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WIND ENERGY
Overview
Global Highlights
What’s Happening in BC?
What Does it Cost?
Environmental Matters
Technical Matters
Social, Economic and Political Matters
Can I Do It At Home?
Links
Overview
The winds that can free us from the chaos of climate change
blow all the time. All we need do is build the turbines. The
market for wind turbines in Europe is growing by 40% a year,
with no sign of slowing up. The secret is not the technology
or the price - it's the policy. At 4-6 cents US/kWh, wind
energy is competitive with most other forms of energy generation.
Globally, by the end of 2007, 94,000 MW of wind capacity had
been installed, with 20,000 MW being installed in 2007 and
15,000 in 2006.
Global Highlights
- In 2000, the World Energy Assessment team estimated that
27% of the world's land-surface has winds that blow at Class
3 or higher, of which 4% can be used for wind farms, giving
a total of 19,000 TWh.
- Grubb and Meyer have estimated the global wind potential
to be 50,000 TWh. Both of these look only at land-based
wind. Off-shore potential may double this to 100,000 TWh,
seven times more electricity than the world is currently
using.
- In 2005, two Stanford researchers (Archer and Jacobson)
released a study which showed that global wind potential
was many times larger - 72 TW - than previously thought,
able to produce 200,000 TWh of electricity, more than the
total primary energy used in the world in 2006 (c142,000
TWh).
- In Denmark, by the end of 2002, wind energy was producing
20% of Denmark's electricity, and the Danish wind industry
was exporting 50% of the world's wind turbines, employing
25,000 people.
- In Germany, almost 1,600 MW of turbines were installed
in 2007 for a total capacity of 22,200 MW, thanks to Germany's
renewable energy feed law which gives guaranteed access
to the grid, and a stable 20 year price that is favourable
to investors. This maintains Germany's top position for
installed capacity.
- In Europe, the southern North Sea has enough wind energy
potential to provide three times more electricity than the
combined demand of the five countries which have rights
to the sea: Britain, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark.
- By the end of 2007, the top countries for electricity
generating capacity were Germany 22,200 MW, USA 16,800 MW
(moving up from third last year), Spain 15,100 MW, India,
8,000 MW, China, 6,100 MW, Denmark, 3,100 MW, Italy, 2,700
MW, France, 2,500 MW, UK, 2,400 MW, Portugal, 2,100 MW.
- Canada increased its wind generating capacity during 2007
to 1,856 MW, placing us 11th in the world, from 12th last
year by pulling ahead of the Netherlands. Canada's wind
turbines are mostly in Alberta (Pincher Creek), Saskatchewan,
Manitoba, Ontario and the Gaspé region of Quebec.
- In the US, the lower 48 states have sufficient wind potential
to produce 10,871 TWh of electricity, three times more than
was generated in the entire US in 1998. North Dakota, Texas,
and Kansas could provide almost 100% of US electricity needs.
Another study suggested that the wind corridors in the Kansas
and Nebraska wheatlands could provide 200% of America's
electricity needs.
- With all wind projects, capacity figures need to be divided
by 3 for comparison with 'firm' power such as hydro or gas
which can run for up to 24 hours a day. Thus, 300 MW of
wind energy capacity is the equivalent of 100 MW of hydro
capacity, or 125 MW for offshore turbines.
What’s Happening in BC?
BC is one of only two provinces in Canada without operating
wind turbines. Megawatts of capacity by province at the end
of 2007 were Yukon 0.8, BC 0, Alberta 524, Saskatchewan 171,
Manitoba 104, Ontario 501, Quebec 422, PEI 72, Nova Scotia
59, New Brunswick 0, Newfoundland 0.4.
- Following BC Hydro's 2006 Call for Power, three wind-powered
projects were given contracts: the Aeolis Bear Mountain
Wind Park near Dawson Creek (120 MW); the Dokie Wind Project
near Chetwynd (180 MW); and the Katabatic Mount Hays Wind
Farm, near Prince Rupert (25.2 MW).
- In January 2007 Katabatic Power announced a joint venture
with Deutsche Bank to develop a 700 MW project on Banks
Island in Hecate Strait. The island as a whole has been
assessed having a possible 2780 MW.
- Nai Kun Wind Development Inc has a proposed 350 MW offshore
project in the waters in the Hecate Strait between Haida
Gwaii and Prince Rupert, as the first phase of 1750 MW potential.
- The larger Haida Energy Field in the same waters has 15,000
MW of potential, able to deliver 55,000 GWh a year, the
same as BC Hydro's entire annual power generation.
- Sea Breeze Power has a proposal for a 99 MW wind farm
at Knob Hill, on the northern tip of Vancouver Island.
What Does it Cost?
Today's wind energy costs from 7 to 9 cents/kWh CAN at windy
sites (8 metres/sec, 29 km/hr) to 12/kWh CAN at slightly less
windy sites (6 metres/sec, 22 km/hr). Under the Liberal government,
Canada's Wind Power Production Incentive provided a production
incentive of 1 cent/kWh to qualifying wind turbines. The Conservative
government has restored the program, renaming it ecoENERGY
for Renewable Power.
Environmental Matters
Where there is good public consultation with regard to siting,
concerns about noise and visual pollution have generally proven
unwarranted. If siting is poorly planned due to inadequate
consultation, noise can becomes a problem, and local objections
will arise. General surveys in Britain show a consistent 80%
level of support for wind farms among people who live near
them, and a survey of tourists to areas where wind farms are
visible found that 91% said the turbines made no difference
to their recreational experience.
Concerns
about bird deaths have largely disappeared with the larger
turbines, slower blade speeds, and proper site consultations
with ornithological societies. The US Audubon Society stated
its strong support for wind farms in December 2006. Studies
carried out at UK wind installations show hit rates of less
than one bird per turbine per year. This compares to more
than 10 million birds that are killed by cars each year in
the UK. The real concern for birds is the 2004 study in Nature
which estimated that up to a quarter of all birds could become
extinct by 2054 due to global climate change, for which wind
energy is one of the solutions.
Danish offshore wind projects which were researched by biologists
revealed a large increase in fishing yields, attributable
to the fact that the turbine foundations act as artificial
reefs, attracting marine flora and fauna.
Technical Matters
Here in British Columbia, BC Hydro has such large hydro resources
that it is an easy matter to firm up wind power's intermittency
by storing surplus power behind the dams at a time when wind
is producing more than is needed (eg at night). The development
of flow-batteries will also help to store wind power, and
improved wind forecasting can help manage the change-overs
from one type of generation to another.
Another key consideration is integration into the grid. If
a windy site does not have good grid access, the cost of bringing
the power to the grid will increase the price.
Social, Economic and Political Matters
The three great advantages of wind energy are its low price,
its price stability (since almost all of the costs are upfront,
and the wind blows for free), and the fact that it is a clean,
renewable source of energy that does not produce carbon dioxide.
Price stability is very important for industry, and the more
that wind and other sustainable energies replace natural gas
in a grid, the more stable the long term price becomes.
If wind turbines were manufactured in BC, their manufacturing
and installation would create 6 jobs per MW, so each 100 MW
project would produce 600 full-time jobs. For each direct
job created, an additional job would be created in associated
sectors (planning, etc). Operations and maintenance create
another 1-5 jobs per 5 MW. In the USA, it has been estimated
that wind energy creates 27% more jobs per kilowatt hour than
coal-fired power, and 66% more jobs than natural gas-fired
power. A 100 MW installation will typically generate around
$850,000 in local purchases.
In the February 2007 Throne Speech, the BC government made
a commitment that 90% of BC's power would come from clean,
renewable sources, and that BC would be self-sufficient in
power by 2016. It also effectively eliminated the two planned
coal-fired power plants, so there are now excellent prospects
for a rapid expansion of wind energy in BC, both for local
consumption and for export to California, which is moving
to green energy instead of coal-fired power. The BC government's
2008 throne speech introduced North America's first carbon
tax, emphasizing BC's commitment to this "green"
path.
The use of an Advanced Renewable Tariff or Feed Law (as in
Germany) would provide the greatest market stability, and
ensure the long-term growth of wind power in BC.
Can I Do It At Home?
In rural areas, small wind turbines can be erected, and linked
to BC Hydro's new net metering program. For purchase details,
see Energy Alternatives.
In towns and cities, this is unnecessary and certainly not
cost-effective. BC Hydro's prices give us electricity at an
extremely good rate, compared for example to oil. The cost
of 10kWh of electric heat is about 60c. Burning a litre of
oil provides the same amount of heat, but costs more than
a dollar and produces about 2.6 Kg of carbon dioxide. Some
of the heat follows the carbon dioxide up the chimney.
In Britain, small domestic wind turbines are being introduced
for use on homes and buildings. See www.windsave.com
and www.renewabledevices.com.
Links
Credits
Written by Guy Dauncey, for the BC Sustainable Energy Association
Updated by Jim Gower and Guy Dauncey.
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