July 28, 2010
A sycamore seed design may be set to revolutionize the wind power industry.
British engineers have designed a giant wind turbine called the Aerogenerator that would rotate on its axis mimicking the way sycamore seeds fly.
The Aerogenerator has two arms coming out of its base to form a V-shape, with rigid “sails” mounted along their length. The arms act like aerofoils as the wind passes over, helping to generate lift.
It would measure nearly 900 feet from tip to tip and could generate 20MW or more of power.
Engineering firm Wind Power Limited is developing the Aerogenerator, along with architects at Grimshaw, academics at Cranfield University and Rolls Royce, Arup, BP and Shell.
The first Aerogenerator could be up and running by 2013.
Feargal Brennan, head of offshore engineering at Cranfield University, says “Upsizing conventional onshore wind turbine technology to overcome cost barriers has significant challenges, not least the weight of the blades, which experience a fully reversed fatigue cycle on each rotation.”
“As the blades turn, their weight always pulls downwards, putting a changing stress on the structure, in a cycle that repeats with every rotation – up to 20 times a minute.”
“In order to reduce the fatigue stress, the blade sections and thicknesses are increased which further increases the blade self-weight. These issues continue throughout the device.”
“Drive-train mountings must be stiff enough to support the heavier components inside the nacelle on top of the tower, otherwise the systems can become misaligned and the support structure is also exposed to extremely large dynamic thrust and bending stresses, which are amplified significantly with any increase in water depth.’”
July 21, 2010
Wind power is now generating 2% of global electricity demand, according to the World Wind Energy Association.
The countries with the highest shares of wind energy generated electricity: Denmark 20%, Portugal 15%, Spain 14%, Germany 9%. Wind power employed 550,000 people in 2009 and is expected to employ 1,000,000 by 2012.
Globally 38,025 MW of capacity were added in 2009, bringing the total to 159,213 MW, a 31% increase. The graph shows the top 10 producers (with the exceptions of Denmark and Portugal) and includes Japan (which is 13th).
From 2005 to 2009 the global installed wind power capacity increased 170% from 59,033 megawatts to 159,213 megawatts.
Over the 4 year period the capacity in the USA increased 284% and in China increased 1,954%. China grew 113% in 2009, the 4th year in a row it more than doubled capacity. In 2007, Europe had for 61% of installed capacity and the USA 18%. At the end of 2009 Europe had 48% of installed capacity, Asia 25% and North America 24%.
June 9, 2010
Australia:
Small wind-energy companies fear privatisations of power stations and retailers in New South Wales and Queensland could weaken competition in the electricity market, hindering their capacity to contribute to the federal government’s 20 per cent renewable energy target.
Under the renewable energy target, retailers are required to buy or create enough renewable energy certificates (RECs), each representing one megawatt-hour of emissions-free electricity, to meet an annual target.
But because they are generators as well as retailers, AGL Energy and Origin Energy have tended to get the certificates through wind farms they have built themselves, according to The Australian Financial Review.
As a result, independent wind power companies such as Infigen Energy, Pacific Hydro and Canberra-based Windlab, can have difficulty locking in long-term supply contracts for the certificates they produce. Without a long-term contract, banks will not provide finance for a wind project.
“The reality is you need competition in the market place at a retailer level,” Windlab chairman Roger Price said. “I’d rather see four or five major retailers that are looking to purchase RECs rather than just two which are extremely vertically integrated.”.
June 4, 2010
One of the largest offshore windfarms in the world, is to be built off the coast of Wales in the UK.
The £2bn Gwynt y Mor windfarm will have 160 wind turbines around 10 miles off the north Wales coast near Colwyn Bay and Llandudno.
Gwynt y Mor will be Wales’ largest wind farm, capable of powering around 400,000 homes, and preventing the release of 1.7m tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
The RWE Innogy-led project is expected to be completed in 2014.
It is claimed some 1,000 jobs could be created in relation to construction and the supply of components.
Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said: “This is excellent news. Gwynt y Mor will be one of the single biggest private investment projects ever seen in Wales, creating up to 1,000 quality jobs and contributing many millions of pounds to the regional economy of north Wales.
“It will also become one of the largest offshore windfarm projects in Europe, able to provide enough clean, green electricity to power the equivalent of around 400,000 homes.
“In Wales we are ideally located to embrace the economic benefits of green technologies.
“Surrounded by wind, wave and tidal resources, we are in a prime position to be able to benefit from investment in the green economy whilst making a significant contribution to the [UK] government’s carbon reduction targets through safe, clean renewable means.”
May 30, 2010
In less than seven years, solar and wind power will be able to meet over a third of the electricity demand of a large Western area of the USA
According to a report by NREL, in 2017 solar and wind energy could meet in 2017, 35% of electricity demand in five states Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada
Moreover this can be achieved without any further investment in new infrastructure.
Specifically, wind turbines could satisfy 30% and solar power 5% of the demand, according to the report entitled Western Wind and Solar Integration Study, compiled by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the leading research agency of the US Department of Energy.
According to the study, in order to achieve this result in such a short time, the investment already made in wind farm and solar infrastructure will be sufficient. Nevertheless, the latter must undergo a structural reorganization and, specifically, improved coordination on a great number of issues among the various energy companies and more frequent update of energy supply planning.
“Research shows that, with these key changes, wind and solar power could be incorporated onto the grid without a lot of backup generation. Coordinating operations between utilities on a large area decreases the effect of variability of wind and solar energy resources”, said Dr. Debra Lew, NREL project manager for the study.
Of this target is met it would result in lower carbon dioxide emissions of almost 50%.
August 13, 2009
China is rushing forward with its wind energy plans with the pace surpassing even the most optimistic projections.
After setting an original goal of 30 gigawatts of installed wind power by 2020, the government recently said that could be raised to 100 gigawatts as installed capacity has doubled each of the last four years.
From almost nothing a few years ago, China had 12.2 gigawatts of installed wind power by the end of 2008 as power companies have rushed to meet government mandates to raise the proportion of energy they produce from renewable sources.
With close to 80 percent of China’s energy supplied by cheap but heavily polluting coal, China is now emerging as a world leader in wind energy, with potentially huge benefits for the environment in both China and the world.
“It’s not like people are still talking about wind as a potential future direction. It is already the way forward for a lot of power companies in China,” says Yang Ailun, climate and energy campaign manager for Greenpeace China.
There are about 121 gigawatts of installed wind power worldwide, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), with the United States, Germany and Spain the top three wind power nations, followed by China.
August 6, 2009
A New York paediatrician has warned that living too close to wind turbines can cause heart disease, tinnitus, vertigo, panic attacks, migraines and sleep deprivation in groundbreaking research due to be published later this year.
Following studies of people living near wind turbines in the US, UK, Italy, Ireland and Canada for the past five years, Dr Nina Pierpoint has identified a new health risk called wind turbine syndrome (WTS).
She says the disruption of the inner ear’s vestibular system by low-frequency noise from the turbines is causing problems ranging from internal pulsation and quivering to nervousness, fear, a compulsion to flee, chest tightness and increased heart rate.
To date, wind companies have denied any health risks associated with powerful noise and vibration produced by wind turbines, backed by recent research by acousticians at Salford University, who argue that earlier claims by Dr Pierpont are “imaginary”.
Scientific orthodoxy has been overturned by the discovery that like fish, humans are affected by vibrations through their ear bones, Dr Pierpont claimed.
“It has been gospel among acousticians for years that if a person can’t hear a sound, it’s too weak for it to be detected or registered by any other part of the body. But this is no longer true,” she said.
“Humans can hear through the bones. This is amazing. It would be heretical if it hadn’t been shown in a well-conducted experiment.”
July 14, 2009
UK: The CBI has called on the UK government to scale back on “overambitious” wind power and boost the role of atomic energy and coal.
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