Universities Add Wind Power

2010 Jan 18

Two universities — Southwestern University and the University of Maryland — are planning to get their electricity from wind power, while Texas Tech University has it sights set on a research wind farm in partnership with the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the University of Maine plans on designing and testing components for deep water offshore wind turbines.
Southwestern University will meet all of its electricity needs over the next 18 years from two wind farms, thanks to an agreement with the city of Georgetown, Texas. The wind power will be provided through AEP Energy Partners, a subsidiary of American Electric Power, reports North American Wind Power.
These two wind farms, comprised of 151 wind turbines, each can generate between 0.7 and 2.3 megawatts (MW) of electricity, reports North American Wind Power. The initial contract is for five years and is renewable through 2028, according to the article.
The University of Maryland plans to use the generated electricity from a long-planned $131-million wind farm project in West Virginia, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Wind power developer, US Wind Force, has received site approval from state regulators and is ready to start construction on its first wind farm development as soon as a purchase agreement is signed with the university, according to the article.
US Wind Force began working on the Pinnacle project in mid-2002, and is expected to generate as much as 55 million watts of electricity, according to the newspaper.

Read more:  http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/01/18/universities-add-wind-power/

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Capacity of wind power base in NW China hits 2 GW

2009 Dec 25

YUMEN, Gansu: The installed capacity of China's first massive wind power base in northwestern Gansu Province reached two gigawatts, local authorities said Friday.

The Jiuquan wind power base achieved the landmark capacity as China Datang Corporation, one of China's power giants, installed a 200-megawatt wind power unit in Yumen City under the jurisdiction of Jiuquan City, said Wu Shengxue, deputy head of Jiuquan's Reform and Development

The wind power base, which consists of 8 groups of power plants, is planned to be the first of its kind to have a capacity of more than 10 gigawatts. According to a plan of China's National Energy Administration, its capacity is expected to reach 12.71 gigawatts in 2015.

The plan included five other wind power bases of over 10-gigawatt capacity. A wind power base of 20 gigawatts and another of 30 gigawatts are to be built in east and west Inner Mongolia. Two other bases, each having a 10-gigawatt capacity, are respectively planned in eastern Jiangsu Province and northern Hebei Province. One more wind power base of 20 gigawatts is to be built in northwestern Xinjiang.

China would have a wind power capacity of more than 100 gigawatts or 3 percent of the country's overall consumption by 2020, said Shi Pengfei, deputy president of Chinese Wind Energy Association.

 
Read more: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-12/25/content_9232143.htm 
 

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LCRA triples wind power capacity

2009 Dec 21

The Lower Colorado River Authority tripled its wind-generated power capacity today, completing an 18-year power purchase agreement with Chicago, Ill.-based E.ON Climate & Renewables North America.
Under the agreement, LCRA will assume the entire output from the second phase of E.ON's Papalote Creek wind farm, or about 200 megawatts of power. The 87-turbine farm is expected to begin generating power next year and create enough energy for about 45,000 homes continuously.
The wind farm is about 30 miles north of Corpus Christi in San Patricio County, and is the company's second South Texas power project.
“This project is expected to produce its greatest output during periods of peak usage, which is truly an exceptional benefit,” E.ON North America CEO Steve Trenholm said.
LCRA has participated in wind power generation for 15 years beginning with Texas’ first commercial project of this kind in 1995.
LCRA purchases and generates power from water, wind, coal and natural gas, and sells it wholesale to about 40 cities and electric cooperatives that serve more than 1.1 million Central Texans.

Read more: http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/12/21/daily3.html 

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China to be 3rd biggest wind power producer

2009 Jan 1

China is set to become the world's third largest wind power producer in 2009, state media reported, as the Asian giant seeks various ways to expand energy supply to power its economic boom.

The country's installed wind power capacity will reach 20 gigawatts this year, said Shi Lishan, vice director of the National Energy Administration's New Energy Department, the Xinhua news agency said Wednesday.
That will lift China to surpass Spain and become the world's third biggest wind power producer after the United States and Germany, the report said.
The United States had 25.2 gigawatts in installed capacity of wind power in 2008, or 20.8 percent of the world's total, compared with China's capacity of 12.2 gigawatts, figures from the Global Wind Energy Council showed.
At the end of last year, Spain had 16.8 gigawatts of installed wind power, the council said.
China, which relies on coal for more than 70 percent of its energy, is the world's largest emitter of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
But it has set a target of generating 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources -- mainly wind and water -- by 2020.

Read more: http://www.physorg.com/news181515271.html

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Wind power contracts get regulator's OK

2009 Dec 28


The Illinois Commerce Commission approved a plan to solicit proposals for 20-year contracts to buy power from wind farms on behalf of the state’s utility customers despite critical comments a majority of the commissioners made earlier this month about the idea.
In a victory for wind power developers, the ICC voted 3-1 to allow the Illinois Power Agency, which buys electricity on behalf of customers of Commonwealth Edison Co. and Ameren Corp., to negotiate long-term deals with renewable power developers for up to 3.5% of the utilities’ electricity needs.
IPA Executive Director Mark Pruitt recently added the long-term renewable contracts to his power purchasing plans for 2010 at the behest of Gov. Pat Quinn, who wants the state to more actively promote wind farms in Illinois. At current low energy prices, the cost of wind power is considerably higher than market, and developers say they can’t get financing for projects without long-term contracts. The pacts, for which wind power developers lobbied hard, also were backed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=36577&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+StatelineorgRss-Illinois+%28Stateline.org+RSS+-+Illinois%29 

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Mass Megawatts Wind Power, Inc. Starts Testing New York Project

2009 Dec 23


WORCESTER, Mass. -- Mass Megawatts Wind Power, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: MMGW) reports that its Hunter, New York project has been substantially completed and started testing the new wind augmenter and wind diverter (both patent pending). The project is planned to be online on a full time basis after the initial tests on the new technology are completed and its (generator overspeed control) furling system is fully tested. The initial results show that the Wind Augmenter increases the wind velocity more than 50%, leading to a 3 fold increase in energy production. Additionally, the Wind Diverter contributes toward an additional increase of at least 100% more power output from the blades.
Mass Megawatts' MAT (Multiaxis Turbosystem) utilizes new technology in such a way as to enhance the wind speed while downsizing vertical height and lowering steel costs. This allows for an affordable and stable wind machine using mostly simplistic, off-the-shelf parts. It runs virtually silent and has none of the blade tip noise of traditional horizontal axis windmills. Also, migratory bird kills are projected to be minimal due to the MAT's visible structure.
The Hunter Project utilizes the latest technology, namely its wind augmenter and wind diverter (both patent pending). The augmenter funnels wind into the blades increasing functional wind speed while the diffuser deflects the wind from the back side of the returning blade reducing drag and increasing output.
If initial test results continue to hold true, Mass Megawatts (MMGW.OB) remains not only competitive with other wind technology on the market, but with fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas in high wind locations.

Read more: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mass-megawatts-wind-power-inc-starts-testing-new-york-project-79978907.html

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Mass Megawatts Could Bring More Efficient Wind Power to Ski Resorts

2009 Dec 27

Mass Megawatts Wind Power, Inc., is testing new wind turbine equipment that could help boost the efficiency of the company’s Multi-Axis Turbosystem wind power generators. The tests are under way at a wind power installation in Hunter, New York.

If successful, the technology could start appearing soon at ski resorts in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. Last spring the principal owner of one major ski facility in the region, Camelback Mountain Resort, took an equity position in a licensed manufacturer of the Multi-Axis Turbosystem. It appears to be a first step toward introducing sustainable wind power to ski resorts on an industry-wide scale.

Read more: http://cleantechnica.com/2009/12/27/mass-megawatts-could-bring-more-efficient-wind-power-to-ski-resorts/

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This Year in Wind Power. The economic stimulus story threaded its way through the calendar year in 2009.

2009 Dec 29

by Carl Levesque, AWEA

Over 7,000 MW of wind power are expected to be installed this year in the U.S. That's down from 2008's record 8,545 MW, but that still would make it the second best year in the history of the industry. Not bad, at a time when the rest of the economy tanked and the value of your primary financial policy driver became all but worthless.

What events drove those highly respectable numbers? What pushed them down and, likewise, what kept them up? What other industry events defined 2009 and promise to impact the industry in the future?

A chronological look at just some such events in the wind energy industry tells the story behind the numbers, and even sheds a ray of light on what’s to come for 2010 and beyond. (For another year-in-review list that’s lengthier with a bit less detail, check out AWEA’s year-end release.)

Fall 2008: credit crisis and recession hit hard. For all intents and purposes, this year actually started last year, if that make sense. By October of 2008, the month that AWEA held one of its popular Wind Energy Finance and Investment Workshops in New York City, the wind industry market dynamics that would plague the first chunk of 2009 were already all too evident. As members of the industry gathered in the finance capital of New York City for the event, the financial crisis had already grabbed the economy by its neck, and lenders had put the breaks on lending—even to an industry with the kind of upside that wind energy was acknowledged to have.

At the workshop presenters spoke of capital “sitting on the sideline” and offered forecasts for the coming weeks and months that ranged from a short-term slowdown with business picking up swiftly once the initial shock of the crisis wore off, to significantly weakened prospects thanks to a financial meltdown they said would leave no industry, no matter how robust, untouched.

In addition to the credit crunch, which hit the capital-intensive wind industry extremely hard, the production tax credit (PTC), wind power’s primary policy driver, became largely impotent virtually overnight. In the recession, companies weren’t making profits, and so tax credits became valueless.

February 2009: Congress gets stimulus package done. Seeking to avoid a meltdown, in February the federal government stepped in to shore up the nation’s economy. Congress passed, and President Obama signed, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which included provisions deemed crucial to ensuring that the wind power industry hold onto its status as one of the economy’s few “bright spots,” to use AWEA’s favorite phrase.

Read more: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/12/this-year-in-wind-power

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