Credit: Warren Gretz
U.S. wind-generating capacity is expected to increase and become more cost-competitive in more areas of the country, according to the Earth Policy Institute (March 22, 2006).
When Austin Energy, the publicly owned utility in Austin, Texas, launched its GreenChoice program in 2000, customers opting for green electricity paid a premium. During the fall of 2005, climbing natural gas prices pulled conventional electricity costs above those of wind-generated electricity, the source of most green power. This crossing of the cost lines in Austin and several other communities is a milestone in the U.S. shift to a renewable energy economy.
Overall, U.S. wind-generating capacity expanded by 36 percent in 2005, reaching 9,149 megawatts. This year it could expand by 50 percent. At the end of 2005, there were commercial wind farms in 30 states.
Wind power generation would grow even faster if it were not constrained by the availability of turbines. General Electric, now supplying 60 percent of the U.S. wind turbine market, is sold out through 2007. Clipper Windpower, a startup turbine manufacturer, is planning to produce 20 of its 2.5-megawatt Liberty turbines per month by mid 2006 and a total of 250 turbines in 2007. Its production is also committed well into the future.
With a large, advanced-design wind turbine generating easily $100,000 worth of electricity per year, even a 3-percent royalty would earn ranchers $3,000 a year from leasing a quarter-acre of ranchland. And they can still run cattle on the land. If a proposed project in NY state is approved as expected, these 30 or so ranchers will have an average of seven turbines each, yielding roughly $21,000 a year in additional income. A decade from now, there may be thousands of ranchers who will be earning more selling electricity than they do selling cattle.
As a side note, I wonder what it takes to make a Class 5 VAWT?
“A what?”
Well, lots and lots of watts, but, what I mean is a vertical axis wind turbine that could withstand a hurricane.
“Oh.”
Whereas it would be impractical to have sufficient, clutch-engaged turbines to make use of such high wind energy, particularly given current scarcity, it would be practical to ensure that such investments along coastal areas, either on land or off-shore, could “take a licking and keep on ticking”, unlike some oil and gas rigs abandoned in the Gulf of Mexico that could be mentioned.
Which also has me wondering…
“Uh-oh.”
What might be the break point in ROI (Return On Investment) for adding reserve turbines to make use of higher winds?
In any case, thanks and a tip of the VAWT to Jim Fraser.
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Bill Moore reports that Terra Moya Aqua Inc. is set to debut its first grid-connected turbine in May. TMA claims to have developed a very efficient, Vertical Axis Wind Turbine.