Alternative Energy/Wind Power Despite the financial crisis, EU wind power should expect steady growth

Europe, Asia and North America will remain the global leaders in wind power development for the foreseeable future, a panel session at the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) conference was told on Thursday in Vancouver.

WEA President Robert Hornung, in his capacity as a board member of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), added that the wind farm sector in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, and Australia and New Zealand should also show remarkably rapid growth in coming years.

Speaking at CanWEA’s annual conference, Hornung said the wind turbines industry in general can expect a bright future despite the continuing global financial crisis.

He said that China is the key global driver of the industry right now while Europe remains a consistently solid and steady wind power region that can expect continual growth. He added, however, that the North American wind turbines sector is somewhat weak and uncertain now because of the faltering economy and policy uncertainty towards wind farm and other renewable energies.

As a region, GWEC noted that Europe was the global leader with cumulative installed capacity of 86 GW at the end of 2010, Asia was second with 58.6 GW and North America was third with 44.1 GW.

Jacopo Moccia, Head of Policy Analysis for the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), told the panel that wind power has benefited from Europe’s 2001 Renewable Electricity Directive and its 2009 Renewable Energy Directive.

Moccia said that the share of wind in Europe’s electricity demand at the end of 2010 was 5.3%.

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Alternative Energy Supplies - Wind Power: Harvesting Wind Energy With Airborne Wind Turbines

At just 610 metres above the ground, wind velocity is two to three times compared to ground level wind speeds. A NASA project is looking into how to harvest this resource with airborne wind turbines.

NASA aerospace engineer Mark Moore is part of the first federally-funded research effort to examine airborne wind harvesting platforms. While Moore says the concept isn't a clean energy panacea, it deserves consideration in a renewable energy mix. But why stop at 610 metres - further up even more potential energy is available. At 9 kilometres above the surface is the jet stream that generates wind speeds of up to 240 kilometres per hour.

"Instead of 500 watts per meter (for ground-based wind turbines), you're talking about 20,000, 40,000 watts per square meter," says Moore. "Offshore deployment of these airborne systems probably makes the most sense in terms of both airspace and land use, because there is little to no demand for low altitude flight over oceans 12 miles (19 to 20 km) offshore."

Note EU-Digest: "With a $100,000 grant from the federal government, Mark Moore, an aerospace engineer at the Systems Analysis Branch of NASA's Langley Research Center, is going to study different approaches to harvesting energy from the wind at high altitudes. Not 100 or 200 feet, but 10,000 or 30,000 feet. Moore plans to look at all of the different airborne wind turbine ideas that have been proposed and find a way to compare their strengths and weaknesses."


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Engineering News: Denmark to host wind energy seminar in Pretoria - by Christy van der Merwe

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Denmark to host wind energy seminar in Pretoria - by Christy van der Merwe

In promoting wind energy, and its potential to become big business in South Africa, Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Per Stig Moller would open a wind energy seminar in Pretoria on January 23. South African Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica would also be present at the seminar, where Danish companies Vestas Wind Systems, Dong Energy, and Suzlon Wind Energy would make presentations on the global green energy frontier. The one-day international seminar would be hosted by the Embassy of Denmark in Pretoria and the South African Cities Network in cooperation with the Danish energy players.

Denmark developed its wind energy strategies in the 1970s and 1980s, and, at present, renewable energies, largely wind, made up 27% of the country's electricity supply. Wind power has become big business, and Danish companies were viewed as world leaders in wind power production.

EU-Digest:: Darwind poised to lead the Duch comeback as a nation of superior Windmill builders

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Darwind poised to lead the Duch comeback as a nation of superior Windmill builders

Windmills, Bicycles, and efficient Public transportation have given the Netherlands a green reputation. But that image is deceptive. Some 100 years ago there were over 10,000 windmills in the Netherlands. Today this long tradition of building windmills as a source of inexpensive energy has just about disappeared. The major windmill producing giants in Europe can now be found in Germany, Denmark and Spain.

When it comes to producing energy from alternative resources, such as wind power, the Dutch now seem to have the reputation of having the tendency to just talk and talk, but are not too good at decision making. Case in point, after the German energy giant RWE said it wanted to invest €6bn in five major off shore wind parks in the Netherlands by 2020, supplying green power to around 2.5 million households, the deal soured because of confusion around subsidies by the government.

Darwind Holding BV, a new Dutch company based in Utrecht is poised to take the Netherlands back to its historic leadership role in the windmill industry. Vincent van den Brekel, Managing Director of Darwind is convinced that his company can become a major global player as a full service supplier to the offshore wind energy sector. "Our next generation high yield boosting turbine design offers potential customers output at a significantly improved economic return with minimum maintenance downtime", says den Berkel. By next year Darwind expects to have a prototype of their new advanced wind turbine operating. They plan to go into full production in 2011.

IHT: Denmark leads the way in green energy — to a point - by James Kanter

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Denmark leads the way in green energy — to a point - by James Kanter

"Viewed from the United States or Asia, Denmark is an environmental role model. The country is "what a global warming solution looks like," wrote Frances Beinecke, the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a letter to the group last autumn. About one-fifth of the country's electricity comes from wind, which wind experts say is the highest proportion of any country.

Countries in Europe like Denmark are far ahead of the United States and others in overall use of green electricity, mostly because of government support. "Europe has really led the way," said Alex Klein, a senior analyst with Emerging Energy Research, a consulting firm with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Barcelona. "Very progressive policies by the Danes and Germany means the wind industry was able to evolve and build up scale."