Politics in the Zeros

Sheerwind says their innovative design for wind power is more efficient than traditional wind turbines at a cost equal to hydropower and natural gas. Conventional wind turbines use massive turbine generator systems mounted on top of a tower. INVELOX, by contrast, funnels wind energy to ground-based generators. Instead of snatching bits of energy from the [...]

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The Enercon E-126 is the biggest wind turbine and the first with 7.5 MW rated power. The rotor diameter is 413 ft and hub height is 450 ft. Thus, both measurements are considerably longer than a football field. Think about that… One megawatt is enough electrical capacity to power 1,000 average California homes. (Assuming a [...]

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This Helical Robotics robot is controlled wirelessly and climbs wind turbines to inspect them. Curved magnets hold it on to the turbine. It can climb onto the blades too. Wheee.

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The London Array offshore wind farm now has 175 wind turbines producing 630 MW power and is completely hooked up to the grid. Full capacity has now been reached at the 630MW first phase of the world’s largest offshore wind farm, the London Array. The commissioning of the 175th and final turbine happened at 16.09 [...]

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A working prototype of the Electrostatic Windenergy Convertor (EWICON) now exists, creating wind power with no moving mechanical parts. The technology, developed by the Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science faculty at Delft, uses the movement of electrically charged water droplets to generate power. How does this work? A handy video explains:

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Wind power is now supplanting nuclear in China, as well as in the US. Some 18,000 MW of windpower was added to the grid over the last two years, nearly seven times as much as nuclear. It estimates that there is now some 75,600MW of wind energy capacity on China – and that eighty per [...]

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Prices for wind power sometimes drop to zero during times of light demand due to laws that require utilities buy it even when they don’t need it, which is certainly screwy and counter-intuitive. The fear that tax credits would expire at the end of 2012 spurred a burst of wind farm building in 2012, which [...]

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Wind power generated 10% of the electricity in ten states in 2012 with a whopping 25% in Iowa and South Dakota. Inquiring minds will note that California is not on the list and that several of the states are Republican.

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Anyone know if this is just the Brit establishment helpfully suggesting potential roadblocks to Scottish independence or if there is validity to what they say, which is that independence means Britain might then get their power elsewhere as well as stopping subsidies. A European Union directive requires Britain to derive 15% of its energy demand [...]

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All that’s needed to transport Wyoming wind power to California is a grid that can handle it, Energy Prospects West explains (free registration required.) Wind generated in Wyoming matches electricity demand in California nearly perfectly and could save the Golden State $100 million annually in dispatchable-energy costs, according to a study released Jan. 24 by [...]

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