Green Options

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about China’s new policy to focus on buying (almost entirely) “China-grown” wind turbines and wind turbine technologies with Chinese patents. That policy wasn’t a big hit internationally and China is back-tracking.

However, is it changing its stance out of international moral pressure or a major financial incentive (recent deal) in the US? And who is to benefit the most from this shift?

Big shifts seem to be stirring in the wind turbine market. Foreign companies are backing out of China due to China’s move to use more home-grown technology. At the same time, China is looking to expand its wind turbine sales into Europe.

The state of Massachusetts is hunting for unusual places to put wind turbines as it looks to meet an ambitious goal of producing 2,000 megawatts of windpower by 2020.

The Associated Press reports that state officials are encouraging municipal planners to look at using capped landfills as potential wind farm locations. Plans were also just announced for a military reservation on Cape Cod.

The state is hoping to jump start development, because right now, the AP reports, there are only 11 commercial scale turbines in the state. But, ther are dozens of smaller ones installed and nearly 200 other projects in various stages of planning.

A wind farm that was planned for the upstate New York town of Beekmantown and shot down by town officials after a collapse of a turbine at a nearby park, may be back on again.

A new developer has submitted plans to the town, the Plattsburgh Press-Republican reports. The town council voted down a plan submitted by Windhorse Power LLC in March. Among the reasons cited were contentious lawsuits filed by residents, inaction by Windhorse Power and fears of an incident similar to a turbine collapse in neighboring Altona.

In a news update that should surprise no one, officials now say that the destruction of a £1 million wind turbine in the UK last month was not caused by a UFO. Despite local reports of a “massive ball of light with tentacles going right down to the ground”, the turbine’s manufacturer believes that material fatigue is responsible for a 65 foot blade flying off the device.

The idea that wind turbines can cause health problems isn’t new, but now a fresh crop of complaints is appearing in Japan. Asahi Shimbun reports that over 70 people living near turbines in the country have supposedly fallen sick due to a mysterious “wind turbine disease”.

Worcester County Jail is jumping on the renewable energy bandwagon and installing a wind turbine test tower for a 12 month trial. The 160 foot tall meteorological tower will gauge wind speed, direction, and turbulence at the prison site. Noise levels, environmental area, and air space will also be evaluated.

Off-shore wind power could generate enough electricity to supply every home in the UK by the end of the next decade, the government announced.

One of 30 wind turbines in the Kentish Flats wind farm, which produces up to 90 MW of renewable energy for the UK.

Another 5,000-7,000 wind turbines could generate enough electricity by next decade, concludes a British government energy department study.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change study concluded that another 5,000-7,000 wind turbines could be built off the coast by 2020, generating 25 GW of energy, equivalent to 25 large coal-fired power stations. The new capacity would be on top of 8GW already being built or in planning, making a total of 33GW.

The results of the year-long research into the geology, birds and marine life goes even further than the Carbon Trust, a company set up by government to help businesses reduce carbon emissions, which last year said the UK could build a total 29GW of off-shore wind.

However, the announcement was clouded by claims from the energy company E.ON that the economics of what is the UK’s biggest current off-shore wind project, the London Array off the coast of Kent and Essex, were “on a knife edge”.

The first turbines designed specifically for offshore wind energy are finally ready for deployment in Germany after 10 years of development. Areva’s turbines are waterproofed, light, and have a simplified design— meaning they are easy to install and maintain. At full power, each 5MW turbine can supply enough energy for 5,000 homes.

Finding the space for wind turbines in urban areas is difficult—even for vertical turbines like Mariah Power’s Windspire. But a new design from Sridhar Condoor could drastically reduce the space requirements for wind turbines. Condoor’s turbine is hollow, cylindrical, and lacks a central hub. Its hollowness allows it to be placed around existing objects— so you could literally have a tree-hugging turbine.

Mini turbines will be installed inside the UK’s gas pipeline grid later this year in an attempt to gather energy from pipeline pressure. The set-up will be tested in east London and should produce 20MW by 2010. If successful, future installations across the country could produce up to 1GW. That’s the same amount of power produced by a coal or nuclear power station.