World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

April 20, 2003 – Vol.8 No.4

WORLD WIND WATCH.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 200 gigawatts of power could be generated from wind resources on Native American Reservations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska and Minnesota.

With that statistic in mind, the first Native American-owned utility scale wind turbine is now in operation providing electricity for the equivalent of 220 homes. The Rosebud Wind Turbine, to be officially dedicated on May 1, is a 750 kilowatt NEG-Micon turbine built on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota and is the first turbine in a plan to build 30 megawatts of power on the Reservation in two years. The plan is proposed by the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy (COUP) in the hope that wind energy will be the basis for community revitalization and demonstrate the ability of a Northern Plains Tribe to finance, own and operate utility scale grid-connect wind turbines.

Of particular interest is the financing for the turbine. Approximately 25 percent of funds came from the up-front purchase by Native Energy of renewable energy credits - Green Tags. Native Energy is a national marketer of Green Tags, the proceeds from the sale of which are used to build renewable energy capacity. Visit Native Energy at http://www.nativeenergy.com/ .

Now being planned for San Cristrobal Island in the Galapagos Archipelago is 1.8 megawatts of wind energy that will displace 50 percent of the energy now being generated by diesel generators. Expected to begin operation by 2005 to provide power for the four inhabited islands, the project is being undertaken by e7, an organization of power companies representing the G7 industrialized nations which collectively promote sustainable development .

The e7 members involved in the project for the environmentally sensitive islands are American Electric Power (AEP), Electricite de France, Enel, Hydro-Quebec, Ontario Power Generation, RWE and Scottish Power.

In a complementary project e7 will provide solar systems to be installed in facilities such as schools to improve Internet connections to assist in the e7’s Micro-Solar Distance Learning Program. Visit AEP at http://www.aep.com/ , e7 at http://www.e7.org/.

As part of its effort to have 600 megawatts of new wind capacity up and running by the end of the year, FPL Energy has officially announced the construction of 3 new wind farms. A 21 megawatt facility near Klum, North Dakota ( mentioned ENERGIES of 4/6/03), a 51 megawatt facility near Woodward in Oklahoma, and the 63 megawatt project first announced almost a year ago for Clinton and Canaan Townships in Pennsylvania. FPL needs to get building quickly. The company is due to take delivery of more than 300 GE Wind Energy 1.5 megawatt turbines this year. Visit FPL Energy at http://www.fplenergy.com/ .

With locations such as the North American Arctic (with extreme wind and cold), oceanside properties (corrosive salty air, intense sunshine, heat and humidity), and urban rooftops in mind for possible applications, McKenzie Bay International, through its Dermond subsidiary, will continue to develop three prototypes of its 75-kilowatt Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. To push development further along, the company has received a CDN $300,000 ($207,000) grant from the National Research Council of Canada. Visit McKenzie Bay at http://www.mckenziebay.com/ .