India Call for national policy on wind energy

Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers’ Association (IWTMA) has called for a generation-based incentive policy to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) into the nascent wind energy sector. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, D. V. Giri, Chairman of the association, said any generation-based incentive should have no ceiling on capacity. At present, the Central Government has adopted a generation-based incentive model on a pilot basis for wind energy projects up to 49 MW. Mr. Giri felt that this cap on capacity had to go if foreign direct investment had to come into this space in a bigger way. He said that the utility of wind energy could not be underestimated in the context of the finite nature of fossil fuels, which were depleting fast, and the galloping oil prices. In the Indian context, wind energy, more often than not, was understood as an avenue for tax planning by profit- making corporates. The depreciation benefits had lured all and sundry into wind power production. Mr. Giri felt that it was time that the government came out with a comprehensive policy that encouraged serious IPPs (independent power producers) into the wind energy sector. To make it happen, a long-term bankable wind energy policy was a must, he pointed out.

The chairman also said that there was a sizable percentage of non-performing plants among the existing wind farm projects. These could be made functional by upgrading the machines. Alternatively, Mr. Giri felt that the land housing the non-performing assets could be reclaimed to put up new generating units.

Mr. Giri felt that there was an urged need for a national policy for wind energy, which should address assorted issues such as tariff, renewable purchase specifications (which provided for the percentage of wind energy in the basket of power purchased by the State grids) and the like.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/13/stories/2008081351811600.htm

Scotland plans link to Norway power supply

Scotland is drawing up plans to build the world's longest electricity connector - to Norway - to help meet its renewable targets and end its dependence on nuclear power. The whole project could cost more than £2bn.

Jim Mather, the Scottish Executive's energy minister, will meet his Norwegian counterpart in October to discuss the proposal.

The plan could raise the hackles of MPs already concerned about Scottish politicians' push for independence. The UK depends on Scotland for most of its oil revenues and renewable energy resource. Politicians in Westminster are worried that full Scottish independence would further undermine the security of the UK's energy supply.

Scotland is much windier than England, Wales or Northern Ireland, and also has green hydro-electric power. It has set a target of getting half its electricity from renewable sources such as wind power by 2020, compared to the UK's goal of generating about a third from renewables.

However, instead of building dirty coal plants to back up its wind farms, Scotland wants to connect to Norway's grid to solve the problem. Scotland's ruling party, the SNP, has committed not to build any new nuclear reactors.

Norway gets almost all its electricity from hydro-power, which works by releasing water from a higher reservoir into a lower reservoir via a turbine which generates electricity. The water is then pumped back up to the higher reservoir for use later. If the 1,000km (620-mile) connector between the countries is built, when Scotland is windy and has surplus electricity, it would be exported to Norway to provide power to pump the water back up into its higher reservoirs.

When the wind does not blow in Scotland and there is a shortage of power, Norway would activate its hydro-plants to make up the shortfall. This would solve the issue of wind power's intermittency, frequently cited by critics.

Scotland wants to use the connector to provide power to North Sea oil operators. Drilling rigs and platforms use about four gigawatts of electricity, equivalent to the demand from about four cities the size of Birmingham. Currently, operators use expensive and dirty diesel generators or gas to power their facilities.

Paul O'Brien, senior executive of government organisation Scottish Development International in Glasgow, said: 'Scotland has got to replace nuclear power. We realise there are issues over backing up renewables, but we don't want to use fossil fuel plants to do this. There is also a special opportunity to extend the life of the North Sea oil fields.'

Source: The Observer, Sunday, August 10, 2008 By Tim Webb

Alternative Energy Patents Grow

Aug 3, 2008

Increased patent applications in China and South Korea, as well as in the United States, have pushed the total number of filings to 1.76 million, according to a new report from the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

In its latest report, based on the most recent available figures from 2006, WIPO said today that the number of patents granted worldwide had grown by 18% in one year to 727,000. The UN agency added that the total number of patents in force was some 6.1 million.

“A major increase in innovative activity in China, the Republic of Korea and the United States has driven the overall growth of patent filings in 2006. This reflects a consolidation of earlier trends which demonstrate a marked shift in innovation hubs around the world,” the Director General of WIPO, Kamil Idris, said.

“While use of the patent system remains highly concentrated among a group of countries, statistics show an increasing level of patent activity in emerging countries. This is an encouraging trend,” Dr Idris added.

The statistics also indicate a growing tendency for applicants to file in multiple countries, through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), an agreement administered by WIPO which provides a simplified method for international patent filing. More than 158,000 patent filings were made through the PCT in 2006, an increase of about 6% over the previous year.

Applicants from Japan (514,047 applications), the US (390,815), South Korea (172,709), Germany (130,806) and China (128,850) accounted for 76% of the total number of patent applications filed worldwide in 2006.

WIPO said that patenting activity in emerging countries also increased in 2006, with India receiving 24,505 filings, Brazil 24,505 and Mexico 15,505.

The UN agency said that the volume of patent filings was highly correlated with a country’s level of investment in research and development.

Citing figures from 2005, WIPO said that the most intense patenting activity was evident in the following sectors: computer technology (144,594), telecommunications (116,770), and electrical machinery (121,350). Between 2001 and 2005, patent filings in computer technology, optics, and semiconductors all grew by about 5%. There was a modest increase in pharmaceuticals filings and a decrease in biotechnology filings.

Recent pressures on energy resources have boosted patenting activity in the energy sector, in particular in relation to solar energy, fuel cells and wind energy. Applicants from Japan accounted for the largest number of applications in the fields of solar energy and fuel cells, while Germany joined Japan as one of the top two countries of origin for wind energy technologies.

Source: http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=23142&t=1&c=33&cg=4&mset=

China’s Wind Power Accelerates

July 25, 2008

Strong Chinese government policies, rising coal prices and improved technology have prompted a surge of investment into green energy, particularly wind power. Since 2005, the country’s wind generation capacity has increased by more than 100% a year. The government’s renewable energy policy aims to procure 15% of the country’s energy from non-carbon sources by 2020, twice the proportion of 2005.

Wind Power has taken off faster than the government planned. This year, policy makers had to double their wind power prediction for 2010, having reached the old goal of five gigawatts three years ahead of schedule. On current trends, it will almost definitely have to be doubled again.

“China’s wind energy market is unrecognizable from two years ago. It is huge. But it is not realized yet in the outside world, says Steve Sawyer, secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council. He believes China might have already overtaken the US as the planet’s biggest turbine manufacturer. Given the ambitious plans for wind farms, it could also install the most new generating capacity by 2010. At the end of last year, China had six gigawatts of installed wind power generating capacity, covering 202 projects. Another 445 sites have been targeted for development in the near future – according to data from Azure International a consultancy in Beijing.

As in India and Brazil, investment in the industry is surging. These three countries' share of new wind financing in the world rose from 12% to 22% between 2004 and 2007. But the growth is from a tiny base. The industry remains minuscule compared with coal. China's wind industry is still dominated by five state-owned power generation utilities and a handful of other energy-related state-owned enterprises. Competition is heating up. The turbine industry used to be dominated by foreign manufacturers, such as Vestas of Denmark, Gamesa of Spain and GE of the US. But last year for the first time, domestic manufacturers grabbed more than 50% of the market.

The biggest player by market share is Goldwind, which is based in Urumqi and piloted much of its technology in nearby Dabancheng. The firm says it has grown by more than 100% for each of the past eight years. Now it produces its own big 1.5 megawatts turbines and is developing a model with twice the capacity that it aims to start testing by 2009.

Goldwind is now selling overseas. Goldwind recently made its first sale of turbines to Cuba and it and other domestic manufacturers have been in talks with potential buyers in Pakistan, the Philippines and South Korea. “It is reasonable to expect Chinese wind turbines to find receptive export markets in the near term despite the financing and insurance related challenges stemming from limited track-record for many products,” said Sebastian Meyer, director of research and advisory at Azure International. The biggest growth, however, is likely to be in the domestic market. In addition to the current six gigawatts of generating capacity, Azure estimates that a staggering 130 gigawatts is in the pipeline in China.

Established turbine manufacturers continue to boost production even as new entrants try to squeeze their way into the market. If all of their plans are added together, China’s new production capacity could surge to 11 gigawatts this year – almost three times the amount installed last year.

Rising demand for electricity and tighter safety regulations in mines have driven up the price of domestic coal, which supplies 70% of China’s energy needs. Domestic prices are now so high that many power plants in Guangdong and elsewhere in southern China import coal from Australia. This year, the big five utilities are bleeding money because coal costs have been steadily rising. They cannot pass costs on to their customers because of government regulation of power prices.

Even so, wind energy produces a kilowatt-hour of electricity at about twice the cost of a Chinese coal-fired power plant. Even with the recent price rises, coal remains king in China. To meet the demands of the fast growing economy, power plants and factories burn two billion tones of coal each year, about a third of the world’s total.

This is why China has overtaken the place US as the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and it is unlikely to fall back to second place for decades. Wind is also far les favored than hydro-electricity. Take the dams out of the energy mix and renewable will barely manage 1% of all power generation by 2010 and only 3% by 2020 even in regions with well-developed grids. That is a low proportion compared with the world leader Denmark, which gets about 20% of its electricity from wind.

Long term, the future of wind power is secured by government commitments to renewable energy. The authorities are increasingly alarmed by global warming, which is melting glaciers in Tibet and Xinjiang that provide drinking water to ten of millions of people. Extreme weather also led some regions to suffer the worst snowstorms and droughts in decades. Last week, officials in Sichuan province warned that summer flooding was likely to start earlier and be the biggest in a decade because of abnormally high rainfall in May.

Environmental groups say the country needs to set more ambitious goals for wind power. With the right government policy, Greenpeace predicts that China's installed wind power capacity could reach 122 GW by 2020, equivalent to the capacity of five Three Gorges Dams, or 10% of the total installed capacity of the country.

In the near future, more and bigger turbines will be spread over a wider area of China. As well as manufacturing more wind power equipment than any other country, analysts predict that China may soon be the world leader in installation.

"China is catching up fast," said Meyer. "The market is ripe for China not replicating what Europe and US did in the past, but doing it better."

Source: http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=103689&keybold=renewable+energy+technology+research

US Leads in Wind Power

July 23, 2008

According to estimates for the first half of 2008 from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the first US has passed Germany to become the world’s biggest generator of wind power.

The U.S. is still running behind Germany in total installed capacity, because its average wind speed is significantly stronger. The total capacity of wind installations in Germany was 22,000 megawatts in 2007, compared with 17,000 megawatts in the U.S.

The AWEA says the country could well take the world lead in installed capacaity as well by the end of this year. “We expect to come out with a detailed analysis within the next few weeks,” said Randall Swisher, the AWEA’s executive director.

Interest in wind power has been growing. More than 13,000 people turned out for this year’s AWEA annual conference – an 85 percent increase over last year. Earlier this month, billionaire oilman T.Boone Pickens, unveiled the “Pickens Plan”, which calls on the US to use wind power to generate the 22 percent of its electricity now drawn from natural gas – freeing that fuel to be used for transportation. Despite the growing interest and milestones passed, wind meets only about 1 percent of the current US energy demand. Mr. Pickens says building wind facilities from Texax to North Dakota could produce 20 percent of electricity used by the US at a cost of $1,000bn.

It would take another $200bn to build capacity to transmit that energy to urban areas across the country. “That’s a lot of money, but it’s a one-time cost,” he said. “And, compared with the $700bn we spend on foreign oil every year, it’s a bargain.”

Source: http://www.windenergynews.com/content/view/1366/43/

China’s Wind Power Fans New Investment

July 21, 2008

Wind-power plants are attracting growing investment in China, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Investment in the country’s sustainable energy sector grew by 91% last year to a record high of $10.8 billion, most of which has flowed to wind-power generating units, says UNEP’s report Global Trends in Substantial Energy Investment 2008.

The large investment doubled China’s capacity for wind power to 6,000 MWs last year. Similarly, new investment in sustainable energy reportedly surpassed $148.4 billion worldwide, up 60 percent year-on-year. Funds toward wind power were said to be the major contributor to the surge.

“Wind and solar power have been taking the hottest spots for renewable energy investment,” UNEP China office representative Zhang Shigang said. China has also reportedly been quick to catch up with the global trend in clean energy development.

Beijing has also reportedly been quick to catch up with the global trend in clean energy development.

Guanting wind-power plant, in suburban Beijing, started full operations on Saturday, supplying wind-generated electricity to the city for the first time.

With the last 10 wind-powered generating units certified by the Beijing Electric Power Company, the plant is said to have 43 domestically developed wind-power units with a capacity of 64.5 mW and is expected to supply 20 percent of the power to the city's Olympic venues.

The plant is expected to supply 100 million-kWh a year, or about 300,000 kWh a day, to meet the daily power demands of 100,000 households.

Statistics from Guanting showed that the power plant could help cut yearly carbon dioxide emissions by 100,000 tons and save 50,000 tons of coal annually.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-07/21/content_6863882.htm

Wind Supplies 20% Olympic Energy

July 21, 2008

A wind power plant has become operational in suburban Beijing, considered a major step towards making 20 percent of the power supply to the city’s Olympic venues during the games wind-generated.

The Guanting Wind Power Plant, beginning operation on Saturday, would not only help fulfill Beijing’s promise of a “green Olympics”, but symbolize the first-ever large-scale employment of wind power generation project in the Chinese capital, said a spokesman for the project.

With an installed capacity of 64,500 kilowatts, the plant has 43 domestically developed wind power units at work. Since its first unit went into operation on Jan 20, the plant has supplied 35 million Kwh of “green power” to Beijing.

It is expected to supply 100 million Kwh electricity per year, enough to meet daily demand of 100,000 households. The power plant could help cut yearly emission of carbon dioxide by 100,000 tons and save 50,000 tons of coal each year.

The Beijing Olympic opens on Auguest 8.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2008-07/20/content_6861647.htm