Thursday, June 14, 2007
A Wave of Wind A long train ride provided the opportunity to review the new report from the Department of Energy on the state of wind power in the US. For those who like numbers the ones in this document are fascinating. Significantly, they show that for the second year in a row, wind power capacity additions were second only to those for natural gas-fired turbines and ahead of coal, even when adjusted for “capacity factor”, the proportion of nameplate capacity actually utilized, on average. Furthermore, in at least a few states wind power is now contributing shares of total electricity sales that are comparable to the national shares from conventional sources such as hydropower and nuclear energy. At least regionally, wind is becoming mainstream, rather than niche.http://energyoutlook.blogspot.com/
2 comments:
I have not had a chance to read the DOE report but this article on the Energy Outlook blog does a good job of summarizing it. I wasn't very surprised to learn that 20 states generate 99% of wind energy . . . its geographic limitations are one of its weaknesses. Best of all looks like the United States is making good progress on increase the contribution of wind to its energy generation basket.
In the month or so that I've worked as a development intern at Airtricity, I have gained an appreciation of how much potential there is for wind development in this country, and what is really holding back an even bigger boom in this industry.
Basically, there's tons of good wind resource out there, and I don't really see the geographic "limitations" as being a weakness. That's like saying coal is weak because there is not a lot of it in Texas. The key to a diverse and decentralized energy portfolio is a mixture of fuels, and wind can provide electricity for every state outside of the Southeast.
Having said that, the main barriers to further wind development are as follows:
1) Lack of transmission where the resource exists and very slow and cumbersome process of adding new transmission capacity. Solution: public policies that share risk with utilities and promote dramatic infrastructure in transmission resource.
2) Limited supply of turbines. These days, you have to have tens of millions of dollars in advance for an order of turbines that won't be delivered for 2+ years! This one factor has served to hike up the cost for developers to the point that projects that could be economicaly viable in a vibrant market cannot be developed. Solution: support competition in turbine manufacturing.
3) Subsidies designed to boost alternative energies like wind are either short-term (2 year increments), or already maxed out (ex. Arizona's Renewable Portfolio Standars). Solution: what Joe Biden has called "a Manhatten Project of energy" to radically transform and improve the energy system in the United States.
There's enough wind resource in Texas to meet most base-load demand for the State, and most of the resource is in the middle of nowhere in West Texas and the Panhandle. Energy independence in the U.S. cannot occur without radical change in how we take better advantage of this rich resource.
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