Alternative Energy Wind

  

Alternative energy wind sources have actually been in use for quite some time, in fact, we have been using wind power for over 900 years!  As we continue to drive for more and more alternative energy sources, we will see incredible development in wind power helping to drive our economy and create jobs.

There is a general push in recent years to research and develop alternative energy sources. Two of the main options are solar and wind power. Both are effective as renewable energy sources. This article focuses on wind power and gives 10 quick facts about wind-generated electricity.

1. The utilization of wind power has been around for over 900 years. Ruins of vertical wind tower bases were found in France that dated back to 1150.

2. Large wind turbines can generate enough electricity to supply around 600 homes. These types of windmills are usually placed in areas of high wind activity usually tens but sometimes hundreds at a time.

3. A small windmill can generate enough electricity to supply a single home or small business. The amount of power generated depends on wind activity and the length of the blades, but at the very least a windmill can help to reduce power costs.

4. Vertical windmills generate 50% more electricity than horizontal windmills. This is because vertical wind turbines are able to catch wind in any direction, not just in the one that the windmill is pointed at.

5. A complaint about windmills is that the blades kill birds and other flying animals, but more animals die from running into cars, power lines, and high-rise buildings than from getting caught in a wind turbine.

6. From 2000 to 2006, the number windmills has quadrupled across the world. Globally, countries had the capacity to generate more than 70,000 megawatts last year. To put this into perspective, a single megawatt is enough to power approximately 250 homes.

7. Germany is the most wind-powered country. Following Germany, is Spain, the US, India, and Denmark.

8. California generates the most wind power in the United States. America as a hole generates around 17 billion kilowatts of electricity every year.

9. Generating enough wind power for your home can make you money. A typical residential home uses around 10,000 kilowatts every year. If your windmill generates excess electricity, the power company will buy that electricity from you. This only works if your windmill is tied to your main power line.

10. Wind power is actually a type of solar power. Wind is generated as the atmosphere of the earth is heated and cooled. As these hot and cold regions meet, it causes air to move.

Wind power is mainstay in terms of renewable energy alternatives. As more research is done and it becomes cheaper to install a windmill, it will become imperative for residences and businesses to implement this technology to become more environmentally friendly, but also economically more sound.

Author: Dean L.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dean_L.

There are many ways to support alternative energy wind sources and other alternative energy sources from the very comfort of your home!  We can all make a difference in the future of our earth and our ability to preserve our natural wonders!

Is it possible to help and preserve the natural world, without setting a toe outside your door? Perhaps you have some time, Internet access, and a burning desire to make a difference in the world, but your “spare” time is late at night, or you just can’t factor travel into the equation. Many organizations are [...]
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Alternative energy wind sources are on the rise around the world, and GE will be taking over a wind project in Canada.   With a tough global economy, it is important and inspiring to see that alternative energy businesesses are finding ways to continue to develop wind power and other alternative power sources.

GE, through its energy financial services arm, struck a tentative deal to take over a partly completed, 145-megawatt wind project in northeastern British Columbia. The deal is with upstart EarthFirst Inc., which is under court protection from creditors.

If conditions such as renegotiating several existing contracts are met, GE will be joined in the project by Plutonic Power Corp. (PCC-T) a small Vancouver run-of-river hydro power developer. Plutonic and GE are working together on several run-of-river projects north of Vancouver. (A run-of-river system does not require a large reservoir to provide power.)

About $100-million has been sunk into the EarthFirst wind project. An earlier EarthFirst budget suggested it will cost another $250-million to complete.

GE has been looking at the EarthFirst project since late last year, after Calgary-based EarthFirst filed for creditor protection.

“We are seeking ourselves to grow in Canada, in the renewable energy category especially,” said Andy Katell, a spokesman for GE Energy Financial Services.

GE and Plutonic would be 50-50 equity partners, while mostly funding the completion of the project with debt financing. There is a second phase of the project that has been submitted as a bid for a new call for green power from BC Hydro, in which GE-Plutonic have put in a massive bid for a $4-billion run-of-river project.

“Plutonic is very much a growth-orientated company,” Donald McInnes, chief executive officer of the firm, told investors and analysts yesterday.

“We’re always looking for other opportunities.”

Plutonic shares jumped 19 per cent yesterday.

Investors were excited because the wind deal shows Plutonic’s connection with GE is “very strong” and diversifies Plutonic’s potential revenues, according to analyst Tania Maciver of Haywood Securities in Toronto.

B.C. is the only province in Canada without any installed wind power. The country has about 2,600 megawatts of wind capacity, enough to power 750,000 homes, about 1 per cent of Canada’s electricity demand.

The first B.C. wind power project, backed by AltaGas Income Trust, is expected to be ready later this year.

GE also has a partnership with another Vancouver upstart, Finavera Renewables Inc., which has four projects totalling 295 megawatts proposed to BC Hydro.

Results of BC Hydro’s call for green power are expected in the next month or two.

The GE move comes several months after Eddie O’Connor, an Irishman who is one of the world’s successful wind entrepreneurs, joined forces with privately owned Alberta Wind Energy Corp. on an $850-million project in Alberta’s southwest.

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Alternative energy wind sources are being developed the world over.  It is interesting to hear of this project in Argentina, and hope that this is just a beginning for other South American countries to develop wind sources, and develop jobs and investment  opportunities.

The wind power plant will produce between 600 and 900 megawatts. The plant will be twice the size of the largest plant operating in Europe, according to the state news agency Telam reported, which cited Guascor President Joseba Grajales.

Grajales said the project will take around three years to complete and will boost the percentage of power generated by windmills to 5% of Argentina’s energy matrix.

The Planning Ministry official said the wind park will be producing 300MW by the end of 2010 and the rest will be operational by the end of 2011.

“Private Spanish funds will be responsible for 100% of the investment,” the Ministry official said.

The power will be sold to local industry, Grajales said, adding that funding will come from local and international investors, including 30% from Guascor itself.

The project would entail a sudden and remarkable turnaround in the fortunes not just of the wind power industry in Argentina, but of the wider power sector, which has been beset by unfriendly pricing structures, excessive bureaucracy and a lack of access to credit.

Argentina has about 29MW of wind power capacity, equivalent to about 1% of the grid. Guascor could not be reached for comment.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was expected to sign the authorization documents to purchase the land for the wind farm later Monday, according to Telam.

The plant will be built in the wind-swept Santa Cruz province, where the political career of the president and her husband, Nestor Kirchner, began.

Initial permits are being sought and construction could begin in 12 months time, Grajales said.

President Fernandez on Monday also authorized construction of a 500 kilowatt power line, without which, said Grajales, the wind farm couldn’t be built.

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To explore floating, offshore wind power stations and continue to develop alternative energy wind power sources sounds exciting and a possibility for an area like Southern California where land can be at a serious premium, or even in short supply in many areas due to sprawl. 

Alexandra Beck Gjorv of the Norwegian-based energy concern Statoil told reporters this weekend that the new floating wind power station, known as the Hywind, “should help move offshore wind farms out of sight”.

If it proves successful, explained Gjorv, it could spur an industry-wide shift to relocate wind farms to locations several miles offshore where they would no longer cause disruptions on land.

Moving windfarms with thousands of giant turbines from their current locations on land into the northern Atlantic could potentially benefit military radar operations, the shipping industry, fisheries, bird life and tourism, Gjorv explained.

But there are also benefits for the energy industry itself.

“Taking wind turbines to sea presents new opportunities,” said Ms Gjorv.  “The wind is stronger and more consistent [and] areas are large.”

Statoil says that the floating turbines will be connected to mainland power grids by cables stretched across the ocean floor.  The use of long, high-voltage cables places practical limits on just how far offshore the company can place its turbines. Because the durable, high-capacity cables are so expensive, the distance from land is not unlimited, explained Ms Gjorv.

The Hywind turbine was designed and built by German engineering conglomerate Siemens AG, combining the newest wind power technologies with those from the oil and gas industry. The 2.3 megawatt floating power generator is set for a two year trial run off the coast of Norway before Statoil will make a decision on large-scale commercial viability
of the devices.

In addition to the 65-meter-tall above ground portion of the turbine, the Hywind is also equipped with a flotation element that stretches 100 meters beneath the surface of the sea.  The submerged segment, known as a draft, will be anchored to the sea bed by three cables that can be up to 700 meters in length. Thus, the turbine can potentially be moored in waters nearly a kilometer deep.

Particularly in their early phases, offshore wind farms will cost significantly more than the more common terrestrial-based ones. In the long-run, however, Ms Gjorv maintains that there is no reason why the floating wind farms should cost more than static ones.

She added that Statoil intends to initially push their product in markets where there is both
the ability to pay as well as a rapidly growing demand for energy.

Gjorv
insists that the floating turbines could eventually be installed off both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America as well as off the coasts of Spain, Portugal, Norway and the United Kingdom.

Floating wind farms could prove a practical and beneficial energy source for countries with little available land or who have very little wind, Ms Gjorv added.

“The global market for such turbines is potentially enormous, depending on how low we can press costs,” she said, though she was unable to offer specifics on when or at what cost
the turbines would be commercially available.
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