Category Archives: vertical turbine

Wind Power In Illinois Is Strong – I am so proud

Posted on by
Reply

Not much more I can say about this report. Well done sirs, Well done!

http://www.paxtonrecord.net/news/business/miscellaneous/2016-07-25/report-wind-energy-means-billions-illinois-economy.html

Report: Wind energy means billions to Illinois’ economy

Mon, 07/25/2016 – 1:21pm

NORMAL — A new report on the economic impact of wind energy in the state shows Illinois’ 25 existing wind farms have supported 20,173 jobs during construction and will add $6.4 billion to local economies over the 25-year life of the projects.

Released by Illinois State University’s Center for Renewable Energy, the report also shows how wind power creates jobs in the short and long term, provides millions of dollars for farmers and landowners, revenue for counties and municipalities, and supports businesses both in and out of the wind supply chain.

“Wind power does much more than generate clean energy,” said  Kevin Borgia, public policy manager for Wind on the Wires, a nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, Minn., that works to advance renewable energy in the Midwest. “Wind power is an economic engine for the state, providing jobs, landowner payments, tax dollars and business opportunities.”

The report further details all that the state’s wind farms offer, including $30.4 million in annual property taxes for local communities and $13.86 million in extra income for landowners who lease their land to developers.

:}

Go there and read the good news. More next week.

:}

Wind Farms Could Tame Hurricanes – That is a pretty radical conclusion

Posted on by
Reply

So a closer analysis leads to some doubts. First and foremost it takes “tens of thousands” of turbines to do it. That is A LOT of turbines. Second, the placement and the impact of that many turbines is not really considered nor what to do with the electricity generated. As the engineer said in the article building that many turbines is not feasible now. But it is a pretty exciting thought experiment.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/26/offshore-wind-farms-tame-hurricanes/5813425/

Offshore wind farms can tame hurricanes, study finds

Offshore wind farms can tame hurricanes rather than be destroyed by them, says ground-breaking research led by Stanford University that touts the benefits of wind power.

Billions of dollars in U.S. damage from mega-storms Katrina and Sandy might have been avoided with a perhaps surprising device — wind turbines.

That’s the finding of a ground-breaking study today that says mammoth offshore wind farms can tame hurricanes rather than be destroyed by them. It says a phalanx of tens of thousands of turbines can lower a hurricane’s wind speed up to 92 mph and reduce its storm surge up to 79%.

Unlike sea walls, which protect cities from storm surges, wind farms pay for themselves by generating pollution-free electricity, says lead author Mark Jacobson, an engineering professor at Stanford University. “The additional hurricane (protection) benefit is free.”

No offshore wind farms currently operate in the United States, although 11 are under development — mostly off the East and Texas coasts. Most of the world’s offshore turbines are in northwestern Europe, but China is ramping up its capacity.

:}

Go there and read. More next week.

:}

With A Name Like Dong – Their windmills have got to be huge

Posted on by
Reply

I know, I know. The comments in the title are sexist, xenophobic, and take advantage of language differences which border on the obscene, but I made you LOOK didn’t I. Any improvement in wind turbines is good news for the world.

 http://uk.news.yahoo.com/dong-launches-wind-turbine-demo-project-britain-093643593–sector.html#PEqa6aI

Dong launches wind turbine demo project in Britain

LONDON (Reuters) – Dong Energy launched a project on Thursday to test two new giant offshore turbines at its wind farm off England’s Essex coast, marking a step forward in the next generation of wind turbine technology.

Energy minister Greg Barker opened the extension to Dong’s 172-megawatt (MW) Gunfleet Sands wind farm, off Clacton-on-Sea. The 6-MW turbines were supplied by Siemens.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said the turbines have the potential significantly to cut the cost of producing renewable energy from offshore wind.

The turbines will be tested to help Dong understand how the technology could be rolled out in future British projects.

Last year, Danish state-owned oil and gas group Dong agreed to buy 300 giant offshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 1,800 MW from Siemens for its British wind farms.

:}

Go there and read. More next week.

:}

Wind Farm Gets Blown Away – It is a classic shame

Posted on by
Reply

It is true. Not in my backyard is a syndrome that can be defused but you have to start early and you have to speak often and sincerely. Utility Executives just do not have the right touch and even when they care they hire bright shiny faces that lack any sense of truthfulness.

http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2013/02/26/new-england-offshore-wind-planning-offers-lessons-for-great-lakes/

New England offshore wind planning offers lessons for Great Lakes

Posted on by

When Scandia, a Norwegian wind company, announced its plans to install 200 turbines in Lake Michigan four miles from the tourist town of Ludington, Michigan, in 2009, they likely didn’t anticipate the controversy that would erupt.

After all, the project would be delivering domestically produced renewable energy to replace planet-warming fossil fuels. It would create local jobs installing and operating the turbines. A nearby pumped-hydro facility for storing backup energy sat in the nearby dunes, complete with substations and high-voltage lines they could use to move electricity from their offshore turbines to the grid.

“The developer thought, We’ll build wind farms out in Lake Michigan, hook up in Ludington, and everyone will be delighted,” recalled Arn Boezaart, director of the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center at Grand Valley State University.

Instead, “they were basically run out of town,” Boezaart recalled.

Residents of this picturesque town were outraged about the prospects of scores of wind turbines ruining their view. Nobody had consulted them. And Michigan, like every other Great Lakes state, lacks even a rudimentary procedure for regulating offshore wind farms, without which there would be little opportunity for public hearings.

:}

Go there and read. More later.

:}

Renewables Cheapest Downunder – Australia is in a good position to kick coal

Posted on by
Reply

This is actually happening all around the world. During one day last year the Germans got all the power they used from renewables. All the old bullshit it turning into compost and will be forgotten.

http://grist.org/climate-energy/renewables-cheaper-than-coal-in-australia-a-preview-of-things-to-come/

Renewables cheaper than coal in Australia — a preview of things to come

By:

David Roberts

Energy, politics, and more

I’m morbidly fascinated by the way conventional wisdom lags behind evidence, like the notion that renewable energy is expensive and fossil fuels cheap. In fact, there is a tectonic shift underway. Renewable energy prices are declining as technology improves, economies of scale kick in, financing mechanisms mature, and public policy begins to take some (inadequate) account of the negative externalities of fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, the cost of coal-fired electricity is heading up. It’s getting harder to finance coal plants in the face of competition from clean(er) energy, activist opposition, and the inevitability of some kind of carbon policy. Construction costs are rising. Transportation costs are rising. It’s getting harder to reach the coal that’s left in the ground. Etc.

The two lines — falling renewable energy costs and rising coal costs — are going to cross. It’ll happen everywhere eventually. According to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) analysis, it’s already happened down under: “Renewable energy now cheaper than new fossil fuels in Australia.”

:}

Go there and read. More later.

:}

Another Claim To A Rooftop Turbine – We close this week with the Bernoulli Principle

Posted on by
Reply

We get these claims all of the time, “A wind turbine for your roof”. About the only place that is true is on grain bins on a farm out in the country. I can neither testify that these turbines work or that they do not. What I can say is Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. This blog will be closed until next Wednesday.

http://www.getsmartenergy.com/windcube/

 Wind sphere Overview

The Wind Sphere™ relies on its “wind tunnel” effect known in physics as the Bernoulli Principle. While the rest of the wind industry generates energy through the use of free-stream wind, the Wind Sphere™ captures and amplifies the wind, which produces more kilowatt-hours (kWh). As wind encounters the Wind Sphere™ shroud, it becomes concentrated creating increased velocity and in turn, more power. By amplifying the natural wind speed, the Wind Sphere™ is able to produce more power from a smaller footprint. Proportionally, the Wind Sphere™ has the smallest footprint with the largest amount of power output in the industry. Because of these attributes, the Wind Sphere™ is uniquely designed to produce energy in urban, populated areas with space constraints.

Inverter Certification

The inverter is IEEE 1547 compliant and UL 1741 certified.

Worldwide Turbine Certification

The Wind Sphere is currently in the process of the stringent IEC-61400-2 testing, also know as the Standard for Small Wind Turbines testing. Exhaustive field testing will be conducted by a Certified AWEA testing firm to verify performance and real world endurance.

“With the Wind Sphere, building owners everywhere can now consider being a part of the renewable energy picture.”

:}

Go there and read. More next week.

:}

The Green Energy Council – Covering the world

Posted on by
Reply

These guys cover the globe.

http://www.greenenergycouncil.com/

The International Green Energy Council is an educational and advocacy body. We pride ourselves on educating from kindergarten students all the way up to leaders of nations about energy efficiency, environmental stewardship and renewable energy. We also aid international leaders on creating sound policy and regulatory atmospheres in order to promote expeditious applications for renewable energy and green technologies.

Over the past six years we have worked with 22 Governors in regards to Renewable Portfolio Standards for their states. Furthermore, we are liaison and facilitators with several countries including but not limited to the following: Canada, South Africa, Greece, Senegal, Zambia, Nigeria, Philippines, Netherlands, Russia, Brazil, China, Morocco as well as a host of others. The IGEC is also working with many utility company’s around the Globe to meet their Renewable Energy Portfolio mandates. We have chartered chapters in 68 nations around the World.

The GEC is a professional association comprised of individuals and companies that promote sustainable forms of energy production, renewable energy sources, sustainable design practices and advanced thinking in utilizing education and information for the promotion of being better stewards of our environment while providing National Security Energy Plans to nations around the Globe.

:}

Go there and read. More tomorrow.

:}

Wind Works – A great accumulator

Posted on by
Reply

I forgot to give this website credit for yesterday’s post. That is a small journalistic boo boo and I will clear that up now.

http://www.wind-works.org/

What Can Be Found on This Site

This site contains information about my books, an archive of my articles, and descriptions of my workshops on wind energy and Advanced Renewable Tariffs. This site also contains an extensive collection of articles and technical reports on electricity feed laws or renewable energy tariffs. I’ve been an outspoken proponent of feed laws since the late 1990s when I urged the American Wind Energy Association to call for them nationally.

Photography

My photos are stocked by Still Pictures in London. For more on my photography and for photo tours of several wind farms as well as a sampling of wind energy icons, see the photos section of this site.

 

Small Turbine Testing

Beginning in 1997 I’ve measured the performance and noise emissions of small wind turbines at the Wulf Test Field in the Tehachapi Pass. For more information on this work, visit Wulf Test Field.

:}

Go there and read. More tomorrow.

:}

Wind Power In Germany – Killing time until the presidential election is over

Posted on by
Reply

Yes it is true I am distracted by world events. But to be fair to wind power they are tearing it up in Germany.

http://energy.aol.com/2012/10/08/the-green-republic-germany-s-wind-energy-boom/?a_dgi=aolshare_linkedin

The Green Republic? Germany’s Wind Energy Boom

Published: October 8, 2012

The German wind industry sits at the heart of a European energy market preparing for a disruptive transformation intended to promote integration and allow the rich wind resource of the North to fuel continent-wide growth, without the risks of nuclear power and reliance on foreign energy producers.

It is a comprehensive, ambitious vision that in Germany alone the environment minister Peter Altmaier has compared in scale to the country’s painful post-Communist reunification.

The EU is preparing to release its latest communication on an integrated energy market ahead of a goal of operational integration it has set for 2014. The energy market remains one of the rare nation-state functions that has hardly been impacted by European integration at all, despite the EU’s origins in a post-WWII agreement over the continent’s coal sector.

:}

Go there and read. More tomorrow.

:}

The Sierra Club – A group I join and quit when the price is right

Posted on by
Reply

The Sierra Club has drifted pretty far from John Muir’s roots. They signed a deal with Clorox about 10 years ago. I mean it is unclear when exactly because they keep the terms of the deal ultra secret. Anyway the rough outlines of the deal is that Clorox created a “green” cleaning supplies line and the Sierra Club gets a chunk (percentage) of the sales profits from that line. The deal must have obviously been that the Sierra Club get off the companies back about chlorine. So now, when they offer stuff to join for a year, and that stuff is good enough, I join.  Other than that I just cost them junk mail fees.

http://www.sierraclub.org/

 

Mighty Wind

09/28/2012

Did you notice that last weekend the largest onshore wind farm in America started operation in north-central Oregon? The 845 MW Shepherds Flat facility will generate an estimated 2 billion kWh each year — enough to power 235,000 homes. On top of that, this clean power will eliminate about 1.5 million metric tons of carbon pollution annually — the equivalent of taking approximately 260,000 cars off the road.

Who built Shepherds Flat? We, the people, did! Caithness Energy relied on more than a billion dollars in loans guaranteed by the Energy Department. With the project up and running, and with a long-term commitment from Southern California Edison to buy power, it looks like a good investment. Maybe that’s why Google also kicked in $100 million.

Shepherds Flat is the kind of project we should be building across the U.S. — or at least in those parts, like the Eastern Columbia River Gorge, with abundant wind resources. Yet the Republican Party opposes even extending the Production Tax Credit that wind power has had for decades. Right now, they would probably sooner move Burning Man to the National Mall than help finance more success stories like Shepherds Flat.

Here’s why that’s crazy:

:}

Go there and read. More tomorrow.

:}