World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

May 28, 2006 – Vol.11 No.10

WORLD WIND WATCH.

There’s nothing particularly attractive about a coal-fired power plant: a bunch of boxy buildings, a jumble of wires and transformers and big piles of coal. Pretty much the same thing can be said for nuke or natural gas power plants, without the coal of course. Of all the conventional energy sources, only hydroelectric plants have some beauty; and that usually relates to the lake behind the dam.

(This is all subjective of course. Some people may find big piles of coal a thing of great beauty.)

Wind turbines on the other hand are genuinely attractive pieces of industrial art. And it’s not that they’re designed to be pretty, it’s just that things that need to work with flowing air tend to be attractive: birds for instance, or sailboats, or airplanes.

Unfortunately for wind turbines, while they may be attractive in themselves all too often the places where they need to be installed to generate the most power are also attractive, the ridge of a mountain top, rolling green pastures, or on the ocean’s horizon.

As seen with the objections to the Cape Wind offshore wind farm proposed for waters off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, many people are not yet convinced that attractive machines can be planted in the midst of a pretty view.

REimaginations has set out to help convince people that renewable energy can be attractive and has the first showing of renewable energy art at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) conference being held June 4-7, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The showing, the Inaugural Wind Energy Art Exhibit, will include original works of art featuring wind turbines. Many of the pieces will be for sale at the conference or available by way of the REimaginations website. Price ranges vary and some works are available as prints, posters and cards. (The cards might make eye-catching greeting cards or promotional mailers.)

REimaginations has plans to include other renewable energies as art in the future. Visit them at http://www.REimaginations.com/

GE Energy announced that it would invest $50 million over the next five years in environmental technology research at its China Technology Center in Shanghai. The research will be focused on energy, water, rail, aviation and lighting opportunities. GE will also get research assistance from Tsinghua University.

Even before the new investment GE says its has a significant industrial presence in China: 700 megawatts of new wind capacity on schedule to be installed. Visit GE Energy at http://www.gepower.com/

Vestas Wind Systems, like GE and just about every other company on the planet, has a growing footprint in China. Vestas has a blade factory that is set to go into production and in about a year the company will have a factory to assemble nacelles and hubs in the same industrial area as the blade factory - the Tiajin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA).

Now, the company has announced a third factory to be built, also in TEDA.

The new one will be to manufacture generators for its wind turbines. The new facility, to be ready for production by the second quarter of 2007, will be able to build 350, 2-megawatt generators per year. The shop will be at full production capacity the moment it opens its doors. The facility will employ about 75 initially. Visit Vestas at http://www.vestas.com/