Wind Power

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2009-06-25T04:23:00Z

Hobart Mercury
Friday 19/6/2009 Page: 7

A PROPOSAL to erect wind turbines on two Hobart buildings has been greeted as a sign of things to come. Architects and sustainability experts have generally welcomed the proposal as an example of increasing environmental awareness. Developer Robert Rockefeller has applied to put 11m-high power generation turbines on top of the Marine Board building in Sullivans Cove and the ANZ building in Elizabeth St.

Sustainable Living Tasmania executive officer Margaret Steadman said it was good to see business leading while governments were slow to act. "It"s really exciting," she said. "I"d rather see wind turbines than carparks. "One of the issues is about whether people think they"re aesthetic but the buildings in Hobart are sneaking up higher and higher and I"d rattier see wind turbines than more or higher buildings. "If we don"t, we"re in deep trouble."

University of Tasmania school of architecture associate professor Gregory Nolan said the proposal reflected developments in Europe. "There is lots of potential around Hobart to put up wind energy generation capability." he said. "The concept of having windmills of quite a large scale in parts of the city is something we should consider. "We should be putting them in as many locations as we can, that"s what the Europeans do."

Mr Nolan said there were less noticeable things to consider for making a commercial building less reliant on nonrenewable energy sources. "There are far more efficient solutions than putting a windmill on it," he said. "You"d be looking to generate your own hot water ft from solar sources." Architect Garry Forward said the city was likely to have more such proposals. "To get the first ones right is important because there"s going to be a lot of them," he said. "If you"d asked me 10 years ago what my predictions were, I would have thought the paneltype photovoltaic collection was the technology that was going to get there first because it can be built into roofs and walls, but it"s still very low in its efficiency.

"Wind turbines won"t eventually be the way to go. They will be a passing phase. "They need to be considered as part of the building, not as an add-on. I don"t see any reason they shouldn"t look good if they"re part of the architecture." Heritage Council spokesman Michael Lynch said the council was considering the application for the ANZ building but had not seen one for the Marine Board building.

"We have been going through an exercise in which we can best allow for things like turbines and more, particularly solar panels, on heritage-listed places because this is going to become an important issue for the owners. So we need to have a pretty good handle on these sorts of things," he said. Clean Energy Council policy manager Rob Jackson said turbines were on a few buildings in Melbourne and fitted the urban environment.

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2009-06-25T04:21:00Z

Australian
Thursday 18/6/2009 Page: 2

ONCE an oddity, the sight of giant windmills harvesting the breeze is set to increasingly become a normal part of the landscape as Australia seeks green energy alternatives. The world"s cheapest renewable energy source, which also boasts one of the lowest environmental impacts, wind energy features giant wind-turbine blades which revolve to drive an electrical generator to produce power for the national electricity grid.

Yet despite being blessed with some of the best and most reliable winds on Earth, Australia has only in the past decade taken up the cause of wind energy with a passion. There are now 50 windfarms in the country with an installed capacity of 1306MW, which equates to about 1.3% of the national electricity needs and 39% of the renewable energy sector.

Although well behind Denmark, which gets about 20% of its electricity from the wind, and other parts of Europe and the US, Australia is making up for lost time and is in the process generating employment for thousands of people in the construction and management of windfarms. Recently, the Council of Australian Governments approved a 20% renewable energy target (RET) by 2020. Once that occurs, the green energy sector will power on, creating thousands of jobs.

Pacific Hydro chief executive Rob Grant has called on the Government to pass the legislation as soon as possible. "While much has been made of the potential job losses due to action on climate change, what must be recognised are the tens of thousands of new jobs that will be created in building Australia"s clean energy future," Mr Grant said.

"The jobs created in building renewable energy projects are all those sorts of jobs that might be under pressure at the moment because of the global financial crisis and are easily transferable from sectors like mining. "There is no better time to focus on renewable energy infrastructure than now.

We must legislate the RET as quickly as possible to create new jobs and limit the impact of the global economic crisis." There are expectations that through the RET up to $25 billion over the next 10 years will be pumped into the renewable energy sector, of which between 20 and 50% will be spent on generating wind energy.

The Clean Energy Council says there are six large windfarms under construction in Australia with an installed capacity of 535MW, while a further 76 windfarms are under development with more than 5800MW of installed capacity. Much of this planned development has been entirely dependent on the passing of the RET.

Pacific Hydro general manager, Australia- Pacific, Lane Crockett, expects the RET to "kick off a green-collar revolution". "There should be enough activity to keep quite a number of people thousands at least in permanent roles building new renewable infrastructure," Mr Crockett said. "There will be quite significant opportunities for people in other industries that are not quite as active.

We have ended up with quite a few ex-mining people here at Pacific Hydro, from project engineering to senior level people, so most of the skills are transferable." Mr Crockett said while many sectors had been affected by the credit squeeze, the renewable energy sector was still attracting financial support. One of the good things about being in renewable energy is that the banks, who are selective about where their money goes, like renewable energy," Mr Crockett said.

We don"t represent a forward risk that a lot of other industries have, so in some ways it"s easier to get money." Like other renewable energy companies, Pacific Hydro continues to expand despite the recession. Established in the early 1990s as an owner-developer of hydro-electric power stations, Pacific Hydro opened the first of its five working Victorian windfarms at Codrington, in the state"s southwest, in 2001.

It is currently building the 58MW Clements Gap Windfarm in South Australia and has a number of other projects in various stages of development. Pacific Hydro has 600MW of projects which will create $2 billion in investment into clean energy infrastructure in Australia. While the company, purchased in 2005 by IFM Renewable Energy, continues to develop hydro-electric power stations in South America, the bulk of its operations in Australia are made up of windfarms.

Mr Crocket said Pacific Hydro currently employed about 240 people and expected to expand. It was always looking for skilled workers. "We have planning engineers and environmental engineers who work through the early part of the projects," he said. "Then we move into the construction phase with project managers and project engineers, as well as people with other skills in major construction work which has electrical or civil elements to it. "We tend to use construction contractors and for the installation of the actual unit you need crane operators and riggers and they tend to be highly experienced."

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2009-06-25T04:19:00Z

Age
Friday 19/6/2009 Page: 4

AGL Energy has bought two windfarm developments from Transfield Services, the latest in a string of wind deals signed despite doubts over the Federal Government"s renewable energy target. The $9 million purchase gives AGL the right to develop up to 236 MWs of extra wind capacity at Barn Hill, near Adelaide, and Crows Nest in Queensland.

The move follows further wind acquisitions by AGL and its rival Origin Energy in recent months, as the utilities prepare for a Federal Government policy that would require 20% of all power to cone from renewable energy from 2020. The policy is expected to drive up to $27 billion in renewable investment, and wind is set to dominate because it is the cheapest form of green energy. However, yesterday the Senate deferred the Renewable Energy Target Bill to a Senate committee, sparking an outcry from AGL and others in the industry.

AGL"s managing director Michael Fraser said it was disappointing to see the bill used for "political football" between the parties over their climate change policies. "This unnecessary delay will impose additional pressures on an industry which is working very hard to promote job creation in a challenging economic climate."

The Clean Energy Council, which includes fossil fuel generators in its members, also slammed the Senate"s move. AGL is positioning itself as the largest developer of renewable energy, while its listed rival, Origin Energy, has focused more on gas. Developing the sites acquired yesterday to full capacity could cost more than $600 million, and in March, AGL said it would spend $341 million expanding its Hallett project in South Australia.

Last month, Origin Energy bought wind development sites in Victoria but did not disclose a price. Royal Bank of Scotland analyst Jason Mabee said AGL was leading the wind energy race between the two locally listed utilities. "My view that AGL has definitely secured some of the best sites early on," Mr Mabee said. AGL shares rose 2% to $13.94 and Transfield shares fell 0.8% to $2.62.

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2009-06-25T04:17:00Z

Australian
Thursday 18/6/2009 Page: 3

LAST month, Sydney firm Solar Sailor Holdings and naval architect Alastair Callender unveiled the design for what they said would be the world"s first green super yacht, a 58m yacht powered by wind and sun as well as Solar Sailor"s hybrid marine power technology.

According to Solar Sailor chief executive Robert Dane, the $33 million yacht will be able to store renewable energy in its batteries, which can power onboard electrics without the need or the noise of a generator, and to run at nearly eight knots on solar energy alone. "You could take 12 people around the world in a quiet environment, with low to no fumes, never have the generator running at night and even feed into the grid at the marina," Dane says.

Solar Sailor created its first solar vessel in time for the Sydney Olympics and it has been in use since by Captain Cook Cruises, as well as acting as its research and development vessel. In November the company will launch the first of four vessels being built in China for the Hong Kong ferry authority, and it is helping design drone vessels for the US military that will use a combination of solar, wind and wave power.

The attraction of the super yacht market, says Dane, is that about 600 super yachts of 30m or more are built each year and a green yacht could be the ultimate statement of sustain ability for the rich. These wealthy clients also tend to be captains of industry who will invest in such technology in the future. The international shipping market is recognised as a highly efficient and crucial transport system for ferrying goods across the globe, but it is also one of the most heavily polluting.

International shipping is estimated to produce more than twice the greenhouse emissions of the aviation sector, as well as substantial amounts of sulphur and nitrogen oxides from the bunker fuel used in the mostly slow-running two-stroke engines. Because of shipping"s international nature, and the flags of convenience, ships" emissions are poorly regulated and poorly controlled.

There are efforts announced by the International Maritime Organisation to reduce SOx and NOx emissions, and planned reductions for greenhouse emissions are expected to follow soon. However, emission reduction technologies as they apply to the shipping industry are capital intensive and may increase overall fuel costs, which is why Solar Sails and others are confident that alternative technologies such as renewables will provide the answer.

Dane says the ferries developed by his company can reduce fuel consumption by up to 30%, particularly in areas where the ferry moves at low speed. In Hong Kong, the savings will be greater because at low speed the ferries will be able to travel under silent renewable power only and could approach areas previously prohibited to them because of their noisy, polluting engines. That could cut down routes by nearly one-third.

He says such reductions could be contemplated in bulk carriers and tankers as well. Last year, the company signed a deal with China"s biggest shipping line, Cosco, to retrofit ships with solar energyed sails the size of the wings of a jumbo jet. The sails are covered with photovoltaic panels that can meet some of the ship"s energy needs and harness the wind to reduce fuel costs by up to 40%.

Meanwhile, Hamburg-based SkySails is developing an alternative wind propulsion system that it says can reduce fuel costs for cargo vessels by 10% to 35%, or up to 50% for short periods under optimal wind conditions. SkySails" towing kite is being tested on two cargo ships belonging to the shipping lines Wessels and Beluga Shipping. Commercial production of its sails will begin later this year.

Its clients also include the Norwegian shipping company Wilson, which will install a 160sqm kite on the MV Wilson Grip, an 88m-long cargo vessel with a deadweight of 3700 tonnes. Sky Sails says its product could generate up to eight tonnes of tractive force for the ship, which usually needs about 11 tonnes of thrust to reach its cruising speed of 11 knots.

SkySails says kites with an effective load of 32 tonnes should be available in 2011 and models that have an effective load of up to 130 tonnes are planned. It says that nearly two-thirds of the world"s estimated 100,000 cargo ships could be retro-fitted with its wind propulsion system. Solar Sails" Dane says although the shipping industry is perhaps 10 years behind the land transport industry in embracing alternative fuel and technologies, he envisages a day when all ships will be driven by renewable energy before becoming completely electric.

As fuel prices rise, and the cost and price of technology comes down because of economies of scale, I can see more sun, wind and ocean energy being used," he says. "And the second thing that will happen in conjunction with this is that the propulsion systems will move to electric propulsion." This will begin with a hybrid electric system, then move to an electric motor that runs off electric storage, be it a battery system or a hydrogen cell system. The advantage of the shipping industry, as opposed to aviation or land transport, is that potential weight issues associated with such systems are not a problem. It simply can be used as ballast.

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2009-06-23T04:37:00Z

Herald Sun
Monday 15/6/2009 Page: 12

VICTORIA is on the brink of a massive expansion in windfarms. Approval has been granted for 21 new farms, on top of the 13 already in operation. Their installation will more than triple the amount of power generated by wind from 428 MWs to 1554 MWs within the next two years, saving tens of millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Companies have completed extensive community consultation but are holding out for the national renewable energy target legislation to provide a better return for their investment. The legislation will require 20% of total electricity to be renewable by 2020, and could be passed this week. Renewable energy company Pacific Hydro already has several farms in operation and is poised to get started on most of its planned projects.

Executive manager corporate affairs Andrew Richards said it had been a long and frustrating wait. "We have been working on getting projects to investment readiness so that we are ready to go," he said. "As a company, we hope to triple our capacity in Victoria." Mr Richards said in coming years windfarms would attract investment of between $3 billion and $4 billion in Victoria.

Environment and Climate Change minister Gavin Jennings said Victoria paved the way for the national renewable energy target in 2006 when it set a target of 10% renewable energy by 2016. He wants to see the legislation passed as soon as possible so Victorians could start experiencing the benefits.

Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor said renewable energy industries would be a source of new jobs and economic activity. "The Brumby Labor Government looks forward to the expanded national RET being passed so investment in wind and other technologies continues to grow," he said.

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2009-06-23T03:30:00Z

Should the case of Spain cause worries?

Two recent decisions by the Spanish government regarding wind energy have highlighted concerns about the affordability of this sector.

The first decision was to create a special fund for the €10 billion government deficit originating from wind energy incentives. The second decision was to end the complete autonomy of the regions in licensing wind projects. These decisions were taken to avoid exceeding the target capacity of 20,155 MW under the government incentives currently in force. Via agreements with the regions, the wind industry was already projecting 41,000 MW. Such a figure would be unaffordable for the government if the current regimen of incentives is left in place. The new national registration of wind projects will also force wind developers to give priority to the most profitable wind sites nationwide, instead of considering projects only on a regional basis.

The Spanish government’s measures provoked a lively discussion on Power Globe and other Internet forums. Can Spain still be regarded as a textbook example of renewable energy promotion, or is the country on the edge of a bankruptcy due to excessive investments in wind?

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2009-06-22T07:02:56Z

Now we know that oil reserves are not going to last forever we are searching for alternative energy resources keenly. We are reading about new ways to tap energy from renewable resources. Sometimes these alternative energy resources seem quite odd and impractical. But we never know how they will shape up in future or [...]
Posted in: Future Energy, Wind Power

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2009-06-20T09:00:00Z

Renewable Energy World has an article on wind power potential in Europe - Wind Could Power Europe Many Times Over.

A new report from the European Environment Agency has concluded that wind power"s potential in 2020 is as much as three times greater than Europe"s expected electricity demand, rising to a factor of up to seven times demand by 2030.

This study confirms that wind energy can play a major role in achieving the European renewable energy targets and that the extent of wind energy resources in Europe is very considerable. The report, ‘Europe"s onshore and offshore wind energy potential," highlights that the wind energy potential is huge, equivalent to almost 20 times energy demand in 2020. Onshore wind energy potential is concentrated in agricultural and industrial areas of north-western Europe. Likewise, the largest offshore potential can be found in low depth areas in the North Sea, the Baltic Seas and the Atlantic Ocean, with some local opportunities in areas of the Mediterranean and Black Seas.

The deep offshore potential is even larger but costs mean that it is unlikely to contribute in any significant way to the energy mix within the time horizon of the study. Using only 4 % of the offshore area within 10 km from the coast and accounting for the restrictions imposed by shipping lane, gas and oil platforms, military areas, reduces the potential by more than 90 % to 2800 TWh in 2020 and 3500 TWh in 2030.

When production costs are compared to baseline average electricity generation costs, the onshore potential for wind decreases to 9600 TWh in 2020, whereas offshore wind potential decreases to 2600 TWh. Despite being a small proportion of the total technical potential, the economically competitive wind energy potential still amounts to more than three times projected demand in 2020.

However, high penetration levels of wind power will require major changes to the grid system at higher penetration levels, with additional extensions or upgrades both for the transmission and the distribution grid possibly required to avoid congestion.

The conclusions were welcomed by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), with CEO Christian Kjaer observing: “The EEA clearly recognizes that wind power will be key to Europe"s energy future. Now that oil prices are again on the rise, the EEA report sends a reminder to Europe"s policy makers that wind power is a clean and proven energy technology and Europe is the world leader."

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2009-04-05T10:27:00Z

The LA Times has an article on a new report noting that wind power could meet the entire electricity demand in the US - Wind turbines could more than meet U.S. electricity needs, report says.

Wind turbines off U.S. coastlines could potentially supply more than enough electricity to meet the nation"s current demand, the Interior Department reported Thursday.

Simply harnessing the wind in relatively shallow waters -- the most accessible and technically feasible sites for offshore turbines -- could produce at least 20% of the power demand for most coastal states, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said, unveiling a report by the Minerals Management Service that details the potential for oil, gas and renewable development on the outer continental shelf.

The biggest wind potential lies off the nation"s Atlantic coast, which the Interior report estimates could produce 1,000 gigawatts of electricity -- enough to meet a quarter of the national demand.

The report also notes large potential in the Pacific, including off the California coast, but said the area presented technical challenges.

The Interior Department released an executive summary of the report on Thursday.

It noted that "strong wind resources also exist offshore California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii, but it appears that the majority of this resource lies in deep waters where technology constraints are potentially significant" -- a sentiment Salazar echoed when asked about Pacific wind potential.

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2009-04-05T07:31:00Z

Cleantech.com reports that the wind power market in Brazil has the potential for 143 GW of generation - Brazil: More than just ethanol?.

The wind power market in Brazil is an untapped resource, ready to explode with the right mix of foreign developers, government incentives, and capital availability. That was the message from a new report by Jorge De Rosa, an industry analyst with the Frost & Sullivan Energy & Environment and Chemical & Materials practices.

Brazil has the theoretical potential to produce 143 gigawatts of wind power, a potential $100 billion opportunity. That potential wind is concentrated along the country’s eastern coast, which holds 70 percent of the country’s population. “We believe the potential might be even larger than that, however we see that Brazil still has some barriers and restraints,” De Rosa said.

Brazil is best known for its biofuel production. Together, the U.S. and Brazil produce 75 percent of the world"s ethanol (see Officials lament U.S.-Brazil ethanol cooperation). That expertise has led to interest in bioplastics in Brazil (see Braskem claims first green polyethylene).

But Brazil has experienced a risk of energy shortages in recent years because it is highly dependent on hydropower as its main source of energy, accounting for about 80 percent of demand. “Wind power will not be a significant portion [of the overall energy supply], but no other power source will ever be significant because of the dominance of hydropower,” he said.

The country is looking to diversify its energy sources, as well as boost overall generation by at least 4.5 GW, De Rosa said. “The wind power in Brazil could be an very interesting and complementary source due to the seasonality,” De Rosa said. “Wind power can supply energy in the dry season of Brazil, and vice versa.”

The opposite seasonality of hydro and wind is also driving the wind sector in Vietnam (see Vietnam"s Cavico moves from hydro to wind).

Brazil had about 341 MW of installed wind power capacity—about 0.4 percent of the country"s energy supply—at the end of 2008, after the sector experienced a significant spike starting in 2006 thanks to a new government program to boost wind, small hydro and biomass.

By comparison, the U.S. had 28,000 MW of installed wind power at the end of 2008, with a compound annual growth rate of 27 percent thanks to subsidies and other political and economic incentives, De Rosa said. “America could be a case study for the Brazilians,” he said.

The 143 GW of potential wind power only incorporates wind farms on land. “Offshore wind power will be in the very distant future,” De Rosa said. “We first have to develop onshore, and then maybe we can think about offshore wind technology.”

Also distant in the future is solar power or natural gas as major power sources, he said.

Unattractive pricing compared to other forms of energy has limited interest in wind power in Brazil—a situation De Rosa said could only be solved by government incentives or pricing strategies.Those could come as soon as November, in the range of about $100 per megawatt-hour.

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