World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

November 28, 2004 – Vol.9 No.36

WORLD WIND WATCH.

GE Energy keeps up its pace. The company has announced it will supply 207, 1.5 megawatt wind turbines for MidAmerican Energy Company’s 310.5-megawatt project in Iowa.

The project will be built in two sites covering about 20,000 acres leased from area farmers. The land beneath the turbines will still be used for farming and ranching. The project will be one of largest in the world.

The 1.5 megawatt turbines are among the most widely sold on the planet as well as being the largest capacity wind turbine assembled in the U.S.

MidAmerican expects the project to be completed by the end of 2005 and will take advantage of the recently renewed production tax credit (PTC) for wind energy. Project developers are enXco and Clipper Wind Energy.

Iowa’s long term plan is to have 1000 megawatts of wind energy installed by 2010.

Far away in Pakistan, New Park Energy Ltd (NPE) has also made a commitment to build 1000-megawatts of wind generating capacity, and GE Energy will help them meet that goal.

In the first phase of an NPE 400-megawatt project, GE will supply 30, 1.5 megawatt turbines for 45-megawatts of nameplate capacity. All phases of the NPE project are expected to be complete by 2007.

Pakistan’s Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) forecasts 1800 -2700 megawatts of wind energy to be installed by 2015 at a rate of 170-270 megawatts each year.

Visit GE Energy at http://www.gewind.com/ , MidAmerican at http://www.midamericanenergy.com/ , enXco at http://www.enxco.com/ , Clipper Wind at http://www.clipperwind.com/ and the AEDB at http://www.aedb.org/ .

If permitting goes smoothly, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) will be purchasing the 150-megawatt Hopkins Ridge Wind Project now being pursued by Blue Sky Wind, an affiliate of RES America Development and Renewable Energy Systems of the U.K.

Hopkins Ridge, to be built on 11,000 acres of wheat fields near Dayton, Washington is scheduled to have 80, 1.8 megawatt turbines. If all permits are issued, the project, which will cost PSE about $200 million, will be completed by late 2005 or sometime in 2006.

The Hopkins project will build PSE’s power generation portfolio to nearly 400 megawatts of wind-generated electricity. The company already has plans to buy the 230-megawatt Wild Horse Wind Power Project in Kittitias County, Washington state.

The company has an internal goal to meet 5 percent of its customers’ total electricity needs by 2013. Visit PSE at http://www.pse.com/ and Blue Sky Wind at http://www.blueskywind.com/ .

According to a news report from Reuters, Siemens has big plans for its newly purchased wind energy company, Bonus. Siemens wants to nearly dethrone Vestas as the world market share leader in wind energy.

By the end of 2004 Vestas had about 33 percent of market share, but has plans to build that to 35 percent. Siemens thinks with Bonus it can eventually achieve a 30 percent share. Bonus now has only 6.6 percent.

Other companies are likely keeping a close eye on the Siemens/Bonus team concerning their share of world sales. General Electric has 18 percent of the global market, Germany’s Enercon 15 percent and Spain’s Gamesa 11.5 percent.

Competition is as good for wind energy as it is for any business. Competition will force prices down and technology and services up. Visit Bonus at http://www.bonus.dk/ .

Also according to Reuters, electric utility company CLP Holdings of Hong Kong plans to build renewable energy generating capacity despite its higher cost and lower return on investment.

The company plans to add 600 megawatts of wind and hydro capacity by 2010 to meet a target of nearly 5 percent renewables by then.

The first project will be a 27-megawatt facility to be built with partner Huaneng Group, a Chinese independent power producer. The 247 million yuan ($29.8 million) project will be in the northeastern province of Shandong.