$4b Investment in Wind Power by BP Alternative Energy

BP is making its first major investment in wind power with a joint venture that will lead to a major expansion of its generating capacity.

The oil company announced it had entered a five-year supply and development agreement involving five wind power projects in the US with Clipper Windpower.

The news sent Clipper shares up 80p, or 28 per cent, to 362.5p in London. The projects, with an anticipated total generating capacity of 2,015 megawatts, are situated in New York, Texas and South Dakota.

BP has also secured a mix of firm and contingent orders of up to 2,250 megawatts of additional Clipper wind turbines in its global wind energy portfolio, the companies said.

BP launched BP Alternative Energy to focus on solar, hydrogen and wind power but its wind operation has up to now been confined to two projects with a combined output of only 31 megawatts.

Steve Westwell, the chief executive of BP Alternative Energy, said: "We believe the Clipper turbine is a breakthrough in reducing the total cost of renewable energy and we are pleased to be the first large customers for this innovative technology."

This is thought to be the biggest single investment in wind power estimated at $4 billion US dollars.

The announcement, came in the same week that the British government published its energy review and a telephone poll found that 79% of respondents thought solar power and 76% wind power were the best investments in electricity generation for the UK.

Alternative Energy Argentina: Bringing Wind Power to Remote Areas

Max Seitz reports for the BBC that wind power is the most widespread renewable energy source in Argentina - and Patagonia in particular has extraordinary potential due to its strong and constant winds.

He travelled to southern Chubut province, about 890 miles south of Buenos Aires, where wind power is making life easier for a number of isolated communities

In the midst of a dark wilderness, wind-generated electricity is changing lives in the region, lighting homes and schools in remote areas.

"Patagonia provides ideal conditions, unique almost, for the development of wind power," explained Hector Mattio, Director of the Regional Centre for Wind Power (or Cree in Spanish).

"We get very strong sustained winds of 11 metres per second, while in Europe they usually only reach about nine," Mattio added.

Cree - funded by the Chubut government and located in the provincial capital Rawson, near Trelew - currently has many community projects on the go to install wind generators.

So far, more than 300 isolated rural villages in Chubut have received small wind turbines which provide them with light, communication and power for domestic electric appliances.

A 66-year-old Araucano Indian, Julian Ibanez, welcomed us to his stone-built house.

Julian owns horses and sheep but his prize possession is a three-blade, 12-metre high wind turbine with 600-watt power (the equivalent of 10 light bulbs). Like others in the region, he simply calls it the "windmill".

"They installed the windmill a while ago now and it's changed our lives. We didn't have electricity before, just a kerosene lamp and that was it; now we have light and we can listen to the radio."

Julian led me to a plain bedroom, where he had a fuse box attached to the wall and a 12-volt car battery, and explained how everything worked.

The wind turns the windmill blades and a cable takes the energy produced into the house. The fuse box controls the voltage and battery charge.

Marcos added that the electrical supply is constant - whether it comes directly from the generator or, when there is no wind, from what has been stored by the accumulator.

Some dwellings have installed an inverter, a gadget to transform a 12 volt output into 220 volts - ideal for domestic appliances.

Another inhabitant of the area, 30-year-old Adelino Cual, also an Araucano, had this to say: "We have electricity 24 hours a day, not just the little lamp we had before. We no longer have to buy kerosene or gas-oil. It works out cheaper for us."



The engineers had shown him how to work and maintain the generator and the fuse box: "They taught me, for example, how to change the fuses if they blow; I've changed them several times," he said.

And Marcos added that the idea is for those benefiting from the technology to be self-sufficient.

After visiting the hamlets around about, we made our way to the heart of Chacay Oeste, which comprises a dozen or so houses and a school-shelter which accommodates some 30 pupils from neighbouring settlements.

The school has been provided with six wind turbines, installed by Cree in the highest part of the town.

"They provide energy for our building, for the shelter and also the teachers' houses. During the school holidays, they are used to supply energy to the rest of the village".

Before turbines were installed, Chacay Oeste got its electricity from a petrol generator, the noise of which had become part of the landscape for the locals.

"The windmills have changed things a lot for the youngsters. Now they have access to computers, and teachers can educate them through television programmes."

"Now I feel I communicate more with other people. Not like before - we were a bit unsociable," Julian confessed after telling me that he regularly listens to the radio to find out what is going on, and that he really appreciates the Cree technicians' visits.

And at Cree they confirm that this is indeed what it is all about: The social impact the technology has had on the communities has helped to integrate them more.

Full BBC Article

Alternative Energy Ecuador: 15MW Windfarm for Loja

Vilcabamba, Loja Province, Ecuador

Ecuadorian company Villonaco Wind Power, 80%-owned by Canadian alternative energy generator Protocol Energy, is scheduled to begin construction of a 15MW wind park this month in Ecuador's Loja province, Protocol chairman and CEO Thomas Logan told BNamericas.

Villonaco is 20%-controlled by Loja province-owned generator Enerloja.

Operations are scheduled to commence November-December 2006 on schedule.

So far all funding for the US$26mn project has been provided by Logan and a private placement of up to 1.6 million shares at CDN$0.50/share, which is 50% completed.

Several companies submitted bids to manufacture the wind turbines last May. Villonaco has narrowed the field down to two companies, Spanish wind power firm Gamesa Eólica and German wind power equipment manufacturer Nordex, and should announce its decision this month, Logan said.

The turbine tender does not only pertain to this venture but also to two additional investment phases in the country, the second of which is a 30-65MW wind farm in the feasibility stage, with construction scheduled for the first half of 2007. The third investment phase is a 25-40MW expansion of the Villanoco wind farm.

The second level of Protocol's strategy is to launch a wind project in Peru and/or Chile, with internal studies indicating that execution of a 125-150MW program would be appropriate in Chile for 2007.

"Along the Andes in Ecuador, Peru, and Region I and II in Chile you're dealing with a wind regime that blows, in the case of Ecuador, with a median speed of 12.5m/s, so about 80% better than the best wind in Canada. But more importantly, it blows at that level for 13 hours/day," Logan said, adding that the turbines will continue turning 24 hours a day.

The company aims to sell power to mining companies "simply because miners are energy hogs. The average mine has operating costs that are 20% energy-related. They all have the same requirements, which is a stable and guaranteed source of energy at a reasonable price, and wind does that," Logan said.

Within four years Protocol aims to generate 400-500MW of wind, geothermal, biomass and run-of-the-river hydro power through its global endeavors, which have an initial focus in Latin America.

Original BN Americas Article

Top Ten UK Alternative Energy Projects

Solar Powered CIS Tower in Manchester

The UK’s top ten alternative energy projects have been named by the UK government’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). They include offshore turbines in Kent, the solar-powered CIS tower in Manchester and a wave buoy in Cornwall.

A target of supplying 10% of the UK's electricity from renewable energy by 2010 has been set by the British government.

The list includes three wind farms, three solar-power projects, and two examples of microgeneration, or projects with lower outputs.

According to the government, the 30-turbine Kentish Flats wind farm has been described as "the Ferrari of the turbine world".

Black Law A in South Lanarkshire was one of the largest wind farms approved in the UK, and the Cefn Croes project near Aberystwyth the most powerful when it opened in June.

The CIS tower in Manchester - the city's tallest building - was on course to be the biggest user of solar panels in the UK.

The biomass plant in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, was singled out for producing a "revolutionary new wood pellet bio fuel", created by burning sawdust and woodchips.

The wave buoy project off the north Cornwall coast was highlighted as a project that would "speed up the installation of one of the world's first wave farms". The site is being investigated as a possible wave hub location - an offshore electrical socket that would be connected to the national grid.

Cornwall Wave Buoy

“Revolutionary” Northern Ireland Biomass Plant

Windpower Microgeneration: Home Wind Turbines

According to BBC News household windmills are becoming quite the fashion, but they ask can they make money?

Domestic wind turbines have been described as "the new handbags" - the latest luxury items craved by those who want to be first to try new technology. But this description overlooks their green credentials, because any electricity powered by the elements is reducing CO2 emissions, which are blamed for global warming. And there are also the financial motivations.

A household with a windmill can save money on bills and sell excess electricity back to the national grid. So could wind turbines become a nice little earner?

They are certainly on the increase - 7,000 households have been given grants to get the turbines installed.

A report this week by the Sustainable Consumption Roundtable envisages a future where households generate their electricity at home, using wind, solar and heat energy - but only if the government bought panels and turbines in large quantities for public buildings, so costs fall.

"Then we could all afford them," says Alan Knight, the group's chairman. "To install a generator or solar panel today you need specialist help. You should be able to buy one at B&Q [the UK equivalent of Home Depot - James] and stick it in yourself."

Turbines come in a range of sizes, prices and powers, and living close to neighbours can make planning permission problematic.

David Nisbet put up a 6kw turbine in his Essex garden in May, after overcoming 22 planning objections from neighbours about noise and visual impact. It is 11.5m high to the tip of the blade and it cost him £10,000 ($17,500) , plus a £5,000 grant.

His motivation was both financial and environmental and he was inspired by seeing two windmills at the Ford auto plant where he works.

Although he says the concerns of others have been allayed, the first few months haven't been as windy as he hoped.

"In the last eight to 10 years we've had strong south-westerly winds but not this year," he says. "It's been fickle and I'd put this six months down as a lean year.

"It's been generating electricity but not as much as I had hoped for. It's connected to the grid and any surplus flows back into the grid."

The wind provided 80% of his electricity in the summer and he estimates it will heat the house through winter, thereby saving him a total of £1,000 a year ($1,750) in heating bills. In 10 years, he hopes to have paid off his investment, but he will still have been buying electricity from the grid during that time.

It isn't possible to be totally dependent on wind because it doesn't blow every minute, says Alison Hill at the British Wind Energy Association.

"You may get the 4-5,000 units a year to run a household but not every single hour of every day so you would need to have standard electricity grid connection to get electricity from the grid.

"We are quite lucky in the UK because when we have most wind we have most demand - winter. That profile of generation is quite beneficial, but no-one can have 100% self-sufficiency on wind alone.

"If it looks like you have a big wind resource and a good turbine, you can connect that turbine to the grid and sell that, so there's an additional revenue for householders there.

"Typically, a household sees a reduction of between a quarter and a third in its annual electricity bill."

Solar panels can supplement wind to boost a home's renewable sources but some households do claim to make a profit purely from wind, by generating so much electricity that the amount they sell back is greater than the amount they buy.

That would require a very energy-efficient house and living in a particularly windy part of the UK, says Ms Hill.

And the future is bright - despite the end of government grants in February - because big companies like British Gas are investing in new kinds of turbines which have yet to come on the market, she adds.

BBC News Article

Micro Wind Power Turbines for UK Office Building

The BBC reports that an miniature urban wind farm is being built on top of a 13-storey building in Manchester city centre using micro wind turbines.

The 24 turbines, which will stand 3m tall, will be erected on top of the CIS building on Portland Street.

The turbines will produce 56,000 units of renewable energy each year, enough electricity to service about 5% of the energy needs of the building.

Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) are currently covering another of their bases, the CIS Tower, in solar energy panels.

The CIS Tower is one of the tallest buildings outside London in the UK and is being clad with three solar panels.

Once completed, it will be among the largest vertical displays of working solar panels in Europe.

CFS said its plans for an urban wind farm will make its Portland Street building the largest-ever commercial application of micro-wind turbines in the UK.

The company said it is now looking into placing the wind power micro-turbines on more of its 200 sites.

Gary Thomas, head of property and facilities at CFS, said taking a greener approach to business also had financial benefits.

"Embedding renewable energy in buildings reduces the need to buy electricity and I anticipate a payback on the initial investment within around three years," he said.

Ken Lewis, resources director added: "Forty per cent of Europe's energy use is associated with buildings and this project, along with the Solar Tower development, demonstrates that these piles of steel and concrete have tremendous potential for future energy generation."

Councillor Neil Swannick, Manchester City Council executive member for planning and the environment, has applauded the move saying CFS have made a practical contribution to energy conservation.

"The Manchester Energy Strategy endorses the view that wind turbines are not just for rural sites," he said.

"A world-class city such as Manchester has a responsibility to use energy more efficiently and to generate it from renewable sources where we can."

Alternative Energy Venezuela: OPEC Oil Producer Switches to Wind Power to Increase Exports

Playa Medina, Sucre, Venezuela

Business News Americas reports that Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA aims to boost fuel oil exports by about 100,000 barrels a month through the increased use of wind for electric power generation according to Nervis Villalobos, the president of state-owned electricity firm Cadafe and deputy energy and oil minister.

PDVSA and Cadafe want to take advantage of high international oil prices and at the same time develop an environmentally friendly source of power generation, Villalobos said.

"For PDVSA and for the country, there is an enormous attraction in being able to free up these liquid fuels and export them," Villalobos said.

A barrel of fuel oil "is worth US$4 in the domestic market, while abroad it sells for US$40," Villalobos said.

PDVSA is currently involved in two projects that would use wind to generate electricity, Villalobos said.

The first project was announced by PDVSA president and energy and oil minister Rafael Ramírez in April in the wake of an electricity mishap that left PDVSA's Amuay refinery - part of the CRP refining complex - without power for several days.

This US$50mn venture at Los Taques, a wind-swept stretch of beach in Falcón state near PDVSA's CRP complex, would generate up to 100MW, including 40MW during its first stage.

PDVSA and the Spanish-Venezuelan consortium that designed the project, VER, are currently deciding on how to finance it, Villalobos said. Cadafe would buy 100% of the power generated by the plant.

The project should be up and running "by mid 2007, if it's approved this year," since construction is expected to take at least 18 months, Villalobos said.

The second wind project in the northern part of Sucre state is still in a very early stage, Villalobos said.

Villalobos reiterated Cadafe's estimate of a 9% jump in power demand for Venezuela this year, up from 7% in 2004. If these wind projects are not put in place, more fuel oil will have to be devoted to thermoelectric generation rather than exported, he said.

When major OPEC member countries which get their oil at a fraction of the cost of the rest of the world start switching to alternative energy, isn't it about time for those countries dependent on oil to do more?

Original Business News Americas Article

Wind Energy China: One Gigawatt Wind Power Plant Largest in China

The China Education and Research Network reports a 1,000 megawatt (one gigawatt) wind power plant, currently the largest in China, has been initiated in Anxi County of northwest China's Gansu Province.

With an investment of USD $967 million (RMB eight billion yuan), the project will play an important role in the development of new and clean energy resources and easing the power shortages in the eastern and western areas.

Wind Energy: Wind Power Australia

The second-biggest wind farm in Victoria, Australia – a $326-million project with 128 turbines – will go ahead at Waubra in western Victoria after approval today from the State Government.

Melbourne-based company Wind Power will place the turbines on land leased from local farmers at Waubra, north-east of Ballarat.

The approval for the Waubra development brings the number of wind farms in Victoria to six, with Toora, Codrington and Challicum Hills operational, and construction underway at Wonthaggi and Portland.

The 128 turbines are capable of generating 192 megawatts of wind power or one fifth of the 1,000 megawatt renewable energy target Victoria aims to achieve by 2006.

Alternative Energy Armenia: First Wind Power Plant

Iran and Armenia has signed an agreement for SANIR Co to construct four wind turbines units in Armenia in the next two months.

The capacity of the power plant is 2.5 MW experimentally and it is the first of the power plant that Iran is to construct outside its borders.

Iran and Armenia signed a memorandum of understanding here on Saturday to bolster bilateral cooperation in the field of electricity.

The agreement was signed by Iran's Energy Minister Habibollah Bitaraf and his Armenian counterpart Armen Movsisyan.

First Wind Power Plant Full Article from Iran's Mehr News Agency

Portraits - Faces of Armenia

Wind Energy: Vietnam Wind Power

Vietnam's Thanh Nien newspaper reports that a major Danish development agency has provided funds of over U.S. 51 million dollars (VND820 billion) for a 50.4 megawatt wind power plant in the central Vietnam province of Binh Dinh, local authorities said.

The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the sponsor for the future plant, which will comprise of 28 turbines that can produce up to 170 million kWh of electricity every year to ease the chronic power shortage in the region.

University of Illinois at Chicago Study Provides Boost for Wind Power

Mike Ramsey reports in the PJStar that Gov. Rod Blagojevich's proposed renewable energy standards for electric utilities would generate an estimated $7 billion in economic benefits and 7,800 new jobs through 2012, according to a University of Illinois at Chicago study commissioned by his administration.

The Illinois Commerce Commission is considering a Blagojevich-sponsored plan that would obligate power companies to generate 2 percent of the state's electricity from renewable sources beginning next year. The requirement would rise 1 percentage point annually to 8 percent by 2012, with wind power turbines providing most of the renewable power.

The 146-page report slated to be released today estimated the economic benefit to Illinois at about $1 billion annually, or $7 billion over seven years. The amount reflects private investment to build wind power turbines, the growth of maintenance and supply businesses and other economic trickle-down.

During the same time frame, nearly 8,000 new jobs would be created, the study said.

"We think this really creates a very strong case for what the governor has proposed," Steve Frankl, Blagojevich's environmental and energy policy adviser, said Wednesday. "It's clear that there are significant benefits for the state on the environmental front and the economic front."

William Worek, who oversaw the study at UIC's Energy Resources Center, said the goals explored in the document are "conservatively realistic."

"When other people talk about renewables, the tendency is to be overly optimistic," he said. "This report really looks at realistic scenarios that can be met versus something that may sound good but doesn't track in the sense of numbers."

Authors of the study crunched numbers beyond 2012, envisioning a scenario where power companies had to reach a 16 percent "renewable portfolio standard" by 2020 in Illinois. That would add another $14 billion in economic growth and an additional 4,500 jobs, Worek said.

Wind power farms already exist in Illinois. Developers have built farms in Lee and Bureau counties, and an energy cooperative in Pike County installed a single wind turbine. A nearly 300-turbine project is in the works in McLean County. Several other central Illinois counties have begun adopting wind farm ordinances in preparation for future developments.

The ICC originally was expected to consider a alternative energy plan last month. The process has taken longer than expected as interested parties, including utilities and consumer advocates, have met to hammer out details, using the Blagojevich proposal as a model. The commission may take action later this month, a spokeswoman said.

Currently, less then 1 percent of power sold to Illinois consumers comes from renewable sources. Most power is from nuclear and coal-burning power plants. Illinois annually consumes about 140 million megawatt hours, Frankl said.

Shell WindEnergy Plans World's Largest Wind Farm Supplying 25% of London Homes' Electricity

Plans have been submitted to build one of the world's largest wind farms, which could generate enough electricity to supply a quarter of London homes.

The £1.5bn ($2.73 billion US dollars) London Array wind farm could see 270 wind turbines over 152 square miles in the Greater Thames Estuary.

London Array Limited won the right to lease an offshore wind farm site between the Essex and Kent coasts in December 2003 but has just applied to the government and local planning authorities for permission to develop the area.

The off-shore wind farm, which could produce up to 1,000 megawatts (one gigawatt) of renewable wind energy, would be built 12 miles off shore by 2011.



The consortium says it would not be an eyesore, because it is so far out, and says it will would mean 1.9m tonnes less carbon dioxide each year.

Jason Scagell, of E.ON UK Renewables - part of the London Array Consortium along with Shell WindEnergy and CORE Limited - said they wanted to reduce carbon emissions.

He said: "It's only through building more powerful wind farm sites such as this that we'll be able to reach the government's tough targets for renewable generation."

The development is a joint venture between energy giants Shell and E.On and an Anglo-Danish company, Core. Erik Kjaer Sorenson, director of Core, said: "This project will supply the equivalent of a quarter of London's domestic load and will surely, once and for all, bury the myth that wind energy is insignificant.

"Furthermore, it is merely the first of a number of similar-sized wind power schemes that will place the UK market at the forefront of offshore renewable energy development worldwide."

The Stateline wind farm, between the states of Washington and Oregon in the U.S., is so far the largest wind farm in the world, with a maximum capacity of 300 megawatts, said Alison Hill, a spokeswoman with the British Wind Energy Association. Germany is the country with most wind energy capacity in the world, followed by Spain, the U.S. and Denmark, Hill said.

The world's biggest offshore wind farm that's already in operation is Denmark's Nysted windfarm, which can produce 165 megawatts and is operated by Energi E2 (link currently does not work in Firefox). The next largest is another Danish project, Horns Rev.

Havgul AS, a Norwegian wind-power company, plans to build three wind parks off the coast of northwest Norway with a combined capacity of 1,410 megawatts, according to its website. The company plans to submit applications for regulatory approval by the end of this year. The project originally comprised four parks, though one was shelved earlier this year after protests from local communities.

The three Norwegian parks, if approved, are unlikely to be completed before London Array, said Morten Thomsen, a spokesman for Energi E2.

Reducing Electricity Costs With Solar Panels and Wind Turbines in Scotland

Scotland's Herald reports that a quiet revolution is sweeping the country. It involves hundreds of schools, community groups and small businesses turning to wind turbines and solar panels to provide their power.

According to new figures, there has been an upsurge in small-scale renewable energy projects, with a 14-fold increase over the past five years. They are supported by the results of a new survey showing that about 70% of Scots would consider installing a renewable energy device in their home. The survey and figures were released after Friday's announcement that Windsave, the Glasgow-based firm, has signed an exclusive agreement with British Gas to install wind turbines on private and local authority-owned properties.

The company sold one of its first rooftop turbines to Brian Wilson, the former energy minister, who installed it on the roof of his home in the west end of Glasgow. Nearly 300 households have already invested in renewable technology, according to figures collated by the Scottish Renewables Forum. They show that the number of communities and businesses turning to green energy has increased from just 19 in 2000 to 273 this year. A further 83 have applied for planning permission.

Although many such projects reflect a concern for the environment, they are also an effective way of cutting fuel bills, according to Scottish Renewables. One school, St John Bosco primary in Erskine, is expecting to save about £6000 a year after installing a wind turbine at Easter.
The devices used range from wind turbines and solar panels to lesser-known technologies such as biomass heating and micro-hydropower systems.

Maf Smith, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, described the growing interest in small-scale renewables as a "quiet revolution sweeping the country".

A survey commissioned by the Scottish Renewables Forum shows it is not only community groups and small businesses that are interested in the potential of renewable energy.

Individual households are also keen, with 92% saying they thought domestic renewable devices were a good idea. It also found that a majority of Scots would consider putting in some sort of renewable device, with solar panels the most popular option. Of the 848 people interviewed by NOP World, 33% said they would consider putting up a wind turbine.

Among the various concerns that might stop householders investing in green energy, the biggest were cost, cited by 33%, and a lack of information which 20% felt was a problem.

Scottish Renewables said groups such as the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative (SCHRI) and the Energy Savings Trust could help tackle those obstacles to further growth in small-scale projects. Since it was set up in January 2003, the Scottish Executive-funded initiative has awarded about 150 grants worth £3.8m to help community projects and 390 awards, worth £678,000, to households.

The figures show that renewable devices are being installed in schools, businesses, ferry terminals and care homes across Scotland, although the majority are in the Highlands and Islands. The Highlands will have a total of 37 such projects by the end of this year, with biomass and wind the most popular sources of energy.

In Orkney, where there are 33 projects, turbines and heat pumps make up the majority of renewable devices installed, while in the Western Isles, solar panels are the most popular, making up nearly 40% of the total number installed.

"A 14-fold increase in micro-generation by Scottish communities and businesses in five years is a great achievement and it's good to know that many Scottish-designed devices are being used," according to Maf Smith.

Windsave Competitor - Stealth Gen

For U.S. readers pico wind generators "from $50"

Full Scottish Herald Article with list of rural alternative energy projects in Scotland

Wind Power USA: First Offshore Wind Farm in the United States To Be Built in Georgia?

Southern Company and the Georgia Institute of Technology announced today that they will collaborate on the Southeast's first offshore wind power project off the coast of Savannah, Georgia.

In their press release the Southern Company have stated that the goal of the project is to determine if offshore wind power is a feasible and efficient renewable energy option for power generation. The project concept is expected to include three to five wind turbines that could generate 10 megawatts of power, enough to power about 2,500 homes.

"We remain interested in finding viable renewable energy options that can play a part in meeting the growing demands of our customers," said David Ratcliffe, president, chairman and CEO of Southern Company. "Our partnership with Georgia Tech presents us a unique opportunity to assess offshore wind power as a cost-effective option for generating power in our region."

The first step of the project, a design and conceptual engineering phase, will start in July using technical expertise from both Georgia Tech and Southern Company. The first phase of the project will evaluate various technology options for wind turbines, platforms/foundations, submarine cabling and grid interconnection. Detailed analyses of a site location and environmental regulations and jurisdictions, including permitting requirements, will also be determined.

The project is a continuation of research conducted by Georgia Tech's Strategic Energy Initiative, a research group devoted to testing both the scientific and economic feasibility of innovative technologies. The research was funded with a National Science Foundation grant focused on innovative energy options in the coastal Georgia region.

Though many discounted the Southeast as a possible site for offshore wind turbines, the Georgia Tech group, led by Dr. Sam Shelton, was able to prove that there may be enough wind for power generation by analyzing six years of wind data collected from Navy platforms located off the coast of Savannah. The strong westerly winds that blow along Georgia's coastal waters coupled with the technological advances seen in the last few decades make this offshore region the best site in the Southeast for an offshore wind demonstration project.

In addition to its plentiful wind, the area is also ideal for offshore wind because of its extensive area of shallow water at distances beyond the shoreline view, which could reduce building costs and avoid the challenges of building and operating wind turbines in deep-water.

The project also has the potential to be the first offshore wind project completed in the United States. There are only two other planned U.S. offshore wind projects, one near Fire Island and Long Island off the coast of New York and another between Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts, but both are much larger than the Southern Co./Georgia Tech project and neither has been approved.

Georgia Institute of Technology Official Website

Southern Company Official Website

Wind Energy: Nasa Funded Study Identifies 72 Terawatts of Global Wind Power Potential

Stanford researchers have produced a new map that pinpoints where the world's winds are fast enough to produce wind power. The map may help planners place wind turbines in locations that maximize power harnessed from winds and provide widely available low-cost energy. After analyzing more than 8,000 wind-speed measurements to identify the world's wind-power potential for the first time, Cristina Archer, a former postdoctoral fellow, and Mark Z. Jacobson, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, suggest that wind captured at specific locations, if even partially harnessed, can generate more than enough power to satisfy the world's energy demands. Their report appears in the May Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, a publication of the American Geophysical Union.

"The main implication of this study is that wind, for low-cost wind energy, is more widely available than was previously recognized," said Archer.

The researchers collected wind-speed measurements from approximately 7,500 surface stations and 500 balloon-launch stations to determine global wind speeds at 80 meters (300 feet) above the ground surface, which is the hub height of modern wind turbines. Using a new interpolation technique to estimate the wind speed at hub height, the authors reported that nearly 13 percent of the stations had average annual speeds strong enough for windpower generation.

Wind speeds of 6.9 meters per second (15 miles per hour) at hub height, referred to as wind power Class 3, were found in every region of the world. Some of the strongest winds were observed in Northern Europe, along the North Sea, while the southern tip of South America and the Australian island of Tasmania also featured sustained strong winds. North America had the greatest wind-power potential, however, with the most consistent winds found in the Great Lakes region and from ocean breezes along coasts. Overall, the researchers calculated hub-height winds traveled over the ocean at approximately 8.6 meters per second and at nearly 4.5 meters per second over land (20 and 10 miles per hour, respectively).

The authors found that the locations with sustainable Class 3 winds could produce approximately 72 terawatts, that's 72,000 Gigawatts or 72 million Megawatts. A terawatt is one trillion watts, the power generated by more than 500 nuclear reactors or thousands of coal-burning plants. Capturing even a fraction of those 72 terawatts could provide the 1.6 to 1.8 terawatts that made up the world's electricity usage in 2000. Converting as little as 20 percent of potential wind energy to electricity could satisfy the entirety of the world's energy demands.

The study, supported by NASA and Stanford's Global Climate and Energy Project, may assist in locating wind farms in regions known for strong and consistent breezes. In addition, the researchers suggest that the inland locations of many existing wind farms may explain their inefficiency.

"It is our hope that this study will foster more research in areas that were not covered by our data, or economic analyses of the barriers to the implementation of a wind-based global energy scenario," Archer said.

Update: The excellent group blog WorldChanging has an image of the Global Wind Power Map

Original Article on Stanford University's Website

Wind Energy Japan: Vestas Eyes Offshore Future

While it sees the Japanese mainland as a challenge due to the country's dense population, Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S is hoping to put some puff into its sales with offshore installations, the company's president said.

Svend Sigaard, president and chief executive officer of the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer, spoke to The Daily Yomiuri at 2005 World Exposition Aichi, where the company is exhibiting at the Nordic Pavilion.

"Japan is a densely populated country, and that makes the Japanese market more difficult compared with other markets. If we utilize the possibilities of nearshore installations or even offshore installations in the future, that will give us the possibility of continued use of wind energy.

If we go offshore, it's more expensive because the construction of foundations is expensive. But often the wind is stronger offshore, and that can offset the higher costs.

We're getting more and more competitive with our equipment. The price--if you measure it per kilowatt-hour produced--is going lower, due to the fact that turbines are getting more efficient. So we're creating increased interest in wind energy.

If you compare it to other renewable energy sources, wind is by far the most competitive today. If we're able to utilize sites close to the sea or at sea with good wind machines, then the price per kilowatt-hour is competitive against other sources of energy. "

Alternative Energy in Developing Countries: New U.N. Report

a Ghanaian woman

A United Nations environment agency survey has revealed the potential for renewable energy in some of the world's developing countries is much greater than previously thought. The UN Environment Agency (UNEP)'s four-year project to map the solar and wind resources of 13 countries has discovered thousands of megawatts of new renewable energy waiting to be unleashed in Asia, Africa, and South and Central America

"In developing countries all over the world we have removed some of the uncertainty about the size and intensity of the solar and wind resource," said UNEP executive director Klaus Toepfer. "SWERA (The Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment) is a good example of international cooperation that can produce a range of positive environmental and social outcomes. In the case of renewable energy, knowledge is literally power."

"SWERA (The Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment) has clearly demonstrated that the modest amounts needed to support renewable energy assessments can significantly change the way countries pursue their energy goals," said SWERA's project manager Tom Hamlin.

The countries where SWERA has carried out surveys to date are: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Cuba, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sri Lanka.

China alone has the potential for more than 100,000 megawatts of renewable power, while Brazil also has large amounts, according to the study.

Small countries also have surprising potential. Sri Lanka has a wind power potential of 26,000 megawatts, which is 10 times the country's installed electricity capacity.

Windy Lake Nicaragua gives the small Central American country 20,000 megawatts of potential renewable power.

In Guatemala, wind estimates before SWERA were mostly unknown, but is now estimated at 7000 megawatts, based on SWERA products. The Guatemala Ministry of Energy has established, with support from SWERA, the Center for Renewable Energy and Investment within the Ministry to carry out validation studies and identify sites for wind energy development.

The benefits for each country differ. "If you look at China and Brazil they're going to be manufacturing the (renewable) plants and there are big economic benefits in that," said Hamlin. "And there are broad economic benefits for the smaller countries," he said. "Instead of always importing petroleum they would have domestic resources so they would save on the costs and risks of having petroleum prices fluctuate wildly."

In the African country of Ghana, where the SWERA study discovered more than 2,000 megawatts of wind energy potential, this is "quite a significant amount" according to UNEP, as it estimates that Africa need just 40,000 megawatts of electricity to power its industrialisation.

Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment Website

Alternative Energy Argentina: Study of U.S. $19 Billion Wind Power Project to Produce Hydrogen

BNAmericas reports that Argentine energy company Capex aims to start pre-feasibility studies in two months on a US$19bn project to generate 16,000MW of wind power to produce 13.3 million cubic meters a year of hydrogen.

Hydrogen is a clean burning fuel that could be mixed with natural gas for power generation, used in domestic appliances and also as a vehicular fuel (although I believe plug-in hybrids are a far more viable technology which can be used now). With a number of large cities in the Southern Cone with air pollution issues, Capex sees the possibility of a regional market for the fuel.

Project location depends on further studies, but the area under consideration is around Pico Truncado in the northeast of Santa Cruz province in Argentina, where wind speeds are some eight meters a second with a capacity factor of 45%.

The US$19bn figure covers the wind turbines, hydrogen production infrastructure and delivery to port. Investment on such a scale is beyond the reach of Capex alone, and so it would associate with other companies already involved in hydrogen technology, such as automobile manufacturers, should the project proceed further.

Capex produces oil and gas, and generates gas-fired electric power at the wellhead at Agua del Cajón in Neuquén province. It is 60% owned by Capsa, the local unit of Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell.

Of course at the "pre-feasibility study" stage this project is still essentially just talk. It does however offer one vision of how relatively remote wind power resources can be utilised by major centres of population. Even that the project is being considered shows that major investment in wind power (of the type Engineer Poet in his comment on the recent China Renewable Energy Law article thinks won't happen) is a possibility.

Business News Americas Story

Sound Sculpture Park "City of Sound" in Pico Truncado, Argentina

Alternate Energy Pakistan: US $875m Windpower Project to Provide 30% of Karachi's Needs

A new US$875 million wind power project will provide 30 percent of Karachi's power needs, a state government official has said. Speaking at the inauguration of the Gharo project, adviser to Sindh Chief Minister for Environment and Alternate Energy, Noman Saigol, said it was the first alternate energy project for Sindh.

Sixteen companies from the US, Japan and China are taking part in the project, which will be built on 19,700 acres of government-provided land.

The windpower project, expected to employ 30-40,000 locals, will have a 50MW capacity, rising to as much as 900MW by 2010, he said.