Domestic Fuel

POWER-GEN International has awarded Spring Valley Wind facility in Ely, Nevada Wind Project of the Year Award. Owned by Pattern Energy Group, the 151.8 MW project is the first wind project on public land and also the first wind project in the state of Nevada.

“We are honored that Spring Valley has received the prestigious Wind Project of the Year Award; this project was a tremendous collaboration that would not have been possible without the help of so many in Nevada,” said MikeGarland, CEO of Pattern Energy. “Spring Valley received support from Senator Reid, Senator Heller, Secretary Salazar, and local government officials, as well as the great people of Ely. We collaborated on this project with White Pine County, the State of Nevada, Bureau of Land Management, NV Energy, and several Federal agencies and environmental groups, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Nevada Department of Wildlife, local Native American tribes, and the Sierra Club.”

The Spring Valley Wind project features 66 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines, which can power approximately 45,000 homes. Mortenson Construction was the prime construction contractor on the project.  Pattern has a 20-year power purchase agreement with NV Energy for the sale of energy produce by the wind farm.

“Pattern was proud to bring its environmental leadership to Spring Valley Wind with groundbreaking mitigation measures that minimize impacts on the environment, including the preservation of cultural resources, funding for sage grouse, curtailment standards, modified electrical lines to reduce risks to birds, and an advanced radar system designed to protect birds and bats,” added Garland. “The project also provided a strong economic boost to the region and significant benefits to the community and school system for decades to come.”

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center the first phase of a potential $93.2 million grant to develop an offshore floating wind demonstration project. The demonstration project will de-risk the UMaine’s VolturnUS floating platform so that more private capital can flow in to Maine to build larger commercial farms.

During the first phase, awarded $4 million, the engineering, design and permitting will be completed. The next year, DOE will select up to three of the offshore projects that received awards, for follow-up funding. During this phase, the focus will be on siting, construction and installation with the goal of commercial operation by 2017. The UMaine Composites Center’s partners have pledged nearly $40 million in additional funds for the project.

“We are pleased that the DOE has selected our team’s program after a rigorous technical review,” said Dr. Habib Dagher, P.E., director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center and principal investigator for the project. “This R&D program could be transformational for our state, and will help us demonstrate a unique, patent-pending floating wind turbine technology called VolturnUS.”

The program, known as “Aqua Ventus I,” will be a 12 MW demonstration wind park using the VolturnUS floating platform technology developed at the UMaine Composites Center over the last four years. This project builds on the success of the DeepCwind Consortium Research Program, spearheaded by UMaine Composites Center and its industry partners. In spring 2013, a 1:8-scale VolturnUS floating platform will be deployed by UMaine researchers at the UMaine Deepwater Offshore Wind Test Site near Monhegan Island, Maine.

According to UMaine, deepwater floating offshore wind farms could harness stronger and more consistent winds than traditional fixed-foundation offshore wind turbines. This type of wind turbine would also be out of sight of the shore, alleviating esthetic concerns.

The Gulf of Maine has 156.6 GW of offshore wind potential, the majority of which is in deepwater. Maine has a plan to build a 5,000 MW network of floating farms by 2030, which would attract $20 billion of private capital to our state, and create thousands of jobs.

The country’s only fresh water offshore wind farm known as “Icebreaker” has been awarded $4 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The project is led by the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDC0). Through a one-year cooperative agreement, the DOE has committed $4 million to support the continued development of the project that will consist of five to nine wind turbines sited seven miles off the coast of Cleveland in Lake Erie. LEEDCo’s private partners have committed an additional $1 million to the project.

DOE awarded seven offshore wind projects funding. In addition to Icebreaker, projects in Maine, New Jersey,  Oregon, Texas and Virginia could receive up to $47 million over the next four years, for a combined total of nearly $180 million, subject to Congressional appropriations.

The selected demonstration projects will help address key challenges associated with installing utility-scale offshore wind turbines, connecting offshore turbines to the power grid, and navigating new permitting and approval processes.

“The DOE funding for ‘Icebreaker’ is a testament and vote of confidence for LEEDCo’s world-class team members and partners,” said LEEDCo President Dr. Lorry Wagner.  “After a highly-competitive evaluation process, I am excited and proud to say that ‘Icebreaker’ was selected for its innovation and expertise in wind energy development, paving the way for future financial support from the Department of Energy and private investors.”

Among LEEDCo’s winning development team for the project are Case Western Reserve University, McMahon DeGulis, Freshwater Wind, Siemens, and DNV KEMA.

The European Commission has awarded a €13.3 million grant to eStorage, a group of European stakeholders representing the electric power value chain. The grant is to help develop a solution for cost-effective integration of renewable energy generation, such as wind or solar, to the electrical grid.

One challenge with renewable energy is that is can be intermittent – if the wind isn’t blowing, then wind turbines are not operating. Another challenge is that there is no great way to store renewable energy for later use. With this in mind, some forms of renewable energy technologies cannot be used as a sole source for generating power. This in the goal of eStorage – to develop energy storage technologies that are cost-effective and can be widely deployed.

The first phase of the project will focus on upgrading the Le Cheylas fixed speed Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Plant (PSP) to a variable speed PSP. Once complete, Le Cheylas will provide 70 MW of additional power at night that will allow the integration of several hundred MW of intermittent renewable generation. This will demonstrate that a significant portion of European PSP capacity can be upgraded to variable speed, providing up to 10 GW of additional power with no environmental impact and at a much lower cost than developing new plants.

The consortium will also develop and demonstrate solutions for coupling the dispatch of storage plants with renewable generation using advanced energy and market management systems. This will enable PSPs to maximise their value in the balancing markets.

With the support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Uruguay is planning to expand its wind power generation through the construction of two wind farms: Libertador and Palmatir. Loans totaling $107.7 million will help the country diversify its energy mix and reduce its dependence on hydroelectric generation, which during dry seasons, increases the country’s dependence on energy produced from fossil fuels.

“These projects will be the first two wind farms to be financed by the IDB that are developed within the program launched by UTE, the state-owned electricity company, to promote private sector participation in the renewable energy sector,’’ said Jean-Marc Aboussouan, Chief of the Infrastructure Division at the Structured and Corporate Finance Department, the IDB unit responsible for large-scale private sector project financing.

Aboussouan continued, “The long-term financing provided by the IDB will allow Uruguay to take advantage of the global advances in the wind energy sector as well as improvements in technology and cost reductions that have made wind power a competitive energy source.”

WPE, a fully-owned subsidiary of Brazilian-based IMPSA, will develop the El Libertador wind farm that will feature 44 Vensys IMPSA wind turbines and be located in the department of Lavalleja. The project will receive a $66 million IDB loan. Abengoa S.A. will develop the Palmatir wind farm that will be located in the department of Tacuarembó. This wind farm will feature 25 Gamesa wind turbines and receive a $41.7 million IBD loan.

When the two wind farms are completed, they will have the capacity to produce 115 MW of electricity.  Today, Uruguay has 2.578 MW of power generation capacity, of which approximately 60 percent provides from hydropower plants, 33 percent from fossil fuels and the remaining from biomass and wind energy.

Here is a story about a new wind farm that is just a stone’s throw away. The Franklin County Wind farm, a subsidiary of Alliant Energy Corporation, has begun operations in Franklin County, Iowa. Consisting of 60 wind turbines, the farm is capable of producing nearly 100 megawatts of wind energy – enough to power close to 25,000 homes.

“We are very happy to have the Franklin County Wind Farm producing electricity,” said Patricia Kampling, chairman, president and CEO of Alliant Energy. “The construction team delivered this project on time and on budget with an exemplary safety record. We are also grateful to the landowners and the community for their strong support on this project.”

Franklin County Wind LLC continues to seek a buyer for the energy produced by the wind farm, but in the meantime it will sell the power it generates into the MISO market.

As climate talks begin to wind down in Qatar, a new report, “Power Forward: Why the World’s Largest Companies are Investing in Renewable Energy,” has been released by Calvert Investments, Ceres and World Wildlife Fund. The report concludes that many of the world’s largest companies are not waiting for binding treaties and subsequent polices, rather they are integrating clean energy and lower emissions into their business now.

The report shows that many Fortune 100 companies have set renewable energy commitments, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals, or both. While the movement is strong in the U.S., the trend to sustainability is even stronger internationally.

“The companies that are boldly setting either greenhouse gas or renewable energy goals and making progress on those commitments are demonstrating the business case and real leadership on climate change,” said Marty Spitzer, WWF’s Director of US Climate Policy.  “And, in the process, these companies are changing the game — driving significant renewable energy investment globally and pressing for the right policy and market conditions that will allow companies to do even more.”

The report finds that clean energy practices are becoming standard procedures for some of the largest and most profitable companies in the world. For example, many companies are shifting from purchasing short-term, temporary Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to longer-term investment strategies like Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and on-site projects, indicating a long-term commitment to renewable energy and reaping the benefits of reduced price volatility.

For some companies, there are still key barriers to achieving sustainability goals including: the fact that in some regions renewable energy is not yet at cost-parity with subsidized fossil-based energy; internal competition for capital; and inconsistent policies that send mixed signals to companies and investors in renewable energy projects, particularly instability in renewable energy incentives; and policies that prevent companies from signing green power purchase agreements.

Scientists in Australia are studying where wind turbine noise comes from and how it might be reduced. Not a new concern, researchers from the University of Adelaide in the Flow and Noise Group at the School of Mechanical Engineering are building a scale-model turbine in a wind tunnel. They are also building an acoustic test room around the turbine.

In a statement, Associate Professor Con Doolan said he believes this will be the most sophisticated wind turbine noise experiment in the world. The team will recreate the environment of a wind farm in the lab, including all the various noises you hear and their sources. From there, the team will use advanced measuring techniques to measure the aerodynamics and microphone arrays for the acoustics. This will help determine which noises are the strongest and their sources. Understanding this will also help the industry learn how to control or eliminate the noises.

The goal of the project is to be able to advise wind turbine manufactures and wind farm developers on design strategies. In addition, Doolan believes they can provide recommendations to governments about wind farm regulation and policy.

Wind power has been criticized for alleged noise impacts on health known as “wind turbine syndrome”. Although largely discounted by several research studies, there is still attention to the issue: Oregon compiled a report on possible health issues of wind turbines as has Massachusetts.  The Oregon report concluded that “sound from wind energy facilities in Oregon could potentially impact people’s health and well-being” when it exceeds state standards.

I recently visited a wind farm in Joice, Iowa and while there, on a very windy day, I filmed a wind turbine in action. I’ll let you be the judge  – should we shush wind turbines?

How many Americans realize that we’re still on a fiscal cliff and that the danger has not been averted? Hopefully the majority of us realize this as Congress debates away during this year’s lame duck session. Many issues are under the microscope, but one that many believe is a key priority in economic growth and policy discussions, including the local chamber of commerce CEOs, is further development of clean energy.

The Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) said it plans to be at the table when clean energy options are being discussed in Congress. Among other clean energy initiatives, the chamber CEOs are urging a renewal of the wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) that is currently the key incentive responsible for growing wind energy manufacturing and development in the U.S. Failing to renew the PTC would cause economic harm – layoffs in states throughout the country.

“Our largest wind turbine blade manufacturer in Arkansas, LM Wind Power, has already announced more than 200 layoffs as a result of uncertainty around the PTC,” said Jay Chesshir, President and CEO of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Wind energy has been a huge economic development success for Little Rock, attracting jobs and investment to our community.  Continuing to diversify our energy portfolio is smart business. Allowing the tax credit for wind energy to expire now would only take us backwards and hurt our local and national economy.”

Local chamber CEOs have emphasized homegrown clean energy is helping to diversify local economies and create business growth nationwide. In 44 states across the country, nearly 500 facilities now manufacture for the wind industry, supporting well-paying jobs in red and blue states. The solar industry—including manufacturers, installers, and other service providers—supports more than 100,000 American jobs.

There is proof that clean energy is an economic driver. For example, with leadership from the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce, businesses in northeastern Massachusetts will save upwards of $30 million over the next 30 years. In Cleveland, Ohio, businesses saved a collective $1.5 million in 2011 alone by participating in the local chamber’s leading energy efficiency program.

CICE said community businesses across the nation are ready to lead the world in clean energy. The missing piece  - a clear market signal from Congress.

The Obama administration has announced competitive lease sales for wind energy development off the eastern coasts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Virginia. This is the first time that a portion of the outer continental shelf will be leased for renewable energy development.

There are several areas proposed for leasing: the Virginia coast could support more than 2,000 megawatts of wind generation; Massachusetts and Rhode Island could support about 2,000 megawatts of wind generation. When combined, these offshore wind farms could generate enough electricity to power an estimated 1.4 million average sized homes.

“We have enormous potential for harnessing pollution-free wind energy off our coasts, and now are closer than ever to making this vision a reality in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Virginia. We are thrilled that the Obama administration has announced another critical step forward for offshore wind development and look forward to continuing to work with state and federal leaders to see turbines spinning off our coasts soon,” said Courtney Abrams, Clean Energy Advocate for Environment America.

The organization applauded Obama for his leadership and established its support for responsibly-sited offshore wind energy projects.  Abrams said offshore wind resources are vital to ensuring a future with cleaner air and fewer extreme weather events.  She cited the statistic that along the Atlantic coast alone, reaching the Department of Energy’s goal of 54 gigawatts of offshore wind power would reduce global warming pollution by the equivalent of taking roughly 18 million cars off the road.  In addition, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, meeting this benchmark would generate $200 billion in new economic activity while creating more than 43,000 permanent, high-paying jobs in manufacturing, construction, engineering, operations, and maintenance.

During the COP18 climate talks in Doha, The WindMade organization announced the development of a new consumer label for companies and products made using renewable energy. The label is backed by UN Global Compact, WWF, Vestas Wind Systems and the Global Wind Energy Council. WindMade was launched in 2011 as the first global consumer label for companies powered with wind energy.

“Expanding WindMade is a natural progression, and this move follows strong demand from the market,” said Steve Sawyer, WindMade’s Chairman. “Today’s announcement will allow us to engage a wider range of interested partners and supporters for this new renewable energy label, which is built on the success of WindMade.”

The new label will recognize a wide variety of renewable energy sources, including wind, solar, and geothermal, as well as hydro power and biomass from approved certification programs. This will offer added flexibility to companies that use multiple renewable energy technologies in their energy mix.

Georg Kell, executive director of the UN Global Compact, added, “This new label continues the progress made by WindMade to successfully engage companies in addressing the impacts of climate change. It is fully aligned with the UN Global Compact’s efforts to promote greater corporate sustainability through the use renewable energy.”

A global survey of 24,000 consumers across 20 countries, conducted earlier this year, showed that 92 percent of consumers believe that renewable energy is a good solution to mitigating climate change, and that if presented with a choice, most of them would prefer products made with renewable energy, even at a premium. As a result of the survey, the new label, that will be launched in 2013, will build on the technical foundations of the WindMade standard and will be applicable to organizations, buildings, events and eventually products.

Shane Robinson, associate professor in the Oklahoma State University Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Leadership wants to teach students math and science through green energy and biofuels. He is partnering with the OSU Biobased Products and Energy Center (BioPEC), who has an objective to provide education about biobased products and energy through secondary education.

“A focus of ours is to produce teachers who can teach science, math and technology in the context of agriculture,” Robinson said. “We really feel like our teachers have a unique opportunity to integrate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) competencies at the secondary level through real-life application of their students’ agricultural projects.”

It has been nearly three years in the making and now the National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) has joined the project. Currently students Marshall Baker and Joey Blackburn, are developing curricular materials for high school agriculture teachers focusing on biofuels and renewable energy. Environmental and energy education has become a primary initiative for teachers around the country, but many need help in developing curriculum and getting access to materials. This initiative is designed to meet this need.

“Everywhere you turn you read about green energy and the need for clean energy,” Robinson said. “We stress the importance of being a lifelong learner to our students. We stress to them the importance of being aware of the current issues of the world we live in and being able to talk about those issues in the classroom. Therefore, it’s important for our pre-service and in-service teachers to be knowledgeable about biofuels and other renewable energies.”
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Environment America has released the new report, “Wind Power for a Cleaner America: Reducing Global Warming Pollution, Cutting Air Pollution and Saving Water,” detailing how current power generation from wind energy prevents as much global warming pollution as taking 13 million cars off the road each year. With the Production Tax Credit (PTC) quickly reaching its expiration date, Environment America is urging Congress to extend the federal incentives for wind power. In addition to the PTC, they are also encouraging the offshore wind investment tax credit (ITC) be renewed as well.

“Our message to Congress is clear: Don’t throw wind power off the fiscal cliff,” said Courtney Abrams, Clean Energy Advocate for Environment America. “Our clean air, water, and children’s future are too important to blow it now.”

In light of the results of the report, several U.S. Senators who support wind energy offered comments. U.S. Senator Mark Udall, whose bill to repeal the clause that prevented the U.S. military from pursuing aviation biofuels was passed by the Senate, said, “Extending the wind Production Tax Credit is one of the most straightforward ways we can support clean, Made-in-America energy and American manufacturing jobs. We need the PTC to help create more good-paying jobs here at home, including jobs for our veterans who are transitioning from the military into the civilian workforce. The wind PTC is also a commonsense way to support clean energy and to reduce our carbon emissions. It is critical that Congress extend the PTC ASAP and support clean, renewable wind energy.”

U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, noted, “Wind energy is a win for the economy, a win for the environment, and a win for New Jersey. We will continue fighting in Congress to extend the wind production tax credit and support the kind of energy development that is needed to create jobs, clean up the air our children breathe, and move America to a clean energy future.”

The report sites one advantage of wind is that it saves water.
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The European Parliament’s Energy and Research Committee (ITRE) voted to allocate 6 billion Euros to clean energy research. This is nearly two-thirds of the entire energy research budget, of 80 billion Euros, to cover renewables, energy efficiency, smart grids, and storage.

“MEPs have understood how crucial wind energy and other renewables are to the EU’s economic growth, technology leadership, fighting climate change, and that sufficient R&D funding is essential to further their development in line with the EU’s climate and renewable energy priorities,” noted Vilma Radvilaite, Regulatory Affairs Advisor at the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

“With 75% of its energy funding going to renewables, energy efficiency, smart grid and storage technologies and an additional 15% going to the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, Horizon 2020 gives a real boost to green growth,” she added.

The ITRE Committee also made a specific commitment to the development of wind energy research with the agreement that they would create a separate budget line for wind energy and other Strategic Energy Technology Plan technologies. The Horizon 2020 R&D program is set to run between 2014-2020 but needs to be presented to the European Council for approval.

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has been busy promoting wind energy throughout the European Union (EU). Last week, the European Commission identified key actions to develop the internal energy market by 2014 that included the phasing-out of regulated electricity prices and the Commission was also critical of capacity payments. In addition, the proposal lacks further development of the internal energy market after 2014.

But EWEA says these actions do not go far enough as both regulated prices and capacity payments are major obstacles to a properly functioning EU energy market. “Regulated prices, fossil fuel and nuclear subsidies, market concentration and lack of market transparency are the main problems that need to be tackled urgently. The communication focuses too much on renewable energy support mechanisms and not enough on the most critical distortions,” explained Paul Wilczek, EWEA Senior Regulatory Affairs Advisor.

Wilczek says the European Commission is right to be critical of capacity payments, which are a disincentive to invest in urgently needed grid infrastructure and create another distortion to the energy market, and also adds that the European wind industry is very strongly in favour of a single market in electricity and has been critical of the slow progress towards it.

Last week the European Commission also published “structural measures” that called for “backloading” of emission allowances. EWEA says this is needed to stop the massive oversupply of emission allowances and to re-establish confidence in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Stéphane Bourgeois, Head of Regulatory Affairs for EWEA added that while it is a necessary first step, it will only delay and not solve the structural problem of oversupply in the ETS and a structural solution must be agreed or the carbon price will not recover.
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