"Wind energy has become the locomotive of the change of the energy system worldwide. Today, the worldwide wind capacity has crossed 200 Gigawatt and wind power covers almost 3 % of the global electricity demand. Wind is one of the fastest growing energy sources, and today one of the most economical solutions for electricity generation.
Unfortunately many countries have neglected investment in new capacities in the past years and decades and kept electricity prices artificially low. In such light, wind and other renewables appear to be more expensive, although in reality wind is lower priced than most other technologies, when new and full investment costs are compared. Operation cost of wind turbines are amongst the lowest as well.
At the same time, recent incidents have indicated very clearly that nuclear power, also due to its big risks and external costs, is not feasible economically, socially and environmentally. Hence an increasing number of countries have started to phase out nuclear power, like decided last weekend by an overwhelming majority in Italy where 94 % of the population refused a nuclear renaissance and wants more renewable energy instead. In total, only 30 countries are using nuclear energy, while already more than 80 countries are using wind energy on a commercial basis today.
Other traditional energy sources such as coal, oil or gas are not only facing limitation of resources, but they are causing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution and hence cannot be seen as sustainable energy sources either.
Instead, the world has to look for wind energy, in combination with other renewable energies. It is important to underline that wind energy offers a very broad range of applications. Wind energy is versatile and can serve that needs from rural areas in unserved areas in developing countries up to large scale applications and energy intensive industries in industrialised regions and countries.
A number of challenges for wind energy still need to be addressed. These challenges are mainly in the regulatory field, as most of the required technical solutions do already exist:
- adjusting the grid and making the grid more flexible,
- combining and integrating the different renewable energy technologies
- in general further improving national and international policies, including improved financing schemes, especially for the developing countries.
Wind energy is a very popular form of energy being used around the world, as various surveys have shown. Still it should also be underlined that social support and distribution of social benefits are a key for the success of wind power. Hence, WWEA recently proposed a community power definition.
WWEA has invited the world wind community to join the 10th World Wind Energy Conference & Exhibition in Cairo/Egypt (31 October to 2 November 2011) in order to discuss the necessary frameworks and conditions for wind power investment especially in developing and emerging economies."
]]>New York (Issues Wire / PRWEB) May 21, 2010 -- The small vertical axis wind turbine that is poised to change the landscape of wind power. On the site, interested parties can learn about eddy’s powerful capabilities, including the capability to back up an existing solar power system, view images of eddy in action and learn how to order an eddy of their very own.
Designed and manufactured by Urban Green Energy, the leader in vertical axis wind turbines, eddy is whisper quiet, resembles a modern art sculpture and produces clean energy day or night, year after year. Those interested in adding eddy into their residence qualify for a 30% federal tax credit. Several states offer further incentives as well.
“Now is the perfect time to make the switch to wind power,” said Nick Blitterswyk, CEO of Urban Green Energy, the New York-based company that is among the leading providers of small turbines in the world. “Considering the rising cost of grid energy and the government incentives in place for renewable energy sources, consumers who opt for eddy can reap enormous savings over the lifetime of their homes. The 5-year financing in place makes eddy affordable for nearly all power needs.”
Eddy performs well in winds that change directions quickly, and when combined with the turbine’s low start-up speed, there’s even greater energy production, delivering a higher return on investment for the customer.
With a maximum safe wind speed of more than 120mph (55 m/s), and an engineered lifetime of 20 years, eddy lowers the amount of energy the customer receives from the grid and provides energy security, ensuring that when the power goes out the customer still has electricity for the most important devices in their home.
Urban Green Energy has more credentials and more certifications than any other company in the vertical axis turbine industry. In fact, Urban Green Energy is the first company in the U.S. to receive IEC certification for its turbines’ power, safety, and noise level.
UGE has designed and manufactured 600W, 1kW and 4kW vertical axis wind turbines, as well as wind/solar hybrid street lamps, and has customers in 25 countries around the world. UGE products have been installed across the continental U.S., as well as Hawaii, Alaska and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company has 150 distributors around the world, a staff of 95 employees and is poised to become the pre-eminent leader in the small wind energy arena.
For more information about Eddy http://etcgreen.com/wind
About Urban Green Energy
Urban Green Energy is a world leader in small wind energy. The company is focused on providing its customers with high quality, high performance and attractive vertical axis wind turbines and hybrid street lights. These products use state-of-the-art technology to meet the standards of safety, reliability, and attractive appearance. Urban Green Energy partners with best in class companies, providing innovative solutions to today's energy needs. The company is headquartered in New York City and has offices in London and Beijing, and has more than 100 distributors, spread out over all continents. Urban Green Energy owns its own dedicated production headquarters which includes full testing and development capabilities allowing quick and cost-effective collaboration on new and existing technologies. With 25 acres of land and already 35,000 square feet of factory space, the company is poised to become one of the largest manufacturers of small wind turbines worldwide.
A new crop of entrepreneurs believes that wind power can and should take to the skies — literally.
Magenn has developed the blimp-like Magenn Air Rotor System, a revolving cylinder with three blades spinning in the wind like a paddle steamer wheel turning in water.
Is it pie in the sky or something much more substantial? Some scientists, academics and entrepreneurs are convinced that to meet the world's energy needs and roll back the ravages of global warming, we need only look up. "A river of energy flows above us," said Cristina Archer, assistant professor of energy, meteorology and environmental science in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at California State University, Chico. "People talk about oil lakes under the ground, but we have the same [energy resource] in the sky. There's a lot of wind energy up there. It's astonishing. And it's free. It makes sense to tap into that free source." Archer, also a consulting assistant professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, is regarded as an authority on high-altitude wind power, or HAWP. In 2007, working with Ken Caldeira, senior scientist in the department of global ecology at Stanford's Carnegie Institution for Science, she began a six-month research project, crunching through 28 years of global data to determine wind characteristics up to about 7.5 miles. Her findings, published in the journal Energies earlier this year, revealed immense reserves of sustainable energy at different altitudes and at different times of the year, all around the world. "The total wind energy in the jet streams is roughly 100 times the global energy demand," Archer wrote. "Because of their abundance, strength and relative persistency, jet stream winds are of particular interest in wind power development." Archer estimates energy demand at between 2 trillion and 2.5 trillion watts. About 6 miles up, jet stream winds, even though they don't blow hard all the time even at that height, could generate around 200 trillion watts. Caldeira also focuses on these "large amounts of renewable power available in highly concentrated form," something he describes as a far more abundant energy resource than even the most efficient terrestrial wind or solar sites. Grabbing the energy The challenge then is to s Magenn Power, originally located in Ottawa before moving to airport facilities at Moffett Field, a former Navy blimp yard in the Bay Area, is staking its claim to airspace at around 1,000 feet. Magenn has developed the blimp-like Magenn Air Rotor System, a revolving cylinder with three blades spinning in the wind like a paddle steamer wheel turning in water. On-board generators send electricity down the tether to a transformer and into the grid. Or, says company founder Fred Ferguson, the power could directly supply farms, Third World villages or small island communities — anywhere that is dependent on expensive and polluting diesel generators. Because devices like the MARS do not fly vertically above their mooring but have a bowed tether like a kite string, at 1,000 feet, this machine would probably need a tether around 2,000 feet long. "That's not a show stopper," says Ferguson, who points to radar-carrying, helium-filled inflatables used by the military and drug enforcement agencies and tethered up to 15,000 feet using 25,000-foot cables. Various kite-based businesses are eyeing similar altitudes. Some, flying single kites or connected groups, harness the power generated as they zigzag around the sky; others, like Makani Power, fly a rigid-winged device carrying its own turbines. Operating in commercial air space is an issue for all HAWP companies but especially Sky WindPower — which plans to tap the wind's potential at up to 27,000 feet, or 5 miles high. Getting it off the ground Advances in new lightweight, composite materials and high-tech coatings are helping to make HAWP a reality, reducing costs, improving performance and increasing the ability to quickly winch down equipment in the face of storms, lightning or extreme winds. Ferguson says Magenn is working on a prototype and expects to have a pre-production unit ready by about February. He believes the first commercial MARS unit could be for sale by the end of next year. Since launching in 2006, Makani has attracted $15 million in research and development funding from Google.org, an encouraging vote of confidence from the investment arm of a company synonymous with innovation. Makani, based in Alameda, Calif., has run test flights there and in Hawaii using a craft resembling a hang glider wing fitted with turbines; a prototype has already completed a 30-hour, computer-controlled flight. Corwin Hardham, Makani's co-CEO, says the company hopes to have the kite — which harvests wind power for the grid by sweeping fast, circular patterns — commercially available in three to six years. While not underestimating the challenges ahead, Hardham is bullish about the fledgling HAWP industry. "People are starting to realize this resource is too large to ignore," he says. He believes the technology can be scaled up quickly and cost-effectively to obtain "appreciable amounts of energy," and sees a lot of interest, tempered by some skepticism. "The burden is on us to demonstrate we can make it work." Robert Creighton, CEO of WindLift Kite Engine Company in the Wright Brother's old stomping grounds of North Carolina, sees kites as a mobile source of energy for pumping water, charging batteries and other small-scale projects, especially in developing countries. Len Shepard, however, is taking things to the next level. The CEO of Sky WindPower is initially looking at between 3,000 and 12,000 feet but ultimately hopes to produce electricity at the "utility scale" even higher. His company, based at Oroville, a Northern California town better known for hydroelectricity, has flown two prototype helicopter-like craft, each with four rotors and onboard generators. Though power is needed to help launch the device, wind then takes over, turning the rotors to maintain altitude and send electricity down the tether. Shepard says the tether and craft have little environmental impact since they are barely visible and operate in open spaces well away from populated areas. He also believes this technology is much less hazardous for birds and bats than ground-based turbines. Doubters and critics single out the danger to aircraft and the potential for lightning strikes as major obstacles in the path of high-altitude wind machines; some also think the weight of many miles of tethers will be too much for the craft to support. Archer, the scientist, hesitates to predict when this huge resource will begin to be tapped commercially. "From what I know so far ... it is in the five-to-10-years time frame," she estimated. The fledgling industry takes a major step along the road to wider acceptance with what is being billed as the world's first high-altitude wind power conference in Chico and Oroville Nov. 5-6. Archer, who's chairing the event, hopes it may help establish an industry association or council, increasing HAWP's visibility and credibility in the eyes of the public, policymakers, regulators, investors and others.
Terrestrial sites can be reached by pickup trucks, and their cables can snake over the ground relatively easily. It's a point Caldeira turns to his advantage: He says power is already transmitted horizontally over hundreds of miles, so, while it might sound like science fiction to some, 6 miles vertically is "relatively nearby."
uck that energy out of the air and bring it down to earth. Now several entrepreneurs and start-up companies are competing to fill that space ... almost literally.
Nettlesome airspace issues aside, the technology to build what are essentially airborne windmills is developing quickly.
An Italian company, Kite Gen, intends using low-level kites, harnessed to a central hub, to generate power from the motion created by racing across the sky.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, terrestrial wind power meets only about 1 percent of U.S. electricity demand, so it may not be surprising that HAWP pioneers report some skepticism and resistance.
Fair enough, says Shepard, who thinks Sky WindPower should have to prove to doubters that the technology really works. He hopes to be able to do just that by the end of next year.
A consortium of Chinese and American companies announced a joint venture on Thursday to build a 600-megawatt wind farm in West Texas, using turbines made in China.
Construction of the $1.5 billion wind farm will be financed largely by Chinese banks, with the help of loan guarantees and cash grants from the United States government.
“This wind farm project came about thanks to the openness of the United States for investments in the field of renewable energy,” said John S. Lin, chief operating officer of A-Power Energy Generation Systems, which is part of the consortium building the project.
The wind farm will be the first instance of a Chinese manufacturer exporting wind turbines to the United States, said Yang Yazhou, vice mayor of the city of Shenyang, where the wind turbines will be manufactured.
The farm, to be built on 36,000 acres in West Texas, will use 240 of its 2.5-megawatt turbines. Construction is scheduled to begin in March 2010, and the project is expected to create 300 temporary jobs and about 30 permanent jobs. Six hundred megawatts of wind power is enough to meet the electricity needs of between 135,000 and 180,000 American homes for a year.
Other partners include the U.S. Renewable Energy Group, an investment firm, and a wind-farm developer, Cielo Wind Power of Austin, TX.
]]>According to information published in the South China Morning Post, the Chinese government has said that it is to cut the number of wind energy companies currently operating in China from 100 to just 12 in response to signs of excess capacity in the sector. Furthermore, the Chinese authorities have called on banks to restrict financing to all but the best wind farm projects.
According to Hu Yueming, chairman of High Speed Transmission Equipment Group that manufactures wind turbine components, the planned reduction is “a correct measure” because the number of turbine manufacturers already exceeds 100, compared with only a handful just a few years ago. “Ten companies could still be too many for China”, says Hu, who emphasised that surplus capacity only exists in turbine manufacturing, not in the gear transmission segment.
“There are only a few companies manufacturing gear transmission systems and these products are still in short supply,” said Hu. According to this businessman, only five companies manufacture gear transmission systems for wind turbines in China, while only a few major companies do so worldwide. High Speed has about 90% of the Chinese market for wind power transmission equipment.
Shu Yinbiao, Executive Vice President of the Chinese State Grid Corporation (the state-run organisation responsible for building and operating power grids) recommended back in August that a wind energy plan was required for the entire country and that national technical standards for renewable energies were needed, including wind and solar energy.
The wind energy sector in China has grown rapidly over the last few years thanks to the support it has received from the Chinese authorities. By 2008, China was the world’s second largest wind market by newly installed capacity and the fourth largest by overall installed capacity. Between 5 GW and 6.5 GW of new capacity was installed and commissioned in 2008, bringing total capacity to 12.5 GW.
Despite the Chinese authorities’ plans to limit the number of wind power companies, they still see wind power as key to economic growth and it is forecast that installed capacity will double once again during 2009.]]>
TransAlta, which participated in the research, has already applied the low wind mitigation strategy to the 38 turbines identified in the study area. "This new mode of operation is now in place and will be applied to new wind farms," says TransAlta's Jason Edworthy. (Source: EScience Ne ws, September 28, 2009)
Contact: Robert Barclay, Professor, Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, (403) 220-3564, [email protected], www.ucalgary.ca; Jason Edworthy, Director, Community Relations, TransAlta, (403) 267-2000 [email protected], www.transalta.com
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A GE affiliate will hold 49 % and a Plutonic affiliate will hold 51 % of the Dokie partnership, which has signed and put into escrow an amended and restated electricity purchase agreement with BC Hydro. Among other conditions, the transaction is subject to the BC Utilities Commission's acceptance of the electricity purchase agreement. (Source: CNW, September 23, 2009)
Contact: Brian Trypka, Chief Restructuring Officer, EarthFirst Canada Inc., (403) 513-0780, www.earthfirstcanada.com, [email protected]; Donald McInnes, CEO Plutonic Power, (604) 669-4999, [email protected], www.plutonic.ca; Andy Katell, GE, (203) 961-5773, [email protected], www.ge.com
Contact: Sandi Briner, Marketing Manager, enXco, (760) 740-7022 ext. 140, [email protected], www.enxco.com.]]>
Contact: Acciona, www.acciona.com.]]>
Contact: Vic Abate, VP, Renewable Energy, General Electric Co, General Electric Offshore Wind Details.]]>
In addition, Siemens indicates that it is considering a short list of three potential European sites for a new offshore wind turbine assembly plant and it will make the final decision based on which offers the best support. According to Siemens Wind Power CEO Andreas Nauen, Germany, Denmark and the U.K. are possible locations for the facility. (Source: Power Engineering, Reuters, September 14, 2009)
Contact: Andreas Nauen, CEO, Siemens Wind Power , www.siemens.com
EWEA has presented a 20-year plan for the development of offshore wind providing a comprehensive approach to constructing a transnational offshore power grid. Building on the 11 grids already in place and the 21 being studied by grid operators in the North and Baltic Seas, EWEA proposes eight additional offshore grids by 2020 and six more by 2030. (Source: Reuters, September 14, 2009)
Contact: Oceans of Opportunity, Details.
Contact: Paul Tonko, Representative & Sponsor of the Act, (202) 225-5076, http://tonko.house.gov]]>
Contact: Siemens, www.siemens.us]]>
Contact: The Pickens Plan, (877) 872-3247, [email protected], www.pickensplan.com ]]>
"This is the first of several installations we intend to complete in the coming months," said Green Energy Technologies President Mark Cironi. According to Cironi, the company's proprietary small-scale turbine is suitable for on-site power generation in urban and suburban locations. (Source: PR Newswire, July 6, 2009)
Contact: Mark Cironi, President, Green Energy Technologies, (888) 666-8577, [email protected], www.getsmartenergy.com
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The Kit Carson Windpower Project will be comprised of 34, 1.5-megawatt General Electric turbines connected to existing transmission lines. Duke Energy will construct, own, operate and provide all maintenance services on the facility, which is scheduled for completion by the end of 2010. (Source: Denver Business Journal, July 7, 2009)
Contact: Ken Anderson, EVP, (303) 452-6111, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, www.tristategt.org; Duke Energy, www.duke-energy.com
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The Quonset Development Corporation Board of Directors has approved the deal which includes a 10 year renewal option. Deepwater has been chosen to build Rhode Island's first two offshore wind farms; a small facility off Block Island and a utility-scale facility in Rhode Island Sound. Deepwater has also received exploratory licenses for projects in waters off New Jersey. (Source: July 3, 2009)
Contact: Paul Rich, Development Officer, DeepWater Wind, (401) 274-2000, [email protected], www.dwwind.com; Jack Sprengel, Director of Operations, Quonset Development Corporation, (401) 295-0044 ext. 216 [email protected], http://qdcri.com
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Focus for success: A new approach to commercializing low carbon technologies suggests that with carefully targeted subsidies and regulations, the U.K. could build 29 GW of capacity towards a world-wide total of 66 GW of offshore power, by 2020, giving it 45 % of the total offshore power market, compared to Germany's 12 GW by the same time frame. The analysis also shows that, with 25% of the world's wave technologies already being developed in the U.K., Britain could be the "natural owner" of the global wave power market, generating revenues worth $3.2 billion US (£ 2 billion) per year by 2050 and up to 16,000 direct job, providing that funding gaps are address in the wave sector. (Source: New York Times, July 3, 2009)
Contact: Focus for success: A new approach to commercializing low carbon technologies Details .
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