Wind Power Thread

[amor de cosmos]

• Video Link

• Video Link

http://www.core77.com/blog/sustainab...logy_23948.asp

[amor de cosmos]

Phil McKenna
December 3, 2012
Ducted Wind Turbines: An Energy Game Changer?
Ducted turbine promises significant advances but delivery remains to be seen.

When it comes to wind power, unconventional schemes to boost power and cut costs have never been wanting. Quiet Revolution offers a vertical axis turbine that looks more like a blender than a power generation device. WhalePower proposes mimicking on turbine blades the tubercles found on whale fins to increase power production. Meanwhile Altaeros Energies is developing a flying donut to harness increased wind speeds found at higher elevations.

Earlier this month SheerWind, a wind power startup based in Chaska, Minnesota, added a new design, INVELOX, to the list. INVELOX, short for “increasing the velocity of wind” is a ducted turbine that looks a bit like a giant funnel sitting on top of an equally large periscope. The ductwork is designed to capture wind from any direction, increase its speed and concentrate the moving airflow before passing it through a relatively small turbine at ground level.

It’s an interesting concept that attempts to address a number of challenges facing conventional wind turbines. The power produced by a wind turbine increases with the cube of the wind speed so any increase in speed could offer a significant power boost. Increasing wind speed also reduces the cut in speed, or the minimum wind speed required to begin generating power. SheerWind officials say that by speeding up the wind they can boost power output by 280 percent and reduce the cut in speed by 80 percent to a wind speed of 2 miles per hour.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view...-game-changer/

[JDRCRASH]

Plan would bring wind power from the Great Plains to California


BY MARC LIFSHER
Los Angeles Times
January 24, 2013


SACRAMENTO — Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, who has pushed to bring a football stadium to Los Angeles, also wants to bring wind power to California.

A plan being marketed in Sacramento would bring California utilities thousands of megawatts of electricity from a massive wind farm in Wyoming being developed by the entertainment and energy mogul who also developed L.A. Live and Staples Center.

The idea is being promoted by Wyoming state officials who say that, besides benefiting Anschutz, it could be an economic boost for the Cowboy State and an environmental plus for California, providing cleaner power at a good price.

The proposal comes at a time when renewable energy is a priority for California utilities. A state law requires that by 2020, they produce 33% of their power from renewable sources, such as wind, solar and geothermal. A variety of California companies already provide wind power, and other firms in and out of the state have also expressed interest in providing renewable power.

READ MORE . . .

Source: http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1.../p2p-74140566/

[northbay]

Good news:

Altamont Pass turbines kill fewer birds






photos: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

David R. Baker
Updated 8:24 pm, Monday, January 28, 2013

For decades, wind turbines straddling the Altamont Pass have generated clean electricity for California - at the cost of killing thousands of birds.

...

But efforts to curb the bloodshed may be starting to work.

A new study suggests that the number of eagles, kestrels, burrowing owls and red-tailed hawks killed at Altamont each year has fallen roughly 50 percent since 2005. Reaching that level has been a long-term goal of local environmentalists and government officials, as well as the energy companies running turbines in the pass.

...

The steps taken to protect birds at Altamont - shutting down turbines for several months in the winter, replacing small, fast-spinning older models with larger ones that are easier for birds to avoid - appear to be working. But Michael Lynes, executive director of the Golden Gate Audubon Society, said he wants to keep pushing the numbers lower.

...

The study comes from consulting firm ICF International and examines bird deaths from 2005 to 2010. It focuses in particular on four species that were at the heart of the lawsuit - American kestrels, burrowing owls, golden eagles and red-tailed hawks.

At the start of the study period, deaths of all those species combined averaged 1,245 per year. By the end, the total had fallen to 625. (Those numbers represent three-year, rolling averages, considered useful because the number of birds in the pass can vary from one year to another for reasons that have nothing to do with turbines.)

Calculating mortality

The numbers aren't exact. Although researchers routinely search the wind farm for bird carcasses, they also take into account the possibility that scavengers will remove some of remains before they can be found. The report offers several different ways of calculating mortality rates, and while the results differ, all show a substantial decrease in deaths.

The decline is welcome news for wind power advocates, for whom Altamont's bird-killing reputation had been an embarrassment. They considered the site an aberration, much more deadly than other wind farms.

...

At least 13 turbine models have been installed there over the years, and some proved particularly lethal to birds, as well as bats. Many older models had relatively small blades that spun fast in the wind.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/business/artic...#ixzz2JaGmZfEH

[amor de cosmos]

Official: US Wind Power Accounted For 42% Of New Power Capacity In 2012, Beat Natural Gas
January 31, 2013

2012 proved to be a record-setting year for the US wind power industry. More than 13 gigawatts (GW) of wind power capacity was installed across the country last year, with a record-breaking 8,380 megawatts (MW) installed in the fourth quarter (4Q) alone, according to the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) 4Q industry report.

Leveraging private sector investment of $25 billion, utility-scale wind turbines were installed in 26 states and Puerto Rico in 2012.

Cumulative wind power generation capacity totaled 60,007 GW as of year-end 2012, with turbines up and producing clean, renewable electrical power in 39 states and Puerto Rico. The 60 GW milestone was breached just five months after AWEA announced cumulative US wind power capacity had reached 50 GW.

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/01/31/us-wind-power/

[amor de cosmos]

GE Unveils the World's Most Efficient Wind Turbine: The 'Brilliant' 2.5-120
by Timon Singh, 02/01/13

General Electric (GE) has stepped up its investment in clean energy over the past few years, and the company just announced the world’s most efficient high-output wind turbine – the “brilliant” 2.5-120. The 2.5-120 is the first wind turbine able to provide world-class efficiency and power output at low wind speed sites, and it features a 25% increase in efficiency and a 15% increase in power output compared to GE’s current models. In case you’re wondering what an 120-meter turbine will look like, its rotor will be the size of the London Eye!

http://inhabitat.com/ge-unveils-the-...liant-2-5-120/

[amor de cosmos]

NBC News: Wind-Powered Car Travels 3,000 Miles Across Australia For $15 (Video)
February 9, 2013

A lightweight car called the Wind Explorer recently traveled a whopping 3,000 miles across Australia with the assistance of wind power at a cost of only $15.

The electric vehicle was built by Evonik as a demonstration of its battery and lightweight materials technologies. The vehicle is currently on display at the company’s headquarters.

The vehicle was powered by three sources of energy: one was a portable wind turbine; the second was a kite which helped to pull the vehicle 10–15% of the time (when the wind blue in the right direction); and the third was the electricity grid (however, it only used $15 worth of electricity from the grid).

“They were able to supplement their lithium-ion battery power with kite power about 10 to 15 percent of the time,” Bill Bunting, a senior scientist with Evonik Industries in New Jersey, told NBC News.

The wind turbine weighs 70 pounds, the batteries 200 pounds, and the carbon fiber body also weighs 200 pounds.

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/09/...-for-15-video/

• Video Link

[amor de cosmos]

question: if people find the sound of wind turbines (at best) annoying would they still work if the blades were redesigned so they minimized the sound they made, like the blades of a stealthy helicopter?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_noise_reduction

• Video Link

[amor de cosmos]

China, US lead global wind installations in 2012
By Giles Parkinson on 11 February 2013

The US and China shared equal honours as the largest markets for new wind energy capacity in 2012, according to the latest data released by the Global Wind Energy Council.

According to the GWEC, the US enjoyed a late surge in installations caused by the expiry of a production tax credit to reach 13,124MW of new wind energy capacity for the year, just shy of the 13,200MW installed in China.

Australia ranked 15th in installed wind energy capacity in 2012, adding 358MW, according to the GWEC data. Its total installed capacity stands at 2,584MW, giving it a rank of 17th in the world, behind 11 European countries, China, India, Japan, the US and Canada.

“While China paused for breath, both the US and European markets had exceptionally strong years”, said Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of the Global Wind Energy Council. “Asia still led global markets, but with North America a close second, and Europe not far behind”.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/chin...ations-in-2012

Exelon chief: Wind-power subsidies could threaten nuclear plants
CEO Christopher Crane warns plant closings could become possible; company slashes dividend
By Julie Wernau, Chicago Tribune reporter
February 8, 2013

Exelon Corp. Chief Executive Christopher Crane said Thursday that the rapid pace of subsidized wind-generated electric power could ultimately force it to shutter nuclear plants.

"What worries me is if we continue to build an excessive amount of wind and subsidize wind, the unintended consequence could be that it leads to shutting down plants," Crane said in an interview.

Crane said states that have helped to subsidize wind development in order to create jobs might find themselves losing jobs if nuclear plants shut down.

The Chicago-based company doesn't have any immediate plans to mothball nuclear plants, although at least one analyst has predicted that could occur as soon as 2015.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,2015410.story

[amor de cosmos]

40 Percent of US Wind Projects in 2012 Were Installed in December
In the race to qualify for the production tax credit, companies installed 5,300 megawatts of wind in December.
Stephen Lacey: February 11, 2013

Last week, we detailed the explosion of U.S. wind development in 2012. As companies rushed to take advantage of the expiring production tax credit, the U.S. project pipeline was in overdrive. The wind industry installed more than 13 gigawatts of projects last year -- easily breaking the previous 2009 record of 10 gigawatts.

A lot of that development happened at the very end of the year. Take a look at the chart below from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It shows that 40 percent of projects were finished in December as companies rushed to get their projects placed in service before the PTC expired.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...ed-in-december

[amor de cosmos]

this will probably be solar in a year or two:

Report: More Than 100 Gigawatts in the China Wind Pipeline
Details from the new GTM Research/Azure International China Wind Market Quarterly
Herman K. Trabish: February 22, 2013

The long-term plans of China’s biggest wind developers, as detailed in the new GTM Research/Azure International China Wind Market Quarterly: 4th Quarter 2012, reflect a renewed commitment to renewables by the Chinese government.

“The government appears to be back in the game of promoting the domestic renewable energy market,” according to the report. New policies, including new additions to the government’s 2013 targets for solar (10 gigawatts) and wind (18 gigawatts) and a streamlining of access to subsidy funding, are expected “to act as a counterweight to forces outside of China that have hurt the wind and solar sectors.”

Recent signs of an improving domestic Chinese economy and waning anxiety about Europe’s financial crisis add to growing optimism in China’s renewables sector, according to the report.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...-Wind-Pipeline

[amor de cosmos]

Pattern, Samsung Receive $700 Million for Ontario Wind Farm
12 March 2013

March 12 (Bloomberg) — Pattern Energy Group LP, a closely held renewable energy company backed by private equity investor Riverstone Holdings LLC, said it received about $700 million in debt financing to build its South Kent wind farm in Canada.

The deal included multiple banks and was structured with joint venture partner Samsung C&T Corp., which owns half the project, Pattern spokesman Matt Dallas said today by e-mail. He wouldn’t name the lenders.

South Kent, located in southern Ontario near the shores of Lake Erie, will have a generating capacity of 270 megawatts and consist of components made at factories in the province, San Francisco-based Pattern said today in a statement. Siemens AG is providing the wind turbines and blades, and CS Wind Corp. is supplying the towers.

http://about.bnef.com/bnef-news/patt...rio-wind-farm/

[Alpha]

World's tallest wind turbines are situated since 2012 in Nowy Tomysl, Poland, see on http://epoznan.pl/news-news-36935-No...aki_na_swiecie .

Why is there no world record wind turbine in USA, a country where one loves thinking big?

[amor de cosmos]

Double Wind Power, Save Nearly $7 Billion Per Year In Mid-Atlantic US
May 13, 2013
The below article is courtesy of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid.

WASHINGTON, DC – Adding more wind power to the grid in the PJM region can lower gas and coal consumption and reduce regional wholesale energy market prices, saving nearly $7 billion per year in the mid-2020s, according to a new study conducted by Synapse Energy Economics on behalf of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG). The report found that doubling the wind generation already planned in the region would lower fuel costs and drive down prices by $1.74 per megawatt hour (MWh) in the largest wholesale competitive energy market in the world, PJM, which includes all or parts of 13 states and Washington, DC. The savings also extend into the regions interconnected with PJM.

Consumer Benefits

The study analyzed two scenarios relative to a baseline. In the first, additional wind power came from within the PJM region. In the second, some additional wind power is tapped within PJM, and some is imported from the windier Midwest region adjacent to PJM known as the Midwest ISO (MISO).

In both cases, the cost of the incremental transmission capacity necessary for doubling the amount of wind power on the grid is small compared with the net benefits that would be provided. Both showed net savings of close to $7 billion in 2026, resulting from the fact wind power replaces dirty and inefficient fossil fuel plants and drives down electricity prices. Once wind turbines are in place, the cost of generation is reduced and stable.

Consumers would reap net savings throughout the study period, which focused on 2021–2026. Achieving twice as much wind power on the region’s grid would require little additional investment beyond what is currently planned between now and 2020, as the region is already set to build new infrastructure and increase wind generation over the next 7 years. Between 2021 and 2026, savings begin to accrue immediately with roughly $1 billion saved in the first year, due to a nearly 2:1 ratio of savings to investment.

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/13/...d-atlantic-us/
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/13/...ansmission.org

[amor de cosmos]

Swedish Strawscaper Has a Hair-Covered Shell to Harvest Energy from the Wind
by Kristine Lofgren, 05/17/13

http://inhabitat.com/swedish-strawsc...from-the-wind/

[amor de cosmos]

GE’s Brilliant Wind Turbine — Wind Power Cheaper Than Coal Or Natural Gas (Part 1)
June 29, 2013

This is Part 1 of a 3-part series on GE’s Brilliant 1.6-100 wind turbine. Keep an eye on CleanTechnica or our GE Brilliant Wind Turbine archives for the rest of the series.

GE made a big energy industry splash recently when it introduced its Brilliant 1.6-100 wind turbine and power management system at the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) WINDPOWER 2013 exhibition in Chicago in early May. One of the first utility-scale wind power systems to incorporate short-term, grid-scale battery storage, the GE Brilliant 1.6-100 addresses one of the criticisms (if not the biggest and most frequently cited criticism) of wind energy: its intermittent nature.

Already cost-competitive with thermal coal and natural gas power generation – not to mention its numerous other often ignored and unaccounted for social and ecological benefits and cost savings, which are substantial – GE’s looking to drive the cost of wind energy down further, pushing the envelope outward by incorporating “industrial Internet” capabilities and short-term, grid-scale power storage in the Brilliant 1.6-100 systems platform.

Clearly excited about the Brilliant 1.6-100′s prospects and the tremendous advances in wind power engineering that have been made to date, GE Power & Water invited a group of reporters, including yours truly, to take a tour of the GE Research wind turbine testing facility in southern California’s Tehachapi Mountains, between the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert.

The outing included not only the chance to see the GE Brilliant 1.6-100 turbine (1.6-megawatt max capacity and 100-meter rotor diameter) and real-time power management system up close and in action, but to climb 80 meters to the turbine’s hub, enter the machine head, and then step outside to see the 100-meter-diameter turbine rotor and get a birds-eye view of the wind turbine testing facility and surrounding area.

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/06/29/...r-natural-gas/

[amor de cosmos]

A Sneak Peek of the National Grid on Renewables
A government research facility uses a megawatt-scale simulator and supercomputer to test futuristic grid technologies without disrupting today’s grid.
By Martin LaMonica on July 12, 2013

A new $135 million research facility aims to solve a puzzle: how can countries prepare for an energy system that relies heavily on renewable energy? It can also test ways to improve reliability under stress, for example when demand soars in the summer as the air-conditioning load taxes the grid.

Because wind and solar energy supply power intermittently, they create challenges for grid operators. Other new energy technologies are coming online, too, including electric vehicles, energy storage, efficient buildings that cut power use during peak times, and small-scale natural-gas generators and fuel cells. Integrating these technologies on a large scale presents challenges to grid operators.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, created the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) to understand how to best operate the pieces of a more diverse energy system. Drawing on a supercomputer and power equipment that can create a megawatt-scale mini-grid within the facility, product engineers and utilities can simulate the impact of new technologies without causing problems to functioning grids.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news...on-renewables/

[amor de cosmos]

Greenko to Invest 350 Million Euros in Indian Hydro and Wind
24 July 2013

July 24 (Bloomberg) — Greenko Group Plc, an Indian clean-energy developer, plans to invest 350 million euros ($463 million) this fiscal year in onshore wind and hydropower plants in India as it targets 1,000 megawatts of capacity by 2015.

The company, which has 806 megawatts of projects operating or under construction, wants to bring online 250 megawatts of new wind power capacity this year, Mark Thompson, director of corporate finance for Hyderabad-based Greenko, said by phone. It expects to invest about 350 million euros this year and “roughly” the same next year.

“We are at this wonderful stage where wind and hydropower are some of the cheapest sources of energy generation in India and we can still make attractive returns,” Thompson said. “It’s a fantastic market and a huge opportunity.” The company plans to both build and acquire hydropower assets.

http://about.bnef.com/bnef-news/gree...ydro-and-wind/

[nito]

Offshore wind power generation has really taken off in the UK over the last decade, and is by far the principle focus for future renewable energy generation in the UK.

Six of the top ten largest operational offshore wind farms are currently located around the UK's coastline, of which five are in the top six, including the three largest in the world. The UK is also home to the world's largest offshore wind farm currently under construction (the future world number two).

All of these installed projects will however be dwarfed by the seven 1GW+ proposed offshore projects around the UK which will rapidly increase the percentage of energy generated from renewables. The Dogger Bank and East Anglia projects alone are anticipated to generate 9GW and 7.2GW of energy respectively which should allow the UK to meet the EU Renewables Directive.

[amor de cosmos]

Oklahoma utility buys 600MW of wind power to cut cost of electricity
By Ryan Koronowski on 14 October 2013

Oklahomans will soon be paying less for their electricity because their utility looked at the market and decided that wind power would be the most cost-effective option.

On Thursday, the 100-year-old Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) — a division of American Electric Power (AEP) — signed an agreement to buy 600 megawatts of power from wind farms being developed in the northwestern part of the state. Currently there is just one large-scale wind farm in the Panhandle and in almost two years,there will be three more.

“The Panhandle of Oklahoma truly is one of the mother lodes of wind in this country,” said Clean Line Energy Partners President Michael Skelly.

The initial plan was just to buy one 200 MW project, but PSO tacked on another 400 MW “after seeing extraordinary pricing opportunities that will lower utility costs by an estimated $53 million in the first year and even more thereafter,” according to Tulsa World.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/okla...ustomers-49199