Related Posts for wind
November 24, 2009
From the Anchorage Daily News: Cook Inlet Region Inc. recently lost its key partner in the Fire Island wind project, but the company plans to spend millions to get the wind farm built and generating electricity in Anchorage by the end of 2011. Citing mismatched business goals as the reason for the split, the Anchorage Native corporation said that it and California-based EnXco, agreed to part ways in October. Until then, EnXco had been the developer of the 54-megawatt wind farm and CIRI’s equity partner in the project. CIRI said it hopes to sign a deal with another well-known wind farm developer in early December. CIRI can fund the project without an equity partner, if need be, said Ethan Schutt, a CIRI vice president for land and energy. Read more
November 24, 2009
From APRN: NOAA’s Juneau facilities are going green in an effort to reduce diesel fuel consumption by 75 percent. The maintenance staff is busy making mechanical modifications to buildings, installing pumps to extract heat from seawater, and putting up a mini-farm of wind turbines with a unique design. To listen to the story, click here
November 13, 2009
A few snippets from an interesting Scientific American article:
BRIGHTON, Colo. – The low-carbon economy has already arrived on the windy prairie north of this fast-growing Denver ‘burb. It’s here that Danish wind-turbine giant Vestas converted 298 acres of hayfield into the West’s largest turbine factory – and turned Brighton into a magnet for “green” energy companies. It’s part of a $1 billion investment by the company in the United States, what Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter touts as a “new energy economy.” Some say these efforts – not the upcoming Copenhagen climate treaty talks – provide the most promising route to energy independence, climate change mitigation and job creation.
China intends to invest $1 million an hour for the next decade – $88 billion in all – in green technologies. The Energy Department expects solar and wind to balloon into a $3.5 trillion market. President Obama last month offered up $3.4 billion in matching grants to hasten development of a “smart grid” in the United States. “What’s truly amazing is the amount of investment flowing into green technology in the absence of any price signal,” said Kristen Sheeran, director of the Economics for Equity and the Environment Network. “It’s clear we’ll continue to see these kinds of investments flowing into green technology, if for no other reason that the Chinese are doing it … and U.S. producers are realizing this is where the future is going to be made.” Read more
October 19, 2009
From the Wall Street Journal: Iowa has become the second-largest producer of wind power in the U.S., and some credit an aggressive and supportive role played by local government. That support is seen in numerous ways: Wind-energy producers and equipment makers enjoy state tax breaks, and projects of 25 megawatts or smaller don’t need to be certified by the utilities board. In addition, producers know ahead of time that they will be able to recover their costs from customers, which makes them more likely to invest. Iowa counties, meanwhile, appreciate the revenue and the jobs that wind farms produce, and have few zoning regulations for wind turbines. Read more
October 17, 2009
From Margaret Bauman of the Alaska Journal of Commerce: Plans for its newly proposed coal-powered plant are grabbing headlines, but Cook Inlet Region Inc., an Alaska Native regional corporation headquartered in Anchorage, is still moving firmly ahead with plans for a multi-million dollar wind power project on Fire Island by 2011.
“We anticipate this will be enough to power 19,500 households,” said Jim Jager, director of corporate communications for CIRI. “It’s a big enough chunk of energy that you don’t want to say ‘no’ to it.”
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October 12, 2009
FROM KUCB Radio: The windy fall weather is providing electricity to some community members. Two new vertical wind turbines were recently installed in Unalaska. The vertical helix-shaped blades are designed to catch wind in all directions. Unlike horizontal turbines, they don’t require motors that can break or wear out to reorient them for rapidly changing wind directions. Helix Wind CEO Ian Gardner explained that wind can even be angled up or down and the unit will still produce power. “Because the blades spin on a vertical axis, whatever direction the wind comes from, it catches the blade scoops. With a propeller style unit it has to come from the front of the blades. If it comes in from any other angle, the blades won’t spin. That’s why the helix unit, because it takes it from every direction, is more beneficial.” Read more
October 1, 2009
From the Homer Tribune: The owners of Bear Creek Winery and Lodging are some of the first in town to install a wind system, hoping to generate enough electricity to operate equipment in the winery – including keeping the building warm enough to allow the wine to ferment. Dorothy and Bill Fry, who established Bear Creek five years ago, set up a 70-foot wind tower at the winery on Friday. Installed by Alaska Wind Industries, the turbine has already generated 12.4 kilowatts. That’s enough to produce 400 kilowatts per month; enough to supply a small house, approximately 900 square feet. Read more
September 30, 2009
The USDA has awarded a $20,000 Rural Energy for American Program grant to Choggiung, Ltd. to install a 15kW wind turbine at the Dillingham courthouse. Choggiung, a Native village corporation headquartered in Dillingham, owns the courthouse, and leases it back to the state. The 40-foot tall turbine will be installed next spring and is expected to generate over 42,000 kilowatt-hours annually displacing almost 66 percent of the building’s annual electricity load and saving about $20,000 per year. A typical home, in comparison, uses about 11,000 kilowatt-hours per year.
The total cost of the project, including the grant, will be about $120,000, Choggiung CEO Doug Calaway said. Anchorage-based Renewable Energy Systems will be installing the turbine, he said. For more information, contact Calaway at dcalaway@choggiung.com For more information about the Rural Energy for America Program, contact Chad Stovall, Business and Energy Specialist at the USDA office in Palmer, at 761-7718 or chad.stovall@ak.usda.gov.
September 18, 2009
ESBJERG, Denmark (Reuters) – Denmark on Thursday inaugurated the world’s biggest offshore wind farm in time to serve as a showcase of its green technological prowess before a global climate conference in Copenhagen in December. The 91-turbine Horns Rev 2 wind farm off the west coast of Jutland in the North Sea will generate enough electricity for 200,000 Danish households.
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September 18, 2009
Vermont Public Radio talked with Vermont Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie and Alaska Village Electric Cooperative President Meera Kohler about a trip this week to tour wind projects at Gambell and Unalakleet. REAP Executive Director Chris Rose also toured the sites. In the public radio interview, Kohler notes the high cost of energy in Alaska is one of the driving forces behind wind projects here.
Vermont Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie and Alaska Lt. Gov Craig Campbell tour wind turbines in Gambell
Northern Power Systems wind turbines under assembly in Unalakleet
Consumers in the villages are paying, on average, 62 cents per kilowatt hour – that’s roughly 6 times what Vermonters pay. She says the turbines can cut these costs by at least 20%. “Our villages are very, very small – the average population is about 400 – and they’re completely reliant on diesel for electrical generation. So as a result, if you can imagine when the cost of diesel spiked the cost of electricity went right along with it…so it’s really a huge economic burden to be reliant upon diesel.”
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Alaska Dispatch’s Rena Delbridge and the Rutland Herald in Vermont also carried reports on the trip.
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