World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

June 6, 2004 – Vol.9 No.11

WORLD WIND WATCH.

Portugal has a national policy stating that by 2010 more than 39 percent of the nation’s energy supply will come from renewables. As part of that goal, installed wind capacity must reach 3750 megawatts by then.

The nation has work to do. As of the end of 2003 only 300 megawatts of wind energy had been installed.

Still, capacity is beginning to build.

GE Wind Energy has announced that it will be supplying nine, 1.5 megawatt turbines for a new wind farm known as Parque Eolico de Alagoa de Cima to be built in the northwestern portion of the country about 39 kilometers from the Spanish border.

All of the turbines will be installed by the end of the year by GE which will also be responsible for operation and maintenance for at least two years. All of the power will be sold to Electricidade de Portugal (EDP). Visit GE at http://www.gewind.com/

Gamesa has announced that it has sold 31, G80 - 2.0 megawatt turbines to be installed in two wind farms slated to begin construction in Japan in 2005.

The wind farms at Noheji and Kitanosawa in the Tohoku area will be built by Eurus Energy Japan Corporation, a subsidiary of Eurus Energy Holdings (EHH) which is partnership of Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) and the Tomen Corporation.

Visit Gamesa at http://www.gamesa.es/ .

Northern Power Systems has signed a $2 million cooperative, cost-shared agreement with U.S. Department of Energy to revamp the company’s NorthWind (tm) 100 kilowatt wind turbine.

The research and development program will, in the end, be building a next generation turbine with blades, generator and power electronics all re-engineered.

Northern will also have team partner with considerable experience in the project - the Wind Energy segment of GE Energy.

The Northern team (which includes GE) will be responsible 30 percent of the program costs.

It’s just speculative, but at the end of the project GE might have a small capacity wind turbine to include in its renewable energy product line of grid-scale wind turbines, solar systems, hydro systems and biogas generation products. Visit Northern Power at http://www.northernpower.com/

Despite offering pollution free power, wind energy can cause damage to ecosystems. That is, bird kills are possible. Proper studies must be undertaken before wind turbines are erected.

As part of an effort to remove the fossil fuel generators now supplying power to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, Ecology and Environment Inc. has won a contract to develop Environmental Management Plans and prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment for a proposed wind farm on San Cristobal Island.

The project, which will supply 70 percent of the electrical energy needs of the island, will include detailed mapping and socioeconomic baseline, public consultation, coordination with a scientific advisory committee and permit applications. Of particular interest in the scope of the preparatory project will be to study the influence of wind turbines on bird populations there.

Wind energy is also being considered for the other three inhabited islands in the Galapagos Province. Visit Ecology and Environment at http://www.ene.com/ .