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| 31 Jul 2009 08:17:43 pm |
 Friday wind notes |
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The U.S. Treasury announced today it will begin accepting applications for grants that would replace the tax credit for renewable projects. Though not unexpected, of course, this is a huge step because it means wind developers can finally apply for the grants that were included in the economic stimulus package signed by President Obama in February.
NIMBY's get their due in a column by siting consultant Michael Saint. He writes, "Yes, there are legitimate concerns and questions that should be raised on every project, but let’s call a NIMBY by his real name. Many times the concerns raised with developers and city officials will produce mitigation or improvements to the project making it better. But many times the criticisms raised are only brought up to slow down or kill the project, not make it better."
Wind industry trends are complex nowadays. AWEA's second quarter report this week suggested that while new wind installations in the first half of 2009 were impressive, given economic conditions, the industry still needs a strong Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) to keep up the momentum, and increase component manufacturing facilities. Guess what? That story got through to the news media, loud and clear. Who says the news business is dying? Not us. |
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Category : AWEA News
| Posted By : Chris Madison |
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| 30 Jul 2009 04:43:14 pm |
| Wind in the ground in Minnesota--what it would mean |
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| Here is a link to an interesting article in a Minnesota newspaper that describes in concrete terms what wind can mean to the state. One quote: "If Minnesota makes the right investments and fosters this technology properly, wind could generate 3,000-5,000 jobs and pump $8 billion into the state’s economy over the next two decades." The author has also prepared a report for Minnesota 2020 entitled, “Winds of Progress.” |
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Category : AWEA News
| Posted By : Chris Madison |
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| 29 Jul 2009 09:50:20 pm |
| Those Pesky Magnets |
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Every once in a while, an enterprising reporter turns up an intriguing story to the effect that wind energy, supposedly a domestic energy source, “depends” on permanent-magnet alternators which contain a rare-earth mineral (neodymium) that must be imported from China. Holy moley! (Or, in this case, Moly, as will be explained below.) Are we unwittingly creating a whole new problem of energy dependence?
Well, no.
Right off the bat, the first important fact is that virtually none of the utility-scale wind turbines installed in the U.S. today use “direct drive,” in which the rotor is directly linked to a permanent-magnet alternator. Instead, they use gearboxes between the rotor and generator which connect the slow-rotating rotor shaft and step up the rotational speed to the level needed to drive the generator.
Next, the U.S. does have a domestic supply of neodymium and other rare-earth materials in California. Some years ago, rare-earth magnets were actually manufactured domestically, by a company in Indiana. Here, the plot thickens--a Chinese company bought the firm in Indiana, then pulled out of the U.S., leaving behind an empty building.
Molycorp, which owns the California mine, has been busy educating the Federal government about the importance of cultivating the domestic supply chain for wind and other clean energy technologies that rely on rare earths--and in fact, pending legislation in both the House and Senate, it says, would support rebuilding domestic magnet manufacturing capacity and leading the world in efficient mineral use and recycling technologies. Meantime, Molycorp has also signed a joint venture with Arnold Magnetic Technologies Corp. aimed at ramping up manufacturing in the U.S.
So to sum up:
• The U.S. utility-scale wind industry uses a negligible amount of permanent magnets at present.
• The U.S. does have a domestic supply of the raw materials needed to make permanent magnets, and a private business deal is in the works to resume domestic manufacturing.
• If the global wind industry were to move to direct-drive technology in the future and require more permanent magnets, the technological capability to do without them would still exist if doing so became a strategic necessity. (Additional info added 8/1/09: An article in Magnetics Business & Technology by Tony Morcos of Morcos Magnetics explores this issue further, positing that a number of permanent-magnet and control system design choices exist for wind turbines. Thanks to Gareth Hatch at Terra Magnetica for the pointer.)
For more background on materials and manufacturing requirements to dramatically expand U.S. wind power, see the “Manufacturing, Materials, and Resources” chapter of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 20% Wind Energy by 2030 Technical Report. |
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Category : AWEA News
| Posted By : Tom Gray |
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| 29 Jul 2009 09:31:29 pm |
| Guest Blog from AWEA President Don Furman |
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While most of the Washington news coverage is all about health care these days, more than a dozen executives from renewable energy companies flew into town this week to talk about the renewable electricity standard (RES), and we found key Senators and the White House more than willing to listen.
Under the umbrella of the new coalition, the RES Alliance for Jobs, we met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Sens. Barbara Boxer, Byron Dorgan, Amy Klobuchar, Sam Brownback and Susan Collins, as well as Carol Browner at the White House. We also met key Hill staff.
Our message was that the renewable energy industry is ready to grow, and to create jobs. However, the RES targets in the energy bill pending before the Senate period would require less renewable energy in the 2011-2013 time period than we have now. That provision needs to be strengthened if the industry is to put deploy more renewable energy and put more Americans to work.
I think we may be making headway. The members and officials we met with certainly understand the important link between renewables and jobs. They understand that some of our companies have been forceed to cut back during the current recession.
The votes on the energy bill won’t come until the fall, if then. So during the August recess, we will be rallying our supporters at the grassroots to continue the RES campaign. So much is at stake, not only for the renewable industry, but for our energy future, and for jobs. We’ll keep working to bring that message home. |
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Category : AWEA News
| Posted By : Chris Madison |
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| 28 Jul 2009 09:56:49 pm |
| Wind Keeps Blowing in Second Quarter of 2009 |
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It's kind of a good news bad news story. The U.S. wind energy industry put "in the ground" 1,210 megawatts (MW) of new power generating capacity in the second quarter, bringing the total added this year to just over 4,000 MW. Given poor economic conditions and the fact that the new grant money has not yet started to flow, that's not bad at all.
At the same time, AWEA said the industry is reporting a dropoff in overall orders and in the opening of new wind manufacturing facilities. "We could be delivering so much more,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode, commenting on the report. “Our challenge now is to seize the historic opportunity before us to unleash this entrepreneurial force and build up an entire new industry here in the U.S. that will create jobs, avoid carbon, and strengthen our energy security.
To achieve that, AWEA is continuing to press Congress and the Administration to pass a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) with strong targets in the first few years to spur manufacturing.
Nevertheless, the 2nd Quarter numbers reflect an underlying strength in the industry. The wind energy installed in the 2nd quarter will produce enough electricity for about 350,000 homes. Total U.S. wind energy capacity will offset about 54 millions tons of carbon annually, the equivalent of taking nine million ayutomobiles off the road. |
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Category : AWEA News
| Posted By : Chris Madison |
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