Latest Updates: wind energy RSS

  • Double Pack – Wind Energy Plus Solar Power
    Srikant Rajan 04:14:23 am on October 7, 2008 | 1 | # |
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    Italian based Moncada Energy Group is planning a model of energy generation that would combine bot solar and wind power .Moncada plans to erect solar panels in its wind farm fields and hopes to draw power when the sun shines during the day and in the night when the wind intensity is higher as compared to day time.Salvatore Moncada , executive says “   The panels will be used for our solar farm and placed under the towers in our wind farms. This will allow both the panels and the wind turbines—55 meters tall, with 40-meter long blades—to use the same infrastructure in place to collect energy   ”

    This double harvest technique would add 400 MW to 105 MW of energy from wind farms , but the power output would vary as sometimes solar panels could be hampered by presence of turbine shadows.

     

  • Senate Extends Alternative Energy Tax Credits
    Srikant Rajan 02:03:49 pm on September 27, 2008 | 0 | # |
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    US senate has approved $17 billion in renewable energy tax credits for wind and solar companies.This legislation extends investment tax credits till year 2016 for the solar power industry.Notably the bill also gave utilities, the advantage of solar investment tax credits for the first time.Wind however received just an year long extension of tax credits.

    This legislation is welcome as it would ensure some breathing space for the solar industry.Recently there were a lot of apprehensions regarding the extension of credits which actually lead some small solar companies to lay of workers.Additionally the tax credit could also help US solar industry to gain a competitive edge in the global solar market.

     

  • Pump the Wind Under The Ground
    Srikant Rajan 06:14:39 am on September 14, 2008 | 1 | # |
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    You had solar energy without the sun , how about wind energy when there is no wind ? A new Jersey company is trying to find a method for trapping wind based power in underground reservoirs.This process involves using excess power from the grid at times of low demand , such as in the night and using it to pump air into underground caverns.During periods of higher demand , this air is released and heated to run air expansion turbines.Michael Nakhamkin , pioneer of storage techniques says “   This technology significantly reduces fuel oil and natural gas consumption   “. Nakhamkin adds , that this methods uses of fossil fuels results in low emissions compared to traditional turbine systems.

    Now here is yet another add on to power grid after plug in hybrids.I am inclined to say that this process merely delays the carbon emissions , its impact on the reduction front is very low.

     

  • Bacteria to Battery May be Possible
    Srikant Rajan 11:44:42 am on September 6, 2008 | 0 | # |
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    Algae,fungus – no I am not talking about the possible contents of your dustbin.If science has its say these may actually be energy sources of the coming years.The latest entrant to this list is the billion year old cyanobacteria, which was the first organism to use water as a source of electrons to transport energy from sunlight while converting carbon dioxide into oxygen.New research in the domain biotechnology now presents the opportunity of tweaking the photosynthetic reactions of cyanobacteria to produce fuels  such as hydrogen, alcohols and even hydrocarbons, rather than carbohydrates

    The present research is focused on two aspects namely genetic engineering of real plants and cyanobacteria to customize the product yield.The other aspect is to mimic natural processes  in artificial photosynthetic systems built with human-made components.The European Science Foundation (ESF), vice chairman Eva Mari Aro further adds that wind and tidal power would provide alternative power but says that their capacity is limited and localized.This potential challenge may in effect be addressed by genetic reengineering of bacteria.

     

  • Pickens Planning Largest Wind Farm
    Srikant Rajan 06:14:44 am on August 26, 2008 | 1 | # |
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    Wind energy suddenly seems to have found a lot of takers.Following the recent plans of New York mayor Bloomberg to have windmills literally everywhere within the city,billionaire T Boone Pickens , is planning the biggest wind farm ever constructed.The proposed wind farm is being planned over 200,000 acres of land and  an estimated cost of $10.4 billion , including transmissions costs.The wind farm power production is anticipated to be 1,000 megawatts (MW)  by the end of 2011 and 4,000 MW by 2014. One megawatt can power about 300 average homes, but turbines do not produce 100 percent of their capacity because the wind varies in speed and blows intermittently

    Dismissing the noise generated by turbine operation as a potential disadvantage,Pickens said “ If you’re getting royalties from them, it might be a pleasant sound “ .Considering the recent development of active noise damping systems for limiting turbine operation noise the sound, it seems that it might even make the sound musical ! 

     

  • NASA Ocean Wind Power Maps Reveal Energy Sources
    Tate 05:25:23 pm on July 10, 2008 | 0 | # |
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    Science Daily has a good article about tapping into a decade of NASA data to pinpoint where in the ocean the best sources of ocean wind energy lie which could be used for wind farm placement.  According to Liu, new technology has made floating wind farms in the open ocean possible.  A number of wind farms are already in operation worldwide. Ocean wind farms have less environmental impact than onshore wind farms, whose noise tends to disturb sensitive wildlife in their immediate area.  Also, winds are generally stronger over the ocean than on land because there is less friction over water to slow the winds down – there are no hills or mountains to block the wind’s path.

    ocean wind power map

     

  • Wind Energy Leading Green Gold Rush
    Tate 03:44:26 am on July 2, 2008 | 0 | # |
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    According to Forbes, a UN report just revealed  that 148 billion was invested in clean energy in 2007 – a 60% rise over 2006 although investments have been tightening a bit in the first half of 2008 as economies begin to falter a bit.  Wind Energy was the most popular green energy investment of 2007 attracting nearly 50 billion (more than a 1/3 of 2007 investments) because it’s one of the cheapest forms of renewable energy available.  Said head of the UN Environment Program “What is unfolding is nothing less than a fundamental transformation of the world’s energy infrastructure.”

     

  • Royal Dutch Shell To Focus on Biofuel
    Srikant Rajan 04:54:53 am on May 31, 2008 | 0 | # |
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    Royal Dutch Shell,recently outlined its strategy to address the global increase in demand for energy.Jeroen Van Der Veer,Chief Executive, Royal Dutch Shell highlighted that hydrocarbons ,alone would be unable to cater to global energy demand.He also anticipated unconventional and renewable energy sources to play a role in Shells energy portfolio in the coming years.Specifically he said that Shell would focus on second generation biofuels ,in addition to wind and solar technology.Linda Cook ,Executive Renewable Energy, Shell, further added that Shell had a unique advantage in pursuing biofuel technology.She highlights that Shell would able to effective leverage its established logistics infrastructure of liquid fuels ,for biofuels as well.

    Vand Der Veer , expects hydrocarbon based fuels to play a dominant role (80%) in the total energy consumption at least till 2025.It hence seems logical that  Shell would rather focus on enhancing technology for hydrocarbon based fuel extraction and processing in the coming years,rather than developing any new alternate energy source.