World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

May 7, 2006 – Vol.11 No.7

WORLD WIND WATCH.

The Cape Wind 420-megawatt offshore wind project for waters off Massachusetts is being stalled by oceanfront residents concerned about turbines in their expensive, but distant, views.

Residents of Gulf of Mexico front property may be more accommodating to permanent structures in the distance since some can already be seen - oil and gas rigs. Gulf Coast residents too recognize the importance of energy; it’s the local industry.

The Texas General Land Office (GLO) has given Superior Renewable Energy the rights to develop 39,900 acres of submerged lands in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Padre Island and south of Baffin Bay for a planned 500-megawatt wind farm.

It will be the largest wind farm in the US, if built

The GLO lease gives Superior a four-year period for research, analysis and approvals with the intent to begin building at least 250 megawatts of wind capacity at the end of the period. The company plans to expand the project to the full 500 megawatts. The terms of the lease include avian studies prior to construction and adherence to mitigation strategies before construction and when the farm is operating.

The Superior project will be the second planned for the Gulf of Mexico. Research for the $26.5 million Galveston-Offshore Wind, to be built by Louisiana-based Wind Energy Systems Technologies is already underway. Visit the GLO at http://www.glo.state.tx.us/

Wind energy continues to flourish on the prairie land of the central US. The newest and largest wind farm in the state of Kansas is now officially online.

The 150-megawatt Elk River Wind Power Project in Butler County with 150 General Electric 1.5 megawatt turbines, owned by PPM Energy of Portland, Oregon, should produce 550,000 megawatt-hours of energy each year - enough power for 42,000 homes.

All of the power is sold to Empire District Electric Company. Since power from completed portions of Elk River first came online in late 2005 Empire has saved more than $ 7.5 million. The company says it pays 64 percent less for electricity from Elk River than it would have by purchasing it from conventional resources. Visit PPM Energy at http://www.ppmenergy.com/ and Empire at http://www.empiredistrict.com/

Today’s youth are tomorrow's leaders in business and government. What they learn today they’ll remember as adults.

Illinois’ Erie Community School District No.1 will have a 1.2 megawatt wind turbine installed courtesy of Johnson Controls and a $720,000 grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Foundation.

The turbine, to be installed beginning in June, will decrease the school district’s purchased energy consumption by 87 percent and save approximately $5.5 million over 30 years.

Power from the turbine will be used to energize the elementary, middle and high schools as well as other school buildings. The school district covers Whiteside, Rock Island and Henry Counties in Illinois. Johnson Controls and the school district will collaborate on an education and communication program for the wind project. Visit Johnson Controls at http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/