How offshore wind turbines could be more efficient

phys.org
17 Aug 2012

As wind farms are increasingly sited offshore rather than on land, and installed at water depths of up to 40 metres, a Cambridge University engineer is urging the wind power industry to look again at the design of the heavy supporting towers and foundations used out at sea in order to improve the energy payback achieved.

Jim Platts of the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) believes that the wind power sector could achieve significantly higher payback ratios if turbine manufacturers used guyed towers (towers held in place by steel cables) made in composite materials rather than free-standing towers made in conventional steel materials.

A preliminary study undertaken at IfM suggests that payback ratios for offshore wind farms could be doubled if the industry embraced new construction methods.

"The development of the wind turbine industry, and the way in which it works with the civil engineers who make the heavy supporting towers and foundations, which are not visible out at sea once the turbines are installed, mean that we have ignored something which is almost embarrassingly obvious in our race to meet the targets set for renewable energy production", said Platts.

"We urgently need to reduce the high levels of energy embedded in offshore wind turbines which make them both ineffective in energy payback and costly in financial terms. We can do this fairly easily if we invest in more innovative methods for making and installing the towers and foundations that support them".

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Renewable energy sparks new interest from investors

au.news.yahoo.com
20 Aug 2012

Australia is tipped to figure prominently in takeover activity across the power utility sector over the next couple of years as investors eye renewable energy assets and the NSW privatisation. PricewaterhouseCooper's half-yearly analysis of the Asia Pacific power sector out today says the new carbon tax and the plan to source 20% of Australia's electricity from renewable sources by 2020 is fuelling interest in renewable energy assets.

There is also a growing focus on the proposed privatisation of NSW's remaining power stations. PwC says interest is both from Australian energy retailers and "a number of Asian players looking at the opportunity to acquire substantial generation capacity".

Chinese companies could figure prominently as they are increasingly looking for growth offshore to make up for domestic tariff restrictions which limit their ability to pass on costs. Both Chinese and Japanese groups have been active in Australia over the past few years, including China Shenhua's purchase of windfarms in Tasmania last year.

The value of M&A deals in the Asia Pacific sector more than tripled in the June half to $US23.6 billion ($22.6 billion) from $US7.5 billion for the same time last year. But $US12.5 billion of the latest figure was attributable to the partial nationalisation of the scandal-plagued Tokyo Electrical Power Company in the wake of last year's earthquake and tsunami. Significantly, deal-making in renewable energy held firm during the June half at $US680 million, while the rest of the world more than halved.

As smart electric grid evolves, engineers show how to include solar technologies

phys.org
17 Aug 2012

Reza Arghandeh of Blacksburg, Va., a doctoral candidate in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech, won the best student paper award at the 20th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, held in conjunction with the American Society of Mechanical Engineering Power 2012 Conference at Anaheim, Calif.. His advisor is Robert Broadwater, professor of electrical and computer engineering, who specializes in electric power system analysis and design.

In their paper, they acknowledge that solar power resources are "intermittent, seasonal, and non-dispatchable". However, the current national climate with its deregulation policies, electricity tariffs, control strategies and demand management are "significant tools for flexible and resilient operation of power systems with photovoltaic adoption levels", Arghandeh argued.

"Selling the household generated electricity into the electric energy market and the storage of electricity in storage systems and demand control systems provide a variety of economic opportunities for customers and utility companies to use more renewable resources", he added.

Some residential houses are already doing just this-selling power back to an electrical distribution industry. But Arghandeh and Broadwater's work provides an optimization algorithm for a Distributed Energy Storage (DES) system on a broad scale. The system they developed presents a fleet of batteries connected to distribution transformers. The storage system can then be used for withholding distributed photovoltaic power before it is bid to market, Arghandeh explained.

"Withholding distributed photovoltaic power, probably gained from rooftop panels, represents a gaming method to realize higher revenues due to the time varying cost of electricity", he said.

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Solar electricity generation makes a lot of cents

www.power-eng.com
12 Aug 2012

The outlook for makers of photovoltaic cells is much sunnier in Australia than New Zealand. feed-in tariffs in Australia, which see homeowners paid good prices for what energy their solar panels produce above what they use, has driven a 431% increase in the installations of solar panels there since 2010. In New Zealand, there are about 20,000 solar installations-just over 1% of the country's 1.6 million houses. Europe accounts for about 71% of the world's installed solar capacity.

Roy and Jenny Gardner installed 10 solar panels on their southern English home about a year ago and expect to see the scheme pay for itself in under a decade. "They make enough money to pay for our electricity annually", Mrs Gardner said. "We are paid 43 pence [86¢] for every unit generated and a further 3 pence [6¢] for half the units produced. The government has since been cutting down on the units paid and anyone now investing in this scheme will now only be paid 16 pence [32¢] a unit".

Despite the cut, Ivan Posa, who spent $25,000 on 20 solar panels at his Hamilton home three years ago, envies the British scheme. His family bulldozed an old home on their rural Tuhikaramea Rd section two years ago and began building a four-bedroom home which they crowned with 20 solar panels.

Solar power, installed by specialists What Power Crisis, were complemented by a $20,000 wind turbine which, together, should make the Posas self sufficient. Mr Posa, a retired farmer, cannot be certain how self sufficient he, wife Deb, and children Mili, 17, and Zach, 15, are but guesses it is about 80% at the moment. That is with an unfinished house and underfloor heating, an idea borrowed from ancient Rome, which Mr Posa jokes would cause the lights in Hamilton to go out if it was turned on full bore.

"When I started the house building I thought it was an opportunity to install solar panels from the start", he said. "It's hard to work out where power pricing is going to go and the price of panels is relatively competitive at the moment". In fact, the cost of photovoltaic cells has fallen by about 80% this year to about $1.25 a watt, causing the likes of WEL Networks to investigate the economic viability of building solar power stations in the region.

WEL Networks chief executive Dr Julian Elder said the British market had experienced unprecedented growth. "New Zealand is well behind Europe due to many factors, but mainly the lack of feed-in tariffs and subsidies". At the moment an abundance of renewable energy, such as hydroelectric and wind, meant it was more cost-effective for power generators to expand existing facilities such as the Te Uku wind farm. Mark Hanson, acting communications manager for retail at Mighty River Power, said the state-owned company was not involved in any form of solar power investigation. "The company's priority is with its geothermal programme and potential wind farm developments,' he said.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority chief executive Mike Underhill said: "We have a high amount of untapped large-scale renewable energy. The other thing that we have got is a high number of renewable power stations. There's 3000 MWs of current available from consented sites and if they come off that's where the new generation is going to come from for the next 15 to 20 years".

But from a homeowner's perspective, hooking a home up to solar panels is a no-brainer. Just three weeks ago a similar sized photovoltaic project at the Forlong family home in Howden Rd, Frankton, where the same company installed 18 solar panels, cost $12,000. Dad Howard Forlong, a director at Forlongs department store in Frankton, got the idea from a stall at the National Agricultural Fieldays.

When he sat down with a chartered accountant he realised that installing the panels at the house he shares with his wife, Helen, and children Harrison, 17, Stephanie, 16, and Jonathan, 13, would pay for itself in about seven years. "It's got a 9.6% return on investment, compared to 4% if I put it in the bank". he said.

In the three weeks since he threw the switch he has saved $22 on his power bill. As well as generating their own electricity, both the Posa and Forlong families receive a one-for-one credit for energy they do not use that is fed into the national grid. That means their solar panels can earn them money on a sunny day when they are out or on holiday. "We are on an import and export tariff", Mr Posa said. "We tend to use a lot more [and export less] in the winter and use a lot less [and export more] in the summer. It's hard for us to put an exact figure on it at the moment".

Britton Broun, media adviser to the Economic Development Group for the Business, Innovation and Employment Ministry, said New Zealand differed from other countries as it had a national electricity system dominated by grid-scale renewable generation. "Last year, 77% of New Zealand's electricity came from renewable sources. This is one of the highest levels of renewable electricity generation in the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development].

"The government has a target of generating 90% of electricity from renewable sources by 2025, so more grid-scale renewable electricity generation is anticipated. Consequently, there is less drive for domestic-scale renewable electricity generation here than in many other countries. Instead, the government's push has tended to be for more energy-efficient homes through insulation standards, efficient household heating, and encouraging energy efficiency".

Reaping the rewards of wind power

www.power-eng.com
13 Aug 2012

ONE OF THE biggest renewable energy projects every conceived of in this country is the Spirit of Ireland. First proposed three years ago, it envisages using coastal-based pump storage facilities to turn Ireland into a net exporter of electricity. The proposal, which was first conceived by TCD Professor of Applied Physics Igor Shvets, seeks to resolve the biggest issues facing those involved in wind generated electricity, namely what to do when the wind is not blowing.

Some 50 potential sites have been located along Ireland s Atlantic coast. The Spirit of Ireland would use the excess energy generated by several large wind farms to pump seawater up to a reservoir at the top of a cliff. The water is released when the wind is slack, turning a turbine which generates huge amounts of electricity. Pump storage is a proven technology that is used in countries such as Italy and Japan to generate electricity. There is a small one at Turlough Hill in Co Wicklow. What puts the Spirit of Ireland on another level is the use of seawater for electricity generation.

The proposal is still in the planning stages, but the backers of Spirit of Ireland are hoping that it will be the largest part of a mosaic of interlocking renewable energy projects in the future. The overall cost of the project is estimated at EUR 3.6 billion. The first round of sourcing funding has been taking place over the last month and it is hoped to raise seed capital which will be used to fund environmental assessments and initial outlines of the Spirit of Ireland project with the aim to have it built within five to six years.

In the meantime, the Spirit of Ireland group has set up Irish Energy Co-operatives. The purpose behind the project is to form a network of community-based renewable energy initiatives to feed into a common grid.

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Cape Cod wind farm tiptoes ahead

online.wsj.com
10 Aug 2012

Philip Scudder said his ferry company here was once a vocal opponent of the alternative-energy proposal that blew into Cape Cod nearly a decade ago. The US's first offshore wind farm? In the middle of pristine Nantucket Sound? He wondered how his boats carrying vacationers bound for Martha's Vineyard would navigate around the turbines.

But now, Mr. Scudder, a 13th generation Cape Codder and part of the family that owns Hy-Line Cruises, supports Cape Wind, the proposal to place 130 wind turbines, with the highest blade tip reaching 440 feet above water, some five miles offshore. He says it would bring not only clean energy but economic opportunity: Hy-Line is now shopping for vessels to eventually give "eco-tours", educational boat rides out to see the turbines up close.

Mr. Scudder illustrates the conflicting views on the long-debated project in an area known as the jewel of Massachusetts and a vacation land for the affluent. After a decade, Cape Wind developer Energy Management Inc, is beginning geological survey work in the sound, a precursor to its goal of starting construction next year.

But whether the wind farm is built remains to be seen. Cape Wind has yet to receive all the approvals it needs to start construction. Opposition is firm and has included wealthy Cape Cod homeowners from the late Sen. Edward Kennedy to Republican donor and energy businessman William Koch.

The Obama administration is pushing for more renewable-energy projects, both on and offshore. This week, the Interior Department said it was assessing a proposal by the North American arm of Statoil STO +0.20% ASA, a Norwegian energy company, for a wind farm off the coast of Maine.

The Interior Department approved Cape Wind in 2010. The project calls for the off-white wind turbines in a 25 square-mile area in a shallow part of the sound, a triangular body of water surrounded by Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. The closest vantage point would be nearly five miles away in Mashpee, next to Barnstable.

The turbines are "majestic and beautiful", and on a clear day would appear "like a half-inch sailing mast on the horizon", said Jim Gordon, the president of Energy Management, Cape Wind's developer.

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U.S. Army opens bids to buy $7 billion in renewable energy

www.forbes.com
8 Aug 2012

The US Army is looking for a few good renewable energy projects. Some $7 billion worth. On Tuesday the Army began accepting bids for green energy installations that will be deployed on military bases and facilities across the US The Army will sign contracts to buy the electricity generated by solar, wind, geothermal and biomass projects for up to 30 years. "It is the intent of the government only to purchase the energy that is produced and not to acquire any generation assets", the Army stated in the solicitation. "The contractor shall develop, finance, design, build, operate, own and maintain the energy plant".

In other words, instead of paying the local utility for its electricity, a base would pay a solar power company like SolarCity or Sungevity. That creates business for renewable energy companies as well as economies of scale that in the long run can lower the cost of green power. The program is part of a Department of Defense initiative to meet at least 25% of energy demand on its bases from renewable sources by 2025. The military is also aiming its bases to become "net zero" consumers of electricity-generating more power than they use by installing solar and other renewable energy systems.

The Army said projects that generate fewer than 4 MWs would be set aside for small businesses. It will also consider giving preference to small businesses for installations that generate between 4 MWs and 12 MWs of electricity but would accept unrestricted bids for projects greater than 12 MWs. Ground-mounted and rooftop solar systems have been built on a number of military bases in recent years and Silicon Valley startup SolarCity is installing photovoltaic panels on 120,000 units of privately managed military housing across the country as part of its SolarStrong initiative. The Army's move follows Monday's announcement that the Department of Defense will open 16 million acres of land in the West for renewable energy development.

Who's paying to fight AGL wind farms?

www.businessspectator.com.au
9 Aug 2012

Climate Spectator has been provided with an e-mail sent by Sarah Laurie, CEO of the anti-wind farm lobby group the Waubra Foundation, which indicates the Foundation has been using tax-deductible donations to support a court case against AGL Energy's Hallett wind farms in South Australia. According to Australian Taxation Office guidance, this appears to directly contradict the Waubra Foundation's privileged status as a charity for which donations are tax deductible.

In the interests of full disclosure, the e-mail is reprinted in full at the bottom of this article. It opens by thanking recipients for already donating money to support a court case by Bill Quinn.

Quinn is attempting to restrict the operation and development of the Hallett wind farm development for exceeding EPA noise requirements. Climate Spectator understands that Bill Quinn lives around 8 km from the nearest wind turbine.

The e-mail makes the usual claims about there being a cover-up to obscure the evidence of infrasound generated by wind turbines causing health impacts, and asks for further "tax deductible" donations to collect further noise data to aid the legal campaign.

This poses three key questions:

1. Why is the Waubra Foundation funding noise measurements and not epidemiological studies?

If the Waubra Foundation was genuinely interested in identifying whether wind turbines have impacts on health, it doesn't need to do any noise monitoring. Instead, it would be far better served funding epidemiological studies evaluating the statistical prevalence of illnesses amongst people living close to wind turbines versus similar populations that don't live near turbines.

Ideally such studies should be undertaken in regions that have had wind turbines in place for a considerable time period, such as Denmark, so that any subtle long-term effects would have had time to become evident. This was the key tool that identified an unambiguous link between tobacco smoke and lung cancer. Also such studies should be done by independent university researchers at arm's length from the Waubra Foundation, who's board and staff have clearly already made their minds up.

Yet considering the Waubra Foundation's supposed focus on health research, its website does not contain a single mention of it commissioning any kind of long-run epidemiological study by university researchers with expertise in the area. Instead the website is filled with links to press stories and two websites overseas that purport to have found a link between wind turbines and health ailments.

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U.S. military's big plan for renewable energy projects

www.forbes.com
6 Aug 2012

The US Department of Defense plans to open up 16 million acres of its land for renewable energy development, which it hopes will create a boom of solar, wind and geothermal projects and provide clean power to military bases, the department announced Monday.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on promoting renewable energy generation projects on public land that has historically been restricted for military uses. About 13 million of those 16 million acres are located in western US, where a lot of solar, wind and geothermal power development already has been taking place on private and other types of public land.

The administration has been making a strong push for renewable energy development by funding both technology research and power generation projects since the President Obama took office in 2009. The administration wants to accomplish two key goals by supporting renewable energy: creating jobs and finding alternative, cleaner and more abundant power sources domestically. Last month, Salazar unveiled a roadmap for speeding up solar power project development on 285,000 acres of public land in six western states.

The government support for renewable energy has indeed propelled the development of advanced materials and equipment and the construction of some of the largest solar power plants in the country. It also has attracted vocal critics, notably Republicans, who have used the bankruptcy of government-funded solar panel maker Solyndra last fall to accuse the administration of political favoritism and mismanaging public money.

The Monday announcement by the Defense and Interior departments involved not only land set aside for the military but also offshore locations near military installations. The goal is to promote onshore and offshore energy projects, such as erecting wind turbines in the sea. The MOU calls for the military and the the Interior's Bureau of Land Management to run a pilot project to oversee solar power plant development at military bases in Arizona and California. The military has been vocal about its support of renewable energy, from electricity to transportation fuels, that it says will help it become more self-sufficient and reduce its vulnerabilities in the battle fields.

The vast majority of the military bases rely on power from nearby utilities, and they depend on backup generators during blackouts, said Dorothy Robyn, deputy under secretary of defense for installations and environment, during a conference call on Monday. The military is keenly interested in creating "microgrids" for its bases. A microgrid is a mostly self-sufficient base of power generation and storage, which allows for banking the electricity (using batteries or other technologies) for later use. A microgrid can still be connected to the regular electric grid, but it will take power from local utilities only when its own power plants aren't able to generate enough to meet the demand. "Renewable energy will allow a military base to maintain critical operations for weeks or months if an electric power grid goes down", she said.

The military wants to attract developers and private investments for building solar, wind and other renewable electricity power projects on its land. It plans to lease the land to developers and buy some or all of the power from each project for its own use, and any unused power will be sold local utilities, Robyn said. Each of the military services plans on getting 1 GW of renewable energy installed near its bases by 2025.

German Wind Power Installation up 26%

onlinetes.com
7 Aug 2012

Germany installed 26% more new wind-power capacity in this year's first half than a year earlier, an industry group said Wednesday--the latest sign of a lasting renewable energy boom as Europe's biggest economy phases out nuclear power. More than 400 turbines with a combined capacity of some 1,000 MWs--roughly equivalent to one nuclear power plant--were installed, up from about 800MW in same period last year, according to the Wind Energy Association.

There should be an even sharper increase over the whole of 2012, taking into account manufacturers' order books and already-planned projects, the group's head Hermann Albers told reporters in Berlin. The wind turbines installed in the first six months brought the total capacity to over 30,000 MWs, producing 9.2% of the country's electricity, up from 7.7% in 2011, a utility industry group said last week. "The figures show that we are on the right track as a country regarding wind power. As the backbone of the energy switchover, it can replace nuclear power cheaply and efficiently", says Albers.

He stressed that the wind industry aims at tripling its electricity share by 2020, mostly thanks to new offshore wind farms and the replacement of older wind turbines with new and more efficient ones. Germany decided following Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster to speed up phasing out its nuclear power plants, shutting them down within a decade and betting on renewable energies instead.

Before Fukushima, nuclear power in Germany produced a little more than 20% of the country's electricity needs--about the same share it had in the U.S, and in Japan. It has since fallen well below 20%. Wind, solar and other renewable power sources--helped by subsidies and investment incentives--produced about 25% of the country's electricity in the first six months, up from 21% for all of 2011, according to figures from the BDEW utility industry group. Solar power also continues to boom as house owners are keen to install panels on their roofs, and its share rose by almost half from 3.6% to 5.3%.

Wind power hits 57% mark in Colorado

money.cnn.com
6 Aug 2012

Xcel Energy's Ponnequin Wind Farm on the Colorado-Wyoming border. The wind farm helped the utiltiy produce 57% of its power from wind one night this spring-a U.S, record.

During the early morning hours of April 15, with a steady breeze blowing down Colorado's Front Range, the state's biggest utility set a U.S, record--nearly 57% of the electricity being generated was coming from wind power.

As dawn came and the 1.4 million customers in Xcel Energy's service district began turning on the lights, toasters and other appliances, the utility's coal and natural gas-fired power plants ramped up production and brought wind's contribution back closer to its 2012 average of 17%. Utilities have long been wary of placing too much finicky renewable power on the grid.

"A lot of utilities don't want to contract large amounts of wind because it's volatile", said Amy Grace, a wind analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. "Anything over 25%, and utilities get nervous". Colorado's overnight high-water mark demonstrated that utilities can indeed incorporate cleaner power sources into the mix. It also provides hope that, under the right conditions and policies, wind will be able to provide a significantly larger share of the nation's power than its current 3% rate.

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Harvesting green tidal energy

power-eng.com
5 Aug 2012

Ocean power is an endless source of renewable green energy. It is clean, environmentally acceptable and economically cheap. Electricity generation from ocean energy is based on tidal power, wave energy, ocean thermal energy conversion, ocean winds and salinity gradients. Among these, three well developed technologies are tidal power, wave energy and ocean thermal energy conversion. Tidal energy is a form of hydroelectric that converts the tidal power into electricity. It requires large tidal differences.

This difference between the mean high-water volume and the mean low-water volume of an estuary is called tidal prism. The term 'tidal prism' can be defined as the total amount of water that flows into a harbor or flows out again with movement of the tide in water flow. Tidal energy has been used since the,Roman times and in the middle Ages in Europe to run early tide mills. No doubt, this energy is pollution free and environment friendly. Therefore, world must think to replace fossil fuel based energy by this green energy.

In the present time, a number of countries have already been, using tidal power to generate electricity. World's largest plant for the generation of electricity from tidal power is in La Rancee in France. A number of tidal power based power stations have been established in North America. India has planned to generate electricity from tidal power very soon. Bangladesh has to think about this to overcome its present electricity crisis and the future energy security. The position and shape of Bangladeshi coast and its Islands are favorable for the establishment of tide based power station.

Tides result from the gravitational attraction of the Earth-Moon-Sun system acting on the earth's ocean. Tides are long period waves that result in the cyclical that generate electricity from horizontally flowing tidal currents like wind turbines. Tidal energy is predictable than,wind power and solar power, but cannot be used to generate electricity at consistent level constantly. Twice in every 12.42 hours (24 hours in some locations) the tidal current speed and hence the electricity generation capacity falls to zero. If tidal power is required to produce a sustained based load for local grid, then some form of energy storage or back-up will be needed.

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Scorching summer dries up hydro power

www.power-eng.com
5 Aug 2012

The hot, dry summer means there's not much hydroelectric in your hydroelectric bill this summer. In Ontario, consumers use "hydroelectric" as shorthand for electricity. But technically, hydroelectricity means power generated by water. With not much rain and lots of evaporation this summer, rivers and lakes are at low levels, so there's less water to whirl the turbines at hydroelectric generating stations.

How much less? The amount of hydroelectric power produced in Ontario dropped 20% this July compared with July a year ago, according to the Independent Electricity System Operator. In fact, Ontario got more power from natural gas-fired generators in July than it did from its hydroelectric stations. Gas-powered generation jumped 33% from a year earlier. That meant hydroelectric contributed 17% of Ontario's power supply in July, while gas-fired units churned out 20%.


Hydropower also took up some of the slack as hydroelectric production dropped, increasing by 7% year over year. The total amount of power generated in the province was a fraction of a% higher this year than last. Ontario Power Generation generates most of the province's hydroelectric power. Early in the year, there was plenty of wet weather in the northwest, said OPG spokesman Ted Gruetzner, but it was a different story elsewhere.

"Through the central, northeast and eastern parts of the province, we didn't get much snow, and we haven't had much rain, so the reservoirs are down", he said in an interview. The biggest drops in production were at OPG's smaller hydroelectric stations; total production was down a more modest 10% at the big hydroelectric stations at Niagara Falls and Cornwall.

The other power source with a dramatic production drop was coal, which was down 42% from the year before. The province continues to shut down coal-fired units as it aims to cease coal generation by the end of 2014; in July, it produced 5% of the province's power, down from close to 9% a year ago. Combined output from renewable power sources such as wind, solar and biomass was little changed.

Renewables winning the energy race

Clean Energy Council
31 Jul 2012

A report released today by the Federal Government shows that clean energy such as wind, solar and landfill gas will be among the lowest-cost sources of electricity within the next 20 years under current policies. Clean Energy Council Deputy Chief Executive Kane Thornton said the report confirmed that the way Australia generated and consumed energy was changing-fast.

"While the recent public debate often oversimplifies Australia's energy choice as 'clean vs cheap', this report shows the argument is now desperately out of date. Renewables are rapidly becoming the lowest cost source of energy and, by building renewable energy now, we are able to create the diversity of sources we need to have low cost and reliable energy in the future", Mr Thornton said.

"We welcome comments from Energy Minister Martin Ferguson that a number of renewable energy technologies could have some of the lowest levelised costs of any energy source within the next two decades. "Every government in the country has underestimated the ability of renewable energy to improve in efficiency and come down in price. This report goes some way towards addressing the balance. "

Mr Thornton said the report showed the importance of the Renewable Energy Target to drive the take-up of clean energy in Australia and why policymakers needed to provide stable policy support so that this full potential could be realised. "The Renewable Energy Target is designed to deliver 20% of Australia's electricity from renewable sources such as the sun, the wind, the waves, bioenergy and others by 2020 at the lowest cost to consumers. The scheme allows technologies to effectively compete against each other to drive down the cost of renewable power for everyone", he said.

"The majority of the energy sector has called for the policy to be left alone in order to provide investment-grade policy support certainty necessary to unlock tens of billions of dollars in private investment between now and the end of the decade. "Renewable energy takes advantage of our free and abundant natural resources and can provide an insurance policy against the volatile price of fossil fuelled electricity such as gas, which has been rising in recent years. In contrast, the cost of renewable energy has been dropping rapidly. In the case of landfill gas generation, the costs are already on par".

The Australian Energy Technology Assessment, by the independent Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics, looked at cost estimates for 40 electricity generation technologies under current policy settings including the carbon price and the Renewable Energy Target.

VCAT approval for Bald Hills windfarm - finally

7 Aug 2012

After various appeals from wind farm opponents and an unnecessary delay by the planning Mr Minister, Matthew Guy, the Bald Hills wind farm has finally received approval to go ahead after the VCAT decision on August 3, 2012.

This is a win for common sense, due process and the environment and hopefully a nail in the coffin of politically supported wind farm opposition and climate change denial.

Hopefully preparatory work will commence on South Gippsland's third wind farm before the end of August.

California on course for renewable energy

www.upi.com
3 Aug 2012

California's utilities have surpassed the state's goal of 20% of energy from renewable sources, state regulators said. The California Public Utilities Commission said that 2011 showed the greatest year-to-year increase in the capacity of renewable generation achieving commercial operation, and 2012 is already on track to far surpass 2011. California's mandated target set in 2003, known as the Renewable Portfolio Standard, says utilities must average 20% renewable energy in the power they sell customers from 2011 13, increasing to 33% by 2020.

From 2003 11, California installed 2,871 MWs of renewable energy capacity. In 2012, the state is expected to add almost another 2,800 MWs, the commission says. The state's major investor-owned utilities--Pacific Gas and Electric, San Diego Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison--had reached the target, the commission says, collectively securing 20.6% of electricity sold from renewable sources.

By 2020, sun-generated power, not including small-scale rooftop solar, is projected to account for about 11% of all power sold by those three major utilities, which sell 68% of the electricity provided to California retail customers. "Let's not underestimate 11%", says Adam Browning, executive director of Vote Solar, a San Francisco nonprofit, Climatewire reports. "That's a massive, massive investment", Browning said. "You're talking about a major shift in resources and in money going from fossil fuels to renewable energy".

While last year solar accounted for about 1% of PGE's renewable energy mix, the utility expects that share to soar to 40% by 2020. "We're about to see solar on a project scale larger than almost anywhere in the world", Aaron Johnson, director of renewable energy policy and strategy at PGE, was quoted as saying by Silicon Valley's Mercury News. "Planning for the 33% (RPS MetOcean target) began four or five years ago. There's no way to get from here to there (the 33% target) without solar".

And Southern California Edison says its share of solar could also rise to 40% of its renewable energy mix by 2020 from about 6% last year. California's solar industry has created 26,000 jobs, or 1 in-4 solar jobs nationwide, states a study by the University of California Berkeley law school. Currently there are 12 utility-scale solar photovoltaic plants with a 2,200 MW capacity under construction in California, and an additional 62 plants with 11,600 MWs of capacity under development.

Not enough wind power

www.standard.net.au
24 Jul 2012

WIND energy potential is vastly underutilised in Victoria, according to the Climate Change Commission, which has called for more emphasis on renewables in the face of environmental challenges. The commission's 12th report released yesterday said the state's installed wind power capacity, including installations in south-west Victoria, was only a fraction of the total resources that could be harnessed.

"As a comparison, Denmark and Victoria have similar onshore wind speeds yet in 2010 Denmark had about seven times the installed onshore wind capacity of Victoria", the report said. "Wind turbines can provide a useful second income source for Victorian landowners. "The wind farm would also provide farmers with payments of up to $250,000 annually". The report lists solar and biomass as other viable energy sources.

Chief climate commissioner Professor Tim Flannery said Victoria should be making a sharp shift to renewable energy. "Victoria has got fabulous wind resources, the envy of places like Europe, and fantastic solar resources too", Professor Flannery said. "So the renewable energy capacity for the state is massive and it's barely being tapped at the moment". A graphic in the report shows the south-west coastal region as having one of the state's highest average yearly wind speeds of seven metres per second and faster at 65 metres above ground. There are 19 south-west wind farms either operating, being constructed or planned.

The report predicts climate-related extreme events to increase in frequency and intensity, with conditions for large and intense bushfires likely to become more common in the future. "The number of "very high" and "extreme" fire danger days could increase significantly during the next few decades", it says. "Global sea level rise is tracking near the highest levels. This means a potential one-metre rise during this century is a serious risk threatening Victoria's iconic beaches and thousands of residential and commercial buildings.

"The next chapter of the climate story is how Victoria and Australia can find solutions that minimise the risks of climate change while providing extra benefits for our health, community, economy and environment. "Harnessing clean energy, taking advantage of new economic opportunities and building sustainable communities can all provide new opportunities for Victorians". The report says much of south-east Australia has become drier in the past 40 years, with Victoria experiencing a 10-20% reduction in autumn and winter rain in the past 20 years.

Where did good policy go?

www.businessspectator.com.au
23 Jul 2012

Victoria's wind power sector is in a state of flux. After a strong run-up in capacity over the past few years, led by the 192 MW Waubra wind farm, plans for development have been curbed in the wake of new government guidelines-an all too familiar story for the clean energy sector. The new Baillieu government requirements, introduced last year, sees wind farms banned from many areas of the state as well as offering homeowners the right to veto any development within two km of their house.

Since the guidelines came into effect, there have been no new wind farm applications. The story is the same in New South Wales, where similarly arduous guidelines have been enforced. That's not good policy, unless you are actively looking to destroy an entire sector.

Keppel Prince, Australia's largest wind turbine maker, is a symbol of the problems. In the two months to June it reportedly cut over 10% of its workforce as demand dried up. The Portland-based company is at the heart of wind farm developments in Victoria, with four wind farms in the vicinity of its base of Portland on Victoria's western coast.

Keppel Prince, with around 450 staff at the beginning of the year, is not a big player from a global perspective, but it is indicative of the problems with clean energy policy in Australia in general. Peruse the Google News archives and you will see regular stories of job gains and job cuts as policy shifts dictate its immediate future. A major jobs announcement is practically an annual event.

The constant 'toing and froing' on policy across federal and state levels leaves the clean energy sector hopelessly exposed. Half-full rarely exists when it comes to turning Australia into a clean energy powerhouse.

Beyond wind farms coming under pressure in New South Wales and Victoria, this year we have seen solar PV face the risk of boom then bust in Queensland and the solar hot water rebate closure on a federal level. In all cases, the rules changed with little notice given. There are of course positives in clean energy policy, but even they are shrouded in doubt.

Solar Flagships Program offered great potential for the development of large-scale solar. We now sit three years after the $1.5 billion program was formed however, with just one confirmed project that will cost the government $170 million and create 159MW of capacity. At the start of the year that was going to be $770 million (which could have been reduced as solar panel prices had slumped) and around 400MW.

On the surface, the $10 billion of funding for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation is great news for the sector, but given the glacial speed of Solar Flagships Program, one must be wary of speaking too soon. Especially as the overwhelming favourite to win the next election, Tony Abbott, has promised to consign it to the scrap bin.

The carbon price is not perfect policy-with so many stakeholders in play that is not really possible-but it is a step in the right direction. It too is haunted by the Abbott shadow, however. While a repeal may be unlikely, the fact it is regularly canvassed undermines the power of the legislation to help transform the nation's energy supply.

Fortunately, we still have the bipartisan renewable energy target, but now the likes of Origin Energy's Grant King are looking to change the rules. We await with baited breath the outcome of a crucial review of the RET by the newly formed Climate Change Authority-and hopefully some much needed certainty for renewable energy policy will follow. Without it, the Keppel Prince tale will become much more than a worrying trend.

Isle of Wight to become UK’s hydrogen fuel test bed

www.energyefficiencynews.com
19 Jul 2012

The Isle of Wight off the UK's south coast is to become a test bed for hydrogen fuel technology in a £4.66 million project led by energy storage and clean fuel company ITM Power. With a £1.3 million grant from the government-backed Technology Strategy Board, ITM Power will partner on the project with Ecoisland Partnership CIC-a community-based initiative aiming to make the Isle of Wight self-sustaining by the end of the decade.

The project is one of five being sponsored by the Technology Strategy Board, which also include an end-to-end, green hydrogen production, distribution and retailing system in London; a wind-powered hydrogen generation system in Aberdeen to serve a fleet of fuel-cell buses and two solar-generated hydrogen projects in Swindon and Surrey.

Also taking part in the Isle of Wight project and providing backing are SSE, Toshiba, IBM, Cable and Wireless, Cheetah Marine, the National Physical Laboratory, Arcola Energy, the Universitie of Glamorgan and University of Nottingham. The island will be home to a hydrogen energy production, storage and vehicle refuelling system, which will be integrated into the existing power network. An electrolyser-based refueller will be linked into the island's renewable energy developments to serve as a demand side management load.

Low-carbon hydrogen will be produced for use as a vehicle fuel, which will be supplied by two grid-connected hydrogen refuelling platforms. The larger of the two refuellers will be sited on a centrally located business park to serve a fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles from Hyundai, Microcab and River Simple. Vestas Wind Systems, SSE and Southern Water will be using the hydrogen-powered vehicles as part of the car club being set up by Ecoisland Partnership CIC.

The other, smaller refueller will be located on the south coast of the island to serve hydrogen-powered boats. "Ecoisland represents a quantum leap for renewable technologies in the UK", says ITM Power CEO Graham Cooley. "ITM's energy storage and clean fuel technology will be at the heart of this project that gives us an ideal opportunity to link our equipment with world leading smart grid technologies to create the integrated energy grid of the future".

GE turbines help Greenko drive wind power cost below coal

www.businessweek.com
18 Jul 2012

The cost of wind power has dropped below the price of coal-fired energy in parts of India for the first time as improved turbine technology and rising fossil fuel prices boost its competitiveness, Greenko Group Plc (GKO) said.

"Today we're able to supply energy below the cost of conventional power", said Mahesh Kolli, president of Greenko Group, which is building wind projects with General Electric Co. in India. "That's the key development for this year".

The cost of wind has closed in on coal thanks to more advanced turbines, which can produce more electricity from lower wind speeds. The shift means new wind farms in India will be able to survive without state subsidies, potentially attracting investors to a country where 57% of installed capacity is coal-based and 31% renewable, including hydroelectric.

Greenko Group began operating its first wind project in Ratnagiri in Maharashtra state this year using 1.6 MW GE turbines designed for low winds. That farm is "achieving efficiencies never before seen in India", with a 30% plant load factor, Kolli said today by telephone. That's a measure of a site's actual generation compared with its theoretical capacity.

The company, based on the Isle of Man, has signed agreements for more than 1,000 MWs of wind capacity and a three-year contract to buy at least 450 MWs of GE turbines. State power distributors in places such as Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have a "market incentive to buy wind power because we're cheaper", Kolli said.

Generation Cost
The executive didn't specify the cost of generation, which varies according to state. Estimates from Bloomberg New Energy Finance show the most efficient wind projects in India run at a similar cost to new coal-fed plants. The best projects have a levelized cost of energy, which allows for comparison between different fuel sources, of 2.7 rupees (5¢) to 4.4 rupees a kilowatt-hour, compared with coal's 1.9 to 4.8 rupees, Ashish Sethia, an analyst at London-based BNEF, said in a July 3 note.

The economics of Indian wind developments may lure investors away from markets such as the US, where the end of a tax break for wind-power utilities could cause a 75% slump in new installations next year, according to BTM Consult, a unit of Navigant Consulting Inc. (NCI) (NCI) Kolli said India's decision to suspend a wind subsidy in April won't affect investments.

Subsidy Loss
The generation-based incentive, which paid wind farms a 500 rupee subsidy for every MW of electricity fed into the grid, is only the "icing on the cake", he said. Its loss won't diminish the 19% return on wind projects that Greenko Group assumes in its 15 year power sale agreements, he said. The current cost to build wind farms in India is about $1.25 million a MW, according to Kolli. While that price has largely held steady, the company is buying turbines that are 20% more efficient than in the past, he said.

Greenko Group already has more than 200 MWs of operating hydroelectric capacity in the country. Hydro and wind projects in India benefit from an abundance of renewable sources of energy, unlike coal and gas-fired generation which has been hurt by fuel supply shortages. Greenko Group reported a 6.5% increase in net income to 9.5 million euros ($11.6 million) for the financial year through March. Its shares fell 0.4% to 107 pence as of 12:28 p.m, in London today, extending their decline this year to 11%.

Korea ramping up wind power projects

www.ibtimes.co.uk
13 Jul 2012

Korea is speeding up its wind power projects, aiming to complete construction of turbine test beds in the South and Yellow Seas by June 2013, as well as expanding some pre-existing offshore projects. Jae-Yong NamKung, Deputy Director of New and Renewable Energy Division, confirmed Korea's ambitions at the June 15 Global Wind Day Networking Seminar. He said a 20 MW wind power test bed in southwestern Korea would be completed a year ahead of schedule.

Wind power turbines of 5-7 MW will be tested and certified on Jeju Island as a precursor to placing them in the South and Yellow Seas. The construction and expansion of harbors is spurring the acceleration of wind turbine testing, as the new harbors will play a role in the assembly and logistics of offshore wind farm projects. The results of the tests will also be used to help the Korean government form a long-term wind power plan to be announced in early 2013.

At this time, renewable energy makes up about 2% of Korea's total energy production, but government backing of the Green Growth strategy has created a competitive business niche for wind power. By 2013, Korea would like to install about 500 turbines with 100 MW capacity off its western shores in a private-public partnership. Local governments around Korea are also pushing 5 GW wind farm projects.

Korean manufacturing titans like Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Ship Building and Marine Engineering are getting into the wind power game. The Korean Wind Energy Industry Association Chairman Dr. Rimtaig Lee said that by applying the shipbuilder's experience of natural gas and oil exploration to wind power, the engineering firms are now building five installation vessels, cumulatively.

Australian navy signs up for wave power at its main base

www.reuters.com
16 Jul 2012

(Reuters)-Australia's navy is seeking not only to rules the waves but to harness them, too, signing a power supply deal for its largest base with cutting-edge wave energy company Carnegie Corporation Wave, Carnegie Corporation said on Monday. Carnegie Corporation Wave has completed the first stage of its project based in Perth, the capital of Western Australia state, and expects to supply all the electricity generated from the project to the base, HMAS Stirling, from the end of 2013, the company said in a statement. Shares in Carnegie Corporation Wave, which also has a wave energy operation in Ireland, surged 34% to 5.1 Australian¢ on the news.

Submerged buoys use wave energy to pump pressurised water to onshore turbines, generating electricity. The company won a A$10 million ($10.2 million) grant earlier this year from Prime Minister Julia Gillard's government, which is keen to promote clean energy investment. "I am very pleased that we've been able to support the development of this world-leading technology,.. through a new relationship between Carnegie Corporation Wave and our defence force", Gillard told reporters in announcing the deal in Perth. HMAS Stirling is named for a British Royal Navy captain who established the first European settlement in Western Australia in 1829.

Wave energy project promises jobs boost

www.abc.net.au
13 Jul 2012

A wave energy company hopes its 19 MW project off the coast of Portland will generate thousands of jobs. Victorian Wave Partners is joining with the US manufacturing giant Lockheed Martin to build 28 buoys that will generate power from the waves off Portland's coast. Work on the $232 million project is expected to begin next year. The company's George Taylor says local subcontractors will be used and many others will be employed.

"The number will become very significant, very quickly I believe into thousands of people", he said. "In the Warrnambool and Portland areas there are some very good fabricators and I'm sure they'll play a part". Anita Rank from the Committee for Portland says it is working to connect local businesses to the energy company. "We're keen to see local manufacturing be involved, that benefits the whole community", she said.

She says the community is enthusiastic about the project. "It's consistent with our vision of promoting the region as a renewable energy hub", she said. The Federal Government has contributed $66 million to the project, which will generate enough electricity to power 10,000 homes.

Report: Wind farms add billions of dollars to local economies

www.pantagraph.com
17 Jul 2012

Illinois' 23 largest wind farms--several of which are in Central Illinois--will add $5.8 billion to local economies over the life of the projects, according to an Illinois State University study released Tuesday.

The construction of wind farms--including Twin Groves and White Oak wind farms in McLean County, Streator Cayuga Ridge South Wind Farm in Livingston County, Pioneer Trail in Iroquois and Ford counties and Rail Splitter Wind Farm in Tazewell and Logan counties--generated 19,047 construction jobs and 814 local, long-term jobs, said David Loomis, director of ISU's Center for Renewable Energy and co-author of the study.

During the construction phase of the various wind farms, workers made more than $1.1 billion. The wind farms generate $28.5 million in annual property taxes, and landowners make about $13 million a year by allowing turbines to be placed on their properties, the study reports. "This is important to know so informed decisions can be made regarding the future of wind projects", Loomis said at a news conference during the sixth annual Advancing Wind Energy in Illinois conference at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Normal.

Loomis said wind farm production is at a standstill now because a production tax credit that helped offset project costs expires at the end of the year. Jack Darin, president and director of the Sierra Club's Illinois chapter, said extending that tax credit is "critical for the health of our environment". "Today's heat is the kind scientists say will be the new normal if something is not changed", Darin said, referring to current "old and dirty" practices of energy production.

Larry Flowers, deputy director of the American Wind Energy Association, said coal and gas producers receive subsidies so wind power should as well to level the playing field. Flowers said wind power projects are important for job creation in the United States. Mike Matejka, legislative affairs director for the Great Plains Laborers District Council, agreed. "Wind jobs are very, very important as we bridge the recession", Matejka said.

Wind farms and high speed rail work have been two keys to keeping people employed, he said, adding that those workers in turn are able to pay their mortgage, buy a vehicle and groceries. McLean County leads the state with wind farm projects. The planned turbines will produce enough electricity to power about 192,000 homes a year.

Wave technology to power naval base

www.abc.net.au
16 Jul 2012

The Defence Department will use wave technology to power its largest naval facility, south of Perth. Prime Minister Julia Gillard is in Perth to announce the deal with Carnegie Corporation Wave Technology. Wave power will be used to power HMAS Stirling's electrical infrastructure at Garden Island. The company's chief executive, Michael Ottaviano, says power generated by waves from the ocean will be fed into the island's grid from the end of next year.

GE Builds a Better Battery

www.businessweek.com
11 Jul 2012

What does it take to launch a better battery? Makers of electric vehicles, smartphones, and renewable energy gear want to know. For a 45 person internal startup at General Electric Co (GE), it took the financial backing and technical support of an AAA-rated company with more than $140 billion in annual revenue, not to mention the care and attention of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt. It also helped that the team chose a proven battery design that had been under development for 30 years before GE got involved. The result is the Durathon, a molten salt battery that went on sale in September 2011, providing backup power for cell phone towers, among other uses.

There are plenty of ideas for new batteries; the problem is commercialising them. Today's cars still rely on lead-acid batteries that date back to experiments done in 1859, while consumer electronics are powered by alkaline batteries that trace their roots to 1899. Innovators come along regularly, but in the past year a slew of battery startups have hit rough patches. Ener1, which was pledged $118 million of federal aid to develop lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, filed for bankruptcy in January. Battery maker A123 Systems (AONE) of Waltham, Mass., lost $125 million in the first quarter. At a US Department of Energy conference in February that showcased new battery concepts, Microsoft (MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates warned that "the failure rates here are going to be well over 90%".

Read More…

Italy signs renewable power decrees

in.reuters.com
7 Jul 2012

MILAN, July 6 (Reuters)-Italy signed on Friday long-awaited decrees on new support schemes for solar and other renewable energy aiming to bring incentives in line with falling costs and ease the burden on consumers who pay for incentives with their bills.

Italy's green power industry has boomed in recent years as investors from around the world ranging from banks and private equity funds to utilities poured billions of euros into the sector, lured by generous support measures. With incentives ballooning above expected limits, Rome announced a plan in April to scale back production incentives for renewable energy that have inflated consumer power bills, but it took few months to iron out details. "This (new) incentive system allows us to sustain the development of renewable energy industry", Environment Minister Corrado Clini said after signing of the decrees. "Proposals from regions and suggestions from companies have been used".

The new decrees, signed by Industry, Environment and Agriculture Ministers, set a 500 million euro ($615.35 million) annual cap on new spending for incentives, including 200 million euros for solar power generation, the industry ministry said in a statement. "It is very disappointing. We hoped to have 700 million euros for photovoltaic power and even more for other renewables", Marco Pigni, director of Italy's renewable energy association APER, told Reuters.

The ministry said the new decrees simplify a procedure of logging on to a register to get incentives-a thorny issue for the renewable industry which sees it as an additional red tape. Under the solar power decree, photovoltaic plants-which turn sunlight into power-with capacity between 12 and 20 kilowatts could be exempt from having to log on to a register if they opt for a 20% cut in incentives, the ministry said. Concentrated photovoltaic power plants, innovative plants as well as those realised by public bodies would be also exempt from having to go through a register, it said.

The new incentive scheme for photovoltaic plants will begin in 45 days after a 6 billion euro cumulative annual limit on incentives is exceeded, while other renewable energy generation will switch to new regime from January 1, 2013 with a four-month transition period, the ministry said. With generous incentives in place since 2007, Italy's solar market has become the world's second-biggest after Germany and was the fastest growing market in the world in 2011.

It has attracted major solar module makers such as Chinese group Suntech Power, Trina Solar, Yingli Green Energy Holding and U.S, firms FirstSolar and SunPower Corp. "With the new incentives, there is a risk that many jobs would be lost and capital would flee abroad", APER's Pigni said. ($1 = 0.8126 euros)

Anti-aging elixir for solar cells

phys.org
3 Jul 2012

Photovoltaic modules deliver power without risks to the environment and climate. But solar power is expensive. Therefore, it is imperative that the modules last as long as possible, 25 years or more. Fraunhofer researchers in the USA are now investigating materials to protect solar cells from environmental influences to meet that goal.

Sometimes it's just a couple of¢ that decide the success or failure of a technology. As long as solar power, for instance, is still more expensive than energy extracted from fossil fuels, photovoltaics will not be competitive on the broad open market. "Power generation from solar power continues to be reliant on public subsidies-this is no different in the USA than in Germany", explains Christian Hoepfner, Scientific Director of the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems CSE in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. "If we want renewable energy to penetrate the global market over the long term, then we must ensure it gets cheaper".

There are no silver bullets to reach this target: Efficiency cannot be arbitrarily increased, and it is expensive to produce solar cells and modules. If you want to change something here, you have to solve a puzzle with many variables: Engineering teams around the world are searching for new technologies and production methods to make cells and modules cheaper, more efficient, more durable and reliable.

Read More…

U.S. takes giant leap toward wind energy

www.upi.com
3 Jul 2012

WASHINGTON, (UPI)--The US Department of Interior said it completed environmental reviews for onshore and offshore wind power, including a 3,000 MW project. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the final environmental impact statement was released for the proposed Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind farms in Wyoming. The complex could include as many as 1,000 turbines and generate as much as 3,000 MW of power.

An assessment of wind power areas off the coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts will be used by U.S, regulators to make future lease decisions in an area encompassing roughly 165,000 acres. Salazar, in a statement, said the two projects would put the United States at the forefront of the move to advance renewable energy resources. "When it comes to wind power, we're making significant progress both onshore and offshore to diversify our nation's domestic energy portfolio and stand up a clean energy economy", he said.

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, said the eastern seaboard could emerge as a pioneer for wind power, while the wind regime in Wyoming could spin the turbines that would make up one of the largest wind farms in the world. He said his Republican counterparts, however, were trying to block some of the steps needed to advance the projects. Republican leaders have pressed the White House for more oil and natural gas drilling.

Cheap wind power tested as Renova starts farms: Corporate Brazil

www.businessweek.com
1 Jul 2012

Renova Energia SA (RNEW11)'s strategy to produce wind power cheaper than anywhere else in the world will be tested as it brings its first turbines online, helping to transform Brazil into the world's fourth-biggest market. Renova, which counts utility Light SA (LIGT3) as among its biggest shareholders, started operating South America's biggest wind farm cluster in northeastern Brazil last week. The company, based in Sao Paulo, plans to build at least six farms next year.

Brazil aims to more than double its capacity to generate wind power next year by harnessing the same weather system that brought Portuguese and Spanish sailors to the continent in the 1500s. Renova is betting its farms can produce energy for as little as a quarter of the price needed to make some European projects viable.

"There's uncertainty over whether these turbines will perform as expected", Unai Otazua Aranguren, director of renewable energy consultant Garrad Hassan Group Ltd.'s Brazil office, said by telephone. "The wind here behaves differently to what we have in Europe and the U.S".

Renova rose 0.3% to 31 reais in Sao Paulo trading on June 29, bringing its year-to-date gain to 16%. It has more than doubled since it first sold shares in 2010. Brazil's government is promoting wind and other renewable energy projects in a bid to diversify away from hydroelectric plants, which account for 66% of the nation's installed capacity. Wind farms can help shore up the supply of electricity in drier months when dam reservoirs diminish.

Read More…

Wasting carbon tax cash on the living dead

www.climatespectator.com.au
2 Jul 2012

Have you heard the joke about the government that set up a carbon tax to reduce emissions but then spent nearly $100 million days before the scheme started to try to stop it from reducing emissions? Yes, it really happened. In one of the greatest examples of throwing good money after bad, the federal government provided $50 million to prop-up the Energy Brix brown coal power station and briquette plant which commenced operation in 1956; and in conjunction with the Victorian government, threw $40 million at Alcoa's 1963 Point Henry Geelong aluminium smelter-all on Friday. By the way the money for Energy Brix is on top of around $100m they'll receive in cash and free permits out of the Government's Energy Security Fund. Closure of these two plants would have been one of the quickest and lowest cost forms of greenhouse gas abatement the country had at its disposal.

Alcoa's Point Henry Smelter has been living off the generosity of other Victorians for three decades now. Thanks to what one former member of the Hamer Victorian government called a "collective moment of insanity", in the early 1980s the Victorian government committed itself to an electricity supply contract that has provided Alcoa with hugely subsidised electricity. The deal was so good for Alcoa and so bad for other Victorians that current Liberal Party Federal President Alan Stockdale described it as "manifestly unjust". Energy Brix and its associated briquette factory is the oldest fossil fuel power plant operating in the country, originally commencing production in 1956. It is also the third most polluting per unit of electricity generated, being just a shade better than Hazelwood-the most carbon intensive plant in the developed world. What's worse is that it also produces brown coal briquettes which are then used to fire boilers that might have switched to less pollution intensive fuels, were briquettes unavailable. Or alternatively production locations might have shifted to areas where gas was available.

Energy Brix is well past retirement age and should have been put out to pasture years ago. For a long-time, industry participants have looked at Energy Brix and seen a creaking, sub-economic scale power station; and a briquette factory that was museum piece from the time before gas was discovered in Bass Strait. But what they could also see was an option or gambling stake on lots of free carbon permits from the government that they could cash-in, after finally putting the plant out of its misery.

As early as the 1990s it was widely expected within the power industry that government would ultimately introduce a carbon trading scheme. At the same time many hoped, and furiously lobbied for, government to allocate the carbon permits based on historical levels of pollution.

For those owners of sub-economic scale or very old coal power plants that were on the verge of closure, this created an incredibly perverse incentive. Essentially you would invest as little as possible to keep the highly polluting plant just creaking over so you could lay claim to lots of free permits under a future carbon trading scheme. Once these free permits were in the bag, you could cash-in the chips so to speak even though you had no genuine plans to keep plant running over the long-term. As an illustration, a fire went through the briquette plant in December 2003, and rather than invest to restore the plant to full operation, they instead have just continued to run the plant at a fraction of its full capacity. Of course this was after putting its hand out to the Victorian government (something HRL seem to be rather practiced in) for $5.2 million dollars, which the government rejected.

Meanwhile during the same week the Baillieu government was bailing out aluminium workers, it has informed all staff working on renewable energy within Sustainability Victoria to pack up their desks. With the renewable energy industry about to invest close to $20 billion over the next eight years, Climate Spectator has been informed by government sources that there are now just two people within the Victorian government dedicated full-time to supporting renewable energy investment.

While South Australia has captured billions in power project investments and lower electricity prices thanks to renewable energy, it appears as if the Victorian government is resolutely determined to cut its nose to spite its face. In spite of the carbon tax finally becoming a reality, it appears as if a smoke-affected, near terminal job in the hand, is worth more than two clean energy jobs in the bush.