US Dept. of Energy Wants Bigger Wind Energy Ideas 252
coondoggie writes "The Department of Energy wants to kick up the research and development of offshore wind projects as it looks to achieve its goal of producing 20% of the country's electricity from wind farms by 2030. The DOE Wind Program is looking to focus on what it calls specific advanced technology, gigawatt-scale demonstration projects that can be carried out by partnerships with a wide range of eligible organizations and stimulate cost-effective offshore wind energy deployment in coastal and Great Lakes regions of the country. The agency is also looking for more research that can help address market barriers in order to facilitate deployment and reduce technical challenges facing the entire industry, as well as technology that will reduce cost of offshore wind energy through innovation and testing."
My Opinion, More BFE Buffalo Ridge Projects (Score:5, Interesting)
Xcel has contracted an additional three hundred megawatts of wind energy by 2010 and must obtain ten percent of its own electricity from renewable sources by 2015. Xcel is expected to increase its wind power contracts from 302 megawatts to one 1125 megawatts by 2010.
If you're worried about avian species, Wikipedia quotes two studies that found in seven months a death of 1.1 to 1.4 birds killed per windmill. Bats are higher but it's lower than bat deaths related to lighthouses, communication towers, tall buildings, power lines, and fences. So while unfortunate, it could probably be viewed as acceptable.
The advancements in turbine technology and infrastructure will always be needed but to answer the DOE's "Annual installations need to increase more than threefold." Why don't they just buy up a bunch of (relatively) cheap farmland in Minnesota? I think you can get away with negotiating the small plot of land they use and service roads through fields while still letting the bulk of the land be used for farming. Farmers already maneuver around sloughs that rise and fall with the water table. I don't know how the rights to offshore wind farms work or what the costs to permits are but it seems like you'd just have a strip of them so why not just do a huge block out in the middle of nowhere instead?
You can see which states really took off with wind power [wikimedia.org], I don't know why you're highlighting coastal areas and the Great Lakes when Colorado and Texas have demonstrated an equally large potential.
I got one.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Spend money on designing a Very simple.. I.E. single moving part. and efficient design that can be replicated in a garage with trash for nearly nothing.
Some of the vertical turbine types that do not follow the wind are interesting but need work.
make wind power super cheap to build out of trash or common materials, easy to build yourself....
That will be the BIGGEST wind idea to ever exist. make it so anyone can build a couple of 500watt generators in a weekend and you suddenly will have every farm and suburbia home with them.
Lots of smaller ones providing power for local sources are far more efficient than a single HUGE one trying to produce enough for a community.
NIMBY (Score:5, Interesting)
I hope the offshore aspect solves the NIMBY mentality I often encounter whenever wind energy comes up.
Here's an example. One of my colleagues bought a lakefront property in rural Ontario. A couple of years later, a farmer on the *other side* of the lake leased land to a wind energy provider. They pay $10k per turbine per year, so ten of them went up. My colleague sold his property shortly thereafter, saying that he couldn't stand the turbines.
Can anyone explain this? I'm genuinely curious to know why some people dislike turbines.
Getting the rest of the government on board (Score:3, Interesting)
Well as soon as DOE can convince FAA and the Air Force [aero-news.net] to stop blocking projects [bizjournals.com] perhaps we can make some progress.
Its a little frightening that a non-emitting source could so easily fool radar and the best solution either agency has is to block wind farms.
Then there is the BLM and their restrictive access polices, not to mention the Kennedy clan.
There are some obvious problems with wind (hot calm days), but tied to an efficient national grid much of these should be manageable.
Re:My Opinion, More BFE Buffalo Ridge Projects (Score:5, Interesting)
Why don't they just buy up a bunch of (relatively) cheap farmland in Minnesota?
Because it is almost impossible in the current legal climate to build the power lines from rural areas into the cities where the power is needed and can be sold at a price high enough to finance the project. There are a LOT of transmission line projects on drawing boards across the country all tied up in endless legal disputes and injunctions. There are complaints from environmental groups about lines going through wetlands, forests, and virtually any other habitat. Complaints from pseudoscience scaremongers about lines going through populated areas giving off "toxic radiation". Complaints from towns, villages, homeowners associations about nearby power lines decreasing property values. Endless permits, plans, documents, studies to upgrade the lines on existing right-of-ways. Every inch of the process is an uphill battle for the power companies, and a huge multi-hundred million dollar project can be held up or torpedoed by any judge in any district along the planned path of the line forcing expensive delays or re-designs. The few major lines that have been built in recent history have taken decades from the first plans to in-service and actually cost more money in legal costs than the cost entire planning, engineering and construction combined.
It is terribly frustrating for those of us in this industry. We know what needs to be done and many ways that it can be done, but our hands are tied.
Re:Three words: (Score:3, Interesting)
First, they are generally not self starting which means you won't find cheap-o models at Wallmart to put in back of your house. They need wind sensors, electronic controllers, and motor/breaking control, and an alternate electrical power source, just to get started. Once moving they are self sustaining.
Two, they are subject to parasympathetic harmonic oscillations, which eventually lead to catastrophic self destruction. Its part of the physics of the design, as each forward blade produces shock waves in the air stream that hit the rear blades. That also makes them noisy. I have heard of even some 'aircraft quality epoxy-kevlar blades' self destructing after only one years use. I tried to get the laboratory to try again with some suggested design modifications and they basically blew me off because they were "done with it" (the project). No amount of persuasion was going to change anything, even on my own dime.
Three, in high wind situations they don't have a good mechanism for dealing with the 'high energy' situation. Horizontal systems can turn their blades, or rotate sideways (yaw) to reduce the surface area of the blades, but vertical systems can't. Mechanical breaking systems, used to stop all motion, seems to be the only option, and that produces zero power just when the most energy is available.
I can solve 1,2 on the drawing board at home, but have been held up by #3. If you can solve all three of the above, then I agree with you. They rock. But I won't hold my breath for anyone to solve all three without some major research funding. Even so, no amount of money can 'give you an idea', that has to happen all on its own.
Re:My Opinion, More BFE Buffalo Ridge Projects (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hydraulic Lifts Pull Them Down Into Water (Score:3, Interesting)
Sadly, while North Dakota has the most potential for wind power in the US, its grid was built and designed by a bunch of Co-ops that were interested in getting power to farm houses. As such, it isn't sophisticated enough to be able to be able export any significant amount of power.
If they can upgrade their grid, then North Dakota could be a huge exporter of wind power.
Re:My Opinion, More BFE Buffalo Ridge Projects (Score:3, Interesting)
1) Use a form of power generation that's decentralized and require everyone to come up with their own power.
This is reasonable, and is already in practice through what is called "distributed generation". It is the generation that is provided by rooftop solar panels, backyard wind turbines, sewage/landfill gas turbines and similar small generators. Virtually all power companies have a DG program that allows small producers to connect to the grid and sell power if they choose to.
2) Have all the decisions made by someone central who has the authority to push things through.
I think we need more of this. There is one authority recently granted to the DoE (I believe in the 2005 energy bill) called National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors that begins to address this issue. It gives the Department of Energy some authority in overriding state and local governments and various other legal challenges on major transmission projects when they have met the criteria for being in the "National Interest". There is a one-year period during which anyone can object to the project, there are meetings, reviews, studies, etc and if the benefits outweigh the costs the project continues and the legal challenges are overruled. There hasn't been a major test of this system yet to my knowledge although there are a number of projects nationwide that have been declared to meet the criteria.