Wind News

[dpeilow]

Ultra Efficient Bladeless Wind Turbine Inspired by Nikolai Tesla | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

 

[dpeilow]

GE’s Gigantic Offshore Wind Turbine is 25% More Efficient

 

[dpeilow]

Huge growth at largest wind farm

A massive expansion is to take place at Europe's largest onshore wind farm, which is situated in East Renfrewshire.

ScottishPower Renewables is to add another 75 turbines to Whitelee wind farm on Eaglesham Moor by 2012.

The expansion will see its generating capacity increase from 322MW to 539MW - enough to power about 300,000 homes.

 

[AndrewBissell]

... And my car!

 

[vfx]

Largest
http://inhabitat.com/2010/07/26/1-2-billion-secured-for-what-will-be-the-largest-us-wind-farm/

 

[dpeilow]

Largest
http://inhabitat.com/2010/07/26/1-2-billion-secured-for-what-will-be-the-largest-us-wind-farm/

New largest: UK opens world's largest wind farm

 

[vfx]

New largest: UK opens world's largest wind farm

Like for skyscrapers, at some point there will have to be someone identifying what constitutes "largest".

Tallest
Blade size
Most Turbines
Gross weight
Estimated Annual KWH (my choice---Problem is, it's fudge-able)

 

[edo]

Like for skyscrapers, at some point there will have to be someone identifying what constitutes "largest".

Tallest
Blade size
Most Turbines
Gross weight
Estimated Annual KWH (my choice---Problem is, it's fudge-able)

one more - Rated Annual kWH.... not fudgeable.

 

[vfx]

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/10/offshore-wind-us-electricity/1

U.S. offshore winds, abundant off the coasts of 26 states, have the potential to generate four times as much power as the nation's present electric capacity, a new Department of Energy report says.

 

[vfx]

Color your turbine purple.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9067000/9067721.stm

 

[vfx]

http://www.gearfuse.com/windstalk-concept-could-replace-turbine-powered-energy/

 

[vfx]

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2025886,00.html

When credit markets froze in 2008, the U.S. wind industry froze as well. Since the first Bush Administration, Congress had extended bipartisan tax credits to promote renewable energy projects, but after the financial meltdown those credits became virtually unusable; when no one has profits, no one needs tax credits. Wind projects were stalling, and turbines the size of 747's were lying in fields; the industry was bracing for a 50% decline in new capacity in 2009. So the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided nearly $2 billion in direct grants to wind projects, in effect "monetizing" the tax credits.
...The results were immediate and impressive. The industry came back from the dead to add a record 10,000 megawatts in 2009, almost a 20% increase.

 

[vfx]

Floating wind turbine

http://cleantechnica.com/2010/10/20/new-floating-wind-turbines-wind-energy-cheaper-more-reliable/

 

[dpeilow]

Wind farms could be forced out by oil rigs

Plans to build massive wind farms off the coast of Britain are in doubt due to an obscure piece of legislation that means oil companies can force turbines to be moved if fossil fuels are discovered in the area.

 

[Tdave]

Wind farms could be forced out by oil rigs

New legislation needed: Allowing oil rigs to be forced out if wind is discovered in the area.

 

[TEG]

http://www.ecogeek.org/wind-power/3337-south-korea-building-25-gw-offshore-wind-farm

 

[PopSmith]

New legislation needed: Allowing oil rigs to be forced out if wind is discovered in the area.

As nice as that would be the oil companies would lobby against it with enough force that it would practically be dead before it got started.

It does seem a little backwards that the harvesting of a non-polluting, renewable source of energy can be stopped by a corporation built on a polluting, non-renewable source of energy.

 

[doug]

Bad for bats, apparently.

Saw this on the PBS News Hour yesterday. There's video and a transcript.
As Wind Power Expands, So Do Threats to Bat Population

ED JAHN: It turns out that bats are dying by the thousands at wind farms like these.At one wind farm on the East Coast, an estimated 2,000 bats were killed in just six weeks.Infrared video shot by Boston University showed the bats, looking here like small dots, getting knocked out of the sky time and again.
Oregon Fish & Wildlife's Mark Hersh couldn't understand why it was happening.
MARK HERSH, Oregon Fish & Wildlife:We were just absolutely flabbergasted that something as agile as a bat, with the excellent echo location capabilities that they have, would ever come in contact with a turbine blade.It would be just like a person walking into a wall in a fully lighted room.
ED JAHN: The deaths are a blow to wind energy's green reputation....


ED JAHN: No one we talked to said they want to bring an end to wind power.
...
ED JAHN: Wind turbines provide power, emit no pollution and the energy source -- wind -- is both clean and unlimited.But the bat issue does make our energy choices more complicated.

 

[SByer]

Fortunately, bats don't go offshore. Plus, now that we know there's a problem, it can be studied and fixed, much like bird strikes used to be an issue with the earliest farms, but aren't anymore.

 

[vfx]

Fortunately, bats don't go offshore. Plus, now that we know there's a problem, it can be studied and fixed, much like bird strikes used to be an issue with the earliest farms, but aren't anymore.

http://www.batmanagement.com/Ordering/windfarm/wind.html











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