Category: Wind Turbine Technology


$1Billion Ghost Town

Filed under: Alternative Energy Sources, Biomass, Breaking news, Environmental Issues, Health Issues, Renewable Energy, solar energy for mobile devices, Solar Energy Technology, Solar Thermal, Uncategorized, Wind Turbine Technology — Leave a comment
May 9, 2012

According to this AP via Yahoo News story, $1 billion ghost town is planned for a 15-square mile area in Lea County, near Hobbs, New Mexico. The goal is to provide a safe location for research projects for next-generation applications.

Sam Cobb, Hobbs Mayor, said the research facility will look just like an empty city about the size of Rock Hill, South Carolina, but will literally be a city without residents.

The town will contain highways, houses and commercial buildings and facilities. Structures will be a combination of old and new, just like any other populated area. While nobody will live there, they could.

Homes will be fitted with all appliances, heating and air conditioning, and plumbing. This way, new technologies of all kinds can be tested in real-world conditions, without disturbing the everyday lives of citizens.

While some researchers are busy testing a new renewable energy technology against existing-technology power grids, other researchers can examine a new smart street-signal system designed to work with self-driving cars, also under test.

Simultaneously, other testers could be indoors collecting data on a new toilet technology design that flushes by the power of human thought. Just wanted to see if you were paying attention…

Environmental and health issues of certain tecnhologies could be examined without fear of harming the town’s citizens. The only thing that apparently won’t be done in the $1 Billion ghost town is destructive testing. At least not intentionally. They hope.

Ground-breaking is planned by the end of June of 2012, with an initial development cost of $400 million. It is believed that the project could create 350 permanent jobs and about 3,500 indirect jobs as part of design, development, construction, and maintenance operations.

The benefits could be even greater, based on the use of the scientific ghost town. Hobbs airport hopes to expand on its number of daily flights to/from Houston, and is working toward securing service to Albuquerque and Denver, and perhaps other cities.

Comment

Blue Creek Sees Green

Filed under: Breaking news, Renewable Energy, Wind Turbine Technology — Leave a comment
March 6, 2012

CleanTechnica.com’s “Blue Creek Wind Farm Completed” story today says that Iberdrola has finished construction on this massive renewable energy project in Ohio.

How massive?

Iberdrola’s Blue Creek Wind Farm fact sheet lists the advertised wind energy capacity as 350 megawatts (MW) generated from 175 2.0 MW wind turbines. The CleanTechnica article states the actual capacity is more like 304 MW from 152 turbines.

Disappointing? Not exactly.

According to the story, the largest wind farm in the world generates 350 MW of wind energy, and the world’s 2nd largest is 150 MW.

So Blue Creek falls just short, taking over 2nd place on the world’s wind farm capacity list.

Of course, that is not what’s important. Five hundred local constructions workers had full-time employment building the project. Permanent jobs now exist for wind farm maintainers and operators in Ohio’s Van Wert and Paulding counties.

And FirstEnergy Solutions has signed a power purchase agreement for 100 MW over the next 20 years.

I haven’t asked them, but I’m guessing all of these people are OK with Blue Creek being merely the 2nd largest wind farm in the world.
Comment

When Smart People Play with Models, Stuff Like This Happens

Filed under: Alternative Energy Sources, Renewable Energy, Wind Turbine Technology — 2 Comments
January 24, 2012

The U.S. University of Maine’s Director of Advanced Structures and Composite Center, Dr. Habib Dagher, was interviewed on the most recent podcast of NPR’s Science Friday program. He talked about playing with models.

Dr. Dagher leads the Deep Sea Wind Consortium, with goals of establishing 100 wind turbines, each as tall as the Washington Monument, floating in the deep waters of the Gulf of Maine some day. Floating. That some day is only about five years away.

Dr. Dagher says, “We we’re going to walk before we run on this.” That’s why his team started with 1/150-scale models with four-foot turbine blades. When completed, the turbines will be, “about 300 feet to the hub, but five to ten megawatt turbines.

The blades would be close to 180 feet long per blade.” His scale models have withstood a variety of designed storms, including the 1991 “perfect storm” scenario that claimed the fishing boat, Andrea Gail.

Why Maine? Dr. Dagher estimates that there’s 150 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity within 50 miles of the Gulf of Maine. That’s 150 nuclear power plants worth of wind. This is the first time anything like this has been tried in the U.S, but Dr. Dagher says there’s an international race underway to go after deepwater offshore wind.

Europe has been building offshore wind farms since 1991, but the first country to do something of this scale was Norway a few years ago. Two months ago, the Japanese Parliament allocated $250 million to build six floating turbines off Fukushima.

The Plan: Produce nearly 5 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. Less than half of that is still more than Maine can use in a year, so the remaining will be used to heat homes, sell on the New England grid, and fill up cars. Cars are expected to have capacity to store and transfer some of the available energy by then.

The Schedule: The team is transitioning from 1/150th scale to 1/6th scale turbines, which will be deployed off the Gulf of Maine in early 2013. Following that, a small demonstration wind farm will become operational in 2017. Pending success, expansion to a 500 megawatt farm will occur between 2017 and 2020, with full energy generation goals realized by 2030.

Ultimately, 100 Washington Monuments with 180-ft blades will be floating 20-50 miles off of Maine’s coastline. What about the distasteful image from shore? The wind turbines are expected to be invisible because of the curvature of the earth.

Now if I could just get the image of Dr. Dagher playing in a big bathtub out of my head.

Comment

Renewable Energy Where it Matters Most

Filed under: Alternative Energy Sources, Military applications for renewable energy, Military applications for renewable energy, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy Technology, Wind Turbine Technology — Leave a comment
November 21, 2011

Outside Online magazine has a fascinating article on renewable energy and front-line fighting with the United States Marines.

Back in 2003 during the second Iraq war in 2003, General James Mattis commanded the 1st Marine Division during their initial drive into Baghdad, and found his division repeatedly outpacing their own fuel resupply.

They were required to reduce speed to match pace with the much slower fuel resources if they wished to remain fully fueled during the trip. In General Mattis’ post-combat report to Congress, he asked the US Department of Defense to “unleash us from the tether of fuel.” It hasn’t exactly happened yet.

This story is not just a report on the second Iraq war. It features detailed accounts of US Marines India Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment as they transition to renewable energy sources for power and clean water while they continue to fight.  

Colonel Bob Charette, Head of the Expeditionary Energy Office, is quoted many times in the article. His words are refreshing, especially given the typical gridlock and red tape, debates and watered-down answers we’ve come to expect from Washington. 

“Our dependence on power generation puts us directly at risk,” Charette said. “To the Marine Corps, it isn’t  about money or global warming. It’s about saving lives.”

The efforts to make the Marines more combat effective using renewable energy are quickly gaining ground because of what the story calls, “the Corps’s relentless, non-ideological pragmatism.” 

Charette again: “We’re going to change the way we think. In the Marine Corps, behavior change is easy.”

This time it’s Washington DC who is challenged to keep pace.

This story is worth the read!

Comment

500 Birds Found Dead at US Wind Farm

Filed under: Environmental Issues, Renewable Energy, Wind Turbine Technology — Leave a comment
November 9, 2011

The NY Times Green Blog reports: Almost 500 birds found dead at Laurel Mountain West Virginia wind farm.

But not from what you think.

Between Oct. 3 and Oct. 18, 484 bird carcasses were found from over twenty-eight species, including blackpoll warblers, thrushes, cuckoos, and one heron.

The Laurel Mountain facility converts wind power between direct current and alternating current for grid output. The facility consists of a large collection of containers surrounded by utility poles, each with a 250-watt floodlight.

“No dead birds were found near the wind machines themselves,” inspectors reported. Experts think the birds were migrating at night during a low cloud ceiling and in high wind and fog.

These conditions are believed to have driven the night migrants closer to the ground, where they either collided with substation structures or “circled to the point of exhaustion”.

The recommended solution? Turn off the lights.

It’s worked so far.

 

Comment

Turbine-Free Wind Power

Filed under: Alternative Energy Sources, Renewable Energy, Wind Turbine Technology — Leave a comment
November 4, 2011

Last December, NewYorkTimes.com published a “2010 Year In Ideas” feature, showcasing ideas that could become 2011′s next big thing. One of the coolest things was a turbine-free wind power invention by Professor Francis Moon of Cornell University. Professor Moon’s invention, called Vibro-Wind, captures wind energy from vibrations instead of spinning blades.

His design makes use of piezoelectric pads that operate almost like how a guitar string’s vibration is converted into electrical signals then to sound. Except the pick is the wind. And no strings are involved. And there is no speaker or amplifier. And no music happens. Other than that …

Since energy is generated from vibration, this technology is great for situations not ideal for wind turbines, such as surface-level and turbulent environments. It’s nearly silent when in use, and lack of spinning blades makes bird, bee and bat conservationists happy.

The invention had so much promise, that I was surprised to hear nothing new about it since that video almost a year ago. Like any good researcher, Professor Moon is hard at work perfecting his design. It never ends.

Vibrating pad arrays aren’t intended to replace wind turbines, but the technology does offer yet another option for renewable energy, especially for hybrid applications.

Makes me wonder what next month’s “next big thing” will be! Maybe a better analogy than my guitar analogy!

Comment

Nevada may be the site of the largest US wind farm

Filed under: Renewable Energy, Wind Turbine Technology — 1 Comment
October 3, 2011

The Reuters story, “Nevada’s First Windfarm May Be the Nation’s Largest,” describes a massive wind farm designated for Nevada. The wind farm is said to have the capacity to produce 990 megawatts.

I find three surprising things in the article. First, that’s nearly 1 gigawatts of power from one wind farm! That’s the power output equivalent of a nuclear reactor. From wind!

Second, this would be the very first wind farm in Nevada. Each state bordering Nevada has wind farms. Nevada, a state with proven sustained high winds, has none. Winds are especially strong in the Mt. Wilson, Table Mountain, White Rock and Atlanta Summit areas of the state – the designated locations for this huge wind farm. According to the story, the reason no wind farms exist in Nevada is because of the difficulty in securing permits.

In a previous post, we discussed objections to wind farms reaching beyond the aesthetic. Issues include noise complaints from wind turbines located within a few miles of populated areas, and lower property values for homes next to the sites. The wind farm planned for the Nevada mountains targets remote land currently used for cattle grazing. The plan is for cattle grazing to continue once the wind farms are up and running.

In fairness, getting a wind farm of this magnitude “up and running” involves plowing access roads, installing 350 turbines, digging and burying power collection lines and communication cables, raising meteorological towers, building substations and a few operation and maintenance buildings, and running overhead transmission lines. The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) is still considering the proposal.

Even if approved, this undertaking is of enormous scope and cost, and it’s on the heels of this Rochester, NY ABC affiliate, WHAM Channel 13 report, “Offshore Wind Turbine Proposal Nixed”. This report of a few days ago states that the Great Lakes Offshore Wind (GLOW) project for a wind farm around Lake Ontario was cancelled by the New York Power Authority because of the projected high costs of subsidies to become economically feasible. The GLOW project was to produce 150 megawatts of energy for the US northeast. The Nevada proposal is the equivalent of nearly seven of those!

Which brings me to the third surprise in the Reuters article. The Nevada wind farm was proposed by the US subsidiary of a European company, Good Energies. The European renewable energy investor is prepared to provide as much as $1.5 billion in development funding to North American renewable energy projects and companies. Maybe that shouldn’t surprise me. The world is smaller than ever, a move to renewable energy is gaining world-wide momentum, and there is potential for a large long-term profit in the business of renewable energy.

If PUCN approves the plan, any bets on how long Nevada will hold the record for the largest wind farm in the US? I’m sure the Nevada city of Las Vegas will publish the odds!

Comment

Are Fossil Fuels the Dinosaurs of Energy Resources?

Filed under: Alternative Energy Sources, Biomass, Environmental Issues, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy Technology, Wind Turbine Technology — 1 Comment
September 19, 2011

This September 14, 2011 Renewable Energy World story addresses Hawaii’s initiatives to transition away from petroleum reliance to biofuels. Because of the state’s remote location and isolation, the state’s energy is nearly 90% petroleum-based. Currently, Hawaii’s electricity rates are three times the US average, and twice that of the second most costliest state.

Hawaii Renewable Energy Development Venture (HREDV) is leading efforts to transition from 90% petroleum reliance on electricity generation to 40% electricity generation from renewable energy by 2030, and a 70% non-petroleum for areas like transportation. These thresholds will be achieved through biofuel energy for existing power facilities instead of new utility construction, and perhaps a mix of geothermal, solar, wind, and sea power technology as the new technology emerges.

This long-range plan is aggressive but there is movement toward these goals. Hawaiian Electric Company and Hawaii BioEnergy have reached a preliminary 20-year agreement to blend biofuel from Kauai with low sulfur fuel oil for use in Oahu’s largest generation station. Recent completion of a new Honeywell demonstration facility is designed to convert forest residuals, algae and other cellulosic biomass into biofuels targeted for Hawaii’s transportation market.

These companies and others are hoping for the agreement to lead to approved contracts; however, opposition exists from Hawaii’s environmentalists and some local communities. Concerns include impact on property values, increased traffic, and possible adverse impact on tourist appeal with new biomass fuel farms and renewable energy generation systems located in strategic locations throughout the islands.

According to the story, serious issues also exist with the transparency (or lack thereof) of price structures for fuel costs from current energy suppliers. Transparency is perhaps another area in need of reform. Regardless, no expert expects Hawaii to lose its costliest energy ranking anytime soon. Even if HREDV success is achieved and 2030 renewable energy goals met, new ways of doing business are never cheap.

Dawn Lippert, HREDV Project Coordinator, gives an overview of their renewable energy initiatives at the Tech Enterprise 2010 conference:

Comment

Wind Farm Noise Debate

Filed under: Renewable Energy, Uncategorized, Wind Turbine Technology — 1 Comment
September 14, 2011

A problem cannot be addressed until it is realized for what it is. People must be educated as to the existence of a problem, then to the severity of it. Until recently, I assumed the major complaint against wind farms to be the aesthetic – a new “eyesore” in the form of wind turbines lining a ridge previously untouched by the hand of man. Complaints appear to have more complex psychological elements.

Frankly, I didn’t know that wind farms generated noise sufficient to warrant discussion of noise policies by local and national officials. According to last week’s Renewable Energy World story by Jim Cummings of Acoustic Ecology Institute (AEI), most wind advocates are in a state of disbelief that neighborhoods even notice noise generated by wind turbines, let alone are disturbed by it.

According to the story, few wind energy supporters acknowledge that turbine noise is much beyond 10 dB to 20 dB above other background sounds. Data collected from acousticians show that even a 5 dB increase can trigger complaints, and that 10 dB is the threshold for widespread reports of problems.

The acoustic disturbances are leading to health-related complaints, which are admittedly difficult to prove or quantify. AEI’s new report, Wind Farm Noise 2011, aims to find common ground between protecting rural residents from a new 24/7 noise source and encouraging wind energy development.

In Australia, a farmer’s complaints to an environmental tribunal halted plans for a new wind farm (AEI link to story). The tribunal rejected the farmer’s claims of affected health to his family and livestock, but supported his claims that the wind farm would adversely impact the “rural amenity” of the area, which is an accepted regulatory consideration in Australia and New Zealand.

Similar rulings took place in Minnesota, USA, Ontario, Canada, and the UK. In the UK case, a high court regulated an amplitude modulation (AM) sound level of 3 dB for wind farms in areas where sound levels already measure above 28 dB. In other words, spinning turbines from new UK wind farms must be barely audible, even at a distance.

Many of us long for a quiet peaceful lifestyle, and choose to live in areas where this lifestyle is possible. Is it progress when that lifestyle is affected by a series of wind turbines that provide renewable energy for an entire community? Must we adapt the new normal of a less peaceful lifestyle? How do we balance our lifestyle with that of our neighbors who may support wind energy development by installing personal wind turbines near their homes?

The article linked at the start of this post suggests a balance for all. The renewable energy industry must acknowledge that problems exist, and should address improvements as renewable technology matures. The industry must also work with communities to adopt acceptable standards applicable to the specific building locations, and perhaps consider compensating those where property values drop because of the existence of wind farms.

The industrial revolution brought us many great things, but along the way we trampled the environment and called it progress. We now know better. Renewable industry cannot do the psychological equivalent of clear cutting a community to establish a new clean energy source.

Local citizens must also change their mindset, and perhaps admit that a greater set of problems exist with fossil fuel energy sources than with renewable energy. That doesn’t mean that problems introduced by wind farms should be accepted without question, but that a balance should be sought.

Maybe renewable industry cannot always build in the most effective and efficient locations. And maybe we cannot always live beyond a wind farm’s effects, positive or negative.

Comment

Military Early Warning Radar Deal Paves Way for Wind Farms

Filed under: Foreign Military Sales, Military applications for renewable energy, Renewable Energy, Wind Turbine Technology — 3 Comments
August 30, 2011

On Saturday, Aug 27, 2011, Britain’s The Telegraph published, ”Military Radar deal paves way for more wind farms across Britain“. The story is not about wind energy-powered radar systems or a friendly collaboration between UK military and renewable energy companies. It is about wind technology companies eliminating Ministry of Defence opposition to new wind farms along Britain’s coastline by paying for military upgrades.

Large-scale UK wind farm development has been on hold because of national security concerns. It has been publicized that Britain’s current early warning radar system for detection of enemy missiles and aircraft is susceptible to false readings from a wind turbine’s spinning blades, which are similar in size to a passenger jet wing. Both civil and military air traffic controllers struggle to distinguish between aircraft and wind turbines.

The solution? North British Windpower, along with other wind energy companies, are purchasing new mobile radar systems from US contractor Lockheed Martin at about £20 million each to upgrade Britain’s early warning system. These new systems can detect the difference between stationary and mobile turbine activity. They also open up UK and Scottish Borders to wind farm development. Offshore wind farms are also planned within the North Sea.

If all objections are overcome, the memorandum of understanding between the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Ministry of Defence has potential to create about 17.5 gigawatts of wind energy offshore (about 6,000 turbines), plus ten gigawatts of wind energy inland (4,500 turbines).

The decision to pay for military upgrades has not silenced all wind farm opponents. It is claimed that the new turbines (typically 400ft high) will destroy pristine countryside and coastline, and increase electricity bills by tens of billions of pounds. Estimates of generated income for the developers, according to Dr. John Constable, director of the Renewable Energy Foundation, “is a sum nearly five times the annual cost of the entire Ministry of Defence: Army, Navy and RAF combined.”

Mark Rowley, who heads up the Say No to Fallago campaign, said even if a small percentage of the plan is implemented, we would see a wall of, “400 foot turbines stretched across some of the finest landscapes in Scotland.”

Are all parties benefiting from this deal in the long run? For those in opposition, is this the price of progress?

Thanks to Claude Vinet for first tweeting a link to the article, and thanks to our growing following on Twitter!

Comment

Transition to Renewable Energy Stimulates Economy

Filed under: Alternative Energy Sources, Environmental Issues, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy Technology, Wind Turbine Technology — 1 Comment
August 8, 2011

Science Daily’s article, “Transition to Renewable Energy Stimulates the Economy, German Researchers Say,” describes findings from several studies by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, and Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

Question: Is a transition to renewable energies too expensive in today’s financial climate? Answer: The transition will stimulate economic growth in the coming decade, and any negative impact will be outweighed by positive short-term and mid-term job growth, and long-term benefits of renewable energy research and application across Europe.

Germany is doing more than generating studies. An energy system renovation of a large apartment building in Germany has reduced energy needs by a projected 40%. Actual energy consumption will be measured over the next few years for real-world data, which will drive similar renovations for future sites.

Some may see Germany’s efforts as a knee-jerk reaction to the Fukushima disaster. Regardless of the driving factors, a growing awareness of the benefits of renewable energy is evident within Germany and on a more global scale.

Renewable energy technology is maturing beyond the offer of an alternative energy source. The willingness to rethink how energy is used and re-used is leading us all into new areas of innovation, such as intelligent energy monitoring, passive storage, use of alternative energy states, and adaptable grid designs integrated with existing technology that historically relies on fossil fuels.

Comment

Wind Energy Environmental Assessment for Mid-Atlantic

Filed under: Alternative Energy Sources, Renewable Energy, Wind Turbine Technology — 2 Comments
July 26, 2011

The Department of the Interior (DOI) posted this press release regarding potential wind energy areas along the US Eastern seaboard. The draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and public comments are provided within the link. This is part of a “Smart from the Start” initiative, an environmentally responsible strategy for renewable energy along the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, is quoted as saying, “The ‘Smart from the Start’ initiative will help companies identify areas offshore that are best suited for wind development, while also reducing the potential for costly delays and red tape.” He also said the DOI will work with state renewable energy task forces to “advance renewable energy development carefully and responsibly”.

As renewable development along the Atlantic OCS approaches reality, so does the need to harness natural energy resources while being environmentally responsible. I think we can do both!

Comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.