Alternative Energy / Wind Power

• Wind Energy Business Could be Hurt by Rare Earth Shortages

  The latest issue of Chemistry World warns that a looming shortage of Rare Earth Elements (REE) could hurt the production of REE-rich green technologies, like wind turbines or electric car batteries. Of concern is access to REEs like neodymium and dysprosium, used, for example, to make strong magnets for wind turbines. Chemistry World estimates that neodymium and dysprosium production would have to increase five-fold to supply a competitive renewable energy industry. [Chemistry World] Global Wind Installations Up 22 Percent Global wind installations increased by 35.8 gigawatts in 2010, up 22 percent from 2009 levels, said the Global Wind Energy Council…

• Building a Better Wind Farm

  Large wind farms are being built around the world as a cleaner way to generate electricity, but operators are still searching for the most efficient way to arrange the massive turbines that turn moving air into power. To help steer wind farm owners in the right direction, Charles Meneveau, a Johns Hopkins fluid mechanics and turbulence expert, working with a colleague in Belgium, has devised a new formula through which the optimal spacing for a large array of turbines can be obtained. Wind Turbines Turbines used in wind farms for commercial production of electric power are usually three-bladed and pointed…

• Wind Company Allows Consumers to Store Renewable Energy

  The state of Maine is cracking the market open for self-storing of renewable energy with a collaboration between a wind company and a thermal energy storage company.  According to a Maine Public Broadcasting Network report the collaborative Highland Wind project proposed by local wind developer Independence Wind will offer any participating Maine household a $6,000 “wind for oil” grant to store energy at night as heat then use it during the day. The benefit asserted is to cut Maine heating bills in half and show the way to a national model for how renewable power can cut dependence on oil. …

• Airborne Wind Platforms: Generating Wind Energy Above 2,000 Feet

  NASA’s Mark Moore is developing methods the government can use to fairly evaluate competing ideas on tethering a turbine-vehicle flying and how to capture and use the wind aloft energy efficiently. Moore’s “turf” starts at about 2,000 feet and runs to over 30,000 feet or just over 500 meters to beyond 9,000. Moore is an aerospace engineer, centering his focus on advance concepts in the Systems Analysis Branch at NASA’s Langley Research Center.  Now he’s set with a $100,000 grant from the federal government to research what it will take to judge the value of tethered winds aloft energy generators. …

• An Update on New Wind Farm Developments

  A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used for production of electric power. Individual turbines are interconnected with a medium voltage power collection system and communications network. At a substation, this medium-voltage electrical current is increased in voltage with a transformer for connection to the high voltage transmission system. Two new large farms were announced recently. Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo, one of the world’s largest bread makers, has broken ground on its $200 million Piedra Larga wind farm in Oaxaca, Mexico, which will generate almost 100% of the electrical power consumed by all of Bimbo’s…

• U.S. Getting Closer to Building Wind Farms in the Atlantic

  The US Atlantic states are making progress toward building the country’s first offshore wind projects, but several barriers need to be addressed to propel the sector, according to an NGO report. No offshore wind turbines are yet operating off the Atlantic coast, but up to 6GW of projects have been proposed – the equivalent of about five coal-fired power plants, the National Wildlife Federation report says. Around 3GW are advancing through the permitting process, securing leases and long-term power purchase agreements (PPA). “It clearly establishes the momentum that has been created to build offshore wind farms in the Atlantic,” said…

• Britain Going All out for Wind Power

  Britain has decided to go all-out for wind-power. On Thursday, I flew over the massive off-shore Thanet wind-farm - one of the largest in the UK - in the English Channel off Foreness Point. The farm consists of 100 turbines, each over 300ft high, and is expected to power over 200,000 homes. It will increase the amount of energy generated from offshore wind in the UK by one third to 1,314MW. Opened in September, the Thanet wind-farm was built by the Swedish Vattenfall energy company, and increases the number of large scale off-shore British turbines to 436, to be compared…

• New Wind Turbine Design Could be the Turning Point for Wind Power

  The Honeywell Wind Turbine needs only 33 feet of above ground clearance and just a claimed one half mile per hour wind to start up.  If that proves out in the real world Canada’s WindTronics, Inc. would have a sure hit on its hands. The company says its turbine has “higher performance output and lower installed cost per kilowatt than any other unit on the market today in class and size.”  The Honeywell Wind Turbine is a gearless wind turbine that measures just 6 feet in diameter, weighs 185 lbs (84kgs) and is able to produce 2752 kWh/yr in Class…

• Despite Limitless Supplies of Coal – Mongolia Looks to Wind Energy

  Despite Mongolia’s nearly limitless supplies of coal, Ulaanbaatar recently approved plans to set up the country’s first commercial wind farm. The decision is fueling a public debate that aims to strike the right balance between Mongolia’s near-term and long-term economic development interests. Sparsely inhabited, with vast steppes and ample wind, Mongolia’s potential for harnessing renewable energy is huge, proponents say. In 2005, the government passed the Renewable Energy Program, mandating that green energy sources account for 20-25 percent of Mongolia’s needs by 2020. Renewable energy is nothing new for Mongolians: It is common to see a remote nomad’s ger –…

• Wind Power Projects Affected by Financial Crisis

  Fewer wind turbines will be installed this year, in a delayed reaction to the collapse in investment caused by the financial crisis. Total onshore and offshore wind installations are expected to reach 37.7GW by the end of 2010, down 2% on 2009, according to analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). This is despite a 25% increase in turbine installations in China from 2009 levels, when the country added 14MW of wind power capacity. One in every two wind turbines going online in 2010 will be located in China, BNEF said. “Installation levels always lag financings, so what we are…