Wind turbine concept harvests energy roadside

www.earthtechling.com
24 February 2011

Sure, we know there's a lot of wind out there on the Kansas plains. But what about in our power hungry urban environments? A new system by Luis Castanheira Santos seeks to make use of the wind produced by moving vehicles, harvesting energy that would otherwise be wasted. The Voltaire vertical axis turbine concept (which comes to us via Tuvie) is a modular product that set up on the side of the road, acting as a kind of barrier. As cars, trucks and motorcycles whiz past, the turbines spin, creating electricity which can be used in turn to power lights.

The idea behind the concept is to keep the system simple, so these power generating barriers can be moved, combined and maintained with a minimum of effort and infrastructure. The designer also sees these structures providing juice for rest areas and gas stations, grid free, along major transportation routes. This is a concept that makes a lot of sense (provided the technology works) and fits nicely into a promising movement in green design focused on harvesting small amounts of energy in unexpected places, as in piezoelectrics.

World’s biggest producer of wind energy records $4 billion in profits in 2010

inhabitat.com
24 February 2011

The world's largest producer of wind power, Spain based Iberdrola SA, blew away analysts' expectations last year with a whopping $4 billion in profits analysts had expected their gain to clock in at $3.9 billion. To sweeten the deal even more, the company's power generation rose 8% to 154,073 GWs and they produced half of that electricity without emitting CO₂.

Iberdrola has 44,991 MWs of energy production worldwide they've got investments in many countries and of that production wind and solar account for 28%, hydropower for 22%, and nuclear plants for 7.4%. Their production of wind and solar rose to 12,532 GWs last year. The company generates about half their energy outside of Spain and looks to invest a huge chunk of change into renewable energy in the US and UK in the coming years.

We all know you can shout from the rooftops about the environmental benefits of renewable energy and there will still be a whole host of people that don't listen but this major profit from one of the biggest renewable energy producers in the world is great news for the clean cause because non believers all start paying attention when "cha chings" are heard. In a down economy Iberdrola has proven that green energy is on the up and up. With as much as $22 billion over the next two years in investments much of it in renewable energy generation we can all be expecting this initial Iberdrola profit gain to keep on keeping on.

IKEA Invests in Wind Power Project

www.renewableenergyworld.com
24 February 2011

Sweden's IKEA, famous for its easy to assemble furniture products, now plans to build its own dedicated wind power facility. Under its long term plan to heat, cool and power all its buildings using 100% renewable energy, the Swedish home furnishings giant will invest an undisclosed amount in the construction of its own wind farm to power 17 stores in Sweden. The nine turbine onshore wind farm will be built in Dalarna, in central Sweden, by Stockholm based wind developer O2 Vind. The facility is expected to go online in early 2012.

In Sweden, 98% of IKEA's buildings are already heated and powered using renewable energy. With its decision to build its own wind farm, the company sees further benefits. "We get a long term source of renewable energy for our business", said Peter Agnefjall, EO of IKEA Svenska Foersaeljings, adding that the company also hopes to generate revenue be selling additional capacity.

IKEA is no newcomer to the wind power business. In 2009, the company purchased three French wind farms from Volkswind and acquired six more a year later in Germany from Gamesa. Together, farms have a capacity of more than 90 MW. Altogether, it currently owns 52 wind turbines, generating enough energy to cover about 10 of the group's electricity needs, a spokeswoman said, declining to comment on investment costs. Other large companies, such as Wal-Mart and Google, are also investing in wind power and for reasons similar to IKEA's.

"While we are happy to be purchasing renewable energy as part of our environmental commitment, this is also a structure that makes long term financial sense for Google", Google said in an earlier statement. "Through the long term purchase of renewable energy at a predetermined price, we're partially protecting ourselves against future increases in power prices. This is a case where buying green makes business sense".

In addition to wind power, IKEA has been installing solar panels in stores around the world, including, Belgium, Germany and the United States.

Fear-mongering on wind

Age
25 February 2011 Page: 16

MICHAEL Madden (Letters, 24/2), Spain and Portugal have not lost 2½ jobs for every new job in renewable energy. This is a theoretical figure from a discredited study from a US right wing thinktank. The Spanish themselves said the study used incorrect data and egregiously flawed assumptions. Spain and Portugal are unable to import more than about 10% of their electricity, from French nuclear plants or otherwise, due to limited capacity on the Pyrenees interconnectors. They meet energy demand overwhelmingly from their own resources, increasingly from renewables.

Wind and solar provided 19% of all Spain's electricity needs in 2010, and on occasion supply nearly two thirds of the instantaneous demand. Yet Spain's electricity prices are consistently below the EU average. I visited Portugal and Spain last year and wasn't struck by "visual pollution": instead there is widespread acceptance of wind power, perhaps due to the absence of an anti renewables lobby suggesting to people they ought to fear wind turbines.

Tony Morton, Coburg

NZ geothermal contract awarded

www.khl.com
24 February 2011

New Zealand power company Contact Energy has awarded the contract for the construction of two geothermal power units to a joint venture between contractors SNC Lavalin, McConnell Dowell and Parsons Brinkerhoff. Located northwest of Taupo on the north island of New Zealand, the US$ 623 million Te Mihi geothermal project will source power from the nearby Wairakei steam field.

The 166 MW project is scheduled for completion in 2013 and the new power station is planned to gradually replace the existing, 52 year old Wairakei Power Station which will be phased out of production. "Geothermal power is playing an increasingly important role in the industry and we are pleased to be expanding our experience in the worldwide renewable energy market", said Patrick Lamarre, executive vice president of SNC Lavalin Group.

Solar energy powers water treatment plant

www.earthtechling.com
23 February 2011

Philadelphia is aiming to purchase or generate 20% of its electricity from alternative sources by 2015 under Mayor Michael Nutter's "Greenworks Philadelphia" agenda, and a new solar power system at a water treatment plant brings the city a tiny bit closer to the mark.

Contractors began work on the photovoltaic system at the Philadelphia Water Department's Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant in December, and it began generating power at the end of January, according to contractor CETCO. With a generating capacity of 250 kWs, this ground mounted system is hardly a monster; it covers about an acre of unused land and its power output is equivalent to what 28 average homes would need. Compare this to what the hometown Philadelphia Eagles are planning for Lincoln Financial Field: a 7.6 MW onsite dual fuel cogeneration plant.

Still, the solar system will help run the water treatment plant, which could reduce power costs borne by ratepayers, and backers hope it will spur more solar projects. "The City looks forward to learning from this project and replicating it", said Kristin Sullivan, program director of the Philadelphia Solar City Partnership.

Rarely do such projects come about through a simple outlay by a municipality, and this one is no exception: Philadelphia was assisted by a $850,000 from the City's Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE).

Plymouth's Pilgrim nuclear plant prepares to restart after leak

www.patriotledger.com
23 February 2011

The Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth was expected to be back in business Wednesday afternoon following a three day shutdown to repair a leak in a cooling system. Operators started a controlled shutdown of the 685 MW plant early Sunday and notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Plant spokesman David Tarantino said this morning that workers were putting the plant back on line. The plant was shut down after monitors detected a leak in a tube that carries salt water and is used in a cooling system. The plant is next to the ocean and uses sea water to cool the steaming hot fresh water that turns the plant's electricity generating turbines.

Duxbury anti nuclear activist Mary Lampert wasn't worried about the repair. Lampert said David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer and Union of Concerned Scientists specialist, said the leak was "no big deal". The state's only nuclear plant was operating at 100% capacity when the shutdown occurred. It had been on line for 634 consecutive days "a record for us", Tarantino said when the shutdown was ordered Sunday.

Entergy Corp., which operates the facility, said in a report that "this event had no impact on the health and/or safety of the public". The report said that a section of a reactor building was "declared inoperable" Feb. 18 and could not be repaired within 72 hours, prompting the shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

Last week, The Patriot Ledger reported that the level of groundwater contamination from a radioactive isotope in a well at the plant had plunged in recent weeks, but the plant's operators didn't seem to be much closer to determining the source of the problem. Despite the sharp decline, representatives for the Plymouth plant and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it's far too early to know if the groundwater concern has gone away.

Last summer, tritium levels in a monitoring well at the Plymouth plant exceeded 25,000 picocuries per liter, adding to concerns about a potential leak at the plant.

The tritium levels in the monitoring well exceeded the federal maximum for drinking water of 20,000 picocuries per liter only on one other occasion, in September. The tritium levels in that well have fluctuated wildly, however, since that time and have generally been significantly above levels that could be caused by typical atmospheric conditions.

In recent weeks, the levels have fallen, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The tritium levels in the well fell from 7,000 picocuries per liter in mid January to roughly 1,000 picocuries per liter by the end of the month. The levels in the second half of January were the lowest recorded since the well was first used last spring. Also last week, a major manufacturer in the nuclear industry reported a potential "substantial safety hazard" with control rods at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant and more than two dozen other reactors around the country.

The NRC reported at that time that GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy had discovered extensive cracking and "material distortion", and likely would recommend that the boiling water reactors using its Marathon control rod blades replace them more frequently than they had been told to previously.

Spain scraps phase-out of nuclear power

www.powergenworldwide.com
23 February 2011

Spain has reversed a policy of phasing out the nation's 7.5 GW of nuclear powered electricity, 18% of total output, and has renewed the operating licenses for three of the nation's eight nuclear reactors. According to nuclear industry blog Idaho Samizdat, Spain's Congress has ratified new legislation that means the reactors can operate for longer than 40 years.

The moves are a complete turnaround from a prior government policy of phasing out the nation's nuclear plants. Most public opinion about nuclear power is negative and neither political party has supported reactor life extension until now, according to the blog.

Spain's power grid is almost completely isolated from the rest of Europe which makes energy security a leading factor in the government's decision to keep the reactors running past the artificial 40 year deadline. Blogger Dan Yurman said the financial collapse of its solar power subsidy programme may also have played a role in the change of heart.

E.ON wins right to develop wind energy on FCS land in Scotland

wind.energy-business-review.com
23 February 2011

E.ON has secured exclusive right to explore the land owned by Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) for new wind power projects. The German utility has been awarded two lots of FCS land located in the north and west of Scotland. E.ON said that the two lots have the potential to produce enough electricity to power over 270,000 homes annually.

E.ON managing director of European renewable business Michael Lewis said that wind is an important part of the future energy mix in the UK and as schemes get larger and larger, so too does the contribution they make towards renewable energy targets, which is why they are so vital. The utility already operates 18 onshore wind farms with a total capacity of 175 MW across the UK, and has over 1500 MW capacity within the planning and development phases.

Livermore Labs roll out hydrogen-powered vans

livermore.patch.com
22 February 2011

What do two Ford shuttle buses, a 2006 Toyota Prius and a mobile electric light stand have in common? They are examples of hydrogen powered technologies developed by the US Department of Energy and showcased in Livermore on Tuesday by Lawrence Livermore and Sandia California national laboratories.

Officials from the two labs were joined by DOE representatives in a parking lot next to the Bankhead Theater to introduce residents to two hydrogen gas powered Ford E 450 passenger vans. They arrived this month as part of a demonstration project at Sandia and LLNL. The 9 passenger vehicles will ferry passengers from building to building on the two sprawling campuses.

The demonstration will test how well the hydrogen powered vans and their fueling stations stand up to normal wear and tear. They will replace conventional diesel fuel burning taxis, resulting in roughly a 50% reduction in emissions of CO₂, a gas closely linked with global warming, Leonard Klebanoff, Ph.D., a principal member of the Sandia California lab said in an interview.

The arrival of the shuttles provided an opportunity for LLNL and Sandia lab officials to educate the public about the safety and environmental advantages of hydrogen as a fuel, he noted. Public outreach will involve Las Positas College and area high schools and elementary schools. "This is a celebration of our hydrogen technology programs", Klebanoff said.

The alternative fuel technologies powering the vans did not originate at LLNL and Sandia, however. Ford Motor Company in Detroit modified its internal combustion engine and added a special hydrogen tank pressurized to 5,000 pounds per square inch (ppsi) for gas storage at room temperature. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., is providing hydrogen gas fuel. It also built and installed hydrogen fueling stations at the LLNL and Sandia campuses.

The vans have a range of 150 miles between refuelings. The only byproduct of hydrogen as a fuel is water vapor, making it an attractive alternative to CO₂ producing gasoline, according to Robert Glass, Ph.D., hydrogen program leader at LLNL.

The shuttles also served as technical baselines for innovations that officials at the two labs plan to implement soon. That's where the Toyota Prius factors in, noted Timothy Ross, a senior technician with the hydrogen storage program at LLNL. The experimental hydrogen powered car has a potential range of 650 miles, thanks to a compact hydrogen tank developed at LLNL. It generates extra mileage by pressurizing the gas to 5000 psi but also cools it to minus 423° Fahrenheit.

The storage unit underwent rigorous safety testing to earn Department of Transportation approval, Ross said. The tank survived high impact car crashes, bonfires and even gun fire from an armor piercing bullet, he said. The energy storage and conversion group in the energy and environment directorate at LLNL developed the tank. Costs were covered by the DOE hydrogen program and a hydrogen fuel initiative started by the George W. Bush administration, Ross said.

The mobile light stand demonstrated Sandia lab's ongoing work on fuel-cell energy technologies. From a practical standpoint, the fuel-cell approach substitutes for diesel generated electricity for mobile lights that illuminate highway construction, airport operations and movie production, said Mike James, Sandia's communications officer. But this clean energy source also has powered mobile external lighting over the red carpets outside recent Academy and Golden Globe awards, he said.

During formal comments Tuesday, Robert Carling, director of the Transportation Energy Center at Sandia, contrasted the performance of diesel generators that he characterized as "noisy and smelly" with odorless fuel-cell electrical generation "that you can barely hear".

Fuel-cell technology has been used to power experimental lift trucks and cell phone telecommunications towers. Its development is financed by $42 million in federal economic stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and matching funds from Federal Express and other companies that adopt the technology, said John Garbak, technology development manager with the DOE's fuel-cell technologies program.

AGL puts brake on renewables

Adelaide Advertiser
24 February 2011, Page: 52

AGL Energy is likely to delay billions of dollars worth of renewable energy projects until there is greater certainty around carbon pricing and better prices for renewable energy credits. The company yesterday posted a 30.4% rise in first half statutory net profit and said it expected a similar performance from its retail and wholesale electricity businesses in the second half. The electricity and gas retailer said lead sales for January and February were up about 25%, after the company added 42,000 electricity customers in the first half of 2010 11.

Its net profit was $239.6 million for the six months to December 31, 2010, up from $183.7 million in the first half of 2009. Underlying profit, which excludes significant items, fell 3.7% to $226.2 million after worse than expected earnings from the Loy Yang coal fired power station in Victoria because of mild temperatures. AGL Energy maintained guidance of underlying profit for the full year of between $415 million and $440 million. "We are expecting in the second half a very strong performance from the retail business and certainly a higher result than they achieved in the second half last year", chief executive Michael Fraser said.

Earnings for the retail division grew by 5.6% in the first half, reflecting an increase in the gas and electricity gross margin. Mr Fraser said AGL Energy would increase its marketing spend to attract another 400,000 to 500,000 customers in NSW, after it missed out on any assets in the NSW electricity privatisation last December. AGL Energy, which is developing the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere in Victoria, said it would hold off approval of further renewable energy projects until a carbon price was introduced. AGL Energy declared an interim dividend of 29¢ a share, unfranked.