Alternative Energy / Wind Power

• High Altitude Wind Energy: Why the Future of Wind Farms May be in the Sky

  Using kites and balloons to tap the strong, consistent winds more than two kilometres in the air could avoid many of the pitfalls of more down-to-earth wind farms, according to the first market report on the nascent industry by consultancy GL Garrad Hassan. No commercial scale pilots have been tested in the air yet, according to the report, but small-scale prototypes have been tried out. ‘Real scale’ prototypes are being developed by some of the 22 companies active in the high altitude wind energy (Hawe) field. At greater altitudes, wind velocity is higher and more consistent than at ground level.…

• Brazil's Wind Energy Boom: Wind Power Cheaper than Natural Gas

  Generating power from the wind in Brazil is less costly than using natural gas or hydro, according to the results of a government tender to supply electricity this week. National energy agency Empresa de Pesquisa Energetica (EPE) invited developers to bid for a total of 1.5GW of capacity to come online in 2014. Developers of 44 wind farms bid an average of R$99.58 (US$62.24) per MWh – below the average price for the two natural gas projects (R$103.26), one hydro (R$102) and four biomass projects (R$102.41) that burn the woody waste from sugar cane processing. In a second auction for…

• Wind Energy Sector to Collapse in 2013?

  The US wind energy sector is continuing to recover from the credit crunch with turbine installations on the rise in 2011, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), but future growth could be undermined by an uncertain federal policy environment. The wind industry installed 2.2GW of generating capacity in the US during the first half of 2011, up 72% from the 1.3GW installed during the same time in 2010, according to AWEA. In the second quarter of 2011, 1GW of capacity was installed, an increase of 46% from the 709MW in the second quarter of last year. An additional…

• The Natural Limits of Wind Energy

  The amount of energy available in the Earth system to be extracted by wind-turbines is limited, and if sufficient energy is removed the world climate will be affected. These striking conclusions follow from a recent analysis (http://www.earth-syst-dynam.net/2/1/2011/esd-2-1-2011.html) reported from the University of Jena in Germany. Humans use energy in total at a rate of 17 TW (terawatts), 87% of which is provided by fossil fuels. In the effort to mitigate carbon emissions and climate-change, sources of carbon-free renewable energy are sought, particularly wind-power. From a simple engineering perspective, the more wind-turbines are placed around the globe, the more energy can…

• Google Puts More Money into Giant Californian Wind Farm

  Google and investment bank Citi have boosted their investments in the largest wind farm in the US. The companies will finance a second phase of the Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC) in California, developed by Terra-Gen Power, an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners and Global Infrastructure Partners. Citi and Google will each invest $102 million in the project, on top of the $55 million each invested last month, bringing their total investment to $314 million. The financing is structured as a leveraged lease whereby the investors have committed to purchase parts of the project at the start of commercial operations…

• Overestimating Wind Power Generation: From the UK to New York State

  Wind generation as an intermittent power source adds to the total variability of a regional grid system. A number of studies have been completed that model and analyze wind profiles by region with the intent of better understanding how high penetrations of wind energy might impact system reliability and what steps could be taken to minimize the impacts. In most cases, these studies are based on available wind data (speed, direction, timing) collected over many years–the type data used by developers forecasting project performance prior to construction. These wind studies are also used by legislators and regulators when evaluating policies…

• Responding to the Latest Spin From the Wind Energy Association

  The recently released Annual Market Report, 2010 from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) can be summed up in one word — Spin! I’ve tracked the wind industry’s progress closely in the last six years, and mapping our observations to their declarations is always a challenge; AWEA’s reports are packed with assertions but rarely include the data and assumptions on which claims are based. This year’s report was no different. To illustrate the point, it is useful to critically examine some of their claims. After all, we as taxpayers directly or indirectly enable the projects that make this trade association…

• Making Wind Energy More Efficient

  A wake is the region of recirculating air flow immediately behind a moving solid body, caused by the air flow of surrounding air around the wind turbine. The air turbines not only produce power, they produce wakes -- similar to what forms in bodies of water -- that are invisible ripples and waves and other disturbances in the atmosphere downstream that can damage turbines and decrease efficiency. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers and collaborators will launch a study of those wakes this month, with an eye toward improving the efficiency and potential produced power of the wind farms. The wake…

• Wind Farm Investments Growing in Popularity as Pension Funds Increase Stakes

  PensionDanmark, a pension fund with around €14 billion ($20 billion) under management, has made its second investment in offshore wind farms and is planning more. A consortium led by PensionDanmark is paying Dong Energy DKK 6 billion ($1.1 billion) for a 50% stake in the 400MW Anholt offshore wind farm. Situated off the east coast of Denmark, Anholt is the country’s largest wind project. It is expected to begin generation next year and to be completed in 2013. PensionDanmark will have a 30% share of the project and its consortium partner PKA, a Danish administration company for occupational pension funds,…

• Why Big Wind Power Won’t Work

  Obama's regime and faux environmentalists around the globe have been gung ho over big wind power farms for years now. And every time anyone takes a close look at the economics and the details of wind energy, they come back to the same fact -- wind doesn't work. The operating characteristics of turbine and generator mean that only a small part of wind energy can be captured. Wind power is also intermittent, unreliable and hard to predict. Therefore large backup or storage systems are required. This adds to the capital and operating costs and increases the instability of the network.…