand from renewable sources by 2011.

Approval of the Clyde windfarm makes a significant contribution to meeting the EU renewables target of 20 per cent of all energy consumption by 2020.

17 energy projects have now been determined by this Scottish Government. This includes consent for 12 renewable projects since May last year, and compares with an annual average of four under the previous administration.

In Scotland the latest annual figures are for 2006. These show:

• Electricity generated by renewable sources (apart from hydro natural flow) increased by 46 per cent
• As a result of unplanned outages, nuclear's share of generation fell from 38 per cent to 26 per cent in Scotland
• In 2006, Scotland could have supplied 92.5 per cent of its electricity needs from non-nuclear sources
• Electricity generated in Scotland increased by nine per cent. In 2005, Scotland exported 15 per cent of the electricity generated to consumers elsewhere in the UK, but this rose to 20 per cent in 2006
• Announcements over the last year bring us much closer to achieving the Scottish Government's ambitious targets of generating 31 per cent of Scotland's electricity demand from renewable sources by 2011 and 50 per cent by 2020

Any proposal to construct, extend or operate a windfarm with a generation capacity in excess of 50 MW requires the consent of Scottish Ministers under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

Article Reference: 

Green light for Europe's biggest windfarm

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