Wind Power // Current

China Wants China-Grown Wind Turbines, for Itself and Europe

Big shifts seem to be stirring in the wind turbine market. Foreign companies are... more

Simon_Ruymaekers
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Wind Power: It's Here, It's Now, and It's from China

Congratulations, everyone who supports wind power and opposes lower taxes on US... more

plusaf
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22 days ago
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2 comments

Ridgeblade Wind Turbine Silences NIMBYs

Rooftop solar panels are unlikely to elicit complaints from neighbors–they’re... more

slovelett
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27 days ago
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Call Lisa Jackson and tell the EPA to intervene at Coal River Mountain

I just called and was told there have been several hundred other calls and that they... more

JanforGore
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27 days ago
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Want A Wind Turbine On Your House? New iPhone App Measures Wind Speed

A new iPhone app from the makers of Windspire wind turbines allows you to measure wind... more

theauthor
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28 days ago
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Iowa's wind power surging

Iowa has become the second-largest producer of wind power in the U.S., and some credit an aggressive and supportive role played by local government.

That support is seen in numerous ways: Wind-energy producers and equipment makers enjoy state tax breaks, and projects of 25 megawatts or smaller don't need to be certified by the utilities board. In addition, producers know ahead of time that they will be able to recover their costs from customers, which makes them more likely to invest. Iowa counties, meanwhile, appreciate the revenue and the jobs that wind farms produce, and have few zoning regulations for wind turbines.

"Iowa shows that concentrated and consistent leadership from governors and consistent support from the state regulatory commission can get a lot done," says Hans Detweiler, director of state policy at the American Wind Energy Association, or AWEA, a trade group based in Washington, D.C.

Indeed, as more states and the federal government seek to encourage more production of renewable energy, Iowa may point the way.

"There's very little regulation," says Terry Monson, who deals with permitting and legal work at independent power developer Renewable Power Markets Access Inc., based in Juno Beach, Fla. "It's very expeditious." Mr. Monson's company has eight wind projects established or under development in Iowa.

Flat Is Good

Nature and geography have lent a hand, too, of course.

Iowa may point the way as more states seek to encourage production of renewable energy
."First, it's relatively flat, making it easy to build," says Scott Jacobson, managing director of wind power finance at Iberdrola Renewables SA, a Spanish engineering and renewable energy company that entered the state in 2003 and now has more than 300 megawatts of local wind projects. Iowa is also "relatively rural, making land control easy," Mr. Jacobson says.

What's more, winds there are strong, and the state lies in an enviable position on the grid—close to load centers like Chicago and Milwaukee.

Last year, Iowa added 1,600 megawatts of wind capacity, jumping ahead of California for second place behind Texas. At the end of the second quarter of 2009, Iowa had 3,043 megawatts of total wind capacity, compared with 8,361 megawatts in Texas and 2,787 megawatts in California, according to the wind-energy association. Iowa's wind now powers about 15% of the state's electricity consumption, which represents a lofty goal for many other states.

The so-called Corn State began promoting renewable-energy sources as early as 1978, when, in response to the oil shock, it passed a property-tax exemption for wind, solar and other types of generators whose electricity was used on site. Then, in 1983, the state adopted the first renewable-energy mandate in the U.S., requiring that its investor-owned utilities draw power from 105 megawatts of renewable generation by 1990.

That's not much by today's standards, but it got the ball rolling. During the 1990s, Iowa added a few megawatts of wind installations a year, until 1999, when the total jumped to 232 megawatts installed, thanks largely to new federal tax credits and the arrival of powerful new European turbines. Iowa met its renewable-power mandate goal in 1997.Iowa has become the second-largest producer of wind power in the U.S., and some credit... more

JanforGore
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29 days ago
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Solar Tower: Madrid, Spain

The video explains it. But I want to know why I never hear this concept brought up... more

Weepowopo
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1 month ago
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2 comments

Palmdale, CA Allows Parking Lots To Double As Wind Farms

While some cities and states are busy passing regulations that either restrict or ban... more

theauthor
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1 month ago
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Shifting the world to 100 percent clean, renewable energy as early as 2030 -- here are the numbers

Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering, has coauthored an... more

ScottP
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1 month ago
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Malawian Boy Uses Wind to Power Hope, Electrify Village

(CNN) -- William Kamkwamba dreamed of powering his village with the only resource that... more

tcmfan08
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1 month ago
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Wind Turbines and Sensitive Prairie

I found this article hopeful for wind generation and conservation of our wildlife habitat. I am aware of the consequences of interfering with wildlife habitat or destroying it with roads and other equipment needed.
I am also aware that if we don't do what needs to be done, there will be no wildlife, for we will have polluted our planet to the point nothing can live.

Excerpt:
Much More Than Just Turbine Strikes
A growing body of data and analysis is allowing researchers to make more specific observations and projections about the effects of climate change. In the United States, scientists have already charted an average increase in temperatures of 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 100 years, as well as longer growing seasons, sea-level rises, earlier snowmelt and retreating glaciers.

The projected climate shifts for the Great Plains will be among the most severe. According to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the plains will experience an average increase of 2.5 to 13 degrees Fahrenheit by 2090. (The variation depends on which emissions scenario is used. The greater the reduction in emissions of heat-trapping gases, the smaller the temperature increase.) Other projected effects include an increase in droughts and heat waves.

The report also warns of ripple effects on native habitats and species, from a proliferation of invasives to harder times for local wildlife — especially ground-nesting birds like grouse and prairie chickens. “Grassland and plains birds, already besieged by habitat fragmentation, could experience significant shifts and reductions in their range,” finds the report.

Without drastic reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, grassland bird species may find themselves without any habitat. It’s something of a Catch-22 for the birds. Building a clean-energy infrastructure is crucial to saving their habitat — but not if the turbines and towers are built on top of their remaining range.

For Manes, the best of both worlds would be to direct wind-power development into existing farm fields and out of crucial habitats. Indeed, a number of well-sited wind farms across the country already produce clean electricity.

In 2008, wind turbines produced 48 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, according to the American Wind Energy Association. That’s enough energy to power 4.5 million U.S. homes for one year. If the equivalent electricity were produced using conventional U.S. fuel supplies (largely coal and natural gas), 44 million tons of CO2 would have been pumped into the air.I found this article hopeful for wind generation and conservation of our wildlife... more

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1 month ago
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World's biggest wind farm opens in Texas

"The farm contains 627 wind turbines on almost 100,000 acres of land near Roscoe,... more

MirrorLake
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1 month ago
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William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind

Very inspiring and courageous speech. He built a wind mill from scraps to power... more

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2 months ago
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Mariah Power Celebrates 400th Windspire Wind Turbine Installation

Start-up wind technology company, Mariah Power , today announced the 400th... more

TwilightEarth
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2 months ago
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30 Billion for renewable energy.

The Green Revolution is thriving and growing stronger every day. Business,... more

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2 months ago
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The Weekly Carboholic: EPA Office of the Inspector General recommends EPA enforce Clean Water Act

Last week, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that the EPA’s internal... more

angliss
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2 months ago
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Clean Energy FAIL

Helping with the climate crisis...I think not.

ProjectBat
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3 months ago
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Norway installs first major floating turbine

FAR out to sea, the wind blows faster than it does near the coast. A turbine placed there would thus generate more power than its inshore or onshore cousins. But attempts to build power plants in such places have foundered because the water is generally too deep to attach a traditional turbine’s tower to the seabed.

One way round this would be to put the turbine on a floating platform, tethered with cables to the seabed. And that is what StatoilHydro, a Norwegian energy company, and Siemens, a German engineering firm, have done. The first of their floating offshore turbines has just started a two-year test period generating about 1 megawatt of electricity—enough to supply 1,600 households.

The Hywind is the first large turbine to be deployed in water more than 30 metres deep. The depth at the prototype’s location, 10 kilometres (six miles) south-west of Karmoy, is 220 metres. But the turbine is designed to operate in water up to 700 metres deep, meaning it could be put anywhere in the North Sea. Three cables running to the seabed prevent it from floating away.

It is an impressive sight. Its three blades have a total span of 82 metres and, together with the tower that supports them, weigh 234 tonnes. That makes the Hywind about the same size as a large traditional offshore turbine.

Even though it is tethered, and sits on a conical steel buoy, the motion of the sea causes the tower to sway slowly from side to side. This swaying places stress on the structure, and that has to be compensated for by a computer system that tweaks the pitch of the rotor blades to keep them facing in the right direction as the tower rocks and rolls to the rhythm of the waves. That both improves power production and minimises the strain on the blades and the tower. The software which controls this process is able to measure the success of previous changes to the rotor angle and use that information to fine-tune future attempts to dampen wave-induced movement.

If all works well, the potential is huge. Henrik Stiesdal of Siemens’s windpower business unit reckons the whole of Europe could be powered using offshore wind, but that competition for space near the coast will make this difficult to achieve if only inshore sites are available. Siting turbines within view of coastlines causes conflicts with shipping, the armed forces, fishermen and conservationists. But floating turbines moored far out to sea could avoid such problems. That, plus the higher wind speeds which mean that a deep-water turbine could generate much more power than a shallow-water one, make the sort of technology that the Hywind is pioneering an attractive idea.FAR out to sea, the wind blows faster than it does near the coast. A turbine placed... more