Turbines spin on the Texas Panhandle (Photo: Sandia National Laboratories)

The 9,922 new megawatts (MW) installed in the U.S. last year expanded the nation’s wind plant fleet by 39 percent and brought the total wind power generating capacity in the U.S to over 35,000 MW, according to the American Wind Energy Association. U.S. wind projects now generate enough to power the equivalent of 9.7 million homes.

America’s wind power industry will avoid an estimated 62 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, equivalent to taking 10.5 million cars off the road, and will conserve approximately 20 billion gallons of water annually, which would otherwise be consumed for steam or cooling in conventional power plants.

Based on AWEA data, you can only conclude that Texas blows. A lot. The state dwarfs all others with 9,410 of installed wind power. But in 2009, Washington pulled ahead of Minnesota in the ranking of the top five states by wind power installed (in MW):

1. Texas — 9,410
2. Iowa — 3,670
3. California — 2,794
4. Washington — 1,980
5. Minnesota — 1,809

Source: American Wind Energy Association

Who says America can’t take the lead in wind power? Not General Electric. The global corporation based in Schenectady, N.Y., announced today that it has signed contracts to supply 88 wind turbines to HECIC New Energy Co., Ltd., a leading wind energy developer in China.

The turbines are destined for three new projects in the Hebei and Shanxi Provinces in China, which is the world’s 4th largest producer of wind power (after Germany, the U.S. and Spain).

The American Wind Energy Association has predicted that China’s wind power capacity will soon overtake European nations that have built strong wind components into their energy infrastructure. This surge in Chinese wind power will help reduce the nation’s reliance on coal-fired electricity plants and also bolster sales of wind components from around the world. In addition to the United States, Japan and European nations are positioned to help supply China’s needs, according to the AWEA.

China plans to add 150 gigawatts of installed wind power capacity by 2020, which will require it to add about 11.5 gigawatts of installed wind power every year, GE reported.

U.S. based GE, a global leader in power generation technologies, has already committed to supplying China with 896 1.5 MW wind turbines.

The GE 1.5 Megawatt Turbine was the most commonly installed land wind tower in the U.S. in 2009, according to the AWEA. It is capable of powering some 400 “average” American homes.

GE reports that more than 12,000 of these machines have been installed for projects around the world.

The company also noted that it is well-positioned to serve China’s growing wind industry, having been in business in that country for more than a century. GE runs 36 wholly owned or joint venture companies in China that include manufacturing, service, research and development and financial services operations, with a total workforce of over 13,000.

“The development of wind power is a key economic growth area for China and plays a critical role in achieving our national target to increase to 150 gigawatts of installed wind energy capacity by 2020,” said Dr. Cao Xin, General Manager of HECIC New Energy Co., Ltd., in the news release. “As a corporate citizen of China, our strategy is to apply the most advanced and reliable technology and technological expertise for every project that will help China reach its goal of achieving clean energy.”

To read more about wind power, see this fact sheet, called Wind Basics, put out by the AWEA in 2009.

The clock has just struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, 2020, and your rooftop cocktail party is in full swing. An urban garden, with potted evergreens and fruit trees, carpets the top of your downtown apartment building. The structure itself is vintage – a 1960’s brownstone that’s been retrofitted, by city-wide mandate. It operates on the new multi-source national electrical grid, which is supplied by wind, solar, geothermal power, as well as fossil fuels whose emissions are trapped underground.

Rooftop Garden (Photo: Adpower99/Dreamstime.)

In your apartment, appliances and plumbing fixtures are energy- and water-efficient – something you were able to afford with the help of government incentives that started in 2010.

As the New Year turns, friends sip mojitos with mint freshly cut from your herb garden, nibbling locally made goat cheese, accented by your own roof-grown tomatoes and cukes. A rainwater-collection system irrigates your vegetable garden, and the rooftop’s community compost fertilizes it. Solar-heated water percolates through your plumbing, and a mobile rooftop solar system heats and cools your home. Several stories below, in the building’s underground parking lot, the family car is getting its nightly re-charge.

It’s a smart, self-contained life, one that consumes no more than it requires, and produces some of its own food and energy on-site. And believe it or not, you are paying less for utilities, transportation – for life, in general – than you did a decade ago. That’s because U.S. policy-makers and legislators pushed so hard ten years before to put the country on an aggressive path toward a sustainable, renewable-energy future.

Imagine if they hadn’t pushed through the Energy and Power Bill in 2010, or the emissions Cap and Trade plan or later, the Carbon Tax bill… Imagine if progressive, quickly instituted policies and incentives hadn’t reassured manufacturers and factory owners that it was a good idea to retool and hire and train all those “green-economy” workers. …

This is the future we could see, the best case scenario we might see, if the White House and U.S. Congress and the rest of us act aggressively – now – to grow a green economy and reduce carbon emissions.

Is it Possible?

Most conservative think-tanks and government agencies foresee a longer-term conversion to green energy. According to one DOE report, the fastest we could move would be to attain 20 percent wind by 2030, while still relying on fossil fuels for up to 78 percent of  our overall power as late as 2035.

There are quicker conversion scenarios offered by groups ranging from the Union of Concerned Scientists to the American Wind Energy Association , from the Worldwatch Institute and the Renewable Energy and a Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) to former Vice President Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection/Repower America plan.

The latter suggests the U.S. could be at 100 percent renewable in 10 years,  but that roadmap doesn’t give a breakdown on which types of energy would provide what percentage of our overall electricity needs.And Gore’s and similar plans have been criticized as requiring the economy to travel at a warp speed not possible on this planet. They’ve also been challenged as risky, because they’d be based totally on today’s technologies, when solar and geothermal and biofuels are rapidly improving and coming down in price. Of course this could help us get there more quickly, but it also warns against locking in commitments.

In fact, if there’s one thing all parties agree upon, it’s that there is no single, truly reliable breakdown for a ten-year scenario that predicts specifics for how the energy pie would be divided in 10 years; 20 percent solar? 30 percent wind? 40 percent conventional fossil fuels like natural gas? Where does nuclear power fit?
No one has a crystal ball.

According to Mark Z. Jacobson, a Stanford University civil engineering professor and co-author of a recent report in Scientific American – “Evaluating the Feasibility of a Large Scale Wind, Water and Sun Energy Infrastructure” - in theory, the United States shouldn’t have a problem converting all “new production of electricity to renewable by 2020. The issue is, what’s ‘new’? It’s not going to be a high percent of the total. Each year you can replace a certain percent, but a (pre-existing) power plant can last 40 years.”

However, Jacobson adds,  ”It’s certainly feasible in ten years - if everybody put their minds to it – to say  all new power has to be renewable. We could be at 50 percent wind, 40 percent solar and 10 percent everything else, including geothermal, hydro-electric, even some tidal wave power.”

But converting our total energy production to renewables in 10 years is not a likely scenario, he says, because that would require the U.S. government to “take away all the subsidies from fossil fuels and shift them over to renewables” – unlikely, even with a progressive President and Congress.

“These coal plants that are grandfathered in, the way to make those go out of business is to change the subsidies, change the laws, but we’ll have a battle! Getting rid of the old stuff is easier said than done. We have all these people working in the industry and they are going to complain that we’re costing the country jobs, putting their companies out of business. And we’d need a job training program to shift them into other industries.”

But is it technically possible to have all new energy be renewable by 2020?

Yes,  says the professor, adding that we might already be at 25 percent renewable for new power now.

“Right now, wind is the second largest source of all new energy, after natural gas, and if we slowly get rid of the ‘old’ power, how fast that could occur depends on”  introducing things like new laws and incentives, aggressive policies that don’t change with each election, as well as shifting subsidies to green power interests and ridding the powers-that-be of outmoded mindsets.

Jacobson concludes:  ”The scenario of 100 percent conversion to renewables in 10 years is very slim. A 90 percent conversion – maybe a little less slim. … That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. All forces should be aligned to do these things. But given there are so many confliciting interests – there are lobbyists, naysayers, competing financial interests, the economic cycles, the political cycles – so many potential roadblocks. … You can’t just shut down the existing plants and have new generation on-line in 10 years. You could imagine the law suits. The goal is there, but if you think about it as retiring existing things as they go down, there’s probably less of a fight on that front.”

And, as the civil engineer points out, ” electric power is not the only thing you’re trying to change. You’re trying to change the entire infrastructure, so you want to go down the path of least resistance. It’s better to get 25 percent across the board – for everything, for other sectors, and not just (go for) 100 percent for electric power. Those other sectors include industrial, transportation, energy efficiency” for our built-environment.

As for which type of renewable energy will create the largest chunk of power in America, no one can say. So let’s take a look at the three main ones  consistently mentioned by renewable-energy proponents. First up, wind power.

The Roscoe, Texas, project became the world's largest wind farm.

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

The US wind industry will finish 2009 ahead of projections for wind installations, though the numbers will still fall behind the industry’s record-breaking year in 2008.

“It’s not a bad year given the financial crisis,” said Liz Salerno, director of industry data and analysis at the American Wind Energy Association, in a news conference this week.

The US is expected to have installed about 7,000 new megawatts of wind energy in 2009, falling short of  the 8,500 megawatts of 2008, but ahead of analysts’ predictions for the year and ahead of 2007’s installations.

With 31,000 megawatts of wind power online, the US currently leads the world in wind energy development, ahead of China, which is fast developing wind power, and traditional leader Germany.

The AWEA attributes the strong showing in 2009 to grant money provided by the US government, which allowed wind entrepreneurs and developers to show lenders they had seed money for projects. That helped companies secure credit, which was difficult in the wake of the financial fallout of late 2008, Salerno said.

“We know things were tough, and it was very difficult to get a deal done earlier in this year. But what we’re hearing from our wind community is that things are slowly being unlocked.”

Some private capital has helped fund projects as well, and utilities, which are able to access lower cost money, also continue to move into the wind market, she said.

Companies developing installations include large and small firms, including General Electric, Vestas, Siemens, Suzlon, Gamesa, Clipper, Mitsubishi, Acciona and Repower.

To keep wind aloft, advocates say a consistent and dependable national policy will be needed; keeping projects in the pipeline will require continued federal incentives, either as grants or production tax credits.

Click to enlarge

The AWEA also wants Congress to pass a strong Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), a measure that would require states to produce/obtain a certain percentage of their energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar or geothermal power.

A strong RES, combined with continued investment incentives, would send a signal to developers and the world that the US was committed to wind power and would buoy developers on the wind generation side, as well as the manufacturing sector related to wind, Salerno explained.

US wind parts manufacturers have experienced a slowdown with the 2009 global recession, she said.

“We can’t ignore the fact that we are competing with other countries for these manufacturing facilities and for these jobs…We have to step up and show that the US is a good place to do business compared to other countries.”

Congress also needs to invest in new transmission lines to get wind from outlying areas to population centers. Coupled with a strong RES, that would demonstrate the public commitment that the wind business has been seeking for years.

“Having a stable market in place,” she said, “will be the foundation for growing wind.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

We’re used to windy debates in Washington. Now the debates about wind have blown in gale force.

It’s been a while coming. At first, wind power seemed hard to argue against. It is emissions-free, technologically proven, shovel-ready, local and works well on the gusty plains of the US – with one key roadblock, there are some kinks to work out in getting it from there to here on the unprepared national grid system. The plan for many was straightforward: Fix the grid, keep building turbines, replace fossil-fuel dependent energy with renewal wind, and keep adding to an already robust wind sector job force of some 80,000.

Texas wind turbines (Photo: Texas State Energy Conservation Office.)

The Department of Energy jumped on board the trend toward wind, announcing in 2008 that wind energy could supply 20 percent of US electricity needs by 2030.

Then the naysayers caught up. This month, a conservative group called the Institute for Energy Research (IER) presented a study of wind in Denmark that suggested that Danish wind generation, held up as a model of renewable energy, causes more problems than it solves.

The study, Wind Energy, The Case of Denmark, reported that:

• Denmark only supplies about 5 percent of its electricity needs with wind power – not 20 percent as is widely understood.

• Ebbs in wind power mean that Denmark has to network with neighboring countries to import power, which means its wind power system does not reduce carbon emissions.

• National subsidies make Danish electricity “the most expensive in the European Union” and its wind jobs have been so generously supported by government subsidies that they haven’t substantially contributed to the economy.

Wait a minute, cried the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Sensing that oil-interests were lurking behind what it saw as a collection of “misleading” and “outright false claims,” the AWEA released a counter report.

The non-profit advocacy group’s response, outlined in a fact sheet called Wind Power in Denmark and the U.S., reports that Denmark does indeed:

• Produce 20 percent of its electricity needs from wind power. In 2008, it produced nearly 3,200 megawatts of wind power, enough to power roughly 1 million US homes. (“How does the IER twist these numbers to claim that Denmark only produces 5 percent of its electricity from wind?” asks the AWEA blog. “By not counting any electricity that ever flows across the country’s borders, even if  an equal amount of electricity is then transferred back to Denmark.”

• Wind power generated in Denmark does reduce carbon emissions, because it “displaces the most expensive fuel source, commonly natural gas, but also coal and oil. Wind energy can also be used to reduce the output at hydroelectric dams, where water can be stored to later displace fossil fuels.”

• The Danish wind power industry employs nearly 30,000 people in the Scandinavian nation because Denmark also builds turbines and their components.

Government subsidies, the report adds, are not exclusive to the wind industry. In the US, subsidies support an array of energy programs and power utilities, and from 2002 to 2007, the fossil fuel energy sources received five times what renewable energy source did, according to the GAO.

The AWEA, not wanting to leave any pillar of the IER report standing, also pointed out (in its blog) that the price of Danish electricity grew in the 1980s, before the country developed its extensive network of wind turbines.

The IER report appealed to fears that new electricity generation will raise rates.

But, as the AWEA and others advocating wind note, the US has relied mainly on fossil fuels for decades. That infrastructure is in place and to many, it looks more affordable — until one factors in the potential spike in fossil fuels as the Earth’s reserves are depleted.

The AWEA is concerned that entrenched interests in the US could cause the nation to miss an important turn in the road toward sustainable energy generation.

With its great land mass, strong wind potential (it enjoys more land with higher average wind speeds than the European nations who are ahead in wind development), the US could seize the day in wind technology.

The advocacy group wants the companies it represents to be free to develop the wind farms and grid infrastructure that can carry wind power from the high plains to the urban centers where it is most needed.

The wind industry “represents a once-in-a generation opportunity for the U.S. job market as the global wind industry builds out its supply chain and decides where to locate factories,” notes the AWEA report.

Want to read more about the oil-connected sources behind the opposition to wind? See this Natural Resources Defense Council blog and this article from Facing South, the online magazine for the Institute for Southern Studies.

For a non-partisan look at the history and potential of wind power, see the WorldWatch Institute’s recent report Going to Work for Wind Power.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The job market has been blowing in a positive direction when it comes to wind energy, with power companies building turbines, hiring technicians and pushing grid improvements to reach more consumers.

In 2008, wind energy created 35,000 jobs and accounted for 42 percent of new energy production installed in that year, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). That burst was part of an upward trajectory begun a few years before.

But after  the economic implosion of late 2008, the picture didn’t look so bright. By 2009 even wind development took a hit from negative gusts in the economy. The downturn idled some wind projects, among other green programs, all vulnerable because of their dependence on investment capital.

Today, though, the AWEA is again reporting positive news, saying that prospects for wind projects are better because the federal government has begun issuing renewable energy grants. The grants replace tax credits which weren’t working in a stationary economy to get the blades spinning.

The US grants will provide nearly $500 million to 10 wind projects in Maine, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas.

“For these grantees and many other projects that are preparing their applications, we are seeing business activity picking up and turbine and parts orders being sent all the way up the value chain,” said AWEA Senior Vice President for Public Policy Rob Gramlich.

“That activity had all but dried up and it is very encouraging to see this turnaround underway.  Time will tell if that market signal is strong enough to keep the 85,000 people (the total employed) working in the wind industry employed for the next couple of years.”

]]> http://www.greenrightnow.com/wearecentralpa/2009/09/01/wind-energy-industry-grants-should-build-jobs-and-green-energy/feed/ 0 http://www.greenrightnow.com/wearecentralpa/2009/05/13/wind-farm-study-shows-70-percent-reduction-in-bat-mortality/ http://www.greenrightnow.com/wearecentralpa/2009/05/13/wind-farm-study-shows-70-percent-reduction-in-bat-mortality/#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 18:53:45 +0000 Tom Kessler http://www.greenrightnow.com/?p=3754 From Green Right Now Reports Bird and bat deaths from wind farms have been among the few environmental negatives of this growing source of alternative energy. But a new study offers hope that a solution can be found. A new study of the interaction between bats and wind turbines at the Casselman Wind Power Project found that turning off the turbines during low wind periods reduced bat mortality by more than 70 percent. Iberdrola Renewables, owner of the Casselman wind farm in southwestern Pennsylvania, partnered with independent conservation group Bat Conservation International (BCI) to collect the data. From late July to mid-October 2008, Iberdrola Renewables and BCI researchers conducted a controlled experiment in which selected wind turbines at the Casselman project were stopped during relatively low wind-speed nights in the late summer and early fall.]]> From Green Right Now Reports

Bird and bat deaths from wind farms have been among the few environmental negatives of this growing source of alternative energy. But a new study offers hope that a solution can be found.

A new study of the interaction between bats and wind turbines at the Casselman Wind Power Project found that turning off the turbines during low wind periods reduced bat mortality by more than 70 percent.

Iberdrola Renewables, owner of the Casselman wind farm in southwestern Pennsylvania, partnered with independent conservation group Bat Conservation International (BCI) to collect the data. From late July to mid-October 2008, Iberdrola Renewables and BCI researchers conducted a controlled experiment in which selected wind turbines at the Casselman project were stopped during relatively low wind-speed nights in the late summer and early fall.

“Shutting down turbines at certain wind speeds during periods when bats appear most vulnerable at this Northeastern U.S. wind farm may have the potential to be a cost-effective way to reduce the impact on bats during their late summer migration season,” Andy Linehan, wind permitting director for Iberdrola Renewables, said in a statement. He said Iberdrola Renewables “looks forward to a second year of the study to confirm what appears to be very good results with modest (power) generation lost.”

The research is being conducted as part of the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative (BWEC), a coalition of the American Wind Energy Association, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and BCI. The cooperative’s work focuses on identifying and addressing potential wind energy impacts on bats. This study is one of a series of collaborations with BWEC at five Iberdrola Renewables sites.

Although it was crucial for this study, Iberdrola Renewables cautioned that curtailing turbine operations is not likely to be the complete solution to reducing the impact on bats in all circumstances or locations. But the company believes it may be a practical solution at some northeastern U.S. sites where elevated bat mortality has been a particular concern, company officials said.

Dr. Ed Arnett, conservation scientist at BCI and program coordinator for the BWEC, led a team of scientists that tested increasing the minimum wind speed necessary for turbines to begin spinning and producing electricity into the power grid.

“We hypothesized that bat fatalities could be lowered substantially by reducing the amount of turbine operating hours during low wind periods when bats are most active. We found that bat kills were reduced from 53 to 87 percent on any given night at turbines that were partially curtailed during low wind nights compared to those that were fully operational,” Arnett said in a statement.

Related links:

• Read the full report

The American Wind Energy Association has announced the launch of a blog dedicated to providing wind industry insights. Into the Wind will offer current information about one of the country’s leading sources of renewable energy generation. The blog will provide the knowledge, expertise and experiences of AWEA members and staff.

“From commentary on the day’s top news stories and updates on AWEA events and activities to on-the-ground reports from AWEA staff and members, Into the Wind offers the preeminent insight,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode in a statement.

The blog will have updates on what the AWEA and its members are doing to ensure wind power delivers on its promise of helping to build the new energy economy. Bode and guest bloggers from the AWEA staff and members will contribute to the blog. “Our goal is to supply the latest facts about wind and introduce readers to the people and ideas that are changing energy policy,” said Bode in a statement. AWEA is the national trade association of America’s wind industry, with more than 1,900 member companies.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media