What:             The 2013 NNI Strategic Planning Stakeholder Workshop will obtain input outside the U.S. Government on the future directions of the NNI. The recommendations of this one-and-a-half day workshop will inform the development of the 2013 NNI Strategic Plan.

read more

NIOSH today recommended that occupational exposures to carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) be controlled to reduce a potential risk of certain work-related lung effects. CNTs and CNFs are man-made elongated particles made of sheets of pure carbon that are about a thousand times smaller than a human hair.

read more

read more

read more

In the year 2004, wind energy in California produced 4,258 million kilowatt-hours of electricity,  about 1.5

In the year 2004, wind energy in California produced 4,258 million kilowatt-hours of electricity,  about 1.5 percent of the state’s total electricity. That’s more than enough to light a city the size of San Francisco.

More than 13,000 of California’s wind turbines, or 95 percent of all of California’s wind generating capacity and output, are located in three primary regions: Altamont Pass (east of San Francisco – a portion of which is shown on the right in this photo from NREL), Tehachapi (south east of Bakersfield) and San Gorgonio (near Palm Springs, east of Los Angeles). In 1995, these areas produced 30 percent of the entire world’s wind-generated electricity.

According to the Electric Power Research Institute, the cost of producing wind energy has decreased nearly four fold since 1980. The levelized cost of energy from wind turbines in 1993 was about 7.5 cents per kilowatt/hour. With current wind research and development efforts, the Energy Commission estimates that newer technologies can reduce the cost of wind energy to 3.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Wind energy also creates jobs. The America Wind Energy Association estimated that through the early 1990s, 1,200 direct jobs in California’s wind industry, with as many as 4,000 indirect jobs, were created. Total private investment in wind energy in California amounted to $3.2 billion through 1991.

Smaller turbines can be used by farms, homes and businesses in windy locations, such as along the coast. They can also be used (like solar cells) in areas where it is not feasible to run power lines because of the cost.

The Energy Commission tracks wind production in its annual Wind Performance Reports.

Return to Main Wind Page.

Wind Energy Production

Wind power plants are turbines which use the energy in the motion of the wind to make mechanical energy, which is then converted to electrical energy.

The components of a utility-scale “wind farm” include wind turbines, an underground power transmission system, control and maintenance facilities, and a substation that connects the farm with the utility power grid.  Utility-scale wind turbines are classified by size as follows: small (less than 50 kilowatts [kW]); intermediate (50 to 500 kW); and large (above 500 kW).  Small and intermediate turbines make up the bulk of the older installed turbine base, but new turbines installed in the late 1990s are generally 600 kW and larger.

Utility-scale wind farms are generally located in areas with average annual wind speeds of at least 13 miles per hour.  Wind power is more available during certain seasons because climatic conditions affect wind speed.  In California, wind speeds are highest in the hot summer months, and approximately three-fourths of all annual wind power output is produced during the spring and summer.

Another application of wind is in distributed use systems, which provide on-site power in either stand-alone or grid-connected configurations. Most such systems range in size from one to 25 kW.  Distributed wind systems are applicable to industry, water districts, rural residences, agricultural use, and a wide variety of isolated power uses located in good wind resource areas.

Wind power for utility-scale applications is considered to be commercially available under most conditions.  The technology is considered to be mature, and there are several system suppliers.  The federal government encourages electricity production from wind farms with a 1.5-cent per kilowatt-hour tax credit.  California also offers incentives through the Existing Renewables Program ($70.2 million for Tier 2, wind) and the New Renewables Program (nearly 1,000 megawatts of new, installed capacity is being added under this program).

Wind power for distributed applications is considered to be commercially available under limited conditions.  Distributed wind systems can be a cost-effective option in remote locations where a utility connection would not be economically feasible.  The California Energy Commission supports grid-connected small wind systems or 10 kW or less through the <!– –>Emerging Renewable Rebate Program<!– –>.

While the power produced by many of California’s older wind turbines is not cost-competitive with other forms of electricity generation, some of the newest wind turbine designs may be able to match or beat the power prices from many coal and nuclear plants.

Advantages of wind power include:

• It forestalls or replaces the need to build potentially more polluting conventional power plants.
• It produces virtually no pollution of air, water or soil.
• It is renewable (non-depletable).  There is enough potential wind energy in the U.S. to power the entire country.
• Because of its modular nature, it is easy to add capacity as needed.
• Installing wind turbines is relatively quick.
• While the power is currently more expensive than that produced by natural gas-fired plants, the price of wind power is not affected by fuel price increases or supply disruptions.
• There is currently an attractive federal tax credit for wind generation.

Permitting Issues.

Some of the potential issues associated with windfarm development include:

• Use of large tracts of land. (The average windfarm requires 17 acres of land to produce one megawatt of electricity.  However, simultaneous land uses such as agriculture and cattle grazing occur often.)
• Erosion in desert areas.
• Changes in visual quality (since windfarms tend to be located at or just below ridge lines).
• Disturbances to wildlife habitats.
• Avian mortality due to collisions with wind turbines and associated wires (research is on-going to reduce bird deaths).
• Noise (wind turbines generate both audible and low frequency [deep base vibration] sound waves).
• Grass or brush fires caused by shorts in the electrical cables in the unlikely event that they become stretched or twisted when the turbines turn to catch the wind.

References

1. Resource: An Encyclopedia of Energy Utility Terms, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 2nd edition, 1992, pp. 490-492.
2. Small But Powerful — A Review Guide to Small Alternative Energy Projects for California’s Local Decisionmakers, Association of Bay Area Governments, September 1987, pp. 18-23.
3. “Power Firm Races Into the Wind,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 29, 1994.
4. Gipe, Paul, Wind Power for Home & Business: Renewable Energy for the 1990s and Beyond, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1993.
5. 1992 Energy Technology Status Report — Final Report, California Energy Commission, Report no. P500-92-007, December 1992. Fact Sheet 11.1 (Wind-Utility Scale Applications) and 28.3 (On-site Electricity Production — Distributed Wind Systems).
6. 1992 Energy Technology Status Report, Appendix A, Volume II: Detailed Electric Generation Technology Evaluations, California Energy Commission, Report No. P500-92-007A V2, December 1992.  Section 11.1 (Utility Scale Wind Systems).

Source:  Energy Aware Guide II: Energy Facilities

REPOSTED FROM Ca.Gov California Energy Commission

For more information about wind energy contact:

For assistance regarding the Renewable Energy Program areas, please contact:

Renewable Energy Call Center
Toll Free – 800-555-7794
Outside California – 916-654-4058
E-mail: renewable@energy.ca.gov

Minister Heiko Maas with Dr. Hande Ünlü, Takenaka Europe, and Roland Schmitt, gwSaar

Th. Schuck, CEO gwSaar, Minister Maas and mayor R. Henz are happy about the project.

Launch event for one of the largest industrial development areas in South West Germany: The Lisdorfer Berg Industrial Park

For Economics Minister Heiko Maas, the project forms a central part in a series of measures aimed at increasing Saarland’s competitiveness, in the context of the master plan for industrial areas in Saarland: “With the large area of land available at Lisdorfer Berg, Saarland will become distinctly more attractive as an economic location in the trans-regional competition between locations. Economic activity needs space to flower so as to make attractive offers to investors. The Land Government of Saarland wants to strengthen Saarland as an economic location and in so doing lay the foundation for new jobs and growth. The Lisdorfer Berg thus gives off a positive signal for the development of the Land as a whole”, says Maas.

Thomas Schuck, CEO of gwSaar, comments: “By developing the new area we are creating the prerequisites for new companies to settle here. In this way gwSaar is contributing to the creation of new jobs in Saarland.” More than 20 enquiries have already been received from interested companies, and gwSaar has sent out quotations. MEWA Textil-Service AG & Co OHG Saarlouis is the first company to agree to acquire an area of 55,000 square metres. According to CEO Jens Nemsow, up to 140 new jobs will be created at the site.

Development of the site

The first step is to move 1.2 million cubic metres of soil in order to create three level plateaus. Following this, the drainage works are set to start early in 2013. The third stage will then be to construct roads between the plateaus and lay the supply pipelines. The site development works will then be concluded by the end of 2014. gwSaar will market the area in parallel to the development works. The excellent transport connections via the new B 269 to the A 620 and the French A 4 motorway make the Lisdorfer Berg master plan area especially attractive to companies from the production industry and logistics sectors.

Background: The master plan for industrial areas

The master plan for industrial areas in Saarland was signed off by the Land Government in 2007 and provides for the development of four major industrial areas: the Holz industrial park (Losheim), the BAB 1 industrial park Am Schaumberg (Tholey), the industrial area Am Zunderbaum (Homburg/Kirkel) and the Lisdorfer Berg industrial area (Saarlouis). The area Am Schaumberg and the Holz industrial park have already been completed. The areas were selected on the basis of a study compiled by SBB (Saarland Bau und Boden Projektgesellschaft mbH), Saarland’s own construction and land development project company. All the industrial areas are aligned with the needs of modern companies in terms of their location, transport connections and ecological sustainability.

reposted: gwSaar January 26,2013 by James burke

Press contact

SHS Strukturholding Saar GmbH

Dr. Ludwin Vogel

Phone: +49 681 / 9965 301

Mobile: 0173-77155 97

medien@strukturholding.de

Publisher / Disclaimer

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced today the selection of the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI), a collaboration of several key firms in the semiconductor industry, to support university-centered research for the development of after-the-next-generation “nanoelectronics” technology. NRI is made up of participants from the semiconductor industry, including GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IBM, Intel, Micron Technology and Texas Instruments.

read more

Where and what is nano? How will it shape our future? Nanoscience is the study of phenomena and manipulation of materials at the nanoscale, where properties differ significantly from those at a larger scale. The strange world of nanoscience - it can take you into atoms and beyond the stars.

It won Best Short Film at the Scinema Science film festival 2010. Courtesy of Cambridge University.

read more

Saarland Expertise

Fifth NSI will accelerate the development of nano-enabled sensors and nanomaterial sensing

read more