wind

Museum on turbines: Learning, not earning

BOSTON--If you like the idea of greening your home or office by installing a small wind turbine, it may be best to picture the device on the ground and not the roof.

That's one of the pearls of wisdom shared here Tuesday by the city's Museum of Science, during a conference on small-scale urban wind turbines. The museum was reporting data from an experiment involving the installation last year of five such turbines on the institution's roof.

Dozens of young companies have developed microwind turbines designed for residential or commercial customers, leading to rapid growth in sales … Read more

Wind could be next great farming subsidy

Puget Sound Energy announced Wednesday it's beginning construction of its 343-megawatt Lower Snake River Wind Project in Garfield County, Wash.

The project will consist of 149 jumbo 2.3-megawatt wind turbines that will come from wind turbine manufacturer Siemens. When fully operational, they're expected to supply enough energy for 100,000 homes annually.

The project is not a one-site wind farm but--similar to the $1 billion wind energy complex in Texas--will be a connected system of turbines across various private lands.

About 40,000 acres of farmland will be utilized with farmers receiving energy royalty payments, as well as lease fees for the use of their land. Once the installation of the turbines is complete, 98 percent of the farmland on which the turbines sit will be able to be farmed as normal, according to PSE.

The Puget Sound deal confirms a trend. Partnerships between the wind energy industry and farmers are gaining traction across the U.S. With land lease rights for state and federal lands often hard to secure, wind energy developers have been looking elsewhere and have found the agricultural industry it would seem. States appear willing to foster the partnership as a way to attract wind turbine manufacturers and developers, while aiding their fledgling farming industries.… Read more

Good data needed for small-wind turbines to spin

Massachusetts has revamped its small-wind rebate program with more stringent requirements, a reflection of how important brisk wind is to small-wind turbine installations.

Dozens of companies have developed turbines designed to supply a portion of a home or business' electricity, which has fueled a surge in small-wind turbine installations over the past three years. Now, installers and consumers are being nudged toward picking only the best locations, a shift that is being aided by the emergence of better online tools.

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, which administers renewable energy grants, temporarily suspended the state's small-wind program to phase in … Read more

Cape Wind finds buyer for offshore wind power

Utility National Grid said that it has agreed to buy half of the electricity produced by Cape Wind, a controversial offshore wind project planned for Cape Cod, at a price that will add about $1.59 to the monthly electricity bills of National Grid customers in Massachusetts.

At a press conference on Friday, National Grid U.S. president Tom King said that National Grid will pay 20.7 cents per kilowatt-hour for the electricity from Cape Wind starting in 2013. Currently, comparable prices are about 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, King said.

National Grid agreed to the 15-year contract, … Read more

Feds OK Cape Wind project

Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar on Wednesday approved the controversial Cape Wind project, paving the way for the first offshore wind farm in the U.S.

Salazar announced the federal go-ahead in Boston at the Massachusetts State House as he stood next to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Patrick is a supporter of the project, which has been in development for nine years.

The decision means that Cape Wind can move ahead with its plan to erect 130 wind turbines, which would stand 400 feet above the seabed in Nantucket Sound, an area south of Cape Cod and north of Martha's … Read more

Iowa, Texas tops in wind power efforts

Iowa and Texas lead the nation in wind energy efforts, according to the annual report released Thursday from the American Wind Energy Association.

Iowa claims the title for the state with the largest percentage of electricity from wind energy. As of the end of 2009, over 14 percent of Iowa's power was from wind energy.

And while the large state of Texas may still only get a modest percentage of its power from wind energy, it actually has the most wind power capacity of any U.S. state. Texas is also home to the largest wind farm in the U.S.… Read more

Trailer-mounted wind turbine tested at Army base

WindTamer said on Wednesday that its small wind turbine, which looks more like a megaphone than a traditional wind mill, will be tested on an army base.

The Rochester, N.Y.-based company said a 1-kilowatt unit, mounted on a mobile trailer, will be used on the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command center in Maryland. The center is exploring whether the turbine can be used as an alternative means to charge communications equipment.

WindTamer's turbines collect wind through a housing that fits around fan blades. When wind passes through the "shroud" fitted around the blades, it … Read more

After Cape Wind, deep challenges for offshore wind

A Rhode Island project vying to beat out Cape Wind as the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. hit a major roadblock this week, a sign of the tough technical and economic issues developers face as they go farther offshore.

The state's Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday blocked a power purchase agreement to purchase electricity from an eight-turbine installation off the coast of Block Island. Regulators ruled that the proposed purchase price--24.4 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2013, which is almost double the retail rate in the state--was too high, a move which casts doubt on whether the project will move forward.

Cape Wind, meanwhile, on Wednesday announced plans to purchase 130 turbines from Siemens Energy. Developers of the controversial project are still negotiating a power purchase agreement with utility National Grid and are waiting a ruling on final federal approval from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar later this month.

Having seen the oppositionto Cape Wind, other wind developers are choosing to go farther offshore and into deeper waters, as they did in Rhode Island. That helps address complaints over the visual impact of wind mills, but it also adds to the technical complexity and cost of offshore wind, according to experts.

"The clear trend has been for projects proposed in federal waters (farther off shore). Part of that is due to wind resources and part of it is due to an effort to minimize opposition," said Matt Kaplan, an analyst at Emerging Energy Research. "The clear trend has been to minimize the visual impacts as much as possible."

The proposed location of Cape Wind--in the Nantucket Sound south of Cape Cod--was chosen as much for its wind resources as its waters depth. Building on a shallow shoal in the middle of the sound would allow construction crews to use monopile foundations, which work in depths of about 75 feet. This technology is used in hundreds of locations in eight European countries.

By contrast, the Rhode Island project, which had been pushed heavily by the state's governor, would have required a different type of foundation suitable for deeper waters. Wind developer Deepwater Wind in August last year installed a barge to test the ocean floor in advance of plans to install its jacket foundation, which can operate in 150 feet of water and doesn't require special vessels to transport components to offshore sites. … Read more

GE announces major wind investment in Europe

GE plans to spend about $450 million over the next 10 years to expand its wind turbine business in Europe, the company said Thursday.

The investment will finance wind turbine engineering, manufacturing, and service facilities in Germany, Norway, and Sweden by 2016, and a new manufacturing facility in the U.K. by 2020. The plans also include new facilities to demonstrate GE's 4-megawatt wind turbine.

Specifically, 75 million euros ($100 million) will go toward a research and development center in Norway, where there are plans under way to test GE's new 4-megawatt offshore wind turbines. GE already has … Read more