Documents
Category:
Energy Policy
Operating reports on the 11 turbine Searsburg, Vermont Wind plant. The development report (Dec 1997) and the third year operating report (Dec 2000) are available at as downloads. The first year operating report (Dec 1998) is available at the web link.
Also filed under [
Vermont]
Why renewable energy is not cheap and not green
August 27, 1997
by Robert L. Bradley, Jr. for the Cato Institute
The stubborn competitive gap between renewable generation and its rivals explains why renewable-energy lobbyists on both the state and federal levels are trying to get governments to set quotas, and not just continue or expand current subsidies.
Also filed under [
USA]
Wind Energy Potential in the United States
August, 1993
by D.L. Elliott and M.N. Schwartz, National Wind Technology Center
Although the nation's wind potential is very large, only part of it can be exploited
economically. The economic viability of wind power will vary from utility to utility.
Important factors not addressed in this study that influence land availability and wind
electric potential include production/demand match (seasonal and daily), transmission
and access constraints, public acceptance, and other technological and institutional
constraints.
Editor's Note: Though dated, this is a worthwhile read if read carefully.
Editor's Note: Though dated, this is a worthwhile read if read carefully.
U.S.A. - State Wind Resource Maps
by U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy - Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program
The Link Below will take you to a site where wind resource maps are available for most states.
This addresses the most important challenges confronting Eltra, the Transmission System Operator in Western Denmark.
Wind Power: Capacity Factor, Intermittency, and what happens when the wind doesn’t blow?
by Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in moving air into rotational energy, which in turn is converted to electricity. Since wind speeds vary from month to month and second to second, the amount of electricity wind can make varies constantly. Sometimes a wind turbine will make no power at all. This variability does affect the value of the wind power……
Editor’s Note: This ‘fact sheet’ is, on the whole, a comparatively fair report. The definitions provided for capacity factor, efficiency, reliability, dispatchability, and availability are useful. Its discussion of back-up generation, marginal emissions and Germany & Denmark, however, is disingenuous as is, to a lesser degree, its discussion of capacity factor and availability. IWA's comments (updated October '06) on these issues follow selected extracts from the 'fact sheet' below.
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