World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

November 30, 2003 – Vol.8 No.36

WORLD WIND WATCH.

Other than its name and brief description, no further information seems to available about an invention known as a PWPG or Propless Wind Power Generator.

What IS significant about this invention is its inventor - Alvin Snaper. (If the name doesn’t ring a bell he’s the inventor of Tang (powdered orange juice first used by U.S. astronauts in the 1960’s) and the IBM Selectric Type Ball (remember typewriters?)) He has a respectable 600 patents to his name.)

We’ll have to wait to determine exactly what a PWPG is and how it works.

Mr. Snaper has agreed to transfer all his legal rights to the technology to Capstone International, which is not related to Capstone Turbine, the micro-turbine maker.

Snaper will continue to develop the PWPG and Capstone plans to market the invention in the distributed generation market. Visit Capstone International at http://members/rogers.com/capstone, for Alvin Snaper http://members/rogers.com/capstone/inventor/htm .

Irish green energy company Airtricity - with GE Wind Energy the developers of the 500-plus megawatt Arklow Bank wind farm in the Irish Sea - has partnered with U.S. company Ridgeline Energy with the goal to build 300 megawatts of new wind capacity in the states of Utah and Idaho. The new company, Ridgeline Airtricity, says the first 150 megawatts should be underway in 2004. Visit Airtricity at http://www.airtricity.com/

Dupont Canada, an extension of the U.S. chemical giant, is considering a small wind farm at its Invista facility in Kingston, Ontario.

A wind monitoring tower has been erected at the site and if wind resources prove ample, a four-turbine wind farm would be built. Most of the wind-generated electricity would be used in Invista operations, but the company would sell about 20-percent of the power to the local community. That 20-percent would supply enough power for 500 homes.

Things don’t always go swimmingly for wind energy (or any renewables for that matter.) First, the U.S. energy bill, with production tax credits for wind energy included, ran into roadblocks in the Senate until detours, and new vote for a way around them, are made next year.

Now, the German parliament may pass a bill that would halt construction of about 25-percent of all wind projects now in their early stages of development, according to Reuters.

The bill was drafted by the federal economy and environment ministries. The rationale behind the bill is not known.