The government might decree all new electricity generation be renewable and not thermal, but the new boss at NZ Oil & Gas (NZOG) is gearing up his company to find more gas to fire thermal power stations. He has hired five top geo-scientists and a commercial manager from overseas as the core of a new 17-strong development team for the New Zealand-listed oil explorer. "Sure, the new emphasis on renewables could cast a cloud on our activities, but there will still be times when the lakes aren't full and wind turbines stop turning," he said.

THE wind energy industry has called for the overhaul of the electricity grid to favour renewable energy. ..."Rather than demand that renewable energy work within existing regulations under the National Electricity Market, perhaps the grid rules could be altered to more effectively deal with wind energy," Roaring 40s managing director Mark Kelleher said. ...But Shane Breheny, chief executive of Powercor, Victoria's largest electricity distributor, does not believe grid companies stand to gain from a revamp. ..."Distributed generation (electricity that is not sourced from centralised coal-fired power stations) can be beneficial to grid operation, but only if it is not intermittent."

Wind turbine makers face a ``major challenge'' getting equipment due to surging demand and probably won't be able to cut delivery times for three years, said Suzlon Energy Ltd., India's biggest wind farm construction company. Lead times to supply wind turbines, which have reached at least 15 months, will take time to reduce as suppliers clear order backlogs and add an ``unprecedented'' amount of new capacity, Andre Horbach, Amsterdam-based chief executive officer at Suzlon, said today in Melbourne. Suzlon has a $3.5 billion order backlog, he said.

... a coalition of local utilities is grappling with one of the thorniest challenges in the field of renewable power: how to store the excess energy windmills create when demand is low so it can be used later, when the need is greater. The group is building a system that will steer surplus electricity generated by a nearby wind farm to a big air compressor. Connected to a deep well, the compressor pumps air into layers of sandstone. Some 3,000 feet down and sealed from above by dense shale, the porous sandstone acts like a giant balloon. Later, when demand for power rises, this flow is reversed.

The CORUS Centre, the Ion Beam Laboratory (LAFI) and LM Glasfiber have formed a research partnership to develop a surface treatment process to reduce the formation and build-up of different types of ice on the external parts of wind turbines. ..."The build-up and spread of ice on the blades cause the blades to be less aerodynamic and also cause many other problems such as increased vibrations, mechanical stresses and fatigue. Depending on the frequency of ice build-up and the severity of the icing, these phenomena can cause significant production losses".

NRG Energy Inc., a Princeton N.J.-based wholesale power generating company, applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Sept. 24 to build and run two nuclear power plants at the South Texas Project (STP) site in Matagorda County. ...NRG projects that the new units will bring 2,700 megawatts (MW) to the Texas grid, enough to power upwards of 2 million homes. A single wind turbine, [Luminant spokesman Tom Kleckner] said, can generate one to three MW of energy, compared to a nuclear plant that can generate megawatts in the 1000s.

A San Rafael wind turbine maker has secured financial backing to establish manufacturing operations with the help of a "significant" investment from Goldman Sachs & Co., one of the world's largest investment banks, the company announced Monday. Formed about three years ago, Nordic Windpower Inc. is preparing to start domestic production of its two-bladed, utility-scale wind turbines for sale to small and large energy producers.

Tidal power generated from more than 200 turbines in a 10-mile barrage across the Severn estuary could provide nearly 5% of Britain's energy for 120 years ...one of the most ambitious civil engineering challenges in the world, would significantly affect the visual and marine environment more than 30 miles around it and have mixed long term economic and ecological impacts, according to a report from the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC).

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems AS is developing a new offshore wind turbine model following recent gear box problems at several of its currently operating turbines, Swedish magazine Ny Teknik said. ...Peter Wenzel Kruse said gear boxes are a problem for the entire wind power industry, because strains on the boxes increase as ever bigger windmills are built.

The cold reality for the Australian sector is that, despite the initial optimism of MRET, barely 1,000 MW of wind power will have been installed by the end of 2008. This capacity will enable farms to supply only around 3,200 gigawatt hours of power to consumers out of a demand exceeding 200,000 GWh. ... The key to the wind energy sector achieving much stronger growth in the next decade is an energy policy that recognises and rewards value in a carbon-constrained electricity supply environment.

If, as Jon Grisham predicts, energy costs rise in the coming years, adding the turbine will save the family money. That's all assuming the family stays in the house for another couple of decades. "Technology that cost about $60,000 10 years ago costs about [$15,000] to $18,000 all of a sudden," he said. "It's worth a home equity loan for the investment."

Clipper's latest turbine concept, which is expected to move into the testing phase in 2009 or 2010, is based around a 7.5 megawatt machine. The turbine, which would be placed on a 115metre-high tower and have a diameter of 150m, is designed to be located offshore, where winds tend to be stronger and planning restrictions less strict. But Mr Dehlsen [Clipper's CEO] is realistic about the limits of wind power to replace carbon-based energy sources such as coal, oil and gas. "The US Department of Energy said that you would need to cover four states with wind farms to supply America's energy needs," he admits. So while wind has a role to play, Mr Dehlsen accepts that any genuine attempt to tackle climate change must be much more holistic.

Although wind blows for free, the new transmission lines to move that power will be anything but. Nobody -- including regulators and the operators of the Texas power grid -- knows now how much the transmission lines will cost, yet plans are moving forward aggressively. Everyone agrees that the price will be in the billions. ...ERCOT officials estimate that the wind blows only about 35 percent of the time and typically does not blow during the hottest time of the day, when Texas needs energy the most. That means that even with the expensive transmission lines and more wind generators, the state still needs plenty of other, more polluting generators to feed its energy needs.

[Iowa Governor] Culver says Iowa isn't the only state vying for the European companies. "It's a very competitive environment," Culver says,"just with wind alone, we're talking about a 20 billion dollar impact on six or seven states over the next seven years, so we want to be very aggressive in terms of selling Iowa, and encouraging people to come here."

Solar batteries, wind farms and tidal power plants can be effective only in small part of Russian territories, besides, energy storage and servicing of such devices are quite costly. Professionals predict share of alternative energy sources in Russia won't exceed 1.5-2% during next 30-50 years.

At least at this stage, saving money by storing a windmill's production for peak-price hours will be difficult. The cost is very high, $27 million for six megawatts of capacity, or about $4,500 a kilowatt, including the price of substation improvements. Building a gas turbine of that size to meet peak needs would cost substantially less. But the battery system would be able to store power made from wind, a form of generation that does not produce any carbon dioxide.

Newfoundland and Labrador has great potential for wind energy, but is hampered by an "isolated and relatively weak" power grid, a confidential report says. The report, obtained by CBC News, says the island's electrical grid will limit the size and potential of wind farm projects, despite a "world-class wind resource" waiting to be tapped.

Clipper Windpower Plc, the partner of BP Plc in U.S. wind-energy projects, fell to an 11-month low in London trading because a faulty component will lead to a delay in shipments. ...Production of Clipper's 2.5-megawatt Liberty wind turbine has been hampered by problems relating to the supply of externally-sourced components. The company forecast a first-half loss after turbine production was ``constrained'' by difficulties in obtaining parts. ``They have slipped up on quality issues twice,'' said John-Marc Bunce, an analyst at London-based Ambrian Partners Ltd. ``This could potentially be damaging to their sales ability going forward.'' Bunce lowered his recommendation on Clipper to ``sell'' from ``hold.''

Clipper Windpower shares had the wind taken out of their sails this morning after the wind turbine manufacturer revealed problems with the quality of components used in its turbines. Clipper said problems with drivetrain assemblies have temporarily slowed turbine shipments.