Wind power in the UK has reached the 6GW threshold. The landmark figure was reached by the Ormonde offshore wind farm, off the coast of Cumbria and with 120 megawatts (MW) operational, which is enough to power more than 67,000 homes.

“There’s a great feeling of pride throughout the industry that we’ve reached a record high of 6 gigawatts, and there’s a further 19.5GW of capacity under construction, consented, or in planning,” said RenewableUK‘s Chief Executive, Maria McCaffery. “The Government’s Renewable Energy Roadmap is calling for 31GW of onshore and offshore wind combined by 2020, and we’re confident that we can deliver this if we continue to get the right level of Government support”.

The news was announced at RenewableUK’s Annual Parliamentary Reception last Wednesday. To give a better idea of what 6GW represents in terms of power, the UK now has enough installed wind power energy to supply over 3.3 million homes.

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A recent auction held by the Brazilian National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL), resulted in 42 new electricity generation projects with a total installed capacity of 1,211.5 megawatts (MW), to meet the projected demand of distribution companies in 2016. Of this total, 39 projects were wind farms, totaling 976.5 MW, or 81 percent of the total power traded in the auction.

The average price per MWh was R$102.18 (approx. US$ 55 per MWh), which included an average discount of 8.77 percent. According to Brazil’s Energy Research Company (EPE), the auction fully met the demand of energy distribution companies.

New wind energy plants will be installed in different regions of the country: in the northeast (Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão and Rio Grande do Norte), in the heartland (Goiás), in the south (Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina) and southeast (São Paulo). The total projected investment is R$4.3 billion (approx. US$2.3 billion).

Apart from wind, the San Roque hydroelectric power plant (135 MW) was allocated to the state of Santa Catarina at the price per MWh of R$91.20 (approx. US$49.1 per MWh), which was a 25.85 percent discount to the original price, with expected investments of R$652 million (approx. US$351.1 million).

According to EPE, Brazil’s wind energy potential is estimated to be 143,000 MW, with the ability to reach 300,000 MW with the use of modern generators. Between 2009 and 2010, the country’s wind power generation increased by 50.5 percent; and currently accounts for 0.4 percent of the total electricity produced in Brazil.

Renewable energy accounts for 87.1 of Brazil’s electricity matrix, mainly from hydropower. But there’s pressure in the country for government to bring online wind and solar projects as the hydropower industry eyes the Amazon region for future projects, such as the controversial Belo Monte dam.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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Principle Power is a Seattle, Washington-based renewable energy technology company that developed WindFloat, an offshore wind power turbine and platform. The platform can be assembled on shore and then towed to a site offshore where it is moored and connected to a power station.

Principle Power recently deployed its first WindFloat system off the coast of Portugal, the first offshore turbine to be located in open Atlantic waters (read more about the first deployment here and here).

The WindFloat technology is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0037264, entitled “Column-stabilized offshore platform with water-entrapment plates and asymmetric mooring system for support of offshore wind turbines” (’264 Application).

The platform comprises columns (102, 103) interconnected with a truss structure composed of main beams (115), bracing beams (116), and cross beams (117). A wind tower (111) is attached to one of the base columns (102, 103).

A wind turbine (125) is attached to the wind tower (111). At the base of the columns are horizontal water-entrapment plates (107). The submerged plates (107) are designed to provide hydrodynamic added-mass and dampening, resulting in reduced platform motion – particularly in heavy seas.

The turbine platform can also include active ballast systems for stabilization. The columns (102,103) can be hollow and and house the active ballast system, which transfers water between tanks within the columns. The active ballast system is designed to keep the mean position of the platform horizontal and to keep the turbine as upright as possible.

According to Principle Power, unlike conventional offshore wind turbines, the stabilization features of the WindFloat allow the platform to withstand the high wind and wave energy found in deeper waters. Wind turbines located far from shore overcome disadvantages of their close-to-shore counterparts because they do not block the shore view and lessen navigational obstructions and potential hazards to water vessel and aircraft while tapping into previously inaccessible wind resources.

Article by David Gibbs, a contributor to Green Patent Blog. David is currently in his third and final year at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. He received his undergraduate degree in Geology from the University of California, Berkeley.

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The European Commission’s energy strategy for Europe requires that 20% of all energy consumed within the EU is from renewable sources by 2020. The Commission estimates that 12% of overall energy use should be supplied by offshore wind. Further, the Renewable Directives also require member states to implement sufficient grid capacity to accept wind power; and include a framework to encourage priority access and despatch for wind generated power.

The EU has also tightened legislation on the internal electricity markets, and stipulates that Transmission System Operators (TSO’s) submit bi-annual transmission development plans, under the ‘Third Liberalisation Package’. The proposals are intended to create a single, harmonized electricity market across Europe. The aim is to achieve improved system operation, fair access for renewable generation systems, and greater cooperation between TSO’s; headed by ENTSO (European Network of Transmission Operators).

Long term energy strategy targets will lead towards an 80-95% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The redevelopment of the European grid infrastructure must take into account the current issues of enabling connection to wind power and distributing electricity sourced from offshore wind to reach immediate targets; whilst keeping one eye on the restructuring of the grid into a system that can provide the capabilities to cope with demand ahead of 2050 and beyond.

The developments and requirements for a new European infrastructure

A complete and continental wide electricity network structure could provide Europe with several benefits in addition to the integration of renewable energy. A fully interconnected grid utilizing smart technology will reduce the cost of the move towards a carbon free society for individual countries. It could vastly improve the security of service for consumers, and ensure efficient use and lower prices by the routing of energy to specific areas of demand. It should also increase competition in the single energy market across Europe.

The development of the European grid network, and the requirements to make a super grid viable are both varied and complex. ENTSO’s Ten Year Network Development Plan proposes infrastructure redevelopment across 34 European countries, and includes initiatives towards up to 500 investment projects totalling 23-28€ billion over the next five years. The networks connecting over 525 million people over the continent will require around 35,000km of new transmission lines, and up to 7,000km worth of upgrades to existing lines. This represents a significant proportion (14%) of the total existing transmission lines, and the TSO’s responsible plan to carry out 44% of this work in the coming five year period, with the remaining 56% to be undertaken in the following five years.

In the context of renewable energy, the connection of wind power to the European grid presents its own specific issues, which must be overcome on a global level to enable full integration. Due to the location of the generation plants, usually remote and far from the areas of high demand and storage, measures must be taken to develop transmission lines to connect wind farms to the grid. Innovation is also required in high voltage long distance transmission and electricity storage technology. By its nature wind power is a highly variable energy source, and networks will need to be able to cope with periods of minimal generation as well as periods of high production. Interconnecting grids between countries must be able to freely allow the physical exchange of electricity, while congestion management and transmission efficiency will take on far greater importance.

Article by IQPC is a leading organizer of about 2,000 worldwide conferences, seminars, and related learning programs every year. The company is organizing the Grid Integration of Offshore Wind Energy Conference from 05 – 07 December, 2011 at the Clarion Hotel Copenhagen, Denmark. Free whitepapers, articles and podcasts on grid integration of offshore wind energy are available on the website.

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I’ve written extensively about the patent infringement and antitrust litigation between wind power rivals GE and Mitsubishi (see, e.g., previous posts here and here).

While that legal battle spans multiple venues, encompasses several different patents, and includes many patent and antitrust issues, the heart of the dispute is the allegation that Mitsubishi’s 2.4 MW turbine infringes GE’s patented technologies.

More particularly, GE has asserted infringement of its patented variable speed technology, particularly as claimed in U.S. Patent No. 5,083,039, a seminal patent relating to methods for enabling turbines to efficiently feed power from wind of variable speeds into the utility grid.

Another key patent asserted by GE is U.S. Patent No. 7,321,221, relating to low voltage ride through technology for stabilizing the supply voltage to a wind turbine after voltage drops without jeopardizing the electrical components of the turbine.

In its antitrust case against GE, Mitsubishi has alleged that GE’s patent infringement claims are baseless and are intended to intimidate Mitsubishi’s potential customers.

According to Mitsubishi, its $2 billion in annual U.S. sales of variable speed wind turbines has dropped to zero since initiation of the first patent infringement suit in early 2008.

In a glimmer of good news for Mitsubishi, Windpower Monthly recently reported that at least one customer is undeterred by the cloud over Mitsubishi’s 2.4 MW turbine.

According to the article, the utility Duke Energy has ordered 202 MW of the controversial turbines for its Los Vientos II wind project in Texas. The article says it is the first order since the advent of the patent dispute with GE.

It will be interesting to see if this vote of confidence by Duke clears away the cloud over Mitsubishi’s 2.4 MW turbine and leads to more orders.

Eric Lane is a patent attorney at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps in San Diego and the author of Green Patent Blog. Mr. Lane can be reached at elane@luce.com.

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Deere and Company, known more famously as John Deere is one of the leading manufacturers of agricultural machinery around the world. This American corporation, based in Moline, Illinois, is a Fortune 500 company and sells everything from tractors, cotton harvesters, and combine harvesters, to planters, seeders, sprayers, and even ATVs. John Deere is also known for the manufacturing of construction equipment, forestry equipment, and is a diesel engine supplier for heavy equipment. They also make a lot of turf care equipment, including lawn mowers and snow blowers. Aside from all this, John Deere and Company also makes the time for a number of clean technology highlights.

1 ) John Deere to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions. In 2008 Deere and Company made plans to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by the year 2014. The company is to be using the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders program to create new energy saving projects at all John Deere facilities around the globe. For example, its German plant, Zweibruecken Works, is going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the installation of two carbon-neutral biomass boilers which will generate enough energy to air condition the offices, heat the facilities, and provide the necessary head to a number of manufacturing processes.

2 ) John Deere Partners with Adage for Biopower Alliance. In 2010, Deere and Company formed an alliance with Adage to create process and technology innovation to the fuel supply to a number of woody biomass power projects. The first project will be located in Mason County, Washington. This project involves the collection, bundling, as well as transportation of branches along with other wood debris from regional-based logging operations to an Adage-owned biomass power facility. John Deere is supply all the forestry equipment utilized to gather and bundle all the debris. This facility will create 55 megawatts of energy, which is enough for an estimated 40,000 homes.

3 ) John Deere Partners with Hydrogenics for Fuel Cell Power. Hydrogenics, a fuel cell designer and manufacturing company, sold six ten-kilowatt fuel cell power modules to Deere and Company for the integration and evaluation in off-roading vehicle applications, such as grounds equipment as well as utility vehicles. “Our electrification initiative has been very successful to date and has served as a strong indicator of what might be possible with fuel cells and other technologies,” says Bruce Wood, director of John Deere’s ePower Technologies group. “John Deere has a strong heritage of innovation and we believe that electrification will enable us to add functionality to our products, with the goal of helping our customers meet their work objectives. Our initial fuel cell prototypes and demonstrators are in the light commercial area, however we see much broader application for electrification across all lines of equipment and we are confident strong partners like Hydrogenics will help us achieve exciting objectives for this technology.”

4 ) Corn and Wood Pellet Stoves. John Deere’s Corn and Wood Pellet Stoves allow residents to heat their home using renewable energy sources that are easy to replenish every year. This stove will aid homeowners in reducing home heating costs, making the home more energy efficient.

5 ) John Deere Developed 12 Megawatt Wind Farm in Kansas. In 2009, John Deere Renewables announced the plan to develop a 12 megawatt wind farm in Greensburg, Kansas. This wind farm was created to meet the, at the time, burgeoning green rebuilding initiative after a large tornado wrecked Greensburg a year previous. “The City of Greensburg is thrilled to see this project begin, as it will meet our energy goals to be 100% renewable,” said Steve Hewitt, Greensburg City Administrator. “This model will serve as an example of how communities can meet their sustainable goals through collaboration. Our efforts to be a green community hinge on our energy model.”

6 ) John Deere Developed 16 Megawatt Wind Farm in Idaho. In December 2009 John Deere Renewables started breaking ground on a brand new wind energy project in Twin Falls County, Idaho. Named the Tuana Springs Wind Farm, it will consist of eight two megawatt wind turbines. John Deere Renewables will remain on as owner and operator, which Idaho Power Company is the energy purchaser for the project.

7 ) John Deer Builds Three New Wind Farms in Michigan. John Deer Wind Energy made plans in 2010 to develop three Michigan-based wind farms. Two of these farms will be the largest commercial-scale wind farms in the state. This project, when completed will increase wind power capacity for the state by 61 percent – 374 megawatts, which is enough to provide electricity of over 84,000 residential households.

8 ) Olathe, Kansas Sales and Marketing Center Achieves LEED Status. In September of 2011, the sales and marketing center in Olathe, Kansas achieved Gold LEED Certification. This building is, “laid out to enhance the work environment for employees and to help support teamwork and collaboration between all work groups. It will meet changing organizational needs and provide common work areas to support a more flexible workforce.”

9 ) John Deere Kansas Dealership Achieves LEED Status. In August of 2009, John Deere made the announcement that its John Deere dealership in Greensburg, Kansas has received Platinum LEED Certification. Some of the things that helped the dealership reach this level of distinction include 23 skylights to utilize natural lighting, low VOC carpets, sealants, and paints to guarantee good indoor air quality, and utilizes over 50 percent less electricity than the code-required minimum performance.

10 ) As a Note: Exelon Acquired John Deere Renewables in 2010. Most of the clean technology done by John Deere took place through a subsidiary known as John Deere Renewables. However, in 2010, Exelon Corporation bought John Deere Renewables and, therefore, took over all the projects originally set up by Deere and Company. According to the Exelon Chairman and CEO, John W. Rowe, “Not only does this acquisition add value for Exelon shareholders, providing incremental earnings in 2012 and cash flows in 2013, but it also is one more way to implement a clean energy future.”

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South Africa’s Eskom has secured a $100 million credit facility from French development finance group Agence Française de Développement for financing a wind power project.

The loan will be used to finance Eskom’s 100-megawatt Sere Wind Project in Vredendal in South Africa’s Western Cape region.

Eskom CEO Brian Dames said, “This is an exciting time in Eskom’s history with the first large scale introduction of two critically important renewable energy projects, including wind and concentrated solar power, in its fleet. This demonstrates our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and making the transition to a cleaner energy mix,” Johannesburg’s SouthAfrica.info website reported.

Eskom Finance Director Paul O’ Flaherty added, “Eskom values the relationship we have built with the AFD and we hope in the near term to conclude another facility with the bank for Eskom’s planned 100-megawatt concentrated solar power plant in the Northern Cape.”

The Agence Française de Développement is a bilateral international development finance underwritten by the French government intended to finance development according to France’s Overseas Development Assistance policies, which has a presence in more than 60 countries, having been operating in South Africa since 1994 through its Johannesburg regional office in the capital.

Article by Charles Kennedy, appearing courtesy OilPrice.com.

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A new report from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory shows that electric vehicles could aid in expanding renewable energy sources like wind in the Pacific Northwest. This region of the United States is increasingly looking at wind power to satisfy their growing energy demands. The report found that the Northwest power system could better utilize wind energy if about 13 percent, or 2.1 million vehicles, in the seven Northwest states were plug-in electrics, equipped with Grid FriendlyTM charging technology.

Grid Friendly charging differs from regular battery charging because it does not charge at a constant rate. The technology can recognize grid conditions, and vary the charging rate based on factors such as how much electricity is being generated at any given time. Fluctuations in wind energy production would be sensed and the charging rate will reflect that.

The seven Northwestern states examined for the study include Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, many home to abundant wind resources. The report also examined the implications of adding 10 Gigawatts of wind on top of current energy production. This addition is required by the Renewable Portfolio Standards by 2019.

Wind power is growing more popular, but unlike conventional power plants, it is unpredictable and uncontrollable. The energy it provides may not be there during the peak hours when people need it. Then on very windy days, too much energy is created with little place to store it.

If a vehicle could sense wind power’s fluctuations in the grid, it could act as a shock absorber, gobbling up the excess energy and sipping slowly when the grid is strained. The report determined that 2.1 million light-duty electric vehicles with Grid Friendly technology and with an average electric range of 33 miles would be necessary to provide balance for an additional 10 Gigawatts of wind power.

According to co-author, Michael Kintner-Meyer, “Electric vehicles, coupled with grid-friendly charging, offers a great opportunity, right now, to help electric companies integrate additional wind power into our electric system… We don’t need to wait for vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, services, which would require that the electricity would be released back into the grid. We could perform grid-friendly charging now that would provide valuable services to the grid for integrating wind energy.”

“By using electric vehicles to support additional wind power in the Northwest, and reducing the need to build new power plants to support it, we could potentially defray some of the cost for both electrifying our transportation system and integrating wind technology into the grid, driving down our regional dependence on imported oil, as well as vehicle emissions.”

Article by David A Gabel, appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.

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Small wind generation with vertical axis turbines, also known as VAWT, is one of the most exciting recent developments in small scale alternative energy generation.

Last week we caught wind that Sauer Energy, which develops VAWT systems, has attracted huge interest in its small wind product after placing its preliminary application for distributorships on its website.

“News of the preliminary application was released scarcely one week ago, and already there have been over 800 queries, and increasing daily”, the company said.

The company’s trademark wind power product is called WindCharger. It says the turbine is one its “key innovation priorities”. Sauer plans on starting manufacturing and trading the product during Fall 2011.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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When I meet people and tell them what I do at Xcel Energy (environmental communications manager), they often get excited and volunteer that they have seen the wind farm off state Highway 93, outside of Golden, Colo. And being a know-it-all, I’m quick to correct them that it’s not really a wind farm, but the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC). It’s merely a testing facility operated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with a handful of turbines – nothing like the large, commercial wind farms located on Colorado’s eastern plains that have dozens of turbines. Those farms are really impressive.

But recently I learned that I need to get my facts straight about the NWTC. While it technically is a testing facility, it does generate power. In fact, we actually buy power from the NWTC to serve our customers — about 9.3 megawatts of the 1,268 megawatts of wind power on our Colorado system.

As a testing facility, the NWTC does not generate a large amount of power, and at times, isn’t as predictable as traditional commercial wind farms. For example, a turbine may be taken out of service for several weeks to prepare for testing. In addition, wind at the site is rated as a “class 2” resource, which means it is marginal for producing year-round wind energy.

However, during the winter and spring, strong westerly winds are funneled directly onto the site, making it ideal for testing turbines. And some of the testing turbines are quite large, with a capacity of more than two megawatts, enough to run about 1,000 homes annually.

It’s true NREL is an essential partner for the technical development and large-scale deployment of wind power. And yes, they have an impressive staff of researchers working to improve wind power production, reduce capital and operating and maintenance costs, improve reliability and eliminate barriers to large-scale deployment. But above all, it’s nice to know that wind energy produced for research purposes isn’t just used for research – no electrons wasted here.

Interested in taking a closer look at the NWTC? You can take an online tour of the facility and learn a little more. And if you’ve never taken time to visit a wind farm – large or small – it’s worth a visit.

Article by Pam Butler, appearing courtesy Xcel Energy Blog.

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