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RPT-Huge wind energy potential off Eastern U.S. -study
(Repeats for more readers)
* Eastern states could get half their power from wind
* North Carolina, South Carolina have most potential
By Scott Malone
BOSTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The densely populated U.S. East Coast could meet close to half its current electric demand by relying on offshore wind turbines, a study by an ocean conservation group found.
North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia offer the most potential for easily captured wind energy, according to the Oceana study, which estimates that the 13 coastal states could together generate 127 gigawatts of power.
That represents the potential for far more wind power than the United States currently generates. At the end of 2009, the nation's land-based turbines were capable of producing some 35,000 megawatts of power -- enough to meet the needs of 28 million typical American homes.
Investment in new wind turbines has surged in recent years, boosting sales at turbine makers including General Electric Co (GE.N), Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS.CO) and Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE).
However, all the U.S. wind farms built so far are on land. Advocates of offshore wind installations, led by backers of the Cape Wind facility proposed off the Cape Cod beach area in Massachusetts, have been working for almost a decade to try to win approval to build offshore turbines.
Opponents of Cape Wind argue that it could harm fisheries as well as sully views in a region dependent on tourism.
Oceana argues that wind offers an attractive alternative to offshore oil and natural gas drilling, particularly in the wake of the April BP Plc (BP.L) rig explosion, which led to an undersea leak that poured oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico for 153 days.
"Our research revealed that harnessing offshore wind power in Atlantic waters is a much more cost-effective way to generate energy than oil and gas drilling," said Jacqueline Savitz, an author of the report.
Oceana argued the electricity generated by wind off the East Coast would save $36 billion in energy costs over a 20-year period and create 133,000 to 212,000 installation and maintenance jobs a year. [ID:N27275340]
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF TURBINES
Hitting the 127 gigawatt number could mean installing 30,000 to 50,000 of the spinning turbines along the U.S. East Coast. That would be the equivalent of more than 200 projects the size of Cape Wind, which could become the nation's first wind farm.
That figure assumes current turbines sizes of 2.5 megawatts to 4 megawatts. But Savitz suggested the estimated figure of 30,000 to 50,000 turbines could well decline as turbine sizes increase.
"If you assume this is all coming into play over 10 or 15 years, these things are expected to get bigger and bigger," Savitz said.
Oceana's analysis of the East Coast's potential to generate power from the wind leaves out the New England states of New Hampshire and Maine, because their shorelines drop away quickly to deeper waters where it would be more difficult for developers to install turbines.
That same concern has kept developers away from the West Coast.
Cape Wind is not the only wind farm proposed off the Eastern seaboard. Developers are also working on projects off Rhode Island, Delaware and New Jersey. (Reporting by Scott Malone, editing by Matthew Lewis)
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Wind-generated electricity has great allure, touted as resuscitating Michigan’s weakened manufacturing base and softening the environmental impact of coal-fired power plants. How could any clear-thinking politician not support this idea? Indeed, why would any concerned citizen resist such benefits? Considering the greater good, shouldn’t we be willing to tolerate some dead birds and angry NIMBYs? Won’t installing wind turbines decrease emissions of ash, sulfur and nitrogen, heavy metals, and CO2? Won’t we enjoy health benefits, and be doing our part to “save the planet”? Well actually, no.
Fluctuations in wind speed cause variations in electrical yield from wind turbines, and these variations do not match electricity demand. So no matter how many windmills are installed, conventional power plants must provide 100 percent backup capacity to avoid power shortages. These backup plants must ramp their output up or down to offset daily or hourly changes in wind speed. That would not be a problem except that changing the output of a fossil-fuel generation system has a negative impact on its efficiency and lif span. When running below optimal output, they burn more fuel per unit of electricity generated. At some level of efficiency loss, the extra fossil fuel consumed becomes greater than the fuel saved from using wind turbines.
This is the so-called “turning point,” where the reduction in CO2 emissions becomes zero. Dutch scientists de Groot and le Pair calculate that the turning point can occur at an efficiency reduction of only 2 percent. See www.clepair.net/windefficiency.html.
Experience with wind in Germany, TX and elsewhere, along with utility models, shows our current grid can handle 20% wind power with little modification. And if we install HVDC powerlines to balance regional demand and ramp up smart devices and conservation, then the wind share can become even larger, up to 30%. It is misleading to say that every watt of Clean Energy must be backed up by dirty fossil plants. That has never been done, anywhere, at any time.
Wind power is forecastible and meteorologists are getting better at providing generators and distributors with a daily forecast to plan activities. Critics are fond of say wind runs only 30% of the time, but that is an average production rate vs peak output. Land-based turbines actually produce some power more than half the time. Since offshore winds are stronger and more frequent, that average will be higher for Offshore wind projects.
Researchers in the US and UK have been looking at how to store offshore wind power so that it is available on demand, using a reverse pumped-storage systems.
This video with MIT prof Alex Slocum tells how such storage units (10 MWhr apiece) could be built right now, using only existing technology.
http://cleanskies.com/videos/mit-demonstrates-offshore-renewable-energy-systems
Wind power systems have a bright future and many countries, including the Chinese, are interested in becoming the manufacturing leaders in this field.
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