Energy Bangla - Dhaka, Bangladesh
March 31, 2008
Energy world is desperately looking for alternatives to traditional non renewable fossil fuels to
(A) Reduce the alarming climatic carnages triggered by green house gas emissions.
(B) Overcome the impacts of the sky rocketing oil price in world market.
Fossil fuels are non renewable, its finite reserve is bound to exhaust some day sooner or later. The energy world may not have seen peak oil yet but it may not be very far also. The world demand of energy is also rising sharply as some developing economy like China and India are growing very fast. Their massive demand has already stressed the energy resources. Days of easy oil are also gone. Exploration for oil and gas are getting costlier and more difficult with the passage of time. Moreover some adventures and blunders by the so called champions of democracy US administration in Iraq and Afghanistan have also weakened its economy causing concern for long term global economic recession. All these have contributed to energy think tanks concentrate efforts on the development and research of energy from renewable sources- Hydro, Solar, Wind, Wave, Geo Thermal, and Bio Fuels etc. For years some myths impeded the development of Wind Energy in many countries. Recently in Australia the researchers have come up with answers of most of these.
These may provide weapons to the persons in Bangladesh who are actively trying to make wind energy concept popular. Bangladesh has finite reserve of Fossil fuels. It has very limited capacity of its own to explore and exploit its limited resources also. When it engages major international developer the energy no longer remains cheap and affordable. The government has to provide massive subsidy. Bangladesh has very limited Hydro electricity prospect. It has so far failed to access regional resources. It may not be able to compete with the major regional giants China and India for sharing regional resources. It can talk about Nuclear but it may not come true for many years. We need assured access to uranium source; we must have very efficient operators, very competent way of safe waste disposal. It may take 8-10 years to set up a Civilian Nuclear plant in Bangladesh. Bangladesh may not dedicate much of its farm lands for cultivation of crops for bio fuels. So Solar and Wind are two major options for Bangladesh. The depleting gas reserve and finite coal reserve and major threat of Climatic carnage basically emanating from burning fossil fuels require Bangladesh to aggressively plan for rapid expansion of solar power and wind energy.
People have wrong notion and misperception about Wind Energy.
On the back drop of above let us have a look at the Australian works on myths of Wind power.
Efficiency and Technical Myths
Myth: Power from wind turbines fluctuates so that there is the prospect of power outages and power spikes.
Fact: Under the National Electricity Code wind farms are not permitted to cause any adverse effects to the network that may cause power outages or spikes. Generating plants are not permitted to connect to the network unless it can be demonstrated that they will not harm the grid.
Myth: Wind power fluctuations would require additional coal-fired capacity to be brought on line to even out the flow of electricity.
Or
Most wind proponents' claims to greenhouse gas savings ignore the emissions of having another power station to back up windmills in case the wind drops.
Fact: Every kilowatt hour of energy generated by the wind in Australia, is a kilowatt hour NOT generated by other sources. The addition of wind generation up to about 20% of the total generation has no need for additional back-up as the National Electricity Market already has backup "spinning reserve" to meet sudden increases in demand. This reserve is generally provided by hydro and gas, which can be brought on-line much quicker than coal.
Myth: Wind power is inefficient.
Fact: Modern wind generators' efficiency of converting energy to electricity is about 45% -- this is the ratio of converting wind (a free, no emissions fuel) kinetic energy into electrical energy. By contrast, the efficiency of black coal plant is about 35%, and brown coal plant about 29%. Thus most of the energy stored in coal is lost in the generation and distribution process. Wind farms provide distributed generation, with the clean electricity consumed close to where it is generated. Furthermore, a wind turbine replaces all the energy used in its construction and installation (termed "embedded energy") in less than 6 months, and then generates clean energy for over 20 years.
Myth: Wind power causes massive problems with the grid, such as 'reactive power', 'capacity inefficiency', 'dynamic stability', 'inertia/frequency' and 'generation redundancy' which are very expensive to solve.
Fact: All electricity generation processes must consider the power quality and characteristics, and these are matters that are considered at the design stage to ensure grid managers and customers get a good supply from the system. Australia has high standards for its generators in this regard, and wind power plants on the grid meet or surpass these standards, otherwise the wind companies would not have been allowed a connection to the grid.
Myth: Wind energy is unreliable.
Fact: Wind energy varies, but its future output can be predicted ahead of time very well through specialized forecasting software linked to meteorological forecasting. No weather pattern hits the whole of the Australian continent at the same time, but rather a mix of weather patterns cover the country at any given time. Therefore, as more and more wind energy is connected to the grid there will be an increase in site diversity so there will be a smoothing effect on the input into the national electricity grid from wind farms. As grid interconnections between states become stronger, the overall input from wind farms to the grid will become increasingly steady, making it more and more comparable to other base load generators.
Myth: Wind energy generation is insignificant.
Fact: Wind energy is a new industry in Australia, and like everything else new, it
starts small and then grows. The industry currently generates enough energy for 83,000 Australian homes. There is more than 2,800 megawatts of wind in planning, enough for over half a million households, and worth $5 billion in investment. In Denmark wind energy provides 20% of the country's electricity needs.
Myth: Australia needs more power and wind cannot keep up.
Fact: Australia's demand for power is increasing and if this generation comes from fossil fuels it will lead to more greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing this pressure requires ensuring that consumption is minimized through the use of cost effective energy efficient technology on the demand side, and through a low-emission generation mix on the supply side. For instance wind power, when used with gas and hydro, can provide a flexible supply to meet base-load and peak demand but with very low pollution. There is no shortage of wind and other renewable supplies in Australia, and there is massive room for the application of energy efficiency so that Australia's future power needs can be met in a cost effective and sustainable manner.
Planning Myths
Myth: Unfettered access to wind sites maximizes wind developer profits.
Fact: Wind farms are subject to planning processes the same as any other development. For example, Victoria's wind energy guidelines clearly state projects will not be approved on the basis of wind resources: "However planning approval is not granted on wind speeds alone. A wind farm developer will need to prepare an application that requires a number of steps to be completed for the wind energy facility to be assessed." Source: Victorian Wind Energy Policy and Planning Guidelines.
Myth: Ad-hoc planning policy favors developers and not communities.
Fact: Wind farm planning policy used to be more ad-hoc when developments were assessed and approved on a council-by-council basis. There are now clear planning policies in place in several states to guide developers, community, and government on the appropriate sitting of wind farms. In addition the Australian Wind Energy Association acted early by publishing its own Best Practice Guidelines for Grid Connected Wind Energy Projects in March 2002. This project was funded by the Commonwealth through the Australian Greenhouse Office.
Myth: Victorian Guidelines say a wind energy facility can be built anywhere in Victoria outside of a National Park.
Fact: The guidelines do not say this, anywhere. What they do say is: "Commercial wind energy developments will not be permitted on any land reserved under the National Parks Act (1975). Excluding wind energy development from land protected under the National Parks Act excludes wind energy facilities from approx 43% of the length of Victoria's coastline. It also excludes development from approx 32% of the area within 1km of the coast."
Myth: Wind farms are unpopular with their neighbors.
Fact: A recent Scottish Executive survey of more than 1,800 residents near wind farms found that their opinion of the sites became more positive after it became operational. It found high levels of acceptance and overwhelming support for wind power, with support strongest amongst those who lived closest to the wind farms. People are three times as likely to say that they feel that their local wind farm has had a generally positive impact on the area as they are to say it has had a negative impact. People living within 5 km of the local wind farm hold the most positive views, with 45% thinking the overall impact has been positive, and only 6% saying it has been negative. A majority (54%) would support an expansion of their local wind farm by half the number of turbines again, while one in ten is opposed (9%).
Economic Myths
Myth: Wind power is uneconomic, priced many times higher than that of conventional generation.
Fact: Wind energy costs about 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour to generate and costs continue to fall at around 4% per annum. The pool price of electricity is about 4 cents per kilowatt hour and this currently does not reflect environmental cost of the greenhouse emissions produced or even the cost of building new conventional power plants.
Myth: Wind power requires a massive consumer-funded subsidy to be viable.
Fact: Wind energy is just one of 23 renewable energy technologies (like hydro, solar and biomass) that operate under the Commonwealth Government's Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) initiative, a program designed to develop a renewable energy industry and cut greenhouse pollution. Wind is growing faster than other forms of clean energy (about 70% of new renewable energy projects are wind) in part because it is the most plentiful and economical option currently available. The MRET is a market scheme within the power sector with power consumers paying for the incremental cost of the cleaner energy, not the tax payer. (By way of comparison, fossil fuel generation receives an estimated $900 million in subsidies per year.)
Myth: Running a windmill at full pace for an hour reduces greenhouse gas emissions by one tonne at a cost of $77 compared to $15 by providing a broad based emissions trading scheme.
Fact: Energy efficiency and other measures provide low cost, but short term emissions reductions. To reduce greenhouse gas emission by over 60% as is called for by climate scientists and Environment Minister Kemp, clean energy uptake must be rapidly increased. Wind power provides the most environmentally benign and least cost of the solutions. To fully realize its contribution to the Australian economy, the industry must be built up in the short term to create local manufacturing and export capacity.
Myth: The public would not want to pay more for wind power.
Fact: Two recent polls demonstrate consistently high support for clean energy such as wind, even if it means paying more for electricity. A poll by Australian Research Group Pty and commissioned by AusWEA shows that 95% of respondents support the use of wind power, while 50% support the use of gas and just 21% support the use of new coal plant. 76% of respondents said they would be prepared to pay 5% more on their electricity bill if it meant that they would be purchasing 10% more clean energy. A separate poll (by News poll and commissioned by Greenpeace) found that 83% of Australians would be willing to pay $3.50 more on their monthly energy bills if it meant that 10% of Australia's electricity would come from new renewable sources by 2010.
Environmental Myths
Myth: Wind farms pose a serious threat to birds.
Fact: Any tall structure presents a risk to birds, but the threat from wind turbines is not only very small compared to other impacts, it is also one of the most intensively studied of all risks to birds. To put this risk into perspective, US bird experts Curry and Kerlinger have estimated that 100 million bird deaths a year can be attributed to domestic cats, compared to an estimated 5 to 10 thousand killed by turbines - meaning cats' risk to birds is at least 10,000 times greater than that posed by wind turbines in the US. The Exxon Valdez oil spill alone is estimated to have killed up to 500,000 birds. New research at several operational Australian wind farms indicates that risk to birds may be even less than first expected, and well below the predicted levels from models that were run as part of the approvals process. The research found not a single mortality for rare or significant bird species. All wind farm developments are accountable under the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC).
Myth: 24 environmental organizations in the USA, including the Audubon Society, have called on the US Government for more controls on sitting of turbines due to 4-5 million bird kills; The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that turbines kill four to five million migratory birds every year.
Fact: Statements such as the above untruthful and misleading; the media release in question actually says: "The US Fish & Wildlife Service estimates that communication towers, such as those for cellular telephones, already kill between 4 and 5 million migratory birds each year." The release calls for the US Government to "assess the impact on migratory birds before more new permits are given to build wind turbines." This is already done in Australia. Furthermore, the (British) Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Europe's largest wildlife conservation charity with over a million members, takes the view that although wind turbines do present a risk to birds, it is site-specific and very small compared to other human activities and the risks presented by climate change. The Society actively encourages new wind farm developments by means of its own green energy product RSPB Energy.
Myth: Wind generators are noisy.
Fact: A conversation can be carried out at the base of a modern operating turbine without raising one's voice. A modern turbine at 350 meters is about as audible as the background noise of a quiet bedroom. Wind turbines produce a predominantly "whoosing" sound that has a far more natural characteristic than most sources of industrial noise.
Myth: Wind generators are detrimental to the landscape.
Fact: Open cut coal mines are permanent as are the emissions they produce. The effects of climate change will be permanent, causing the destruction of reefs, depleted alpine ecosystems, and damaged coastal ecosystems. Other major developments that regularly gain approval such as coastal subdivision and marina development impart permanent damage and loss of habitat. By contrast wind turbines cause very little permanent damage, occupying less than 2% of the land area within a given wind farm boundary. They can be dismantled after 20-25 years and the land returned to virtually its former state.
Tourism Myths
Myth: Wind farms will detract from tourism.
Fact: There is no evidence that wind farms negatively impact tourism in Australia. In fact there is ample anecdotal evidence that they may encourage tourism. The Windy Hill wind farm on the Atherton Tablelands (Queensland) was visited by approximately 30,000 cars in the first three months of operation, while the Codrington wind farm in Victoria currently attracts 50,000 visitors per year. An Aus pool survey conducted by Pacific Hydro on the Portland Wind Energy Project showed that 94% of Portland residents described wind generators as "interesting" and 74% as "graceful". In a separate survey, when asked if they would be more likely to visit the coast if there were wind farms in the area, 36% of Victorians surveyed said yes, 55% indicated that it would make no difference, while only 8% said they would be less likely to visit the area.
Furthermore, UK research done in 2002 found that 91% of visitors to a highly scenic area in Scotland said that local wind farms made no difference to the likelihood of them visiting the area. Twice as many people said the presence of wind farms would make them "more likely" to visit again than the amount who would be "less likely" to visit. The majority (80%) also said they would be interested in visiting a wind farm with a public visitor centre versus one in five "not interested".
Property Prices
Myth: Wind farms decrease property values.
Fact: An in-depth, government-funded study completed in the USA in 2003 shows that a view of a wind farm does not decrease, but may actually increase the value of a property. The study did a total of 30 analyses on ten projects and found that in twenty six of these analyses, property values in the affected view shed (defined as within 5 miles of the turbines) performed better than in the comparable community.
The only Australian study is an informal one on the Esperance wind farm at Salmon Beach, a premier Western Australia residential area. The residential area was built after the wind farm but still showed a strong trend of increasing house prices throughout the estate over the ensuing years. In fact, local residents complained at the proposal to decommission the wind farm at the end of its design life.
Bangladesh coastal areas of Cox’s Bazar, Khepupara, Tekhnaf, Patuakhali, Hill Districts and many river port areas have steady winds almost through the year excepting high monsoon. We understand that some areas of Bangladesh have already been identified as suitable locations for large wind power sites. Government must provide all support for any initiative to produce wind power .Government may seek assistance from Australia and EU countries where wind power is getting more access to national energy mix. Bangladesh must not sit tight with ides .It must proceed with all options for securing its energy future. Gas may not last more than thirty years. If we find large reserves in Offshore these must be utilized for fertilizer and industrial sectors.Caol may be the source of power generation to some extent. But Bangladesh can not burn coal indiscriminately for its adverse environmental impact. Bangladesh may not have many Nuclear plants. So Bangladesh must plan to produce at least 10% of its power from Wind and Solar by 2030.
Source: http://energybangla.com/index.php?mod=article&cat=SomethingtoSay&article=123
