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| 17 Mar 2010 11:09:33 pm |
 No demonstrators, but lots of determination in Greensboro |
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At AWEA’s supply chain workshop in Greensboro, North Carolina this week, the hotel security folks were on the alert—they had been warned that some anti-wind demonstrators from the Western part of the state were going to show up and were bringing fellow protesters from the adjacent state of Virginia.
But no demonstrators showed up. Maybe they realized that wind, which creates jobs and energy without pollution, is hard to be against, especially at a time when many Americans are still hurting economically.
There were about 400 attendees at the workshop and, judging by a show of hands, it appeared that at least half were new to the industry. They were the go-getter types who are trying to figure out how and where they could enter the growing industry. It’s hard to protest that kind of spirit—it’s pure America.
So far, North Carolina has no wind projects, but it does have the prospect of wind projects offshore and in the mountains in the western part of the state. It also has wind manufacturing facilities that employ more than 1,000 workers.
North Carolina also has experienced some controversy about whether wind turbines should be allowed on so-called ridge lines in the state's western mountains, with some local legislators trying to enact a law that would ban all but the smallest turbines that could only be attached to individual residences.
Wind proponents in the state are appalled. “This is as close to a ban as they could get without saying so,” warned Dennis Scanlin of Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.
Back at the workshop, where the demonstrators never appeared, the attendees were more focused on getting into the business. The last panel—always the hardest to get attendance for—included three case studies of companies that are creating manufacturing jobs in the southeast, including North Carolina. They did not make it sound easy. Finding a niche in the manufacturing process that, for example, has been based overseas, or is well-established here, takes research, ingenuity, and dedication.
Said Cheryl Richards of PPG Industries, which has retooled significantly to adapt its fiber glass expertise to wind energy: “You have to think through all the stages of product development. You have to be persistent. It’s not going to happen overnight.” Craig Lawson, Renewable Energy Business Development Manager for Burndy, a New Hampshire company with some manufacturing in this region and elsewhere, said, “It’s a matter of figuring out where you can fit into the supply chain, and how you can add value. You have to know who you are.”
Earlier, Pat Thacker, a supply chain expert with Areva Renewables, warned would-be entrants that they should enjoy the thrill of riding a roller coaster if they plan to enter the industry. “It tends to be an up and down market,” he said.
Considering the experience the industry has been through in the last few years, that is an understatement. |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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| 16 Mar 2010 07:22:07 pm |
| Governors endorse renewable electricity standard |
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The bipartisan Governors' Wind Energy Coalition today urged Congress to enact a renewable electricity standard (RES) so that the United States can take full advantage of the nation's considerable wind energy resource.
"We offer our assistance in working with Congress and the administration to achieve one of the nation's principal energy goals, energy independence, and increasing the role that wind energy plays in meeting that challenge," wrote the coalition's chairman, Iowa Democratic Gov. Chet Culver, and vice chairman, GOP Gov. Donald Carcieri of Rhode Island, in a letter to Congress. The group also sent a letter to President Obama.
Gov. Carceri noted that “This is the first set of comprehensive wind energy recommendations ever submitted to Congress by a group of the nation’s governors.”
The coalition includes governors from 29 states and has become an important group advocating for policies that promote wind energy. In general, states have been ahead of Congress in recognizing the value of wind energy--30 states, including the District of Columbia, have renewable standards, and many have taken additional steps to increase the use of wind energy and attract wind component manufacturers to their states.
A national RES is considered crucial to create additional demand for wind energy, and attract manufacturers. A national standard will also make it easier for the electric utility industry to meet renewable targets.
The House passed an RES last year as part of the comprehensive energy and climate bill, and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee included an RES in its energy bill.
In addition to an RES, the governors recommended development of new transmission infrastructure; full support for development of offshore wind projects; streamlined permitting for onshore and offshore wind projects; expanded cooperation between states and the Department of Energy and the wind industry to accelerate innovation; and extending the Treasury grant program while developing a long term production tax credit. |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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| 15 Mar 2010 09:24:55 pm |
| KATU-TV swallows fossil-fuel line on wind |
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Guest blog by AWEA's Michael Goggin
Last Thursday, Portland TV station KATU failed the most elementary principles of journalism by biting hook, line, and sinker and taking a fossil-fuel industry front group’s false and misleading statements about wind energy at face value.
The news story begins by claiming that concerns about wind energy “have been raised by some.” Unfortunately, this “some” appears to only be staffer Todd Wynn at the Cascade Policy Institute.
Before refuting Mr. Wynn’s false claims point-by-point, it is instructive to trace the funding behind his employer. The Cascade Policy Institute is funded by the Cato Institute, the DC-based group founded by oil magnate Charles Koch whose current donors include ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute.
On to the point-by-point refutation of Mr. Wynn’s claims:
- “So when the wind blows, the dams stop generating electricity, and when the wind stops, the dams continue to generate electricity,” said Wynn. “So, in fact, wind power is just offsetting another renewable energy source. It’s not necessarily offsetting any fossil fuel generation.”
It shouldn’t take Einstein to tell you that matter and energy can be neither created nor destroyed. When wind power allows a hydroelectric dam to reduce its output, the water that the dam would have used to produce electricity is stored behind the dam. That stored water is then used later to produce electricity during periods when electricity demand is higher or wind output is lower, offsetting electricity that would have been provided by a fossil fuel plant. In essence, the dam is acting as a giant battery, storing wind power when it isn’t needed and using it to offset fossil fuel generation when the power is needed.
- "… wind does not reduce carbon emissions, but instead, creates them. That’s because when wind blows, the dam - or fossil fuel - backs up. It doesn’t shut down, and it takes too long to start up. It’s like a car stopped at a red light: The engine is still running, and just like the car, this 'spinning reserve mode,' as it’s called, consumes energy."
One need only look at Mr. Wynn’s first quote above to see a major logical flaw in his arguments. As he explained above, hydroelectric dams are being used like giant batteries to accommodate changes in wind output. It would be difficult to identify the carbon emissions caused by using hydroelectric dams in this way, considering that hydroelectric dams don’t emit any carbon.
As for Mr. Wynn’s claim that if fossil fuel plants are used to accommodate wind’s added variability, they will somehow emit so much more carbon so as to completely erase the emissions savings of adding wind in the first place, we have a whole fact sheet on wind energy and backup power debunking the seriously flawed math one would have to use to make that claim.
The basic problem with Mr. Wynn’s claim is that the incremental grid variability introduced by wind plants is small and tends to occur over long periods of time, meaning it can be accommodated through the use of wind forecasts and slower response, “non-spinning” reserves. Non-spinning reserves come at a fraction of the cost and efficiency penalty of spinning reserves. As we explain in the fact sheet, even under very conservative assumptions and in a worst case scenario, the emissions associated with this efficiency penalty might equal at most 1 pound of CO2 for every 1,000 pounds of CO2 offset by the wind energy in the first place.
Moreover, in many situations the incremental variability of wind energy will force inflexible coal plants offline in favor of more flexible and lower-emitting natural gas plants, meaning that total emissions will be reduced by an even larger amount than was directly offset by the wind energy itself. In fact, in the article, Doug Johnson with the Bonneville Power Administration notes that “Natural gas is probably the next best backup to hydro because those facilities can ramp up and down very quickly and move with the wind just like the hydro system.”
The results of a recent multi-year study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory also found that wind energy produces major emissions savings by forcing coal generation offline. The study found that CO2 emissions decrease by more than 25% in scenarios in which 20% of electricity comes from wind energy and 37% in a 30% wind energy scenario, compared to a scenario in which our current generation mix was used to meet increasing electricity demand. This is because coal generation declined by around 23% from the business-as-usual case to the 20% wind cases, and by 35% in the 30% wind case.
Next time, KATU might want to do some more research before running with whatever a fossil-fuel funded front group tells them. |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Tom Gray |
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| 15 Mar 2010 02:43:10 pm |
| Wind industry working to meet wildlife challenges |
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A huge challenge facing wind developers is how to co-exist with wildlife—and with the laws, regulations and permitting procedures that have been developed to protect it.
Two developments last week suggest different approaches for meeting that challenge. First was the Interior Department’s decision not to place the sage grouse on the endangered species list at this time. The second was the finalization of recommendations from the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Federal Advisory Committee, a government-industry-environmentalist collaboration that for three years has been drafting guidelines aimed at facilitating wind energy development while still protecting wildlife.
Interior Secretary Salazar’s decision not to list the sage grouse as an endangered species leaves the bird’s protection to the states for now. In the state of Wyoming, one of the states where the bird is found, so-called core areas designated by the state will remain off limits to development, including wind, to protect the sage grouse and their habitat.
The problem with the Wyoming approach is that it is not based on extensive information about how wind projects impact sage grouse. “We don’t have the information about how wind affects sage grouse,” says Laurie Jodziewicz, AWEA’s manager of siting policy. “And we have little opportunity to do research because you can’t build in the core areas.” She said wind developers will be working with state officials to explore possible changes in the current state policies.
The FAC guidelines, which are being forwarded to Salazar for his approval, take a different approach. The representatives of the wind industry, wildlife groups and the Fish and Wildlife Service developed a “tiered” approach to development. That means developers will choose an area for possible development, assess the potential wildlife conflicts, and, if they still wish to develop it, propose a series of measures to limit the impact on wildlife.
The guidelines also call for monitoring the impact during construction and after construction to make sure the impacts are in line with what was predicted before the project was built.
“The guidelines borrow from the practices large developers have already adopted when they make siting decisions, and put it in a format that everyone can use,” said Jodziewicz.
Wind developers know they have formidable obstacles to surmount, especially in the Western states, before they can develop in areas with wildlife concerns. But they are hoping that by getting out in front of the issue, and working with wildlife groups and government officials now, they can maximize their chances of success. |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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| 15 Mar 2010 09:00:28 am |
| Women in wind highlighted on green site |
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| The Green Economy Post is highlighting the contributions of prominent women in the wind and solar industries, including several closely connected to AWEA: Jan Blittersdorf, CEO and President of NRG Systems, Rachel Shimshak, the Director of the Renewable Northwest Project (RNP), AWEA Board Member Karen Conover, CEO of DNV Global Energy Concepts, and Lisa Daniels, Executive Director of Windustry, a member of AWEA's Community Wind Working Group Steering Committee. |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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