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| 30 Nov 2009 04:11:52 pm |
 U.S. should look to old Europe for new energy ideas |
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Remember when the Bush Administration suggested it could ignore Western Europe because the continent was the source of outdated ideas? At least in renewable energy, it's just the opposite: Western European countries are constantly reinventing systems and markets to use more renewable energy more efficiently. We could learn something.
The latest example: Three European energy exchanges have signed a cooperative agreement aimed at creating a single European electricity market. As described in an article posted on Dow Jones news service, APX Group unit APX-Endex, together with Belpex and Nord Pool Spot will develop and implement cross-border electricity trading, using techniques and technology used by the Nordic countries to trade power.
This is a model the United States needs to consider. Integrating wind energy into the grid becomes more feasible the more we unify the balkanized U.S. electricity markets. Electricity could be traded from markets that have a surplus in any given period to those where the wind has died down. Right now those gaps are filled by other generating sources, but a more unified electricity market would give grid operators added flexibility. |
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Category : AWEA News
| Posted By : Chris Madison |
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| 24 Nov 2009 07:37:05 pm |
| A venture capitalist says he lusts for wind |
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That is not a joke. Read this good article about community wind in the Midwest, which also notes the existence of a single turbine adjacent to the Cleveland Browns football stadium.
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Category : AWEA News
| Posted By : Chris Madison |
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| 23 Nov 2009 11:24:16 pm |
| Gearing up in Indiana with wind component maker |
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Next week, on December 1, there will be a celebration near Muncie, Indiana, to mark the "topping off" of construction of a new gearbox manufacturing facility that eventually will employ 450 workers. It is one more sign of how the wind industry is transforming Indiana and the rest of the America, not just by building wind farms, but by manufacturing the components that go into them, and generating skilled manufacturing jobs.
Though not visible like the towers or blades, the gearbox is a critical component of a wind turbine, helping to link the spinning blades with the generator that converts the energy into electricity. Until now, most of the gearboxes installed on U.S. turbines have been manufactured overseas. But Brevini USA is investing in Indiana, based on the prospects that increased use of wind energy in the United states will create a domestic market for the gearboxes. They hope to begin production in 2011, and also hope the U.S. economy has recovered by then.
The wind industry is pressing state legislatures and Congress to adopt pro-wind policies, especially a renewable electricity standard, that will create the demand for wind, and the jobs that go with the new industry.
Brevini said that one of the reasons it came to the Muncie area is the large base of workers possessing mechanical skills. As recently as two or three years ago, workers built transmissions for General Motors and Ford at plants in the city.
Construction of the Brevini building is all but complete. Next month, the company will start hiring staff for the Muncie plant, and sending key personnel for training in Germany. Next year they will begin installing the large, complex machinery used to produce and test the gear boxes, which weigh 43 tons. Next week, though, is the time for celebration. The Brevini facility is located in Park One, Delaware County, Indiana, just off Exit 41 on I-69, 41 miles north of Indianapolis. |
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Category : AWEA News
| Posted By : Chris Madison |
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| 20 Nov 2009 03:24:01 pm |
| RFK Jr. Spreads the message on renewable energy |
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Quote : Last year, America achieved a milestone, building more wind power generation than all new oil and coal generation combined. We have led the world in wind installations for several years, and the wind industry already accounts for more American jobs than coal mining. At one point the U.S. enjoyed global domination of wind turbine manufacturing with great prospects for job creation. Yet today, of the five leading wind turbine manufacturers, only one is American. While Congress dawdles, China is clobbering us. Shenyang Power Group recently inked a deal to be the exclusive supplier of turbines to the largest wind project in the United States, a 36,000 acre, 600 megawatt development in west Texas. The project will create 2,800 new jobs -- 2,400 in China, but only 400 in the United States. As Lu Jinxiang, chief executive of Shenyang's controlling shareholder noted, "This is just the beginning ... [the United States] is an ideal target." China is likewise poised to take away our lead in batteries and electric cars, and has already pulled far ahead of America in automobile fuel efficiency.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
There have been times when all factions of the green movement did not seem to agree on all aspects of policy. But the quote above from a recent column by Robert Kennedy Jr. in The Huffington Post ties all the pieces together perfectly. |
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Category : AWEA News
| Posted By : Chris Madison |
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| 19 Nov 2009 07:26:17 pm |
| Notes From Orlando: Wind industry decisions not made in DC |
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By Guest Blogger Carl Levesque
While AWEA’s Wind Energy Fall Symposium is taking place in a lush, tranquil resort setting in Orlando, Fla., themes emerging here underscore the hard-knocks nature of the industry: Wind power's success is dependent on dynamic market forces and business decisions occurring on the ground and in the field.
Take transmission, one of the most crucial issues confronting the industry. Decisions that control the fate of new transmission lines are being made far away from Capitol Hill and the offices of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). “The action is not taking place in Washington,” said Don Furman, AWEA's President. “It’s taking place at the [independent system operators]. It’s taking place in the states.” The same goes for siting, he noted. And then there are property taxes, which can make or break a project’s bottom line and therefore determine whether or not it will get built at all.
So if the challenges are on the ground, where will the solutions come from? You guessed it—the same place. Toward that end, Furman urged Symposium participants to get involved with their regional advocacy groups.
Just as Furman argued that all siting is local, the session titled “Inside the Supply Chain” underscored the real-world, nuts-and-bolts nature of the industry as well as the complexity of the supply chain. Presenter Cheryl Richards’s company, PPG Industries, manufactures a host of products for the industry, including fiberglass and coatings. Such products get sent to component manufacturers, who then pass their finished product on to the turbine producer. It really is a "chain."
The experience of Kevin Hazel, Siemens Vice President of Supply Chain Management. illustrates that complexity as well. As a turbine manufacturer, he said, he gets inquiries all the time from potential suppliers who don’t realize they’re barking up the wrong tree. A coil producer, for instance, might approach him and express interest in producing products for the wind industry and Siemens in particular. Hazel’s inevitable answer: that’s great, but “go talk to someone who makes generators.”
In a fast-growing industry, you better know what you are looking for, where the decisions are made, and what role you are ready and able to play. |
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Category : AWEA News
| Posted By : Chris Madison |
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