Denmark’s State Owned Electric Company gives up Land based Wind Turbines!
Mass protests mean the energy firm will look offshore
State-owned energy firm Dong Energy has given up building more wind farms on Danish land, following protests from residents complaining about the noise the turbines make.
It had been Dong and the government’s plan that 500 large turbines be built on land over the coming 10 years, as part of a large-scale national energy plan. This plan has hit a serious stumbling block, though, due to many protests, and the firm has now given up building any more wind farms on land.
Anders Eldrup, the CEO of Dong Energy, told TV2 News: ‘It is very difficult to get the public’s acceptance if the turbines are built close to residential buildings, and therefore we are now looking at maritime options.'
The move has met resistance from parliament, where amongst others Anne Grete Holmgaard, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Environmental Committee, said, ‘It is rather unacceptable that Dong - which is our large, state-owned energy firm - says goodbye to an investment in wind on land, and that they are doing so after we have cleared the way for a test centre where new types of turbines can be tested.’
Wellfleet selectmen kill turbine plan
By Doug Fraser dfraser@capecodonline.com
March 31, 2010 2:00 AM
WELLFLEET — Five years of work to build a 400-foot-tall wind turbine on town-owned land overlooking White Crest Beach came to a crashing halt last night as selectmen voted unanimously to kill the project.
"I embrace alternative energy and it grieves me to be supporting the end of this project," Selectman Jacqueline Wildes-Beebe said. "There is a lot of risk for too little gain."
The risk, selectmen felt, was primarily to the character of that oceanfront stretch of towering bluffs and wind-stunted vegetation that symbolized the relatively undeveloped beauty that the Cape Cod National Seashore was first created a half century ago to protect.
The idea of placing a large industrial-sized turbine that required a 30-foot wide, paved access road was too much to consider, many said.
"It will change the landscape we have struggled to maintain for 50 years," Wildes-Beebe said. "Many residents and visitors use and cherish it."
Selectman Ira Wood called the turbine "environmentally disruptive" with "dubious economics for a small town." He pointed out that Wellfleet has undertaken many recent capital projects, including a new fire station and municipal water system, and still has to deal with an aging police station. Taxpayers have seen double-digit increases in their property taxes and he didn't think it was the right time for the town to be taking on an expensive project where the economics were still not clearly laid out.
Other concerns included how noise from the blades could affect those people living nearby, and whether the area was just too stormy.
Selectman Michael May, the board's liaison to the town energy committee, which presented the project last night, said wind speeds at the harbormaster's offices were clocked at 75 mph the other night. He wondered if the turbine might suffer damages in the more powerful storms that frequently slam their Atlantic-side beaches with higher wind speeds, possibly in excess of what the turbine can stand.
Despite the fact there appeared to be a lot of momentum among residents toward building the turbine as the project progressed from the formation of a committee in 2005 through town meeting votes, opponents gained traction in recent months. A big cheer went up from the audience when it was unanimously voted down.
"From the start it was obvious to us that it should never be part of this pristine area," said Jim Rogers, a nonresident taxpayer who lives in Sandwich but owns property near the proposed turbine site. Rogers helped spearhead the anti-turbine effort. He said a lot of residents just weren't aware of the size of the structure and of the amount of alteration to the land needed to build and maintain it.
The town has appropriated $290,000 toward design and site preparation work, but has only spent around $29,000 of it. Wood suggested they consider putting that toward municipal conservation efforts.
Selectmen and many in the audience applauded the efforts of the town's energy committee.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100331/NEWS/3310301
WE STOPPED THE WIND TURBINES IN WELLFLEET, MA
WE STOPPED THE WIND TURBINE!!!! March 30, 2010
The Wellfleet Board of Selectmen wisely voted 5-0 to spend no more money to develop a wind farm.
Thanks to everyone that helped out!
Once you take the time to understand the issues, no other honest judgement could be made!
Faut-il arrêter de construire des éoliennes en France ?
… today, in France, one of the birthplaces of American liberty (see Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, etc.), the good people of France are taking part in a nationwide poll to express the national sentiment on wind farms. “Should there be a moratorium? Oui ou Non?” The poll is being run by The Figaro, France’s grande national newspaper.
Please add your vote. France, Canada, and America are joined at the hip. We are all Frenchmen and women! Vivre la france!
Log onto this site and put a “dot” in the “oui” (yes) circle.
U.S. General Victor E. Renuart testifies on radar interference from wind turbines
March 18, 2010 by General Victor E. Renuart, Jr. USAF Commander
Feeble wind farms fail to hit full power
THE first detailed study of Britain’s onshore wind farms suggests some treasured landscapes may have been blighted for only small gains in green energy.
The analysis reveals that more than 20 wind farms produce less than a fifth of their potential maximum power output.
One site, at Blyth Harbour in Northumberland, is thought to be the worst in Britain, operating at just 7.9% of its maximum capacity. Another at Chelker reservoir in North Yorkshire operates at only 8.7% of capacity.
Both are relatively small and old, but larger and newer sites fared badly, too, according to analyses of data released by Ofgem, the energy regulator, for 2008.
Siddick wind farm in Cumbria, now operated by Eon, achieved only 15.8% of capacity, the figures suggest. The two turbines at High Volts 2, Co Durham, the largest and most powerful wind farm in Britain when it was commissioned in 2004, achieved 18.7%.
Turbine efficiency is calculated by comparing theoretical maximum output with what the farms actually generate. The best achieve about 50% efficiency and the norm is 25%-30%.
Experts say the figures for individual wind farms have to be treated with caution as output can vary sharply because of factors such as breakdowns.
The revelation that so many wind farms are performing well below par, however, will reinforce the view of objectors who believe many turbines generate too little power to justify their visual impact.
Britain has 245 onshore wind farms. Although wind power is expensive, the industry has boomed because of the “renewable obligation” subsidy system, under which consumers pay roughly double the normal price for energy from wind.
The analyses were compiled by Allan Tubb, a former power engineer, on behalf of the Campaign to Limit Onshore Wind Development (CLOWD) and were based on data published by Ofgem showing the capacity and performance of Britain's renewable power generators. The original data can be found athttps://www.renewablesandchp.ofgem.gov.uk/
Michael Jefferson, professor of international business and sustainability at London Metropolitan Business School, who is also a former lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has cited the efficiency figures in peer-reviewed papers. He says the subsidy encourages the construction of wind farms.
“Too many developments are underperforming,” he said. “It’s because developers grossly exaggerate the potential. The subsidies make it viable for developers to put turbines on sites they would not touch if the money was not available.”
Nick Medic of Renewable UK, which represents the wind industry, said Britain’s ambitious targets for clean power meant the country needed “every bit of green energy it could generate”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7069938.ece
Bankruptcy nears for Danish Wind Operator
In Denmark, the home of wind power, many of the leading wind power operators are facing significant economic problems, writes VA-listing. Danish Scan Energy, one of Europe's largest independent producers of renewable energy, following a failed IPO just before Christmas, is on the verge of bankruptcy. According to Danish media Scan Energy is struggling to pay the wages of its employees. It has also lodged a bankruptcy petition against the company.
Danish wind power is in crisis. At the same time two new Swedish wind power operators are seeking to be listed on the Swedish stock market.
In Denmark, the home of wind power, many of the leading wind power operators are facing significant economic problems, writes VA-listing. Danish Scan Energy, one of Europe's largest independent producers of renewable energy, following a failed IPO just before Christmas, is on the verge of bankruptcy. According to Danish media Scan Energy is struggling to pay the wages of its employees. It has also lodged a bankruptcy petition against the company.
Just last December, Scan Energy had been listed on the German Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Although the introductory rate was lowered to 8 million from an initial range of 9-13 million, the failed launch left the company without needed capital. In February, another Danish wind power operator, Green Wind Energy, which is listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, issued a profit warning.
The Danish wind energy market is highly fragmented with few players at the top. Scan Energy is the largest independent wind energy operator in addition to energy giants Dong Energy and Vattenfall. Scan Energy has net 369 MW installed capacity in Denmark and on the continent. It is followed by Green Wind Energy with 76 MW of wind installed and Green Tech with 75 MW of installed capacity. There are many smaller players.
Swedish wind power operators, O2 and Arise, plan initial public offerings to be traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
Cape Wind: State official says it would harm the area
State historical preservation officer Brona Simon spoke out against the Cape Wind turbine project proposed for Nantucket Sound during a hearing in Barnstable on Monday. She noted that the project is 24 to 25 square miles. "You can see the concern we have with the adverse effects of the proposal," she said. "The visual element will alter the setting outside the character of the historic properties."
March 24, 2010 in The Patriot Ledger
BARNSTABLE - State historical preservation officer Brona Simon spoke out against the Cape Wind turbine project proposed for Nantucket Sound during a hearing in Barnstable on Monday.
She noted that the project, which would include 130 giant wind turbines, is 24 to 25 square miles.
"You can see the concern we have with the adverse effects of the proposal," she said. "The visual element will alter the setting outside the character of the historic properties."
Simon, head of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, noted that since the sound isn't yet listed as a National Historic Landmark, the National Park Service determined the effects would be indirect, but she noted the sound was important to both the Wampanoag tribes and European settlers.
"In addition, there are underwater cultural resources likely to be imperiled by construction," she said. "(It is an area) likely to have been utilized by native American ancestors."
Simon said alternative sites have been suggested - such as south of Martha's Vineyard.
"In the years since (2001), deep-water wind technology has made considerable progress," she said.
The federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation held Monday's meeting in Barnstable to collect comments about the effects of the wind farm.
That agency will send the comments to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar before April 14, and he'll determine whether the Minerals Management Service will issue the project a permit for development in federal waters.
"Cape Wind has been sensitive to historic and cultural concerns through nine years of this process," Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers told the panel. "The only impacts to historic properties identified there previously are visual. The impacts are minimal only, and the National Park Service has determined Cape Wind has no direct adverse historical impact."
http://www.patriotledger.com/business/x126578903/C...
Winds of opposition build against Harwich turbines
Credit: By William F. Galvin, Cape Cod Chronicle, www.capecodchronicle.com March 18, 2010
HARWICH — The winds of defiance continue to howl from the neighborhoods that could be in the shadow of two proposed commercial wind turbines. Monday night, about a dozen residents continued their protest of town plans to lease land to Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative.
The rancor was fortified by news of two turbine failures in Nantucket and Marstons Mills. A broken blade was cast nearly 200 feet at Bartlett’s Ocean View Farm on Nantucket in late January.
Those incidents raised questions of safety to go along with concerns for noise and shadow flicker among residents of neighborhood in Headwaters and North Harwich.
“It’s a great concern of the board of health,” chairman Dr. Stanley Kocot told selectmen of the flying object.
Kocot was before selectmen to provide a report as requested by the board. He said the report is not ready and they would need more time. A preliminary report would be ready in the first week in April, he said. When pushed by selectmen, Kocot said they have read numerous articles citing noise impacts, but there are no physical effects on health from the turbines.
Town Administrator James Merriam said they have scheduled a community forum on wind turbines for Saturday, April 17 at 9:30 a.m. at the community center. He said experts will be available to answer questions.
There will certainly be questions. The residents in the area of the proposed wind turbines are concerned about the proximity of the structures to their homes and the potential for noise, flicker and property devaluation.
North Harwich resident Linda Solomon said she understands the town is hurting for money and the selectmen are looking at this as a moneymaker. But she cited the problems with two turbines in Vinalhaven, Maine that have caused 24 of 38 homeowners to complain. She asked if the town is ready to buy these homes if property values drop.
“I assume the board of selectmen did not do a proper investigation before jumping on the bandwagon,” Solomon said. “Or you don’t care about the 350 homeowners (within a half mile). If that’s the case, you don’t care about the people of Harwich and you have no right holding your jobs.”
Selectman Larry Ballantine said he’s read the reports on decibel levels and the real estate reports. He said you can read the data on both sides of the argument and he admitted selectmen do not have an easy decision. But he also said sound is measured differently by individuals. He said at last week’s turbine visit he could barely hear it at 800 feet, but admitted someone else might have another opinion.
“Harwich wants to put this in a residential area with way more homes than in any other case,” Solomon said.
Selectman Larry Cole challenged that, citing the turbine placed in Portsmouth, R.I., near 200 homes. He said there was one complaint about flicker. There were discussions about the two turbines working in Hull and differing views on the neighborhood acceptance there.
Selectmen have cited a real estate impact study that was conducted at University of California Berkeley to show property values do not drop in areas where wind turbines are located. The study examined 7,500 homes at 24 sites in nine states.
But Headwaters resident Maura Toma said she did her own research on that report and it shows less than 1 percent of the homes in the study are within a half mile of the turbines, and only 1.7 percent are within a mile. Some residents in the Headwaters area could be within a quarter of a mile of one proposed site.
“The reason I’m up here, I’m scared it will affect my property value, my quality of life,” said Alice Kuntz. The homeowner said she purchased her house just two months before the November town meeting vote to support leasing the land.
She cited concerns for flicker and its impact every 1.3 seconds for 600 hours a year as a Weston & Sampson Engineering study concluded could happen in close proximity to the turbines. She had someone flick the room lights off and on every 1.3 seconds to demonstrate her point.
Headwaters resident Rick Toma said he is speaking for a lot of people when he says the town could have done a better public relation job and in getting more people involved before the town meeting vote.
Toma said in doing more research he learned about the state of Vermont considering legislation to keep turbines one-and-a-quarter miles from homes. The French government is looking at a mile-and-a-half, and Minnesota is working toward a half mile.
“I would feel better if my neighbors and the town knew what the project was and then voted on it,” Toma said of the unknowns still remaining.
“If it doesn’t meet the planning board site plan special permit requirements, it doesn’t go anywhere,” Selectman Angelo LaMantia said. “Nobody’s issued a building permit; this is only one stage, part of the process.”
“That land has always been open space, good habitat for what’s left for all the critters on the Cape,” North Harwich resident Chris Norcross said. “You’re going to turn that land into Disneyland. The noise itself will disrupt animals there. The town has changed fast enough. How much more do you want to disfigure it?”
Scots wind farm shut over safety fears after 150ft turbine blade falls off
This wind farm has been open less than one year!
EUROPE'S largest wind farm ground to a halt after a 150ft blade snapped off one of the turbines.
All 140 of the giant machines were immediately shut down at the £300million development near Glasgow until they could be inspected.
Engineers at Whitelee wind farm, which is run by ScottishPower Renewables, were trying to work out why the blade came crashing down.
They are looking into whether lightning could have struck the turbine or if it was caused by a mechanical problem.
It sheared off and hit the ground in the early hours of Friday morning in blustery conditions.
Automatic systems alerted operators in the control room to the damage and they immediately closed down the unit.
All 420 blades in the wind farm were being examined following the accident.
Last night, more than 50 turbines were expected to have been inspected and safely returned to operation.
The process is expected to be completed by Friday.
Whitelee wind farm's visitor centre, which is managed by Glasgow Science Centre and had been due to reopen after the winter break yesterday, stayed shut.
German company Siemens, who supplied the turbines, are also understood to be investigating.
The 360ft turbines are so massive that engineers have been able to climb inside them to try to detect the problem.
Over the weekend, the site at Eaglesham Moor, 13 miles from Glasgow city centre, was cordoned off to keep visitors away. Raymond Toms, 45, a teacher from East Kilbride, spotted the broken turbine as he cycled past on Sunday.
He said: "I was out for a bike ride and I saw one of the massive blades had broken clean off. It was quite unnerving really.
"You can walk right up to these things normally and touch them.
"The public have access to the network of pathways nearby.
"I have grave concerns over the safety of the public, who can walk right up to the turbines.
"It's worrying that if one of these could fall off then perhaps another one could.
"It's made me think about going too close, that's for sure. It's just lucky this took place at night, when nobody was around."
Keith Anderson, managing director of ScottishPower Renewables, said: "This type of incident is exceptionally rare and highly unusual.
"However, the safety of our people and the public is our first priority.
"While the investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing, our engineers continue to conduct an internal and external examination of all turbine blades at the wind farm".
A spokesman for the firm added: "Investigations are ongoing, and a number of possibilities including mechanical failure and lightning strike are being considered.
"Operators in the 24-hour control room immediately closed the turbine down.
"This is a highly unusual situation. I've not heard of this kind of incident happening in 30 years."
GREEN ENERGY BLUEPRINT
Whitelee was officially switched on in May 2009 by First Minister Alex Salmond.
Each turbine at Whitelee, which started producing electricity in January 2008, stands 360ft high.
The wind farm has 140 turbines that can generate 322 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 180,000 homes.
ScottishPower Renewables have been given permission to add 36 turbines to the site, allowing the wind farm to power 250,000 homes and create up to 300 jobs.
Last week, it was revealed that community groups in East Renfrewshire are to benefit from a fund set up from the development of Whitelee.
The fund will deliver about £140,000 a year for the next 25 years to the area's council for local groups.
Wind farms’ effect on radar a clear concern
The U.S. military is growing increasingly concerned that proposed wind farms can disrupt or block radar designed to detect threats and protect America's skies, a problem that is stalling the alternative energy projects around the country. A top U.S. general told Congress on Thursday that federal agencies need to work better together on a formal vetting process for the wind projects.
March 21, 2010 by Lolita C. Baldor in Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The U.S. military is growing increasingly concerned that proposed wind farms can disrupt or block radar designed to detect threats and protect America's skies, a problem that is stalling the alternative energy projects around the country.
A top U.S. general told Congress on Thursday that federal agencies need to work better together on a formal vetting process for the wind projects to prevent them from being built where they will interfere with radar defenses.
Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, head of U.S. Northern Command, said a number of projects raise "real concerns" involving radar interference, and he suggested that requiring companies to conduct early checks during the approval process for such obstruction might be needed.
"We've heard concerns that wind turbines may interfere with radar and impact military training routes," said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo. "While we must find new ways to meet our energy security needs, we must not compromise our national security."
While the radar interference issue isn't new, it has become a bigger problem as more wind projects move through the permit process. Industry leaders and the Energy Department have said that wind power could provide as much as 20 percent of the nation's electricity by 2030.
Last month, Pentagon officials raised the issue with Congress, saying they are devoting a lot of time and effort to the growing challenge of ensuring that energy projects don't conflict with military requirements.
"The current process for reviewing proposals and handling disputes is opaque, time-consuming and ad hoc," said Dorothy Robyn, deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment.
The Federal Aviation Administration reviews wind farm projects, looking at any interference with air navigation or radar systems. But while the FAA can flag problems during its review of a project, it can't force a change or prevent a wind farm from being approved if a change isn't made. Its recommendations, though, sometimes can affect a local zoning or other approval process.
Renuart and others say a more coordinated, interagency process is needed to better evaluate proposals.
It's difficult to say how many projects are tied up regarding the radar issue, but in a 2009 survey, industry executives said that more than a dozen had been stalled, according to Laurie Jodziewicz, manager of siting policy for the American Wind Energy Association.
Jodziewicz said that projects totaling 10,000 megawatts of wind power were built in the U.S. last year, while projects involving another 10,000 megawatts were stalled by the radar issue. Projects vary in size and can include any number of turbines, but one turbine can generate 1.5 to 3 megawatts of power in an hour at higher wind speeds.
The industry, Jodziewicz said, wants to work with federal agencies and officials are getting closer to finding a process that works. She conceded, though, that bringing everyone together can be a challenge.
Jodziewicz also said that, at times, the interference can be solved by upgrading the older radar systems, and that developers will work with the Defense Department to do those improvements.
In other cases the problem can be solved by shifting the configuration of the wind farm.
Renuart said the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which he also heads, is putting together a radar obstruction evaluation team to determine the impacts of proposed wind energy projects in close proximity to our radars.
The Pentagon released a report in 2006 detailing the concerns with the wind farms, and said the Defense Department is developing other ways to deal with the problem, including technology improvements to the radar systems.
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/032110/bus_biz7.sh...
Maine Citizens Task Force on Wind Power
- 350 miles of ridgelines blasted away, including many miles of high altitude, sub alpine ecosystems, home to rare flora and fauna
- 50,000+ acres of permanently clearcut forest, with a loss of carbon sequestration from the forest and fragmenting wildlife habitat
- Silt and herbicide residues from ridgeline clearcuts washing into our streams and lakes, contaminating fish and silting spawning areas
- 1800 turbines, each 380 to 400 feet tall, with blinking aviation lights 24/7, industrializing wilderness and ruining extraordinary viewsheds
- 1800 turbines, killing bats and birds (especially raptors like eagles and hawks), disrupting patterns of wildlife, driving them away
- 1800 turbines, sending out annoying audible noise like the never ending sound of low flying jets, shuddering and "whumping" noises
- 1800 turbines, sending out low frequency sound waves, registered on the dBc scale that are unhealthy to humans and wildlife
- 1,000+ miles of connector powerlines that will be like a spiderweb across rural Maine
- An expansion of 345 kv transmission lines (the big ones whose electromagnetic fields cause health problems) to carry the power out of state
- Higher electric rates to pay for mandated use of more expensive, intermittent, unpredictable, unreliable wind power that Maine does not need
- Higher electric rates to pay for the $1.5 billion transmission line expansion, locking us into sharing the future high costs of other NE states
- Ask everyone you know who is concerned about this issue to also join the website, as we need to grow membership to look strong
- Write letters to the editor of the state's three regional dailies and your local weekly newspaper; comment on-line against pro-wind stories
- Contact your local State Rep and State Senator and tell them how this is bad for the state and to support repeal of PL 661
- Use the website as a resource; letters can be written by mining material here, a bit of "cut & paste", some personal tweaking & Voila--a letter!
- Use the website as a resource; feel free to go viral by sending our material or links to our material to everyone---help spread the word!
- Attend public hearings and speak out! Get your local community to pass an ordinance to control wind development (See Dixmont's ordinance)
- Arm yourself with the truth about industrial wind and counter in every way the propaganda that the iconic wind turbine will save the world
Wind turbines: ‘Eco-friendly’ – but not to eagles
Telegraph By Christopher Booker Published: 6:51PM GMT 13 Mar 2010
In all my scores of items over the years on why the obsession with wind turbines will be seen as one of the major follies of our age, there is one issue I haven’t touched on. The main practical objection to turbines, of course, is that they are useless, producing derisory amounts of electricity at colossal cost. (Yet the Government wants us to spend £100 billion on building thousands more of them which, even were it technically possible, would do virtually nothing to fill the fast-looming 40 per cent gap in our electricity supply.)
A feature of these supposedly environment-friendly machines that I haven’t mentioned, however, is their devastating effect on wildlife, notably on large birds of prey, such as eagles and red kites. Particularly disturbing is the extent to which the disaster has been downplayed by professional bodies, such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Britain and the Audubon Society in the US, which should be at the forefront of exposing this outrage, but which have often been drawn into a conflict of interest by the large sums of money they derive from the wind industry itself.
There is plenty of evidence for the worldwide scale of this tragedy. The world’s largest and most carefully monitored wind farm, Altamont Pass in California, is estimated to have killed between 2,000 and 3,000 golden eagles alone in the past 20 years. Since turbines were erected on the isle of Smola, off Norway, home to an important population of white-tailed sea eagles, destruction is so great that last year only one chick survived. Thanks to wind farms in Tasmania, a unique sub-species of wedge-tailed eagles faces extinction. And here in Britain, plans to build eight wind farms on the Hebridean islands, among Scotland’s largest concentration of golden eagles, now pose a major threat to the species’ survival in the UK.
The real problem is that birds of prey and wind developers are both drawn, for similar reasons, to the same sites – hills and ridges where the wind provides lift for soaring birds and heavily subsidised profits for developers. Eagles may thus be drawn from hundreds of square miles to particular wind farms. And, as can be seen from the YouTube video of a vulture circling above a turbine in Crete (Google “Fatal accident with vulture on windmill”), the vortices created by blade tips revolving at up to 200mph can destabilise such large birds, plunging them into a fatal collision.
This ecological disaster has been abundantly documented and publicised, not least in Europe by Save The Eagles International, run by Mark Duchamp, a retired French businessman living in Alicante. Spain has one of the three highest concentrations of turbines in Europe and, according to the Spanish Ornithological Society (see Mr Duchamp’s Iberica 2000 website), they may be killing up to a million birds a year. But he focuses his campaign on what he sees as the disturbing failure to protect birds by the bodies whose job it is to do so, from the RSPB to the European Commission.
In the US, the local branch of the Audubon Society withdrew its opposition to a giant wind farm off Cape Cod after a substantial sum of money was promised for ornithologists to monitor its effects on bird life. In Britain, the RSPB claims to keep a critical eye on those effects, but nevertheless urges a major expansion of wind farms, on the grounds that “climate change is the most significant threat to biodiversity on the planet”. The RSPB receives £10 from the wind-farm builder Scottish & Southern Energy for every customer signing up for electricity under its “RSPB Energy” scheme. Ornithologists also derive a good income from developers for providing impact assessments for planning applications or for monitoring existing wind farms for bird collisions.
Various official bodies, such as Scottish National Heritage (SNH), are responsible in law for protecting bird populations. One particular scheme that sparked a long and fierce controversy – and was mildly opposed by the RSPB – was a wind farm now under construction at Edinbane on the Isle of Skye, on hills known to attract young golden eagles and sea eagles. A first run of the SNH “collision model” showed that, over 25 years, this was likely to kill 137 golden eagles, nearly 10 times the permissible conservation limit of 15. But when SNH revised a key parameter, the “avoidance rate”, from 95 per cent to 98 per cent, and the developer removed nine turbines from its plan, the result was that predicted eagle deaths fell to exactly 15, allowing the scheme to go ahead.
Details of what Mr Duchamp calls “the scandal of the Edinbane wind farm” are included in a complaint he has lodged with the European Commission (also available on his Iberica 2000 website), asking Brussels to be much more rigorous in enforcing its own environmental legislation, such as the Birds and Habitats Directives, which are widely disregarded by national authorities. The Commission did order the Scottish Executive to veto a 178-turbine wind farm on the Hebridean island of Lewis (for once, strongly opposed by the RSPB) because its devastating effect on eagles and other protected birds would breach its directives. But many similarly damaging schemes on Lewis and elsewhere are still being driven forward as part of Edinburgh’s mad dream that 40 per cent of Scotland’s electricity should come from wind and other renewable sources within 10 years.
Large birds of prey are far from being the only victims of wind farms, and the thousands of miles of power lines needed to connect them to the grid. A study cited by Birdlife International shows that, each year, power lines can be responsible for up to 800 bird kills per mile. Vast numbers of other birds are killed by turbines each year, as are countless thousands of bats, which also seem to be drawn to wind farms, and which recent studies have shown die with their lungs distended by air pressure from the blades.
For the rest of us, it is a criminal offence to kill bats and golden eagles. But it seems that all those under the spell of the infatuation with windpower and global warming can claim exemption from the law. In return for ludicrously small amounts of very expensive electricity, wildlife must pay the price for their dreams.
Utility Rates Rocket to Pay for Wind Power
Alliant Energy's Iowa customers will be seeing higher bills this month to pay for the utility's investments in green energy.
The utility plans to ask state regulators for a 13.8 percent, $163 million annual rate increase today to pay for a new $468 million wind farm, and to improve its ability to transmit energy from renewable sources.
The 200-megawatt Whispering Willow Wind Farm in Franklin County is the first owned by Alliant's Interstate Power & Light utility.
It began operating in December, and has enough capacity to serve about 150,000 homes at full output.
Improving the transmission grid to enable transmission of power from new wind farms is a major part of Alliant's request for an additional $228 million to improve its reliability.
The third-largest item is a $188 million investment in new controls to reduce emissions of mercury and nitrogen oxides by 90 percent at a coal-burning power plant in Lansing.
The average residential customer would see rates go up by about $10.62 per month or 11.7 percent to $101.36 when the interim increase takes effect March 20, and an extra 2 percent to 8 percent when the final rates take effect later this year.
"We fully support the move towards green power, but there's a cost," Alliant spokesman Ryan Stensland said.
Interstate Power & Light received final approval on a 7 percent rate increase in January, mainly to pay for costs of recovering from record floods in June 2008 and ice storms in recent winters.
IPL President Tom Aller told The Gazette Editorial Board on Tuesday that the utility isn't thrilled to be asking for back-to-back rate increases.
"We're very sensitive to the economic circumstances our customers are facing," Aller said. He said Alliant decided not to carry over several requests it was denied in its last rate case.
The utility plans to offer consumer groups an incentive to settle before it goes to a full Iowa Utilities Board hearing. The proposed "cost management plan" would lower the rate increase to a total of 6 percent overall for the first three years, then increase it to 13.8 percent.
The increase would be temporarily reduced mainly by tapping regulatory reserve accounts from the sale of the Duane Arnold Energy Center to the company that's now NextEra Energy, and the sale of the company's transmission assets to ITC Midwest.
Transmission costs have jumped since Alliant sold the transmission system.
The utility is asking state regulators in the case for a transmission "rider" clause on bills that would pass along ITC's rate changes to customers in the same way that changing fuel costs are quickly tacked onto bills.
The rate increase could be considerably higher than 13.8 percent for some general service and residential Alliant customers. That's because Alliant is proposing to make the final implementation date the roll-in date for the fifth and final phase of a process to equalize rates between different Alliant service territories.
http://gazetteonline.com/breaking-news/2010/03/09/alliant-seeks-13-8-percent-rate-increase
Wind-power farms ‘vanity projects’
Vice-minister criticises mainland green energy sector despite global praise
Environmentalists worldwide have praised China as a leading harnesser of the wind for electricity, but a vice-minister says most of the ventures in the country were "vanity projects" - all for show.
Miao Wei , of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, also said on Sunday that one particular project that is backed by the country's top economic planner would have a "fatal result" in five years because of the sand that came with the dry wind.
Miao made the rare open criticism at a National People's Congress session that the country was unsuitable for developing wind power, according to the Beijing Times, a newspaper owned by the People's Daily.
"Most of the wind-power farms under construction on the mainland are vanity projects," the newspaper quoted Miao, who is ranked third among the ministry's seven vice-ministers, as saying.
He said other countries built their wind farms in places that had no dust or sand, but it was impossible to find such ideal locations on the mainland. Wherever the wind blows in the country, sand prevails.
The sand clogs the expensive rotating arms and power generators, which were precision-engineered products. By design, a generator, for instance, can run for 20 years. But on the mainland, the lifespan of wind-power equipment will be much shorter.
"You will see the fatal result in five years, especially the vanity project in Gansu ," Miao said.
The Gansu project, launched in 2008, was hailed as a flagship project and strongly supported by the National Development and Reform Commission, which oversees the industry and infrastructural development of the country.
The farm was expected to produce 20,000 megawatts of power by 2020 - as much as the Three Gorges Dam project - at an estimated cost of 120 billion yuan (HK$136 billion). The NDRC has already planned six more wind farms of the same scale.
But Miao's criticism indicated that even within the circle of senior government officials, opinions varied over whether the government should invest such a huge amount of taxpayers' money in the industry.
Wang Huisheng , the president of the State Development and Investment Corp, said yesterday some locations of wind farms on the mainland were indeed unsuitable.
"The equipment does not fit the environment, and the investment return is poor," Mr Wang said.
But Miao's comments met opposition within the industry. A senior manager in charge of renewable energy development at the Beijing headquarters of a Fortune 500 energy company said his comments would not slow the rapid development of wind farms.
"This guy knows little about wind-power technology. Scientists and engineers have been working on the sand and dust issue for decades. The problem exists but is far less severe than he said," said the manager, who refused to give his name, citing company policy.
"Above all, his ministry is not in charge of the development of wind power. The commission is in charge, and the officials of the commission are very powerful and determined. They won't be affected by his comments."
Web link: http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af6...
Wind Farms Causing Health Problems?
Energy Tribune Managing Editor Robert Bryce on wind turbines’' impact on people's health.
Wind Turbine O&M costs to spiral in coming years
This is especially important for inexperienced operators like Wellfleet who have no idea how to maintain a wind turbine.
March 5, 2010
As turbines emerge from their warranty phase, wind farm operators face the stark reality that operation and maintenance costs will embark on a steep, upward trajectory, before leveling off over the next five years. What strategies can be deployed to mitigate these costs?
By Rikki Stancich in Paris
Currently, roughly 79 percent of operational turbines are still under warranty. For the 21 percent of operators on the other side of the comfort zone, an incisive O&M strategy could be the deciding factor between success and failure.
According to new research, operating and maintenance costs could be up to three-times higher than originally projected, particularly in the case of the multi-MW class of turbines coming online.
These higher-than-anticipated costs are the result of several factors. Chief among these is that the recent wind energy boom stretched the capacity of the existing supply chain. With manufacturers forced to rely on new - and often inexperienced - component suppliers, quality suffered heavily.
In addition, unexpected stresses placed upon today’s multi-MW machines have led to failures in gearboxes, generators, and blades. Consequently, components such as gearboxes, initially designed with a 20-year lifespan, are failing prematurely - in as few as 6-8 years.
“The increasing size of rotors and towers is placing unforeseen stresses on equipment not anticipated by existing design standards,” explains Peter Asmus, president of Pathfinder Communications and lead author of the latest Wind Energy Operations & Maintenance report.
According to the report, these problems may have peaked insofar as manufacturers have re-designed components and now rely more on in-house components rather than “off-the-shelf” components.
Another key factor resulting in early turbine failure is sub-optimal turbine positioning. Often, in order to maximize power production, multi-MW machines have been clustered in too-close proximity.
Positioning the turbines too close together creates tip turbulence, which magnifies loads on down-wind turbines. According to the report, the end result of this interference is increased wear-and-tear on the rotating parts of a wind turbine, boosting O&M costs and exposure.
Supply chain uncertainty
But component failure is only half the story. The real costs kick in when operators need to source and install replacement components.
Take gearboxes for example, which currently account for a large majority of turbine failures. The cost of component replacement, crane hire, post-installation testing and operational losses, can quickly add up to around US$500,000 per turbine.
To mitigate these costs, Asmus stresses that a preventative maintenance regime is crucial for curbing O&M costs. He points out that in this area, European operators have an advantage over their U.S. counterparts.
Europe’s premium power prices (achieved via feed-in tariffs) provide operators with a margin to invest in costly condition monitoring and performance systems, such as vibration, thermal and oil and debris sensors.
In addition, a broader O&M service experience pool and the proximity of wind farms to O&M support infrastructure in Europe has enabled European operators to deploy preventative maintenance strategies. Subsequently, European operators face lower overall lower maintenance costs than U.S. operators.
U.S. operators are further penalized by the fact that currently, many components must be shipped from Europe, creating costly delays in repairs. While the U.S. government recently introduced measures to stimulate domestic supply, such as the Manufacturing Tax Credit, suppliers complain that several factors are creating barriers to entry.
A lack of standardization means that new components suppliers trying to break into the market are met with distrust. Unless standards, processes and procedures are introduced, it is unlikely that this problem will be resolved, suggests the report.
With the imminent emergence of many turbines from the warranty phase, many suppliers are viewing the aftermarket as potentially lucrative. As such, establishing industry standards and benchmarks would result in a more responsive supply chain.
O&M data elusive
On the flip side, operators – particularly those in the US – should be investing more in preventative maintenance strategies. But when it comes to forward planning, operators are facing a major hurdle in terms of a lack of relevant data.
Given the higher-than-expected failure rate of many turbine components, original equipment manufacturers are holding component failure data close to their chests to curb the risk of litigation and a negative public backlash.
And with the majority of turbines still under warranty, many operators simply do not have access to their own data sets.
Meanwhile, publicly available data sets are in short supply and where they do exist, have often proven to be a poor fit, given that wind energy projects vary widely depending on terrain and wind regimes.
“This is an industry in transition, operating within an incredible vacuum of knowledge about O&M costs,” says Asmus.
Despite the problems, the report authors note that the problems facing the wind industry are typical of all industries as they scale up rapidly.
“Even with the unexpected increases in O&M costs, most projects in Europe still pencil out,” he adds.
Initiatives are currently underway in the US and Europe to ensure that more robust data is available in the future. In the US, the National Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) launched a voluntary data collection programme on January 1, 2010 known as 'GADS'.
The GADS programme will likely evolve into a mandatory program in coming years, but for the time being, many operators are restricted to using limited, in-house data sets.
Despite looming O&M issues the wind industry remains optimistic about the future of wind technology, according to the report. Asmus suggests that the key lies in preemptive maintenance and the introduction of industry standards.
“The industry needs to shift from reactive to preventative maintenance and bring its supply chain up to a higher standard,” he concludes.
To respond to this article, please write the editor:
Rikki Stancich: rstancich@gmail.com
http://social.windenergyupdate.com/industry-insight/turbine-om-costs-spiral-coming-years
Camp Edwards Get a 389 Ft Wind Turbine
CAMP EDWARDS — Rose Forbes, the woman who spearheaded a wind turbine project for the Air Force, said recently it made little sense for the base to clean up groundwater using energy that fouled the air through fossil-fuel emissions.
Yesterday, federal, state, local and military officials gathered to celebrate her vision.
More than 200 people huddled under a tent at the base of the 389-foot turbine as the wind whipped outside. They were invited to celebrate the completion of the $4.6 million, 1.5-megawatt turbine and a milestone in the massive cleanup of pollution at the Massachusetts Military Reservation.
"The Air Force can now say all environmental cleanup decisions and remedies are now in place," said Doug Karson, a spokesman for the Air Force Center of Engineering and the Environment and yesterday's master of ceremonies.
The last two decisions on how to treat two chemical spills were signed within the past few weeks, Karson said.
"Today is the culmination of a long and, at times, arduous saga," U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., said. There were times when it was difficult to see the "end of the cleanup tunnel," he said.
The end is still several decades away, but the wind turbine is expected to make the effort less expensive.
The Air Force expects its turbine to generate 30 percent of the electricity needed to operate the water treatment plants on the base, a savings of about $600,000.
It is located outside one of the nine treatment systems that pump and treat 15 million gallons of water polluted by training and weapons testing on the Upper Cape base.
Several speakers, including Ira Leighton, acting regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, noted the role community activists played in holding the military accountable for pollution.
The community was angry and distrustful of the military, Delahunt said.
They and other speakers pointed out that the wind turbine represents the change that's taken place at the base over the past three decades.
"This one turbine represents just the beginning of (Massachusetts Military Reservation's) energy independence," Maj. Gen. Joseph Carter, adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard, said.
The Guard has filed plans to add as many as 17 wind turbines on the 22,000-acre base and is working with the Federal Aviation Administration to make sure they won't interfere with the base airfield.
"We will not only have the greenest cleanup," Delahunt said, "but we are setting this base up to be the first energy-independent military installation in the United States."
With all the parts finally in place, the Air Force is eager to take its new wind turbine for a spin but has to finalize some agreements with NStar and finish some electrical work before flipping the switch, Forbes said.
That could happen any day, she said.
The turbine stands as a testament to the state's commitment to alternative-energy sources and to eliminating roadblocks to getting them built, Ian Bowles, secretary of the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said.
"It's a symbol of clean energy," he said.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091103/NEWS/911030317
Tension still churns over proposed Wellfleet wind turbine
By Marilyn Miller Provincetown Banner Posted Mar 04, 2010 @ 12:17 PM
Voters won’t be asked to approve the proposed 400-foot wind turbine at the upcoming Annual Town Meeting. But the turbine issue is far from dead.
That was evident Tuesday when more than 125 people filled the senior center, many forced to stand along the walls as four speakers talked about the proposed Wellfleet turbine, in particular, and the turbines operated by the towns of Brewster, Harwich and Falmouth.
Geof Karlson, chair of the Wellfleet Energy Committee, tried to touch on a number of concerns, including financial and regulatory issues, and the potential of sound and the blades’ shadow flicker to affect people living near the turbine. He also touched on the objections of some to siting an industrial turbine on town-owned land within the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Town counsel Betsy Lane, he reported, opined that a turbine on town-owned land within the Seashore is an allowed municipal use.
“If the Seashore superintendent chose to challenge the issuance of a permit, such a challenge would be subject to dismissal by the court for lack of standing,” Karlson quoted from Lane’s opinion.
The Seashore itself, Karlson said, is considering putting up a turbine on its land in Truro.
Seashore Supt. George Price attended the meeting, held by the Wellfleet Community Forum, but did not speak.
Dennis O’Connell, an opponent of the turbine, said he and Jim Rogers, another critic of the project, visited the turbines at Vinalhaven, Maine, and Newburyport. “What I saw furthered my resolve that there are going to be negative impacts from this project,” O’Connell said. He challenged the selectmen to visit Vinalhaven “and then go to your proposed site in the heart of the Cape Cod National Seashore and see if that is what you want to do to this property.”
He spoke with people in Vinalhaven and Newburyport, he said. “Many were very supportive of the project when it was proposed, but now they are against it. These people have suffered,” he said. “They’ve seen a decline in the quality of life and they’ve been marginalized.”
Sound and flicker were issues with the turbines in both towns, he said.
Wellfleet is talking about a turbine that is 400 feet tall, he said, noting that is 3.2 times the size of the town’s water tower. “To me the water tower is benign, it doesn’t move, it doesn’t catch the eye,” he said. It casts a shadow a little bit, but it doesn’t do anything like a wind turbine does. It does not rip apart an unfragmented area.”
One of his major issues with the turbine, O’Connell said, is that it is a “heavily subsidized” industry. “When you start playing around with Mother Nature and Father Economics, then you are creating things that just don’t make sense. You are going to end up in trouble,” he said. “The subsidies involved in this project are huge. … This synthetic pricing has a habit of going away when people realize what is going on. You can see this as subsidies are disappearing in Hawaii, in Europe and California. And as all these are drying up, they are being left and they are a blight on the countryside.”
Cape college fails to clear wind turbine hurdle
Following more than four hours of passionate debate and deliberation, the Old King's Highway Regional Historic District Commission voted 5-0 yesterday to uphold a denial of the college's plan to build a 243-foot-tall turbine on its West Barnstable campus.
"The height as you move away from it becomes more and more obvious, it becomes more and more imposing," George Jessop, Barnstable's representative to the commission, said prior to the vote, which was cast in a meeting room at the West Barnstable fire station packed with more than 50 people. "The size is key here."
Jessop, who could not vote because it was a decision by the Barnstable Old King's Highway Historic District Committee that the project's proponents appealed to the regional commission, said the size of the turbine was simply inappropriate for the area.
Several neighbors agreed, arguing the project would have a negative effect on their property values and quality of life.
"The turbine has no place in this historic district," said Mark Bonaiuto, who lives on Acorn Drive, less than a half mile from the turbine's proposed location. The noise from the turbine, he said, would be like "dripping water."
For Bonaiuto's wife, Marianne, the flicker from the spinning blades she experienced during a visit to the turbine at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay was "disturbing," especially because of her tendency to develop migraine headaches.
"I'd love to see a turbine," just not in the style, scale and location of the college project, she said.
'What could be better?'
But for every person who objected to the turbine two rose to support it.
"We are losing youth on Cape Cod precisely because of that type of mind-set," said Sarah Cote of Sandwich, an executive assistant at the pro-wind energy group Clean Power Now.
As for setting a precedent by approving the turbine: "What could be better?" she said.
Other speakers questioned how communication and water towers are built in the district but a wind turbine is denied.
Attorney Bruce Gilmore, who represented the college and the state, argued the Barnstable historic district committee did not account for benefits the turbine would bring to the college and the community in energy savings, environmental protection and educational.
"I would say on its face that that is a fatal flaw," he said of overlooking the project's benefits. The historic district's enabling act specifically requires that energy benefits of a proposal be considered, he said.
The wind turbine would produce more than one million kilowatt hours of energy and save the college an estimated $170,000 annually, said Dixie Norris, vice president of administration and finance at the school.
The college uses about 4.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually and spent an average of $725,049 a year on electricity over the past four years, she said.
Norris said an estimated $50,000 of revenue each year from unused energy the turbine produced would have gone to a low-income energy conservation program.
The project would also provide a "living laboratory" for students learning about renewable energy, college president Kathleen Schatzberg said.
No one is benefiting from the turbine now. The windmill is sitting in pieces inside a hangar at Otis Air National Guard Base, where it has been since arriving from India last year.
The Barnstable historic district committee called a halt to the project in the fall because the college and state had neglected to seek the local panel's approval before moving forward.
The college, which is typically exempt from local zoning law, was unaware that it needed the historic district committee's approval, Gilmore said.
Little room to compromise
After receiving approval from the state, the college moved the project from one side of the campus to the other and reduced the turbine's height from 400 feet to 243 feet because of demands from the Federal Aviation Administration, he said.
The FAA's stance left the regional historic district committee and the college with little room to compromise, said the panel's chairman, Peter Lomenzo of Dennis. "What could we do?" he said after the regional commission found the Barnstable historic district committee had not acted arbitrarily and capriciously in its decision. Local historic district committees and alternative energy committees should get together in the future to work out issues like this before they get to this point, he said.
The college and state have 20 days after a written decision is filed with the Barnstable town clerk to appeal the ruling to Barnstable District Court, a move Schatzberg said she will try to push forward. "That would be a joint decision," she said, citing the state Division of Capital Asset Management's responsibility for the project.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100303/NEWS/3030307/-1/NEWS11