World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

June 25, 2006 – Vol.11 No.14

WORLD WIND WATCH.

Canada has some of the best wind resources in the world. (It also has, tied up in the oil sands of Alberta, some of the largest oil reserves, large natural gas reserves, and large hydropower capacity.)

The country has joined the over-one-thousand-megawatt club with 1049 megawatts of wind capacity now in place. Together the provinces have 9000 megawatts of wind power planned for development by 2015. Only the province of British Columbia has no installed wind capacity at this time.

Canada is now the 12th country with over a gigawatt of grid-connected wind capacity. Visit the Canadian wind energy association at http://www.CANwea.org/

Airtricity has placed a hefty order with General Electric for 500 megawatts of nameplate wind turbine capacity: 333 1.5 megawatt turbines. The turbines, valued at $550 million, will be delivered in 2008 to help meet Airtricity’s ambitious building program.

But the order will meet only a fraction of the capacity Airtricity plans to build.

The company has 4500 megawatts in the development pipeline for wind projects in Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Mexico, California, Canada as well as Ireland and the rest of Europe. The company will be seeking similar turbine procurement deals to build those projects.

Visit Airtricity at http://www.airtricity.com/ GE at http://www.gepower.com/

Though plans aren’t confirmed, pumped hydro energy storage might be included to store wind energy from non-peak periods in a project being developed in the State of Hawaii.

Shell WindEnergy has announced plans to build a $200 million-plus wind project on the Ulupalakua Ranch on the island of Maui. The first phase of the Auwahi wind project would provide up to 40 megawatts by 2008 if construction permits are approved. A remote corner of the 20,000 acre Ulupalakua Ranch was chosen for the site because of the exceptionally strong breezes and its minimal visual impact.

Renewable Energy Hawaii, a subsidiary of the Hawaiian Electric Company, provided the concept of including pumped storage for the Auwahi wind project. When the wind turbines produce unneeded power, water would be pumped uphill to a man-made lake. Released when power is needed, the water would then cascade downhill through hydroelectric turbines to generate electricity.

Visit Shell at http://www.shell.com/ Renewable Hawaii at http://www.renewablehawaii.com/RenewableHawaii/home/

Wind energy can end up in the most unusual places.

Gold from Canada’s Klondike gold fields in the Yukon Territory has been mined since 1896. Now in exploring the possibility of another mine in the region, Klondike Star Mineral Corporation is considering wind power to provide electric power for mining operations.

The company has installed a wind monitoring tower and equipment (that itself is powered by a small wind turbine) and if all goes well Klondike will consider building a 5 -10 megawatt wind generating facility near the proposed mine. Visit Klondike at http://www.klondikestar.com/

Here are a few specifics about Southwest Windpower’s new Skystream 3.7 residential wind turbine.

-- Rated capacity 1.8 kilowatts

-- Rotor diameter 12 feet

-- Cut-in speed 8 miles per hour/ 3.5 meters per second

-- Rated wind speed 20 mph/ 9 mps

-- Survival speed 140 mph/ 63 mps

-- Grid feeding 120/240 Volts AC

-- Towers available 35 -110 feet (or taller)

-- Cost $8000 - 10,000 to purchase and install

-- Payback (on average per Southwest calculations) 5-12 years

Visit Southwest Windpower at http://www.windenergy.com/