Wind turbines are rather ancient device as they had been used for water elevating, sawing up logs, grinding flour – that is, in modern terms, to obtain mechanical energy. Owing to wind turbines the civilization received an evolution impulse. Then the decline came on. Windjammers don’t range the seas and oceans and wind turbines hardly can find its place in the energetics. Why did it happen?

There are definitely more powerful and handy energy sources. The demands for the quality of energy have definitely been stepped up as the lack of voltage or even voltage drops irritate consumers.
But material and device technology is not at a stop! Nowadays it should come as no surprise that there are composites and energy converters. Automatic machines and robots are doing hard and dangerous work for humans.

So why modern wind turbines are so expensive? Why an owner of a Jeep that has a few hundreds of HPs under the hood can’t afford having a wind turbine and his grandfather could build a windmill to grind flour for the whole community.  Windmills had been standing at almost every village for tens or even hundreds of years. There are lots of reasons for that but I think the main ones are wrongly interpreted or being hushed up.

The modern energetics inclines to big stuff. The most powerful reactor or the most powerful turbine is a matter of the country’s international image! There is the same approach for wind turbines: the biggest wind turbine or the most powerful wind power generator is the pride and envy. One of the indicators of wealth and success of a country is quantity of energy per capita – the more, the better!

On the other hand centralized networks are just another way to control population or even the whole world. A law abiding citizen consumes energy working to pay the energy bills and keep his head down.  If something goes wrong, the master switch goes down! Nowadays the one who has energy, rules the world.

But it’s not the case with the environmentally safe, alternative, green energetics. On one hand the energy is everywhere – sun, wind, waves are all around us. On the other hand the thickness is not that high and to harvest it energy receivers of large area are needed. Two approaches are possible here. A “sky-high” generator could be constructed which is oversized and very expensive (that’s the common thing with them) or to make hundreds of little ones scattered over a vast territory literally in every backyard.

But only the oversized giant fits into the total control centralized system and the hundreds of little ones could cause losing of the control and in the long run, the loss of the power itself. Sure enough no one is willing to give up on power! This is the reason for the evident and concealed opposition to the “small energetics”.  No one has a stake in research and development of compact moderate-priced devices. Some models are developed and produced by efforts of few enthusiasts. But these models usually are copycats of the commercial giants just on a considerable scale.

There is the following issue behind it – integrity of the design characteristics. Actually design calculations recently become more available and the necessity of experimental verification was pushed to the sideliners.  If you look through any of the online forums focused on engineering, you may notice that a great deal of trained (and not) users lock horns with each other on theoretical topics and no one sets about having a field test made. Those who actually make it to the metal are being watchful of as well as their practical results. The rule of good theory being tested by practice is somehow forgotten. As a result clueless schemes emerge just to discredit smart ideas.

If you put the abovementioned in wind energetics terms, you could see that the vast dry land territories are not perspective for setting up wind turbines as the wind intensity is insufficient. I beg you pardon! If this approach had been used by shipping companies, no one would have designed off-roaders as the railway is more advantageous for shipping the goods. But there is an approach for every task. If the wind was not sufficient for flour grinding, our ancestors used to spread sails between the blades and carried on. But modern “connoisseurs” can’t stand a wind sail turbine just because it doesn’t look too much of a propeller and they go on with shooting the bull! The airplane propeller theory is really well developed but why to apply it to an almost static mechanism? For different areas with different wind intensity different designs of wind turbines should be applied! A Formula 1 car cannot do the same thing a heavy-duty dump truck does!

Thus, the task of building a good wind turbine is transformed into a task to build the right kind of a wind turbine for a certain place and a certain consumer. Here it would be useful to do a research of the existing market and to define the goods and the bads of the designs available.

To be continued in “Perfect wind turbine criteria”…

Vadim Belyaev, “Vetronet”,
Design Manager

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The EIB funds will support the construction and startup of a wind farm in Santo Domingo Ingenio in the Oaxaca region. The project will include installation of 121 turbines with a total capacity of 103 MW, and the construction of access roads and interconnection to the high voltage grid.

This is the first time the Bank grants Mexico funding that is the “the Sustainable Energy and Security of Supply Facility. The project meets the criteria supporting this mechanism as it seeks to enhance environmental sustainability, energy security and the development of renewable energy. It will also contribute to economic development, creating employment, it will generate social benefits for the poorest region of Mexico.

The Sustainable Energy and Security of Supply Facility is a multi-year loan arrangement with 3 billion euro to finance projects implemented in third countries, which contribute to the objectives of energy sustainability and security of energy supply. Latin America was one of the regions eligible for funding under this mechanism.

EIB started its financing in Latin America and Asia in 1993 and since then it has completed three terms. Under its current mandate (ALA IV), spanning the period 2007-2013 (parallel with the Sustainable Energy and Security of Supply Facility) is authorized to grant loans of up to 3 8 billion euros to finance up operations that help to support the EU presence in these regions through direct investment or transfer of technology and know-how as well as projects to mitigate the effects climate change.

This package of 3.8 billion euros as follows: $ 2.8 billion for Latin America and 1 billion euro for Asia.

In this context a number of projects funded largely by electricity producers are emerging. This applies to the Pacific Wind project: enXco, a subsidiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG & E) signed an agreement for the construction of a wind farm in Southern California with a capacity of 140 MW. enXco will own and construct the facility, while SDGE agrees to purchase the power generated for 20 years. The project is pending approval by the CPUC is expected to be operational by late 2011 – early 2012 and be maintained by enXco Service Corporation.

However, the grid 50 years old is not prepared to integrate intermittent generation-related fluctuations and wind-dispersed over the territory. Therefore an update of the infrastructure and deployment of new technologies is essential for the future.

Storing the key to the wind

To offset the intermittent nature of wind energy to offset the fluctuations, the producing electrics rely on storage systems. Last November Obama had announced funding of up to $ 620 million stimulus package, including $ 435 million will be awarded for demonstration projects of the intelligent network. The remaining funding is allocated to 16 projects for storage capacity experimental eventually to greater efficiency and better reliability.

In this regard Pacific Gas & Electricity (PG & E) has won one of 16 projects and got $ 25 million to initiate work on possible ways of storing energy from the wind during the night. PG & E plans to develop energy storage technology based on compressed air. The idea is to store the air and compress it into cellars where wind can produce a lot of energy and use this compressed air to spin turbines and produce electricity when the wind is fell. If the test proves successful the technology, 300 MW could be produced for an initial investment of $ 365 million. The project, however, must be approved by the CPUC which will raise the remaining funds needed.

A similar project was being developed at Sandia National Lab’s premises. The Iowa Stored Energy Park is expected to save $ 5 million per year with a capacity of 268 MW of storage compressed air. Indeed, the storage can meet the needs of growing consumption peaks that require adding extra power very expensive.

Similarly Beacon Power Corporation has installed a storage system using flywheels inertia connected to a wind farm in Tehachapi California. The system is part of the demonstration project flywheels inertia carried by the Californian Energy Commission. Tehachapi is an area with high potential. According to a report of the California ISO, up to 4200 MW of wind could be added in the coming years. The main function of these flywheels is to keep current on the network. However during periods of large fluctuations in consumption or production of transmission lines, they can be used to compensate for the lack or excess electricity to the grid.

New transmission lines needed

Another key deployment of wind energy is the transmission network. Large regions with significant wind resources are not those where consumption is most important. The three major areas are Altamont Pass (east of San Francisco), Tehachapi (southeast of Bakersfield) and San Gorgonio (east of Los Angeles). The problems are posed at the delivery of electricity across the territory. Producer Southern California Edison (SCE) said it had completed the first phase of Southern California Edison’s Tehachapi Transmission Project Renewable. The transmission network will be able eventually to carry a capacity of 4500 MW of electricity from renewable energy produced in the Tehachapi Valley and distributed to three million homes across Los Angeles County. The total project cost is $ 2 billion for a network of 173 miles (~ 280 km). The project represents only a portion of the $ 5.5 billion that SCE plans to invest in the transmission network in next 5 years. The project when completed will help ease the Los Angeles Basin.

The total cost for the addition of transmission to meet the objectives of 33% renewable energy production for 2020 was estimated at $ 15.7 billion. Also transport problems of renewables is not unique to California. A report recently published by the American Wind Energy Association has highlighted the need for a standard for renewable electricity and an updated infrastructure to connect about 300,000 MW of wind projects still pending connection to the grid.

The project is already at an advanced stage and a prototype is under construction.

To stay afloat, the power generator nicknamed Poseidon 37 is 230 feet long using the same technology as the offshore oil platforms

Weighing 30,000 tons, the commercial version could include three wind turbines of 1.5 megawatts.

Float absorbs inherent waves energy and by using a pump with a dual function, the latter compresses the water which is then sent through a turbine generating electricity. The unusual shape of the float provides for its maximum wave energy absorption.

In addition to being physically stable, the platform should be financially profitable. Wave energy associated with the installation of wind turbines on offshore platform should ensure a stable energy production.

The developers hope that the platform will be able to produce annually approximately 50 GWh of renewable energy (hydro + wind). The company estimates the cost of energy for the Poseidon plant to be of 10-15 cents / kWh that directly competes with the rates charged in Europe.

AWEA blamed the slowdown in the U.S. market to the lack of a stable long-term commitment. Therefore, the association has decided to complain to the Congress to implement a federal requirement range of renewable energy in the electricity mix, as that which already exists in some member states of the union, through so-called Renewable Energy Standards (RES) – to provide the necessary legal stability for investors.

Two key factors affect also the slowdown, according to AWEA. On the one hand, problems arising from lack of funding, which now takes an average of eighteen months, according to AWEA. Furthermore, the fall in demand for electricity consumption, which has affected the willingness of power companies sign new contracts for the purchase and sale of wind energy. With “a clear signal to the market, the industry could bounce back quickly and generate new orders,” according to Denise Bode, CEO of AWEA.

Additionally, “Americans want a RES” Bode added, referring to a poll, conducted by the consulting company Public Opinion Strategies and Bennett, Petts & Normington, indicating that 92% of Democratic voters favored a federal RES. The measure is popular at 65% of Republican voters and 69% of independents. Bode points out that the incentive programs of 2009 have rescued mature projects totaling thousands of megawatts and have avoided the loss of 40,000 jobs.

Dozens of wind energy companies have announced commitments for construction or expansion of productive capacity in the U.S., said Bode. If the federal government introduces stability in the market with measures of the long term support, wind energy companies could give a strong boost to the U.S. economy in the long term, according to AWEA. United States added 10 000 MW to its national wind farm capacity in 2009.

Its commissioning will occur in 2011 and will consist of 61 Alstom ECO74 wind turbines providing over 100 MW of renewable energy to customers in the private industrial Morocco, mainly in the program EnergiPro.

Under the terms of the contract, Alstom will be responsible for the supply, installation and commissioning of the wind farm. The group will also be responsible for maintenance and operation during the first five years. During the installation phase, Alstom has provided for the hiring of nearly 45 people working on the site, and 16 other people for the operation and maintenance.

Morocco has committed to produce 42% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, a third will come from wind. Alstom is present in the hydropower sector and has already installed 800 MW, more than half of the country’s installed hydropower basis.

“Alstom is proud of signing the new contract in the Kingdom of Morocco, which allows the group and its client to reinforce the wind industry, according to environmental policies of the country,” said Philippe Cochet, Senior Vice President of Alstom Hydro and Wind. The contract is the first contract in terms of wind power in Morocco and represents a promising step forward for future projects in the sector.”

“Wind Cape is the first of many projects coming online along the Atlantic coast in the coming years,” Salazar said during the press conference announcing the above approval. According to the chief executive of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), Christian Kjaer, this new step in the long process of promoting of this project marks the birth of a new phase of offshore wind, the decision is the first step in the transformation from the European market led to a global European companies, “added Kjaer.

The construction of Cape Wind Park is scheduled to start during the second quarter of 2011, ie ten years after it opened the process for handling the project. Salazar emphasize that the approval is conditional on the implementation of a series of amendments to protect environmental and historic environment of Nantucket Sounds site. As reported, Siemens will supply turbines for the Cape Wind project. In total, 130 machines of 3.6 MW capacity.

The Cape Wind farmhad strong opposition of sports lovers in the area, known for its aquatic leisure facilities of high standing, and several Indian tribes, who say they will oppose its implementation. According to local press, two of the tribes that opposed the installation of wind turbines would have rejected a “potential offer” of 2.5 million each to compensate for the damage. Cape Wind is in Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

“Friday we made our first direct investment in a renewable energy project with the acquisition of two wind farms with a total capacity of 169.5 megawatts (MW), enough electricity to power more than 55,000 homes,” said Rick Needham, the head of Green Business Operations at Google. He added, “through this investment of 38.8 million dollars, we hope to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy.”

According to the internet giant, the wind constantly adjust the angles of different propeller pitch to achieve optimal efficiency. Furthermore, the use of light greater than 15% increases the area swept by previous generations. The advanced control systems for wind farms would also allow remote monitoring 24/7 in order to ensure the maximum utilization of the turbines and thus generate electricity.

The challenge for France is twofold: to honor the commitments of the Grenelle Environment and Energy Package and climate, but also to gain a leading position in the future marine energy industry and allow the creation of thousands perennial job on home soil. The “program for the development of offshore wind of the Grenelle Environment” revolves around three axes:

Axis 1: Joint planning:

In spring 2009, the Government asked the prefects of the regions of Brittany, Pays de la Loire Haute-Normandie, Aquitaine and Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur to establish, for each coastline, a forum for consultation and planning, bringing together all stakeholders. The identification of technical issues, regulatory and environmental issues is now complete, and the prefects were instructed to complete the consultation with the stakeholders before the end of the first half of 2010. This work will enable the Government to announce in the next few weeks the selection of a dozen “conducive areas” in which offshore wind is developed.

Axis 2: A simplified regulatory framework:

Since the adoption of the draft law on national commitment to the environment (Grenelle 2), the procedures for offshore wind will be very much simplified, and management of connection of offshore wind farms to the grid can be optimized.

Axis 3: Tenders aimed at creating of new “green” industry jobs:

In october 2010 the Government will launch the first round of tenders for the installation of 3000 MW in the areas identified as suitable for the end of the planning process and consultation undertaken in recent months. Projects will be selected in the third quarter of 2011 on the basis of the purchase price of electricity and the proposed period of commissioning of facilities.

These tenders are aimed at industrial customers. As such, candidates must present their industrial project: contribution to the development of industry in the offshore wind, mobilization of the industrial and local infrastructure, job creation…

The proposed wind farm in the state of Oregon, northwest of the US, which plans to install 338 wind turbines to complete an installed capacity of 845 MW, is paralyzed by the concerns of the Federal Aviation Administration (FFA, federal court regulates the airspace). The very Air Force supports the ban, which could even affect Iberdrola Renovables parks.

The issue has involved the highest officials in the White House, working to iron out positions. On the side of the developer of the park, Caithness Energy, which claims to pursue an investment of two billion dollars (1,494 million euros), Shepherds Flat project should begin in May, as it is estimated that the work carried 18 months.

The rush to make sense if one understands that to be eligible for federal incentive plans for renewables, the enterprises that wish to apply they must be completed in late 2012.

In addition, the case involving General Electric, which in December was awarded the Order of construction of the nearly 340 wind turbines, a transaction of $1,400 million (1,046 million euros).

According to the FAA, the park structures represent “a danger to air navigation.” In letters sent to owners of the lands of Arlington, in the north of the state, which would extend the complex, it is argued that the turbines would exceed the “standards of obstruction and / or have an effect of electromagnetic interference as well as seriously impair the ability of the (Department of Defense) to detect, monitor and safely conduct air operations in this region”.

In Fossil, about 80 km to the south, is a military radar station. The Pentagon makes sure that a certain position in the rotation of the blades could interfere with radar signals, used for air defense surveillance.

The matter involves Caithness Energy, General Electric, the FAA, the Pentagon, and the White House remains in suspense of 16,000 jobs.

As quoted in the Washington Post, and for a few months of 2006 the Pentagon, and for similar reasons, ordered the suspension of the operations of wind farms, prompting demands from companies.

In the same article mentions that the position taken by the U.S. Air Force could endanger nearby three wind farms developed by the Iberdrola Renovables subsidiary in the US, which could add to the  Shepherds Flat site project up to 3 GW.

Iberdrola spokeswoman Jan Johnson has been quoted as saying that the projects do not represent any danger to navigation, although there have been some minor amendments, which require the second round of review by the FAA.

Wigton expansion project which will reach 18 MW of installed capacity, has an estimated investment of $50 million (37 million euros) and is located in Rose Hill, Manchester, in south central part of the island. It is financed by the Development Fund PetroCaribe.

The wind farm is run by Wigton Wind Farm Limited, a subsidiary of Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), and so far has provided the Public electricity company (JPSCo) about 306 GWh. In that sense, the director of PCJ, Ruth Potopsingh, has assured that the operation of Wigton will save the country $ 2.5 million (1.8 million) a year to buy fossil fuels.

Exploring the wind
Regarding the government announcement of the intention to locate new sites hosting wind farms, it was reported that funding was made through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which contributed $ 700,000 (517,000 euros).

The process will be pursued in 22 different locations and will take 18 months of study, both in terms of commercial viability and the relation of force of the wind.

Iberdrola, which opened offices in Bucharest in 2009, develops its projects with Romania Dobrogea Wind Company. This year the Spanish company plans to build its first wind farm in the country: Mihai Viteazu Park, 80 MW, which is not part of the proposed 1,500 MW.

According to the Spanish company, authorized the project now called Dobrogea, “includes the implementation of 50 wind farms.” Iberdrola said the company is already working in the Eastern Europe. It develops projects “in Poland, Hungary, Estonia and Bulgaria, and some wind measurements have been made in Russia.”

Dobrogea Project will be implemented in the eponymous region in southeast Romania. The company intends to build 50 parks between 2011 and 2017. Iberdrola Renovables works in Romania in collaboration with Dobrogea Wind Company, owned by the Swiss engineering group NEK Umwelttechnik AG and Romanian companies C-Tech Srl and Rokuro Srl.

The company, a pioneer in his country in the development of renewable projects, is responsible for promoting the same-planning and obtaining construction permits-while Iberdrola Renovables is responsible for the construction and operation of wind turbines .

According to Iberdrola, the authorized project has a potential to generate enough power “to supply electricity to about one million households, also avoiding the emission into the atmosphere of 2.6 million tonnes of CO2.”

Vestas, which happens to be the leading supplier of wind turbines in the world, has consolidated its position in the growing Chinese market by signing last April 15 a contract of 49 MW. The Danish company, true to its communication policy, has refused to identify the client “for reasons of confidentiality” and merely asserts that this is a wind farm in the province of Guandong. In 2009, China has added 13.8 GW of wind power to its national park, with which it has already reached 26 GW cumulative power. Vestas says it has installed there 2GW or about 8% of the total. The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) believes that China will install new 20 GW annually by 2014.

For its part, the company Nordex, also Danish, announced also on the fifteenth day of April, a contract for 30 MW in Greece. The 12 machines covered by the contract, 2.5 MW, will aim for a project on the north coast of the country. Nordex has sought to identify neither the client nor the promoter-site. The Danish firm intends to launch the facility in mid-2011. Although the Greek market has failed to meet industry expectations, it did pass the milestone of cumulative gigawatt (megawatts) in late 2009, after installing, during that year, only 97 MW. The new Socialist government, which took over last October, says it wants to produce 40% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 (it is now 2%).

Meanwhile, the first German manufacturer Enercon, has published details of a signed contract for 33 MW in Taiwan earlier this year with the national electricity company TPC. The contract includes 6 900 kW machines, aimed at the island of Penghu, and twelve 2.3 MW, to be shared among a fleet of 23 MW in the village of Wang Kong and a 4.6 MW facility near TPC power plant that operates in Datan. In late 2009, Taiwan had 436 MW of wind power gained, according to the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), after adding 78 MW of new power in 2009, of which 11.5 MW were installed by Enercon . The German technologist says it has installed hundreds of wind turbines in Taiwan to date.

The business of wind power is bad, really. While the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly has just made a report calling for severe restrictions on the development of turbines, risking France will not meet the targets set for renewable equipment in 2020, now the Justice is invited in the debate.
On February 4, the high court ruled against Montpellier Company wind to destroy 4 of 21 wind turbines of Névian park on the commune of Bizanet (Aude). A subsidiary of GDF Suez will also pay 428,673 euros to the plaintiff, a winemaker, and also a lawyer. Revealed by Energy 2007 , this decision is the first of a kind in France.

The case dates back more than 9 years. At the time, the Company intends to build a wind park on a ridge on the town of Névian, a lot that borders Bizanet, commune of the Aude. After the environmental impact assessment had been done, the French pioneer of the wind followed the usual administrative path: issuance of building permits authorized by the prefect of the Aude, operating permits by the Ministry of industry, etc.. On March 21, 2002, the farm (17.85 MW) delivered its first kilowatt hours into the network.

Alas, they did not take into account the owners of the Bouquignan winery , located several hundred meters away. Considering that the windmills alter ” landscape abnormally” and damaged “the scenery and the serenity of the monastery”, the owners and one of their neighbors seized the court on the ground of the farm affecting the landscape and exceeding the maximum permissible sound levels: two nuisances that affect the heritage value of both properties.

At the same time, the owners of Bouquignan commence proceedings before the Administrative Court to revoke the permit to build the wind farm. After 7 years of litigation, the plaintiffs are unsuccessful in those proceedings. By decision of 13 March 2008, the building permit, granted on July 19, 2001, is confirmed. But the complainant is persistent. The case is now in the hands of the Administrative Court of Appeal of Marseille.

Year in, year out, the first procedure is ongoing. And despite numerous studies and expert-cons, the results are disastrous for the industry. In its ruling, the court stated that “installation of a fleet of 21 wind turbines overlooking the farm field is, for the owners of this area, a disorder of normal development of the neighborhood area, a source of noise pollution, which results in property depreciation.” Considering that the 4 turbine closest to the area were responsible for the harm done, and the magistrate ordered their destruction,” under penalty of 1,000 euros per day of delay and within one month since this decision has been made.” The Wind Company is also ordered to pay € 200,000 in compensation of moral damage to those “who suffered and still do.” The company is also to pay any other compensation, € 228,673, to offset the depreciation of vineyard land.

Despite having paid the sum demanded (provisional execution) to the complainant, the industrialist appealed the decision. A call which, no doubt, is especially expected. Both by anti-wind pro.

The buyer of these 86 wind turbines with a combined capacity to almost 200 megawatts (MW) is Renewable Energy Systems (RES) Canada. Once completed, these wind farms would provide clean energy to over 60 000 homes in Canada.

“Canada represents an important market for Siemens wind energy. The five wind turbine orders totaling nearly 600 MW we received across the country over the last six months clearly demonstrate the success that we’re achieving,” said Bill Smith, Vice-President of Siemens Canada.” If we include the two Canadian wind farms commissioned in 2008, Siemens turbines have the potential to provide clean power to approximately 240 000 Canadian households,” he says.

According to the World Council of wind energy, Canada’s wind industry has experienced a record year in 2009, in terms of development of energy capacity, with wind turbines installed in eight provinces that can produce up to 950 MW in total – placing Canada in Top 10 countries in terms of the new production capacity added this year.

“Offshore wind will play a vital role in meeting the growing global demand for cleaner, renewable energy, and has a bright future here in Europe,” said Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco, president and CEO of GE International. “These investments will position us to help develop Europe’s vast, untapped offshore wind resources, while also creating new jobs for both GE and our suppliers.”

At the core of GE’s European expansion plans is the development of GE’s next generation wind turbine, a 4-megawatt machine designed specifically for offshore deployment. As the largest wind turbine in GE’s fleet, it will incorporate advanced drive train and control technologies gained through GE’s acquisition of ScanWind. The 4-megawatt wind turbine will feature GE’s innovative technology that eliminates the need for gearboxes. This technology is already being demonstrated at a test site in Hundhammerfjellet, Norway where the first ScanWind direct drive unit has been operating for more than five years.

The European Wind Energy Association expects that Europe’s offshore wind sector will grow more than 70% in 2010, with continued growth forecast over the next several years. If all of the offshore wind projects currently in development are completed, they could produce 10% of the European Union’s total electricity while avoiding 200 million tons of CO2 emissions each year. Overall, offshore wind is expected to make a major contribution in helping the European Union reach its goal to have 20% of its energy produced from renewable resources by the year 2020. Key elements of GE’s European expansion announcement include:

Norway
GE will add to its existing presence in Norway with plans to create a new Offshore Technology Development Center in Oslo, and will expand its advanced demonstration unit production and service facilities in Verdal. GE also has joined the Nowitech Research Center in Norway to participate in joint research projects on offshore wind topics. Norway is the planned site for the testing and demonstration of the first 4-megawatt wind turbines offshore. This will result in approximately 100 jobs and a €75 million investment related to GE’s offshore wind business in Norway by 2016.

Sweden
In Sweden, GE will also expand its current offshore wind facilitites by developing a Conceptual and Systems Design Centre in Karlstad, Sweden. A technology demonstration unit is planned to be installed in Gothenburg harbour, and GE also will join the Chalmers Wind Energy Centre in Gothenburg. This will result in approximately 50 jobs and a €50 million investment related to GE’s offshore wind business in Sweden by 2016.

Germany
A new engineering centre in Hamburg will feature product development, application engineering and advanced technology. GE also plans to expand its resources at its existing wind turbine manufacturing facility in Salzbergen, as well as the GE Global Research Center in Munich. This will result in approximately 100 jobs and a €105 million investment related to GE’s offshore wind business in Germany by 2016.

United Kingdom
GE plans to establish its offshore wind turbine manufacturing in the UK. In addition, GE will locate application and service engineering resources in the country and will bring partners and suppliers of towers, blades, nacelles and other offshore wind components to the manufacturing facility. The plan will result in up to €110 million investment related to GE’s offshore wind business in the UK and could ultimately deliver nearly 2000 jobs by 2020. This investment will follow the successful outcome of the UK government’s infrastructure competition, aimed at supporting the development of renewable energy in the UK.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Energy and Climate Change secretary Ed Miliband said: “We’re creating the right conditions and incentives to maximise the potential of our wind resource. Now we have another leading player entering the offshore wind market as a result. GE’s investment will create new jobs and help the supply chain flourish, reinforcing the UK as the destination for offshore wind investment.”

After a year-long delay, construction is slated to begin immediately on 60 wind turbines owned and operated by Pattern Energy, a San Francisco-based renewable energy company.

But instead of the 300 megawatts the NDP government originally promised, the wind farm will add less than half that power to Hydro’s grid.

And, Manitoba Hydro is loaning Pattern the bulk of the construction money because the recession and the credit crunch made it impossible for Pattern to afford to build the wind farm and keep power prices low enough for Hydro’s liking.

Manitoba Hydro president Bob Brennan said the loan won’t affect rates and the bailout isn’t risky. He said Hydro will make a small profit on the loan, and if Pattern were to default, Hydro would take over a wind farm that Pattern partly paid for.

Tory Hydro critic Rick Borotsik, the MLA for Brandon West, said more wind power is a noble goal but the St. Joseph deal involves too many fuzzy details. He said he’d like to know what interest rate Hydro is charging and why; whether Pattern’s business plan is sound, and why the company couldn’t get private financing.

Borotsik said the loan is unfair to the other 83 bidders that submitted proposals for wind farms but lost out to the St. Joseph project, without knowing government loans might be a financing option.

“There are too many red flags in this one, too many unanswered questions,” Borotsik said.

The NDP promised to build 1,000 megawatts of wind power by 2015 but is falling short of that goal. So far, 237 megawatts are on tap, including St. Joseph.

Both Brennan and Premier Greg Selinger shied away from the 1,000-megawatt commitment Monday. Asked when Hydro might issue a request for proposals for the next wind farm, Brennan joked the St. Joseph project was so difficult to negotiate that his staff need a break.

He said Hydro is unlikely to start working on some of the 83 other wind farm projects under development because the price of power is too steep.

Complicating matters is the fact the federal government has not replenished a subsidy that bolstered the economic viability of wind farms. Pattern Energy was among the last projects to get cash from the subsidy.

Given the credit crunch and the end of the subsidy, Selinger said he’s going to ask Hydro to come up with other ways to build wind farms.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

St. Joseph wind farm facts:

Size: 138 megawatts, about the same as the Jenpeg dam in northern Manitoba and enough to power 50,000 homes.

Cost: $345 million, with $95 million coming from Pattern Energy and the rest loaned from Manitoba Hydro.

Spinoff: $38 million in land-rental payments to farmers over the life of the project, plus tax revenue to governments.

Jobs: 225 during construction

Location: Near St. Joseph, a few minutes west of Highway 75 on provincial road 201 (the road to Altona).

Deadline: Turbines should start turning late this year and be fully online by spring.

Until 2021, North Carolina is planning to supply 12.5% of its power from renewable energy. “We concluded that you could generate enough electricity from wind turbines off the coast to power the entire state. You’d have to put up a tremendous number of turbines, and the power grid infrastructure would need to be upgraded. But even if you developed one-sixth of the offshore region suitable for wind farms, you could generate twenty percent of the state’s power needs.” said Pete Peterson, marine ecologist and co-author of the new study.

The goal of this study is to identify the best locations for the turbines and to examine the human and ecological viability of producing energy from wind turbines off the coast.

Researchers said that North Carolina has some of the country’s best wind speeds, the best wind resources being located in Onslow Bay and Raleigh Bay, about 20 miles off the coastline. If all goes well this state could become a national leader in the off-shore wind power sector.

“With the right policies in place, we can see explosive growth … It’s a global footrace,” said Jeff Anthony, business development director of the American Wind Energy Association.

Although the United States has the largest amount of installed wind power capacity in the world, the wind power industry is “fighting to get on a level playing field” with other government-subsidized power-providers, Anthony told a conference of parts manufacturers, suppliers, wind project developers and economic development officers from around the southeastern United States.

“What the wind industry looks like in the U.S. in 10 years depends a lot on what comes out of Washington … Policy does drive the industry,” he told the conference in Greensboro, North Carolina.

A little more than 1.5 percent of power supplied in the United States is generated by wind, Anthony said.

“It’s an important part of how we generate electricity in the U.S. today. It’s still relatively small in terms of percentages, but it’s growing rapidly … Only in the last seven or eight years has the cost come down … The price of electricity from wind projects has stabilized.”

Last year, 10,000 megawatts of wind capacity were added to the grid, bringing the country’s total wind power capacity to 35,000 megawatts, Anthony said. Industry growth in 2009 was 39 percent, he said.

“China is currently growing at 100 percent. They are doubling the amount of wind power capacity in their country every year,” Anthony said.

To reach a goal set by the U.S. Department of Energy for 20 percent of the nation’s electricity to be generated by wind by 2030, “we will need 300,000 megawatts of power generated by wind turbines,” Anthony said. “So we’re one-tenth of the way there.”

Problems include a lag in manufacturing — almost all manufacturers of turbine parts are based outside the United States — and transmission.

“We need a green superhighway” to get power from the windiest parts of the country, in a north-south swath through the middle, to the areas where demand is highest, Anthony said.

“Electricity is the only commodity you can’t store,” he said.

The highest demand is on the East Coast, where 28 coastal states use almost 80 percent of the electricity in the country, said Nick Rigas, a Clemson University wind expert who spoke at the conference.

Offshore wind turbines, in use around the world for years, have yet to be built off U.S. coasts. Duke Energy’s (DUK.N) three proposed wind turbines in Pamlico Sound on the North Carolina coast will probably be the first in-water wind engines to be built in the country, Rigas said.

Rigas is senior scientist and director of Clemson University Restoration Institute’s $98 million drive-train testing facility being built on the coast of South Carolina to test the next generation of global large wind turbines, 15-megawatt engines that can weigh up to 300 tons.

The facility is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy along with public and private partners, and will allow access to all manufacturers and protect intellectual property rights, he said.

New technology will change the wind power industry, Rigas said. Turbines will get quieter and lighter, and efficiencies in wind power will improve, he said.

“The cost of offshore is high right now,” said.

But, he said “If we do not find a way to harness a large resource sitting near a big demand — it’s Economics 101 — I think we have some issues with ourselves,” Rigas said.

“It comes down to: Do we as a nation think that carbon emissions have an adverse impact on our environment and our future? The other issue with the fossil fuels is that they are a finite resource. Why are we depleting a finite resource by just burning it?”

He agreed that sustainable energy policy is crucial. Energy policy “can’t come and go depending on who is in office,” he said. “In China, wind power is huge and still growing while we sit here and contemplate our navels,” he said.

The 6,272-megawatt peak — which does not include turbines in the windy Panhandle because that region is on a different grid — surpassed another record, set last Sunday near midday. The state’s overall wind average is significantly lower than these spikes: Last year Texas got 6.2 percent of its electricity from wind, according to Dottie Roark, a spokeswoman for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the grid serving most of the state. The nation as a whole has less than 2 percent wind in its electricity mix.

Texas’s progress in installing turbines is testing the bounds of just how much wind the electrical grid can handle. Some turbines are slowed or shut down on windy days because the state does not have sufficient transmission wires to move all the power from the remote, windy areas of West Texas to cities like Dallas and Houston that need it. Last night and this morning, for example, the prices for wind generation offered on the main Texas grid actually fell below zero, a sign of oversupply that usually prompts wind generators to shut down their turbines.

Texas is spending nearly $5 billion to fix the transmission problem. It plans to build a web of power lines that would be able to deliver the wind energy from congested West Texas, home to 89 percent of the wind capacity on the state’s main grid, to power-hungry cities. That process, however, looks likely to be delayed by a recent court decision.

Meanwhile, the state is able to break new wind records partly because of the growth of wind in areas with sufficient transmission. A 180-megawatt wind farm opened last September near Corpus Christi, said Ms. Roark of the electric council. NextEra Energy Resources, a major wind developer, also recently completed a private transmission line for its enormous wind farm in West Texas.

Texas’s challenges may serve as a test case for the nation. A 2008 Energy Department report outlined the changes that will be needed if the nation is going to achieve a goal of 20 percent wind power by 2030. One of the key prerequisites, the report said, is better transmission lines.

“This investment will create jobs and cut our dependence on oil, while promoting America’s leadership in the global race for the clean energy industries of tomorrow,” said Secretary Chu.

Located on the island of Oahu, the Kahuku project will contribute to Hawaii’s Clean Energy Initiative goal of meeting 70% of the state’s energy needs with clean energy by 2030. Currently, each island uses an isolated electric grid that relies upon the use of imported oil, which currently comprises 90% of the state’s energy supply. By harnessing wind power, the project is expected to supply electricity to 7,700 households and avoid the production of nearly 160 million pounds of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas.

The project sponsor, First Wind Holdings LLC, estimates that construction of the Kahuku project will create 200 jobs. After completion, the project will provide 6 to 10 full-time clean energy jobs in Kahuku. The electricity generated by the project will be sold to Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.

This is the eighth conditional commitment for a loan guarantee for clean energy projects entered into by the Department’s Loan Guarantee Program Office. It represents another step toward making the United States a worldwide leader in the manufacture and deployment of clean energy technology.

The reports looked at all forms of renewable energy. It found that 13 of the 27 EU countries are set to meet their target, 8 are set to exceed it and the remaining 6 are expected to fall short.

Bulgaria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg and Malta are reportedly not on track to meet their targets, but none of them are expected to be more than 1% below their target.

Larger countries leading the pack, “Spain and Germany are set to top the European league tables for renewable energy, with the Spanish government announcing it is on track to generate 22.7 per cent of its power from renewables by 2020, which is almost three percentage points above its 20 per cent target.”

Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden are the other countries expected to exceed their individual targets.

Christine Lins, secretary general of the European Renewable Energy Council says: “The clear majority of European Member States recognise the economic, environmental and social benefits of promoting a broad range of renewable energy technologies nationally, as reflected in their forecast documents.”

All EU countries are required to submit a National Action Plan to the European Commission with details as to how they plan to meet their individual targets by June 2010, under the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive.

Justin Wilkes, policy director of EWEA, focuses on the change in attitude and forecast since the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive was adopted in 2008, saying: “Europe has witnessed a sea-change since the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive was agreed as in 2008 many countries were stating that their target would be difficult to meet – now the majority are forecasting that they will meet or exceed their national target.”

Hopefully the US can at least set a renewable energy target soon.

Susman says his company’s role is to identify a local partner or entrepreneur, someone who lives in the community or has ties there, and preferably a significant land owner in the project footprint. “Then we form a joint venture with the local partner. For example, partners in Kay County Oklahoma, a father and son team with property in the footprint, can count several generations in the area. Their land will be used in the project along with neighbors’ land. That arrangement brings a sensitivity to projects. Our role is to make the project work for everyone in the community.”

An island community off Maine, Fox Islands Wind LLC, provides another example of community wind. “Instead of importing power from the mainland on a cable, they generate it themselves. They decided to install three wind generators, and then structured the power, financing, procurement contracts as a community with an entrepreneurial person at the lead. A development company such as ours is in the lead so all members have an ownership stake,” says Susman.

Wind projects develop in several stages. An early stage involves feasibility and gathering land for the project, getting a wind assessment of the property, and steps such as getting in the transmission queue. ”A lot of the early effort is local, a good amount of that is done by the local partner. We provide the documentation he would take around to the community. We would do the feasibility work, site assessment to figure out the farm size, make sure we are not in areas of endangered habitat, on whose property the turbines would be placed, and how it would connect to the grid,” he says.

A middle development phase is outsourced. It includes studies around transmission and permitting, and continuing the wind resource work by a third party, while OwnEnergy typically manages the third parties with input from the local partner. That person might be working with the community dealing with the land owners, and getting county tax abatement for the locals. If anyone in the community is not comfortable with the project, the third party works with that person. A final stage signs up contractors and gets the project ready for financing by wind energy lenders and tax-equity firms.

In fact, someone who produces an online newsletter that focuses on wind projects contacted Gary Robinett, director of marketing and industrial recruitment for the Abilene Industrial Foundation, Inc., this week. Robinett said the caller asked him whether he could tell him more about the exact location of the planned $1.5 billion project, which would be one of the first Chinese-American wind energy ventures and would produce enough electricity to power 180,000 homes in the U.S. The caller had heard the 36,000-acre wind project would be in Abilene.

However, Robinett said he hasn’t heard anything that would indicate the project will be in Abilene. “I guess someone associated West Texas with Abilene,” he said. He added that he and other Abilene leaders have speculated the project would be in the Panhandle. He noted that it would be nice if it were built in Taylor County.

The companies involved are Cielo Wind Power, based in Austin, U.S. Renewable Energy Group out of Washington, D.C., and China-based A-Power Energy Generations Systems Ltd., a subsidiary of Shenyang Power Group. In December, they announced they would develop a 600-megawatt wind farm in West Texas, and a signing ceremony was held in Washington, D.C.

Greg Wortham, the director of the West Texas Wind Consortium, based in Sweetwater, said he had not heard where the wind farm would be, but said he doesn’t think Taylor County would have the space for such a project. His educated guess was McCamey, Texas, near Fort Stockton. He said the town has big projects planned and the space for it.

Cielo Wind Power has an office in McCamey. The office could not be reached by phone, and the McCamey Chamber of Commerce did not have any information on the project. Fort Stockton Economic Development officials could not be reached for comment, either.

Cielo Wind Power in Austin said there has been no announcement as to the exact location. The company simply confirmed that it would be in West Texas.

Wortham said the reason the project has received so much attention is because of the Chinese connection, and the fact that it was first announced in Washington at a news conference. He said there are many other projects planned for Texas at this time, up to a capacity of 50,000 megawatts of power if all are built.

Four projects are now proposed for Nolan, Mitchell, Scurry and Fisher Counties, which will be expansions of current projects. The expansion of transmission lines will help these projects move along, according to Wortham.

“This is a moderate-sized project,” Wortham said, referring to the Chinese-American project. However, 600 megawatts of power is still a drop in the bucket in West Texas, which already produces 8,500 megawatts of the approximate 9,500 total in Texas.

The Chinese wind manufacturer A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd. is set to begin shipping the 2.5-megawatt turbines in March. The turbines were built in Shenyang, China, which adds to project’s uniqueness.

GE and Vancouver-based Plutonic Power Corp. last year bought the 144-megawatt Dokie Ridge Wind Project, the first equity investment in wind energy in Canada for both companies.

“British Columbia has tremendous natural resources that are ideal for large-scale renewable energy projects,” Alex Urquhart, who runs the energy finance unit, a division of Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric’s GE Capital division, said in a statement today.

GE and Plutonic are considering expanding Dokie to 300 megawatts, the companies said. The project’s first phase should be operational next year and provide enough electricity to power 34,000 homes annually, the companies said.

Plutonic and GE Energy Financial Services also are building a C$660 million ($628 million) run-of-river hydro-electric project on glacier-fed streams about 190 kilometers (118 miles) northwest of Vancouver. The 196-megawatt East Toba River- Montrose development is slated to be completed this year.

So-called run-of-river power projects rely on water diverted from rivers that’s returned to its normal course after spinning turbines.

GE Energy Financial Services has about $23 billion in assets.