Developers of what may become the first offshore wind farm in U.S. waters said all debt and equity funding for operations is now secured. Deepwater Wind said more than $290 million Continue Reading
Close to 30 UK green energy schemes have been awarded a subsidy pot worth nearly £4bn in a government auction that has set the stage for a big fall in solar electricity prices and much cheaper wind power. Two small winning solar panel projects have said they can produce electricity for nearly 60 per cent less than the maximum price the government had agreed to pay for that type of electricity and almost the same as current wholesale power prices. More On this topic IN UK Politics & Policy Prices for two large offshore wind farms off the coast of East Anglia and the Scottish Borders have come in as much as 18 per cent cheaper, though each scheme is still likely to receive nearly double the prevailing wholesale price. The auction, which is likely to set new ground rules for the way renewable energy is funded across Europe, […]
Scroby Sands offshore wind farm in the North Sea off Norfolk, south of the planned superfarm The world’s biggest offshore wind scheme has been given the go-ahead off the coast of Yorkshire, in a move the government said was likely to create hundreds of jobs. The Dogger Bank Creyke Beck project is expected to be one of the UK’s biggest power stations, second only to the Drax coal-fired plant in North Yorkshire and capable of supplying about 2.5 per cent of the country’s electricity. More On this topic IN UK Politics & Policy The scheme’s developers have yet to take a final investment decision and the project will almost certainly have to secure backing under the government’s renewable energy subsidy system. But the government’s planning consent for such a large development was welcomed by the industry. “This is an awesome project,” said Nick Medic, director of offshore renewables at […]
German wind farm readies for mid-2015 service after installation of turbines at deep-water site. Photo courtesy: E.ON With 80 wind turbines in place, German utility company E.ON said Wednesday it was one step closer to activating a deep-water wind farm off the German coast. The company said turbines were installed during the weekend at the site of the Amrumbank West wind project, situated about 20 miles northwest of the German island of Helgoland. Infrastructure construction began in January 2014. "We are confident that we will soon be able to feed electricity generated by the first turbines into the public grid as planned," Dominik Schwegmann, lead project manager of Amrumbank West, said in a statement. The project is slated for mid-2015 completion . At its peak, Amrumbank West will supply 288 megawatts of wind energy to the German grid, enough to meet the annual electricity demands of 300,000 average households. […]
U.S. Interior Department holds auction for wind energy development off the coast of Massachusetts. Photo by Teun van den Dries/Shutterstock WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) — Wind energy potential in the Atlantic holds promise as a new source of renewable energy and economic stimulus, the U.S. Interior Department secretary said. With high bids totaling $448,000, the Interior Department said it doubled the total acreage available for wind energy development off the coast of Massachusetts in the fourth-ever auction of its kind. "Offshore wind along the Atlantic holds great potential to help power our nation with renewable energy while adding jobs to the economy," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a Thursday statement. The U.S. government estimates the leased area, a combined 354,409 acres, could support around 2 gigawatts of commercial wind energy, enough to meet the annual electricity needs of 700,000 homes if fully developed. Wind energy development up and […]
Advocacy group Oceana says wind energy developments in the Atlantic would bring more benefits than offshore drilling. Photo by Teun van den Dries/Shutterstock WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (UPI) — A U.S. ocean advocacy group said an offshore wind sector in the Atlantic Ocean could produce twice as many jobs and twice as much energy as offshore drilling. "The American public deserves to know the facts when it comes to expanding this dirty and dangerous practice to the East Coast, and what alternatives there are for clean energy generation," Andrew Menaquale, an energy analyst at advocacy group Oceana, said in a Wednesday statement. The National Ocean Industries Association, an industry group lobbying for more offshore work, said about 1.34 million barrels of oil equivalent per day could be produced from the Atlantic basin by 2035. Oceana instead found an offshore wind energy sector in the Atlantic could produce more energy than […]
Despite years of successful experience, dozens of studies, and increasing utility support for clean energy, urban myth holds that electricity from renewable energy is unreliable. Yet over 75,000 megawatts (MW) of wind and solar power have been integrated, reliably, into the nation’s electric grid to date. That’s enough electricity to supply 17.9 million homes. And, as a new NRDC fact sheet published today illustrates, the electric grid can handle much higher levels of zero-carbon wind and solar power, far more than what’s necessary to achieve the relatively modest carbon emission reductions in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to limit pollution from existing power plants. But first, a little background on how our nation’s electric system works. Grid basics The nation’s high-power transmission system is made up of three largely separate grids: one on either side of the Continental Divide (roughly) and the third in Texas. The two largest […]
Virginia government considers research project to explore offshore wind energy potential. UPI/Pat Benic WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (UPI) — Virginia’s plans for offshore wind installations will be weighed against the environment and socioeconomic impacts, the federal government said. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it was assessing the potential impact of a planned 12 megawatt project backed by the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. Described as a research project, BOEM said the two wind turbine generators planned by Virginia would set the course for a future offshore wind industry in the state. The federal department said its environmental assessment of the proposed project considers whether or not there will be any "environmental and socioeconomic consequences associated with the approval of the offshore wind research activities." Public comments on the assessment will be vetted before the BOEM signs off on the project, the agency said Monday. Opponents of […]
Photo Smog returned to Beijing after emergency measures to clear the air during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting were lifted. Credit Fred Dufour/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images When Beijing experiences bouts of pollution that blacken the skies and burn the lungs, residents often joke that the Chinese capital needs to build giant fans to clear out the toxic air. Mountains to the north and west help trap smog in the city, and a stiff breeze from Mongolia is the surest way to ensure somewhat cleaner air. Beijing officials are now considering ways to help that process. Though giant fans are not on the menu, at least not yet, city planners are looking at ways to create corridors that encourage wind flow through the capital. The plan is inspired by research on urban heat islands, which shows that large buildings that block the wind are one of the causes […]
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It’s clear that fossil fuel industries have been pursuing the latter strategy for quite some time now. But as awareness of the true costs of climate change and air pollution grows, this position becomes increasingly precarious. The latest indication that things must change comes in the form of a European Union commissioned report—written about over at Recharge—which finds that onshore wind is the cheapest energy source of all , once externalities such as climate change impacts and health effects are taken into account. With onshore wind costs coming in at about €105 ($133) per MWh, this figure compares favorably to gas (€164/MWh), nuclear (€133) and, most dramatically, coal (€162-233). We should note that onshore wind also beats offshore wind (€186/MWh) and solar (€217) by a considerable margin. However, while the cost of coal and other fossil fuels is likely to go up as supplies get harder to reach and […]
