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Author Topic: Wind Power  (Read 26899 times)

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AGelbert

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U.K. Wind Turbines Generate Record Power as Gas Plants Halt

Rachel Morison, Bloomberg

December 02, 2013

LONDON -- Wind power in the U.K. rose to a record, leading operators from RWE AG to SSE Plc to halt more expensive gas-fired power generation plants.

Wind output rose to as much as 6,053 megawatts at 2:10 p.m. London time today, beating a previous record on Sept. 15 and accounting for 14 percent of total supply, according to National Grid Plc data on Bloomberg. Generators halted 7,872 megawatts of gas-fired plants since yesterday, grid data show.

The U.K. plans to almost triple the amount of wind capacity by 2020 as it seeks to meet a target to get 15 percent of power demand from renewable energy sources. Wind and solar have no fuel costs, generally making them cheaper than coal or gas.

“As well as the higher wind power, demand is down by about 2 gigawatts from yesterday as well so it has given the chance for less efficient gas-burn facilities to drop output,” Gary Hornby, energy markets analyst at Inenco Group Ltd., said by e- mail today.

Wind may generate an average of 5,301 megawatts for the rest of today, 5 percent more than yesterday, according to Bloomberg’s wind model at 16:55 a.m.

Power demand is forecast to peak at 49,902 megawatts at 5 p.m. today, 6 percent less than yesterday’s maximum of 52,815 megawatts, according to National Grid data. Gas was generating 14,064 megawatts of power at 5 p.m., compared with 21,803 megawatts at the same time yesterday, grid data show.

Low Pressure

“Wind will peak today, before slumping considerably overnight,” Byron Drew, lead forecaster at MetraWeather said in an e-mailed report. “It will then increase considerably toward the end of next week and next weekend as low pressure becomes influential.”

Wind generation is forecast to average 2,103 megawatts next week and is set to peak at 4,844 megawatts at 6 p.m. on Dec. 5, according to Bloomberg’s wind model. The U.K. got 8.2 percent or 1,952 gigawatt-hours of its power from wind in October, up from 5.8 percent the previous month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Industries.

Power for today settled at 52.55 pounds a megawatt-hour, down 5 pounds from the previous day, in an auction on the U.K.’s N2EX exchange yesterday.

The U.K. seeks to install a total of 18 gigawatts of offshore wind farms and 13 gigawatts of onshore turbines by 2020. Current combined capacity is about 10.4 gigawatts, according to RenewableUK, a lobby group.

“We’re generating from a home-grown source which gives us a secure supply of power at cost we can control,  rather than leaving ourselves exposed to the global fluctuation in fossil fuel prices which have driven bills up,” Jennifer Webber, a RenewableUK spokeswoman, said by e-mail. “Wind energy is consistently setting new records.”

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/12/u-k-wind-turbines-generate-record-power-as-gas-plants-halt?cmpid=rss


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #16 on: December 06, 2013, 06:45:57 pm »

Two Facilities, One Goal: Advancing America’s Wind Industry

November 27, 2013 - 1:35pm


Energy Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman speaks at the Clemson University Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility dedication in South Carolina. | Photo courtesy of Clemson University 


Jim Ahlgrimm

Wind Testing Infrastructure Manager

Two state-of-the-art wind turbine drivetrain test facilities are now open for business: the Clemson University Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility in South Carolina and a National Renewable Energy Laboratory dynamometer at the National Wind Technology Center in Colorado. The two test facilities will be used to evaluate in a controlled environment the mechanical systems that convert the aerodynamic forces of wind turbine blades into electricity from a generator. Funded in part by the Energy Department (DOE) through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the new facilities will help accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation technologies for both offshore and land-based wind energy systems.

Former Military Base Now Home to Advanced Wind Facility



Located on the site of a former Navy base with easy access to both rail and deepwater transport, the Clemson facility in North Charleston is ideal for testing the large, commercial scale turbines being developed by manufacturers for offshore wind farms. This facility, which opened last week, is equipped with 7.5-megawatt (MW) and 15-MW dynamometers that will enable the wind industry and testing agencies to verify the performance and reliability of drivetrain prototypes and commercial machines by simulating operating field conditions in a laboratory environment. Verifying a wind system's performance before it is commercially deployed reduces risk for both the manufacturer and system operator, and facilities like Clemson’s can simulate as much as 20 years’ worth of wear and tear on drivetrains in a few months.


In addition to testing the performance of the drivetrains, Clemson is using the facility's electrical infrastructure to build a 15-MW hardware-in-the-loop grid simulator. The grid simulator will mimic real-world circumstances, such as wide-area power disruptions, frequency fluctuations, voltage drops, cascading accidents, and cyber or physical attacks, to determine the effects of wind turbines on utility grids and grids on wind turbines.

Gaining Insight through Expertise



DOE's second new test facility at NREL’s National Wind Technology Center near Boulder, which also opened last week, offers industry the capability to perform accelerated tests on wind turbine drivetrains with capacity ratings of up to 5-MW. In addition, industry partners that use the facility gain access to on-site engineers with more than three decades of engineering experience.

NWTC now has two dynamometers that can be connected either directly to the grid or to a controllable grid interface (CGI). The dynamometer and CGI work in tandem to provide engineers with a better understanding of how wind turbines react to grid disturbances. With these additions, the NWTC is one of the only facilities in the world that can use these capabilities alongside operating multi-megawatt wind turbines in the field at the NWTC and energy storage devices undergoing testing there.

Watch the video above to find out how the dynamometer and the CGI work. Read this factsheet (at link below) for more information about the new NREL facility.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHeI351B22k&feature=player_embedded

The two facilities are part of DOE’s overall strategy to increase the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources such as wind, reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and create a more sustainable future for generations to come.

Learn more about DOE’s work to advance the wind industry and how wind energy works.

http://energy.gov/eere/articles/two-facilities-one-goal-advancing-america-s-wind-industry

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #17 on: December 08, 2013, 02:39:14 pm »
Record German Wind Power Lifts Renewable Share Over ’20 Goal 

Rachel Morison, Bloomberg

December 06, 2013

BERLIN -- Record output from wind farms lifted Germany’s share of renewable electricity production above its 2020 target of 35 percent today as a storm from Scandinavia battered the nation’s northern coast.

A low pressure system dubbed Xaver, with hurricane-force winds of more than 140 kilometers (87 miles) an hour, hit the northern coastline of Germany today, according to the country’s weather service. Electricity produced by sun and wind supplied 27.2 gigawatts, or 36 percent, of Germany’s power at 1 p.m. Berlin time, according to the European Energy Exchange AG.

Germany is already Europe’s biggest producer of electricity from wind and sun and its newly formed coalition government agreed last month to get as much as 45 percent of electricity from renewables by 2025. The share of power from wind and solar rose to 49 percent on Nov. 9, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The average share of renewables in Germany across the whole of last year was 22 percent.

“Germany might already be meeting its 2020 target for some hours, but it would need a lot more installed capacity to average 35 percent over a year,” Gary Keane, principal consultant at Poeyry Oyj, an adviser to governments and utilities, said by phone from Oxford, England.
Wind output in Germany hit a record of 25.2 gigawatts at 1:45 p.m. and will account for 39 percent of supply at 11 p.m., according to EEX data.

Forced Shutdown

The strength of the storm forced turbines to shut down in some parts of Germany.  The 48-megawatt Baltic 1 offshore wind farm operated by Karlsruhe-based EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG automatically halted operations at 1 p.m. when winds became too strong, Friederike Eckstein, a spokeswoman, said by phone.

“Wind turbines can start to cut out when wind goes above 60 miles an hour, so with a storm there is an increased risk of that happening,” said Keane.

German power for tomorrow declined 10.3 percent to 30.79 euros ($42.05) a megawatt hour on the Epex Spot exchange in Paris at 5:22 p.m. That’s 38.63 euros lower than the same contract in neighboring France which settled at 69.42 euros a megawatt hour, the data show.

Wind and solar power are given priority access to the grid in Germany, meaning peaks in production can force coal and gas- fed plants to reduce their output. The proportion of power produced from conventional plants is expected to fall to 61 percent at 11 p.m., compared with 79 percent at 7 a.m. today, according to EEX data.

“The storm will also bring heavy gusts of wind to the Netherlands, Denmark and Poland until tomorrow afternoon,” Andreas Gassner, meteorologist at MMInternational, said by e-mail from Appenzell, Switzerland. “Denmark and Poland could see as much as 15 gigawatts of wind until early on Monday.”

Copyright 2013 Bloomberg

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/12/record-german-wind-power-lifts-renewable-share-over-20-goal?cmpid=rss

And let us NOT forget the INVOLUNTARY "contribution" of the fossil nukers to more storms.  Next thing ya know, MKing will want us to PAY for "all these freebies" for Renewable energy. LOL!
January 1, 2009:

Quote
Global Warming Causes Severe Storms
Research Meteorologists See More Severe Storms Ahead: The Culprit -- Global Warming
January 1, 2009 — Research Meteorologists found that the temperature changes brought on by global warming are significant enough to cause an increase in the occurrence of severe storms.

Severe storms are those that cause flooding, have damaging winds, hail and could cause tornados. Their study revealed that by the end of this century, the number of days that favor severe storms could more than double certain locations, such as Atlanta and New York. Researchers also found that this increase would occur during typical stormy seasons and not during dry seasons when it may be beneficial.

Full Article published BEFORE IRENE  :o here:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2009/0109-global_warming_causes_severe_storms.htm

But always remember the WISE, CONSCIENTIOUS AND PRUDENT words of our pet GW Denier Fossil Nukers who are ONLY INTERESTED IN OUR BENEFIT...   1) WE JUST DON'T, DON'T, AIN'T SURE AND AIN'T CERTAIN KNOW!  2) WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER...   





He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #18 on: December 09, 2013, 03:51:17 pm »
Fact Check: IER Finds it Hard to Kick Habit of Attacking Wind Power

Elizabeth Salerno, AWEA

December 09, 2013

Like a chain smoker, the fossil fuel-funded Institute for Energy Research (IER) seems addicted to spreading misinformation  about wind power.

In IER’s latest report, the fossil-fueled group claims that some states are benefitting more than their fair share from the tax relief encouraging wind power’s growth. As others have pointed out already (including the Union for Concerned Scientists and ThinkProgress), IER fails yet again.

The reality is that the wind industry provides clear economic and environmental benefits for all 50 states. Its incentive, the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), is far smaller than the cumulative incentives provided to other energy sources, and has been so successful at driving private investment that it more than pays for itself by creating additional tax revenue.
Here’s the truth about wind power and the PTC:


1) Using tax policy to spur growth in energy sectors is nothing new


It’s important to understand that there is no comprehensive energy policy in the U.S. The reality is that much of what the U.S. has relied on to spur domestic energy growth is a collection federal, state, and local public policy techniques, including the tax code.

A new report out earlier this year, “Energy tax policy: Issues in the 113th congress” by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) makes this point clear:

“Energy tax policy involves the use of one of the government’s main fiscal instruments, taxes (both as an incentive and as a disincentive) to alter the allocation or configuration of energy resources and their use. In theory, energy taxes and subsidies, like tax policy instruments in general, are intended either to correct a problem or distortion in the energy markets or to achieve some economic (efficiency, equity, or macroeconomic) objective.”

The truth is, tax incentives for the energy sector began in 1913, when intangible drilling costs were given to the oil industry and dozens have been added since then, most of which support fossil fuels. In fact, the Nuclear Energy Institute’s own tally concludes that federal subsidies to fossil and nuclear energy sources totaled more than $650 billion from 1950 to 2010. Despite their remarkably long life spans, such incentives are mostly ignored  in the current energy debate.

Had the study looked at the more than $650 billion in federal support for fossil and nuclear energy over the last 60 years, it would have found the benefits and costs of that to be very unevenly distributed because only a few states produce the majority of those fuels, while all other states get the triple whammy of having to pay for the subsidy, having to send money to those states to buy the fuel, and then getting stuck with the pollution in their states.

And while other industries continue to receive tax incentives carrying an expensive price tag, the PTC more than pays for itself in local, state, and federal taxes over the life of wind power projects according to a NextEra Energy analysis.


2) All 50 states benefit from wind power equipped with the PTC


IER’s report strategically ignores the NextEra analysis demonstrating that the PTC more than pays for itself in addition to the sizable economic benefits wind power has produced in all 50 states.

Wind power generated $25 billion in private investment, paying millions to landowners and local communities. Every state in the union, including 70 percent of all U.S. congressional districts, has an operating wind project, manufacturing plant, or wind-related jobs.


All online wind energy related manufacturing facilities and wind energy projects, by Congressional Districts.
 
Wind energy is one of the most broadly dispersed energy industries, with manufacturing currently in 44 states and turbines installed in 39 states plus Puerto Rico.


U.S. Wind energy Capacity Installed by State



In fact, “Made in the USA” is now a label American wind power can proudly display on a majority (over 70 percent) of its parts and supplies. ;D


American wind power supports 80,000 full-time jobs and according to a Department of Energy analysis, with the right policies in place, wind power could support 500,000 full-time domestic jobs by 2030.

Wind energy brings taxes and other revenues to rural communities, benefiting county and local services, schools, and health care and public safety facilities. Plus, land lease payments to rural landowners, farmers, and ranchers hosting America’s new drought-resistant cash crop often total millions of dollars in states across the country.


WIND leases are FOREVER;
 Fracking LEASES are temporary and pollute your LAND!



3) Wind energy is reducing electricity prices across the country


More than a dozen studies by grid operators and state governments have confirmed that wind energy reduces electricity prices by displacing more expensive sources of energy. That includes a recent report by Synapse Energy Economics that found that doubling the use of wind energy in the Mid-Atlantic and Great Lake states would save consumers $6.9 billion per year on net, after accounting for both wind and transmission costs.


Because the electric power system is a highly integrated network, many of these electricity price reduction benefits accrue to states that have little to no wind energy. For example, the Synapse study found that the $6.9 billion in benefits of wind energy would be broadly spread across the 13 Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes states, even to states without wind energy, as wind plants allow fossil-fired power plants in other states to reduce their output and fuel use. These interstate consumer benefits of wind energy are even more clear when utilities buy wind energy from other states. For example, Southern Company’s Georgia and Alabama utilities have made three large purchases of wind energy from Oklahoma and Kansas, explaining that those purchases reduce its customers’ electric bills. (April 22, 2013 press release)

4) Environmental benefits from wind power are also spread across all 50 states

Another goal of the PTC was to establish better U.S. energy security and address concerns about the environment. As the 2013 CRS report notes:

“The U.S energy tax policy as it presently stands aims to address concerns regarding the environment as well as those surrounding national security. Incentives promoting renewable energy production, energy efficiency and conservation, and alternative technology vehicles address both environmental and national security concerns. Tax incentives for the domestic production of fossil fuels also promote energy security by attempting to reduce the nation’s reliance on imported energy sources.”

Adding wind power displaces the most expensive, least efficient power source on the utility system — usually an older fossil fuel plant. The total wind power installed today now allows us to avoid the equivalent of 100 million metric tons of CO2 annually — the equivalent of taking over 17 million cars off the road.

Wind power uses no water to generate electricity, while most other types of power plants use substantial quantities.Installing over 60 GW of wind power has resulted in saving the equivalent of 37 billion gallons of water annually. That’s 130 gallons of water per person. 



Wind energy does not emit particulate matter, which is associated with heart and lung disease, and it also does not emit mercury or other heavy metals, which collect in the food chain and are harmful to human and animal health.


In fact, according to a report completed for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), wind power has the lowest impact on wildlife and the environment of any of several technologies studied — including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, and hydropower. 

The bipartisan support that the PTC has historically received has been a reflection of Congress understanding that the majority of American people want more wind energy. With all these economic and environmental benefits, it’s easy to understand why that overwhelming support exists.
IER’s best (worst) efforts will not change these facts. 

This article was originally published on AWEA Into the Wind blog and was republished with permission.
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/12/fact-check-ier-finds-it-hard-to-kick-habit-of-attacking-wind-power?cmpid=rss


Agelbert NOTE: The following is me just piling on! 
 



The FUTURE SUCKS for Fossil Fuels and Nukes TOO!    



He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #19 on: December 10, 2013, 02:47:40 pm »
Offshore Wind Turbine Vendors Unveil Next-Generation Wind Power Machines
At the recent EWEA Offshore 2013 conference and expo, turbine vendors displayed their latest and greatest turbines.

Eize de Vries, Wind Technology Correspondent

December 10, 2013

FRANKFURT -- EWEA’s biannual offshore wind conference and exhibition took place between 19 – 21 November in Frankfurt, Germany. International exhibitors and visitors could be clearly subdivided into typical marine and wind-industry related and additional companies and organizations offering specific products and dedicated offshore wind services such as a supersize HVAC submarine cable and several new foundation solutions.

ThyssenKrupp Mannex of Germany for instance presented a clever and innovative jacket foundation called Hexabase, described as the first industrial solution for offshore wind. The large-diameter open lightweight structure consists of so-called bionic elements, standardized pipes and pre-cast nodes, all of which mean a high automation level.

Here's a look at some new turbine product developments.

Integrated

Samsung of Korea had a prominent display at the show with a large booth dedicated to the 7-MW S7.0-171 offshore turbine, a prototype of which was recently installed in the UK. The behemoth is designed for 25-year operating life and features the world’s longest 83.5-metre blades offering a record 171.2-metre rotor diameter. The compact medium-speed drivetrain comprises a two-stage planetary gearbox designed and built by UK firm David Brown. A rather unusual design feature is that the gearbox has been integrated inside the large-diameter hollow main shaft, which in turn is supported by two rotor bearings.

The medium-voltage permanent magnet generator (PMG) operates at 3.3kV, and all power electronics including power cabinets, power-electronic converter, MV-transformer and switchgear are located in the tower base. According a Samsung spokesperson the turbine can achieve 73 percent capacity factor at high-wind sites. The S7.0-171 under such conditions generates at 63 percent of the time measured over the year over 80 percent of its rated power, qualifying it as a “true power plant.” The company expects to receive certification in 2014.

High-speed PMG

Power engineering specialist ABB introduced a new 7-MW high-speed permanent magnet generator in Frankfurt. The generators come available in low voltage (690V) and medium-voltage (3.3kV, and either water or air-cooled. All ABB high-speed generators for wind turbines (DFIG, PMG and induction-type) are based on a standard modular platform principle and feature an adaptable turbine interface. The modularity also allows changing from DFIG to PMG and vice versa depending upon customer preferences. Developing a new high-speed generator in the 7-MW high-end capacity range could come a bit as a surprise, because most new super-class geared turbine developments now seem to focus at medium-speed solutions.

Successor


 

REpower of Germany introduced the long-awaited successor to its 6.15-MW 6M (2009) flagship model, a product platform history that commenced in 2004 with a pioneering 5-MW 5M turbine, both with 126-metre rotor diameter. The new offshore model technologically builds on the 6M (now renamed 6.2M126, pictured above) and comes with unchanged power rating. New main features include the switch to a load-optimized cast main chassis and an enlarged 152-metre rotor diameter. This offers 46 percent more rotor swept area and, according Repower, a 20 percent higher yield at 9.5 percent average wind speed sites. The new slender blades are a dedicated REpower in-house product development. The 6.2M152 incorporates again a high-speed geared drivetrain with DFIG and 6.6kV stator voltage. 66kV transformer output voltage is now optional and is expected to become a new offshore wind standard for intra-array wind farm cabling.

Two-bladed and Downwind



German engineering consultancy aerodyn based in Frankfurt introduced an innovative two-bladed 8-MW SCD 8.0 down-wind offshore turbine with 168-metre rotor diameter. (SCD stands for Super Compact Drive.) The SCD 8.0 incorporates a medium-speed drivetrain with a single rotor bearing flanged to an in-house developed planetary gearbox plus PMG. These main components in turn are flanged directly to a cast main carrier, and there is no separate nacelle cover.

One special product feature of the SCD 8.0 is a helicopter-landing platform integrated in the nacelle upper part, whereby actual landings are enabled only after locking the rotor in horizontal position. (See image, left, for an example of the 3-, 6-, and 8-MW products.)

Two-bladed turbines are new in the offshore market, but do offer specific advantages including easier deck stowage of fully assembled turbine heads (nacelle + rotor) plus time and cost-saving single-hoist installation. The SCD 8.0 is aimed at the European offshore market, and aerodyn owner/director Sönke Siegfriedsen firmly believes that a favorable 395-tonne head mass makes the turbine well-suited for both seabed-fixed and floating foundations solutions.

Optimization




SCD 8.0 is a further development and optimization of the 6-MW SCD 6.0, an IEC class IIB turbine featuring 140-metre rotor diameter. Aerodyn’s Chinese partner and licensee Ming Yang is currently testing the SCD 6.0 prototype, with installation planned for early 2014. The SCD 6.0 was specifically developed for the hurricane-prone coastal stretch between Shanghai and Hong Kong, which, according aerodyne, is one of the world’s largest future offshore wind markets. Ming Yang already operates several 3-MW two-bladed onshore upwind SCD 3.0 turbines with 110-metre rotor diameter for IEC class IIIA locations. (See image, right, for an example of an onshore two-bladed turbine.)

SCD was first presented at the 2007 Husum wind industry fair and was one of the world’s first medium-speed turbine designs.

SCD technology is built upon aerodyn’s (design) experiences with its patented 5-MW hybrid-type offshore turbine called Multibrid M5000. This groundbreaking turbine was developed and patented during 1996/7 and is comprised of a single rotor bearing and a highly compact fully enclosed cast chassis that incorporates a single-stage planetary gearbox and permanent magnet generator.

AREVA Wind commercialized the M5000-116, and an optimized 5-MW M5000-135 prototype with enlarged 135-metre rotor was installed this autumn.

Reducing CoE



Siemens Energy finally presented its new 4-MW and 6-MW offshore turbines in Frankfurt, including a new 4-MW SWT-4.0-120 model version with 120-metre rotor diameter. The company said that it wants to reduce lifecycle-based cost of energy (CoE, which equals turbine cost/kWh/20-25y) for both the 6-MW direct drive and 4-MW geared turbine models by up to 40 percent compared to today’s levels.

Substantially reducing CoE remains the offshore wind industry’s main overall challenge for the future of offshore wind power, and is a huge task ahead for all parties involved. Achieving this goal requires sustained combined efforts from project developers to wind turbine and submarine cable installation vessel designers/suppliers, foundation designers/manufacturers, advanced transport-logistics, installation contractors, and wind farm upkeep specialists.


Eize de Vries was from 2001 to March 2010 Wind Technology Correspondent for Renewable Energy World magazine. He currently works as a Technology Writer and Technology Advisor for Windpower Monthly, and is since 1997 Contributing Editor for...

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/12/offshore-wind-turbines-are-getting-bigger-all-the-time?cmpid=rss
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #20 on: December 13, 2013, 10:50:52 pm »
Fossil fuelers are handicapped by hydrocarbon tunnel vision. But most people no longer see things their way. Moreover, since more and more people are making a LIVING off of RENEWABLE ENERGY and less and less people are making a living from fossil fuels, the dirty energy will get pushed out.

Fossil Fuels should have been pushed out in the 1980s. This time they will be.  8)
 

Here's some more reaiity based community information fossil fuelers refuse to acknowledge. 
 



Major Shipyard Now building MORE Renewable Energy machines than ships!

Imagine how quickly we could transition if the over 400 OIL TANKERS the Oil Industry builds EACH YEAR, were NOT BUILT and WIND TURBINES were built instead! That's a LOT of wind turbines and tidal or ocean current turbines!
Oil Tanker costs:

DWT= DEAD WEIGHT TONNAGE CAPACITY

LR2 (Large Range 2),  Suezmax class,120,000–200,000 DWT,  $60.7M

VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier), VLCC class,  200,000–320,000 DWT, $120M

ULCC (Ultra Large Crude Carrier), Ultra Large Crude Carrier class,  320,000–550,000 DWT, $120M PLUS


Now suppose you wanted to build 100 of those pigs at an average price of $100M or so (they're cheaper by the dozen!).

$100,000,000 X 100 =  $10B

How many wind turbines can we buy with that $10B INSTEAD OF TANKER PIGS?

Here's a nice wind turbine outfit that is ALREADY kicking fossil fuel ass! Maybe we can do business with them.


As of 2011, Vestas wind turbines generate enough electricity to provide for 21 million people. In January 2011, Vestas won the $1.5m (£940,000) Zayed Future Energy Prize in Abu Dhabi.    ;D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestas

[embed=640,380]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rjzsjqmqws#[/embed]
Nice video! Too bad they didn't have to turbines spearing oil tankers as they surfaced!   ;D 

Using the information at the link below, you can get a bunch of the top of the line Vestas 8MW (formerly the 7M just two years ago but has been tweaked up) for around $8M if we order more than 300 MW worth of turbines (Yes, those are cheaper by the dozen TOO!  ).

That means we can buy about ONE THOUSAND turbines for the price of 100 oil pig tankers. 
Those 1,000 turbines will generate 8 GW of power near  continuously because they will be placed offshore, to MKing's chagrin.  ;D  But don't worry, they have maintenance and some slack wind periods from time to time so you fossil fuelers can claim they are "discontinuous, unreliable and no good for baseload". 

http://emp.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/lbnl-5119e-ppt.pdf

But let's not stop there. The fossil fuel industry has enough capital to build 400 tankers in a single year so they technically have enough capital to build 4000 wind turbines producing 32 GW EACH YEAR. :o Consider, for a moment, what adding 32GW of renewable energy would DO to the energy picture of this planet.   

Now consider that world governments have even more capital. Consider that adding ten times that much (320 GW each year) from various renewable energy technologies is feasible simply because there are several large wind turbine and ocean current and tide turbine manufacturers just as capable as Vestas of pumping out 4,000 8MW turbines a year (GE can make even more than Vestas).

And then there is solar PV and power towers and geothermal along with all sorts of energy storage technologies that, unlike oil tankers, don't spill their guts into the oceans on a regular basis and will provide 24/7 smooth power access to customers, regardless of what the nasty, negative, naysayers among us that will mendaciously claim otherwise as long as their portfolio has dirty energy stocks in them. 


Within a couple of decades we could stop burning fossil fuels completely as long as we stuck to the current 18TW annual human civilization energy demand.

No more strip mining for coal or drilling for oil or fracking for oil and gas messing up our biosphere.

Consider what having 34% LESS ocean traffic and NO oil tankers or oil rigs would do for the health of the oceans.

Dear readers, always remember to remind the fossil fuelers a little item they ALWAYS seem to forget. And that is, that they DO NOT have an ESTABLISHED industry and a "going concern proven business model" as they claim because

A) They are massively subsidized

B) They are CONSTANTLY replacing equipment that lasts, at most, a couple of decades.
At any moment they can decide to buy the renewable energy machines instead of fossil fuel transport and drilling equipment on the same schedule of replacement that they use to replace oil rigs, tankers, etc. BUT THEY REFUSE TO DO SO.

Can you say, Mens Rea? >:(

At any rate, the shipyards are catching on that building Renewable Energy Machines provides more and better jobs than building polluting tanker pigs. GOOD!
 
Harland & Wolff Heavy Industries is a Northern Irish heavy industrial company, specialising in shipbuilding and offshore construction, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The shipyard has built many ships; among the more famous are the White Star trio RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic and Britannic, the Royal Navy's HMS Belfast, Royal Mail Line's Andes, Shaw Savill's Southern Cross and P&O's SS Canberra. The company's official history, Shipbuilders to the World, was published in 1986.

As of 2011, the expanding offshore wind power industry has taken centre stage and 75% of the company's work is based on offshore renewable energy.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harland_and_Wolff


... the United Kingdom planned to build 7,500 new offshore wind turbines between 2008 and 2020, creating great demand for heavy assembly work.

Unlike land-based wind turbines, where assembly occurs on site, offshore wind turbines have part of their assembly done in a shipyard,
and then construction barges transport the tower sections, rotors, and nacelles to the site for final **** and assembly. As a result of this, in late 2007, the 'Goliath' gantry crane was re-commissioned, having been moth-balled in 2003 due to the lack of heavy-lifting work at the yard.

In June 2008, assembly work at the Belfast yard was underway on 60 Vestas V90-3MW wind turbines for the Robin Rigg Wind Farm.[6] This was the second offshore wind farm assembled by the company for Vestas having completed the logistics for the Barrow

Offshore Wind Farm in 2006. In August 2011 Harland and Wolff completed the logistics for the Ormonde Wind Farm which consisted of 30 REpower 5MW turbines.

In March 2008, the construction of the world's first commercial tidal stream turbine, for Marine Current Turbines, was completed at the Belfast yard. The installation of the 1.2MW SeaGen Tidal System was begun in Strangford Lough in April 2008.[7]

In July 2010, Harland & Wolff secured a contract to make a prototype tidal energy turbine for Scotrenewables Ltd.[8] Manufacture of the SR250 device was completed in May 2011 and has been undergoing testing in Orkney since.

As of April 2012, the booming offshore wind power industry has taken centre stage. Harland & Wolff are currently working on three innovative meteorological mast foundations for the Dogger Bank and Firth of Forth offshore wind farms, as well as putting the finishing touches to two Siemens substations for the Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm. Seventy-five per cent of the company's work is based on offshore renewable energy.

Harland & Wolff is one of many UK and international companies profiting from the emergence of UK wind- and marine-generated electricity, which is attracting significant inward investment.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harland_and_Wolff

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AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #21 on: December 14, 2013, 01:12:39 am »
Wind energy becoming cheaper than natural gas   :o

By John Upton

In the blustery Midwest, wind energy is now coming in even cheaper than natural gas. From Greentech Media:

“In the Midwest, we’re now seeing power agreements being signed with wind farms at as low as $25 per megawatt-hour,” said Stephen Byrd, Morgan Stanley’s Head of North

American Equity Research for Power & Utilities and Clean Energy, at the Columbia Energy Symposium in late November. “Compare that to the variable cost of a gas plant at $30 per megawatt-hour. …”

Byrd acknowledged that wind does receive a subsidy in the form of a production tax credit for ten years at $22 per megawatt-hour after tax. “But even without that subsidy, some of these wind projects have a lower all-in cost than gas,” Byrd said.

And the gas industry certainly gets plenty of its own subsidies.  >:(

Wind is also breathing down the neck of the coal industry in the region:   ;D

Wind is even going head-to-head with Powder River Basin coal. “In the Midwest, those wind plants are, many times of the day, competing against efficient nuclear plants and efficient PRB coal plants,” Byrd said.

Oh yeah, nuclear. As we reported earlier this year, wind is threatening nuclear too.   
 

While wind and solar farms can be expensive to build, Byrd points out that the fuel for them is free, giving them an edge in the country’s competitive electricity markets.
 

 


Source

Midwest Wind Cost-Competitive with Gas and Coal, Greentech Media

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

http://grist.org/news/wind-energy-becoming-cheaper-than-natural-gas/
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AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #22 on: December 16, 2013, 06:00:41 pm »
With a wind PTC expiration potentially days away, expect more deals like this one to get projects qualified under the gun.





 James Montgomery, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com 
 December 16, 2013

New Hampshire, USA -- We're just days away from the end of calendar 2013, which means a number of annual rituals: holiday parties, lists of top-everything-whatever -- and angst over the expiring production tax credit (PTC) that has been key to the U.S. wind industry's growth. ??? >:(

Last year's PTC was ultimately extended at the 11th hour, and its language tweaked this spring changing the requirements that a power plant must be online to requiring that a plant be "under construction" either through physical work being done or the developer having incurred 5 percent of the total cost. With the PTC's expiration looming one again, look for some last-minute announcements as wind developers try to get some projects nailed down.

And now we have Exhibit A:  MidAmerican has ordered 1 GW of turbines from Siemens AG for its five planned new wind farms in Iowa scheduled to come online in 2015, spanning sizes of 44 MW up to 500 MW, adding to the roughly 2.3 GW the company already operates in the state. The blades will be built in Siemens' Fort Madison, Iowa plant and the nacelles and hubs will be assembled in Hutchinson, Kansas. With these turbine investments, those projects officially qualify for the PTC as it currently exists, according to Adam Wright, VP of wind generation at MidAmerican.

About half of that collective 1 GW of new Iowa wind capacity is expected to be installed by the end of 2014, with the "civil work" completed for the remaining 500 MW, which will add turbines and come into service in 2015, Wright explained. But in a surprise, he also revealed that the 44-MW Vienna II expansion originally slated to be completed in the fall of 2014 has already begun commercial operations -- it came online on December 4, to take advantage of the current PTC's bonus depreciation. 



MidAmerican and Siemens will broadcast all this news live at 1 pm Central Time today; watch it here or on AWEA's home page.

Iowa is one of the leading U.S. state adopters of wind energy, getting nearly a quarter of its total power generation from wind in 2012. It ranked third in the nation for MW installed (5.1 GW) and number of wind turbines (3,200). The Iowa Wind Energy Association projects 10 GW of installed capacity in the state by 2017, with a statewide potential of 570 GW.
                                                         

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/12/midamerican-siemens-secure-1-gw-turbine-pact-for-iowa-wind-farms?cmpid=rss
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AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #23 on: December 18, 2013, 06:35:24 pm »
UK Approves 450 Million Pound Offshore Wind Port Project Plan

 Alex Morales, Bloomberg 
 December 18, 2013

LONDON -- The U.K. approved a 450-million pound ($736 million) project to build manufacturing and port facilities for the offshore wind industry in northeast England, expanding the country’s drive to develop the technology.  ;D


Able U.K. Ltd. was given the go-ahead for the project after satisfying a government request for more detail on how it will accommodate for seabirds and a railway line affected by the plan, the Department of Transport said today in an e-mailed statement. Parliament must now consider compulsory purchase powers to acquire some of the land needed, it said.


Britain has more installed offshore wind power than the rest of the world combined, and ministers have identified the technology as key to U.K. efforts to slash carbon and boost renewables. Deployment of 10 gigawatts, almost triple current installations, is possible by 2020  ;D, according to the government, which has shied away from setting an official goal.

The approval is “testament to a continuing sense of long- term confidence in the offshore wind sector, which is at the very heart of our green energy future,” Maf Smith, deputy chief executive officer of the RenewableUK lobby group said in a statement. “Offshore wind, and the supply chain it is building, could create tens of thousands of green-collar jobs to coastline communities in areas where they’re needed most.”

The project on the banks of the Humber River in northeast England includes about 1,300 meters (4,300 feet) of deep-water docks and 906 acres (367 hectares) of land for offices and factories, according to its website. Able says the project may create 4,000 jobs.

Timeline

It’s designed to be used by offshore wind project developers that need to deploy large components such as foundations and wind turbine towers and nacelles to their sites at sea. The intention is for the first dock to be available for use in 2016.

“It provides the opportunity, not available at any other U.K. location, to create a critical mass of activity,” Able Executive Chairman Peter Stephenson said today in a statement. “The Humber is ideally placed in close proximity to the world’s largest proposed offshore wind farms.”

Able Marine Energy Park on Dec. 9 signed a memorandum of understanding with Strabag SE’s Stuttgart, Germany-based offshore wind unit identifying it as the company’s preferred location to build a factory for the mass production of foundations for offshore wind turbines, with the potential to create up to 500 jobs.

Copyright 2013 Bloomberg

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/12/uk-approves-450-million-pound-offshore-wind-port-project-plan



Agelbert NOTE: The above is more evidence of the lack of foresight of a certain energy expert that moved from the UK to Canada BECAUSE the UK was running out of "cheap" fossil fuels AND

Renewable Energy could "NEVER" fill the gap because

1) It is TOO EXPENSIVE AND HAS TOO LOW AN EROI.

2) It can't provide baseload power due to "intermittence".

3) Forced lessening of total energy use will impair the economy drastically because GDP ALWAYS tracks total energy use!

4) Renewable Energy cannot be deployed quick enough to avoid a collapse.


WELL, both "1)" and "2)" have been proven FALSE.

As to "3)" we have already proved that is false in the last 13 years.
HOW DID WE DO THAT? According to Amory Lovins of the RMI, US GDP is 25% higher than in the year 2000 and we use MUCH LESS TOTAL ENERGY!

BUT, ya never know... Item "4)" may still happen,,,  8)

I say that IF IT DOES HAPPEN, it will have NOTHING to do with energy and be solely climate catastrophe caused.  :P

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #24 on: December 25, 2013, 03:11:56 pm »
6 Reasons Why Nuke Fan Is Dead Wrong About Wind Energy

American Wind Energy Association | December 7, 2013 11:45 am


By Michael Goggin

The Energy Collective blog recently carried a column, Limitations of Unreliable Energy Sources, aka ‘Renewables,’ by Rod Adams, a longtime nuclear power advocate and critic of competing energy sources. In his column, Adams repeats a number of false statements about wind power.

nukewind

When corrected, his claims actually highlight a number of ways in which wind energy’s efficiency is superior to that of other energy sources.

Wind energy significantly reduces carbon emissions and does not noticeably reduce the efficiency of fossil-fired power plants on the utility system.

Recent analysis of the impact of wind on the efficiency of fossil-fired power plants found that with renewable energy supplying 33 percent of the electricity, wind produces 99.8 percent of the expected fuel use and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions savings after accounting for all cycling impacts, or savings of 1,190 pounds of CO2 per megawatt hour (MWh) of wind. This analysis is based on real-world hourly emissions data for all fossil-fired power plants in the Western U.S, and puts to rest the fossil fuel industry myth that wind energy’s emissions savings are lower than expected.

Transmission pays for itself through economic and reliability benefits.

Numerous studies show that grid upgrades more than pay for themselves through the reliability and economic benefits they provide to consumers. The claim that a significant amount of wind energy is lost in transmission to consumers is false, as almost all line losses occur on low-voltage distribution lines, and thus apply to all energy sources evenly (page 30).

Wind energy has a lower integration cost than large conventional power plants.


Every wind integration study has found that there is more than enough flexibility on the power system today to accommodate very high levels of wind energy. In contrast, the need for reserves to accommodate the sudden failure of conventional power plants is far larger and many times more costly than for wind (see calculations in footnotes 6 and 7). Adding wind energy to the grid does not cause any need for new power plant capacity, and actually significantly reduces the total need for power plants.

Wind energy curtailment has only occurred due to localized transmission constraints (that are being eliminated), and never because the amount of wind output exceeded total demand on the power system.

Even the curtailment caused by localized transmission congestion is being eliminated as long-needed grid upgrades catch up with wind energy’s rapid growth, with curtailment cut in half from 2011 to 2012. (see page 44) Further declines are occurring in 2013, with curtailment on the ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) system now approaching zero.

Onsite energy use is far higher at conventional power plants, on the order of 7 to 15 percent of power plant energy production.

In contrast, the figure for wind plants is typically far less than 1 percent. A comprehensive literature review of all peer-reviewed studies on the lifecycle carbon emissions impacts of all energy sources demonstrates that wind’s impact is a fraction of all conventional energy sources, and is also much lower than most other renewable energy sources.

Energy storage is not needed for wind energy.

The U.S. has added 60 gigawatts (GW) of wind, and Europe even more, with zero need to add energy storage. As explained above, there is plenty of flexibility on the existing power system. Interestingly, nearly all of the 22 GW of pumped hydro energy storage in the U.S. was added to help accommodate the inflexibility and additional reserve needs imposed by large nuclear power plants.

Finally, it seems strange to talk about the efficiency of different energy sources without discussing the fact that most fossil and nuclear power plants immediately waste 2/3 of the energy in their fuel as waste heat at the power plant, while most modern wind turbines capture around 50 percent of the energy available in their fuel. The U.S. Department of Energy’s data on the average efficiency of different types of power plants is here:

•Coal: 32.7 percent efficiency
•Gas: 41.9 percent efficiency
•Nuclear: 32.6 percent efficiency


http://ecowatch.com/2013/12/07/nuke-fan-dead-wrong-wind-energy/
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AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #25 on: December 25, 2013, 05:02:08 pm »
Siemens to Supply Turbines for $2.6 Billion  :o Cape Wind Project

 Ehren Goossens, Bloomberg 
 December 24, 2013  |  2 Comments 


NEW YORK CITY -- Siemens AG, Europe’s biggest engineering company, agreed to supply turbines to the $2.6 billion Cape Wind project, the first offshore wind farm planned in the U.S.



Siemens will install 130 of its 3.6-megawatt turbines at the facility that’s now seeking finance for construction in Massachusetts waters, the Munich-based company said today in a statement. Financial details of the agreement weren’t disclosed.





 
The deal along with a proposal from Siemens to take a $100 million equity stake in the project raises the chances that the project will move forward. Residents including the family of former President John F. Kennedy have sued to stop the project, ???  >:( saying it will spoil a uniquely beautiful area.

“Siemens will most likely be an investor in the project,” Randy Zwirn, chief executive officer of SiemensEnergy Inc., said in an interview.

Siemens, the largest supplier of offshore wind turbines, said the deal is subject to final negotiations. Its 3.6 megawatt turbine is the most installed offshore turbine in the world, Jim Gordon, founder and owner of Boston-based Energy Management Inc., the parent of Cape Wind, said in an interview.

“Because it’s the first offshore wind farm in America, it was very important for us to pick the workhorse of the offshore wind industry,” Gordon said.

Siemens said last week that Cape Wind is likely to qualify for a tax credit that expires at the end of this year. It has faced delays due to lawsuits opposing it.

Legal Outlook

“The process was careful and deliberate, and we fully expect our permit will be upheld,” Gordon said. “We fully anticipate the legal decision our way simply because this has been one of the most comprehensively reviewed energy projects in decades in the United States. They’ve been using these avenues as a delaying factor.”

The Interior Department has said about 1,000 gigawatts of potential wind energy exists off the U.S. Atlantic coast, though no projects have been completed. Several, including the Block Island project are moving forward as well.

The U.S. awarded a lease to Cape Wind Associates LLC in 2010 for an area 5 miles (8 kilometers) off mainland Cape Cod. It’s spread over 25 square miles known as Horseshoe Shoal and would generate on average enough electricity to power 200,000 homes, according to the Energy Department.

“This is really the first offshore wind project of any significance anywhere in the U.S.,” Zwirn said. “As the leading supplier of offshore wind turbines in the world, we obviously have an interest to see that market potential to be developed.”

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. unit MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. awarded Siemens, whose largest business is energy, on Dec. 16 with a more than $1 billion contract, the largest ever, for 448 turbines for wind farms in Iowa.

Copyright 2013 Bloomberg



http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/12/siemens-to-supply-turbines-for-2-6-billion-cape-wind-project?cmpid=WNL-Friday-December27-2013
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AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #26 on: December 27, 2013, 06:24:13 pm »
Subsea Cables Bring Offshore Wind Power to the People

Cables are increasingly recognized as a crucial aspect of wind farm construction and operation. Here, we offer a glimpse of a Norwegian subsea cable manufacturing facility and review the challenges of this evolving market.

Tildy Bayar, Contributing Editor
December 19, 2013 

LONDON -- It might be surprising to learn that Norway’s tallest building is Nexans’ 120-metre extrusion tower at the company’s submarine high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable factory in Halden. Nexans makes subsea cables that connect offshore wind farms to the grid, transports them around the world and installs them underwater so that the cables can bring clean power from offshore wind farms to onshore substations and from there to our homes.

Several different types of cable are used in offshore wind projects. Low (up to 1 kV) and medium-voltage loop cables transmit the electricity produced in the turbine’s generator to the transformer, usually located at the tower’s base. Then array cables connect the turbines on a wind farm to each other and export cables carry their power to the grid. Finally, underground and overhead line (OHL) cables that make it all work on land.


Offshore wind export and inter array cable types. Credit: Nexans.

On a recent tour of the factory, sponsored by Nexans, guides explained that the high tower at the Nexans factory houses the vertical extrusion machinery that begins the cable-making process. From “clean rooms” at the top of the tower, superclean polyethylene and cross-linkable, super-smooth “semicon” are fed through a closed system of huge tubes back down to an extruder at ground level, where the conductive material and insulation are spit out simultaneously from multiple extruders that feed into a single head. The tower can produce 15 km of cable in one week before the workers have to stop the process to change the enormous receiving baskets.

The height of the tower is important because all of the heat must be removed from the materials before they enter the tube. Curing and cooling takes place in a dry atmosphere of pressurized nitrogen in the building before the materials are fed from the tower to various stations in other buildings through “cable ways” which are little wheeled tracks running across and between buildings.
Using copper, aluminum, lead and wire, the materials are formed into cable lengths weighing up to 400-500 kg. At the end of the process the lengths are combined using proprietary joints to make 60-70 km cables.

After several more processes involving insulation and strengthening of the cables, they are tested for resilience and torsion. As a wind turbine’s nacelle rotates, the cables are severely twisted, so they must be extremely resistant to both torque and vibration. The torsion tests on cables simulate 20 years of use in a wind installation. Nexans said the exact test applied to a given cable depends on the customer’s specifications.

A Challenging Market

The wind industry’s move to deeper waters is challenging, according to Nexans, because transport vessels can only hold so much cable. Nexans’ flagship transport and laying boat, the Skagerrak, holds 50 tons of cable on its built-in turntable. The Skagerrak can accommodate 65 workers and has travelled all over the world. Not many vessels can hold its capacity, according to the company, and there are just one or two others in the world including the Giulio Verne, belonging to Nexans’ main competitor Prysmian.


The Nexans "Capject" can dig trenches in soft or hard sediments, according to the comany, and is able to operate in depths of up to 1,000 meters. Credit: Nexans.

With wind farms moving further offshore, said Vincent Dessale, chief operating officer of the submarine high voltage business line, Nexans’ customers are seeking increasingly higher transmission capacity, which means producing larger and longer cables. The Halden plant ran into problems in 2012, with an invoice delay in submarine cables leading to a drop in Nexans stock and an eventual restructuring of the business. The company has learned some lessons, it said, including that “feeding in more machines and manpower to match market demand is not sufficient” and that “coping with growing complexity and increasing timeline uncertainty requires highly structured organization, robust processes and the right mindset,” said Dessale.

Another challenge is that cables are becoming increasingly important in risk management. “One of the key differences between offshore and onshore wind farms, at the concept and design phase is the need to consider cable failure when designing the electrical architecture,” said David McNaught, senior engineer at consultancy Frazer-Nash. “If a submarine cable fails in service the consequences for the operability and profitability of the wind farm could be dire; especially if there are delays in securing a suitable repair vessel or if weather conditions are severe, likely during the winter months.

“It is essential that the electrical cable systems of wind farms have high reliability – that the system has the ability to withstand unforeseen circumstances,” McNaught continued. Cable risk is a relatively new aspect of wind project financial analyses, he said, but it is increasingly being considered – to the point where new guidelines from GL Renewables Certification, published in January, include on-site and power export cables. To address this growing concern, Nexans said it has scaled up risk analysis at the tendering stage and the company is working to develop and implement risk mitigation before beginning production.

Another challenge is transport for larger and longer cables. The current Skagerrak, the third in its line and 130 km, was built in 1993; the Skagerrak 4, which is expected to be complete in 2014, will be 140 km.


Coils of cable at the base of the Nexans' 120-meter extrusion tower at the company's submarine high voltage direct-current (HVDC) cable factory in Halden, Norway. Credit: Nexans.

The market is growing in complexity, too, said Dirk Steinbrink, executive vice president for high voltage and underwater cables. The project scope of Nexans’ work has expanded to offer not just cables but turnkey interconnection solutions, he said.

On the Northwind project, which is expected to be completed before the end of 2013, Nexans is contracted to supply cables to connect the Belwind 2 offshore wind farm to Northwind, and Northwind to the shore. The project’s scope includes cable design, testing, supply, jointing termination work and on-site testing (called cable witnessing). The company said that it would use the largest cable ever manufactured at the project site, a 1-meter wide, 30-kg behemoth.

Offshore wind farm developers must also consider the social impact of the installation process. “The acceptance level from people living [near a site] is quite low,”   ??? >:( Steinbrink said. “They like green energy but don’t want to see us doing the work. So we do micro-tunneling, especially in places with tourism.”    ;D

Frédéric Michelland, senior executive vice president for high voltage and underwater cables, North and South America, does not expect the market for wind turbine cables to evolve dramatically over time. Today, he said, Nexans covers 80 percent of the European market, while “tomorrow that will move to North America and China – but we expect our market to remain largely European.” In Europe there are “still plenty of projects where most of the action will take place,” he said.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/12/subsea-cables-bring-offshore-wind-power-to-the-people
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AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #27 on: December 28, 2013, 05:22:44 pm »
How Wind Met All of Denmark’s Electricity Needs for 90 Hours

American Wind Energy Association | December 13, 2013 4:09 pm

By Bentham Paulos

Renewable electricity records are being broken every day. In early October, Germany hit a 59 percent renewable peak, Colorado utility Xcel Energy peaked at 60 percent wind at the beginning of the year and Spain got its top power supply from wind for three months leading into 2013.


But that’s chump change compared with Denmark. According to data from Energinet, the national grid operator, wind power has produced 30 percent of gross power consumption to date in 2013. This includes more than 90 hours where wind produced more than all of Denmark’s electricity needs, peaking at 122 percent on Oct. 28, at 2 a.m. 


And Denmark has plans to get to 50 percent more wind by 2020, creating even bigger hourly peaks. Energinet predicts the country may hit as many as 1,000 hours per year of power surplus.


To champions of renewables, this is validation that a clean energy future is possible and that the transition is already underway. These regions also give insight into what is to come in the U.S., and what needs to change to keep a reliable and affordable power system as clean energy grows.

Postcards from the future


As part of America’s Power Plan, we have developed a series of “postcards from the future,” describing places like Denmark that are already grappling with a high-renewables future.

Studies and real-world experience are underscoring that there are many tactics available to deal with the variability of wind and solar, and that these tactics are largely substitutes for each other.

While energy storage comes to mind first for many people, the truth is that the grid has functioned just fine with very little storage. Power system operators have to deal with variability all the time, with or without renewables. Demand fluctuates with the weather, time of day, social activities, and industrial operations. And supply varies unexpectedly too, such as when a power plant breaks down. The fluctuations of wind and solar, especially at moderate levels, are just one more variable—one that may or may not add to overall variability, depending on the system and timing.

Power system engineers use a whole suite of tools to match supply and demand, both minute-to-minute and over longer time frames. The most obvious example is a dispatchable power plant, like a gas turbine. But they also benefit from bigger balancing areas (trading power with neighbors), more transmission connections to reduce congestion, faster-acting fossil power plants, direct load control and demand response, targeted energy efficiency, and curtailment of wind and solar plants.

Hydro power and even fossil fuels are the traditional forms of energy storage, but many more are emerging, such as using power to heat district heating systems, compressed air, batteries and flywheels, and charging electric cars during the renewable peak.

It is increasingly common to treat wind power as a controllable generator, rather than just letting it go full out. System operators in New York, Texas and the Midwest direct wind farm owners to submit five-minute forecasts of output, and ramp up and down if necessary to meet system demands, just like conventional generators. The Midwest ISO enforces this with a “dispatchable intermittent tariff.”

Making it work: Easy Solutions First


So how can Denmark be 122 percent wind-powered? Where does the extra power go?

Denmark is part of an integrated regional grid with the Scandinavian countries and parts of Germany. They have a constant trade with utilities in the region, especially hydro plants in Norway.



As renewables grow and as Denmark attempts to phase out fossil fuels altogether by 2050, the country is aggressively adopting smart grid technologies, leading Europe in research and demonstration projects on a per-capita basis. The island of Bornholm will be a test bed, with extensive smart grid and renewable energy deployment. Demand response is beginning to grow, though in a different form than in the U.S. Denmark also has big goals for electric cars, and has exempted them from the 180 percent sales tax applied to gas and diesel vehicles.

But conventional solutions will be the first solution through better grid links between countries. As Germany’s Agora Energiewende has put it in its 12 Insights report, “Grids are cheaper than storage facilities.” More grid connections allow surplus power to be shipped off rather than curtailed or stored. Larger balancing areas reduce the variability of wind and solar across a wider geographic area. Agora thinks storage will only be necessary when renewables constitute 70 percent of total supply.

As in the U.S., European regulators are grappling with policies to integrate large amounts of renewables. While technical issues remain, they are not really new, only of a larger scale. Most of the integration tools are known; they just need to be bigger and more capable to deal with bigger variations.

Less known are the policy issues. How big should control areas be? How much should be invested in transmission lines, and who should pay for them? What is the relative value of energy payments, versus capacity payments or ancillary services? Most of all, how should we pay for the services we need to keep the lights on?

In America’s Power Plan, Mike Hogan of the Regulatory Assistance Project calls for aligning power markets with clean energy goals, giving proper incentives for market flexibility.

With 2020 just around the corner, it will be instructive to see how Denmark deals with getting half its electricity from the wind. What will the country do with a 200 percent wind day? ;) ;D

Bentham Paulos is the project manager for America’s Power Plan.

Author’s note: A number of system operators have put their real-time data online and in iPhone apps, so you can track hourly progress on renewables.

Energinet (Denmark): Real time map and historical data

National Grid’s NETA (England): Data sources

California ISO: Daily demand graph and iPhone app

ISO New England: Guest dashboard

Midwest ISO: Contour pricing map

Visit EcoWatch’s RENEWABLES page for more related news on this topic.


http://ecowatch.com/2013/12/13/wind-denmark-electricity-needs/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Wind Power
« Reply #28 on: January 09, 2014, 03:01:44 pm »
Wind Energy Helps Ward Off Power Outages

Michael Goggin, AWEA

January 08, 2014 | 6 Comments

Over the last 48 hours, wind energy played a critical role in keeping homeowners warm as grid operators across the Eastern and Central U.S. worked overtime to keep up with record-breaking winter demand.

Most importantly, wind energy provided massive quantities of extremely valuable electricity when grid operators needed it most to meet demand from electric heaters and furnace fans. In several cases, wind energy’s output provided the critical difference that allowed grid operators to keep supply and demand in balance and the lights on. Wind energy also helped by offsetting natural gas consumption at gas-fired power plants, keeping natural gas prices in check by making more natural gas available for building heat.

The last two days serve as a powerful reminder that wind energy plays a critical role in diversifying our energy mix, improving energy reliability and reducing energy costs for homes and businesses. Diversity inherently makes the power system more reliable by protecting against the unexpected failures that afflict all energy sources from time to time.

While wind energy output does change with the wind speed, such changes occur far more slowly than the unexpected outages that frequently occur at large conventional power plants. Moreover, changes in wind energy output are predictable using weather forecasting, while conventional power plant failures are not, making them far more difficult and costly for grid operators to accommodate.

Diversifying our energy mix with wind energy also protects consumers from energy price fluctuations. By providing consumers with more choice, wind energy reduces the price of both electricity and fossil fuels and hedges against price volatility, both during times of crisis and over the longer-term.

As the winter storm moved from west to east over the last two days, wind energy repeatedly proved its reliability and value:

As the cold and high winds first rolled into the Upper Midwest, the MISO grid operator saw very high wind energy output of around 8,000 MW, enough to supply 6 million average homes under typical conditions.

Then in Texas, the more than 2,000 MW of wind output on Monday morning was the critical difference keeping heaters running as the grid operator struggled with numerous outages at conventional power plants. More than 13,000 MW of conventional power plants were down for maintenance, while another 2,000 MW of conventional power plants experienced unplanned outages, forcing the grid operator to resort to emergency procedures. In a similar incident two years ago, wind energy earned accolades from the grid operator for helping to keep the lights on as dozens of conventional power plants failed in another cold snap.


More cold air reached the East Coast Monday evening. The grid operator for the Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes states, PJM, saw very high wind energy output when it needed it most. Wind output was above 3,000 MW when the grid operator faced extreme challenges due to the unexpected failure of numerous fossil-fired power plants as well as two large nuclear power plants in Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, very high electricity prices and natural gas prices across New England are being reduced by high wind output across the region’s wind plants.

Wind energy diversifies our energy mix, providing consumers with more reliable and lower cost electricity during both extreme weather and normal conditions.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/01/wind-energy-helps-ward-off-power-outages

Agelbert Comment on the comments:  ;D

January 9, 2014

Thank you Brian Ross and Jeff Green for providing truth and logical discourse to the comments.

When the tsunami hit the East coast of Japan, wind turbines directly in its path did not fail and continued to provide electricity vitally needed after the disaster. They were the unsung heroes of that tsunami. But not ONE SINGLE newspaper article was written in the USA about these marvels of renewable energy technology.

Also, anyone with absolutely any knowledge about how transmission lines are affected by high winds and loads from freezing rain and/or branches falling on them knows that wind, particularly in the winter, is a huge challenge to grid stability. Centralized power plants WEAKEN the grid by reducing redundancy along the transmission lines that DON'T fail. Multiple redundant power sources like wind turbines are providing a high amount of power exactly when the wind is highest and transmission lines are most subject to outage by wind damage.

Wind turbines are further proof that distributed renewable energy is the only viable future for energy on this planet has. But, of course, the defenders of centralized power utilities will continue to fight it with hyperbole, exaggerations and mendacity while they are silent as tombs about the massive subsidies all these dirty energy providers are sucking out of us in order to remain "competitive". LOL!

I live in Vermont and Green Mountain Power is extremely pleased with wind turbine performance during the recent high winds and freezing rain providing power to thousands of homes with space heaters, not furnaces, for heat.

Yes, New Englanders mostly heat with furnaces but those furnaces require electricity to maintain the combustion spark AND a yearly inspection running over $150 along with skyrocketing heating oil costs. People are pretty tired of that game.

I switched to electric heat and have saved thousands of dollars in heating costs in the last 8 years. For those that use wood pellet stoves, no outside electricity is needed but those still pollute the air MORE than wind turbine electricity heat. We do not need to keep destroying forests to heat our homes! If you can make the pellets from biofuels then go for it as long as you don't contribute to destroying old growth forests; that's just wrong because it hampers biosphere diversity and a livable biome for thousands of species.

Here's my latest blog right here at Renewable Energy World picturing a viable energy future:

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2014/01/a-g-gelbert-outrageously-positive-renewable-energy-growth-prediction

http://thehalloffame.wikidot.com/agelbert

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Interactive Global wind pattern real-time data :o on global wind conditions in the form of snaking neon lines.
http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic=-39.01,24.31,333



See wind patterns any place on the planet. Use your mouse to move the planet and zoom in or out. 
Quote

This mesmerizing Earth Wind Map showcases real-time data on global wind conditions in the form of snaking neon lines. Breezes are represented by thin strands of green lines, strong winds with long streaks of yellow, while the most violent currents are shown in red.

The Earth Wind Map gathers weather data from the Global Forecast System at the National Center for Environmental Prediction, a NOAA initiative. The script then translates the data into a user friendly interactive animation.

Interactive maps seem to be one of the best ways of bringing environmental data to the general public – in the past we’ve also featured Google’s high-res global deforestation map, and a map showing major U.S. fires in the last 11 years. This fascinating new tool goes above and beyond by providing specific data on the position, date and conditions of wind measurements. The map is not exactly real-time, but it comes pretty close: the data is updated every three hours and it can be set to show wind conditions on any day in recent history.

http://inhabitat.com/beautiful-animated-map-of-earth-shows-real-time-global-wind-patterns/



http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic=-39.01,24.31,333
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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