Wind

[Due to the increasing size of the archives, each topic page now contains only the prior 365 days of content. Access to older stories is now solely through the Monthly Archive pages or the site search function.]

US MMS Moves Forward With Alternative Energy Leases on the Outer Continental Shelf

July 26, 2008

The US Minerals Management Service (MMS) is proceeding with the consultation and analyses necessary to move toward the issuance of limited leases under its interim policy for authorizing alternative energy data collection and technology testing activities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

MMS announced its interim policy in November 2007 to jumpstart basic information gathering efforts relating to development of OCS alternative energy resources such as wind, waves, and ocean currents as authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct). The limited leases envisioned under the interim policy will be for a term of five years and will not convey any right or priority for commercial development.

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Gore’s Challenge to the US: 100% Zero-Carbon Electricity in 10 Years

July 17, 2008

In a major speech given today at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington DC, former Vice President Al Gore challenged the US to end its reliance on carbon-based fuels and to “commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.”

While the primary focus of his speech was on power generation, Gore noted that the value and efficiency of an advanced, unified national power grid could be further increased by helping the auto industry switch to the manufacture of plug-in electric cars. “An electric vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electricity grid.”

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StatoilHydro to Build First Full-Scale Floating Wind Turbine

May 23, 2008

The HyWind floating turbine. Click to enlarge.

StatoilHydro will build the world’s first full-scale floating wind turbine, Hywind, and test it over a two-year period offshore Karmøy, Norway. (Earlier post.) The company is investing approximately 400 million NOK (US$80 million) in the project, and plans to have the floating turbine in operation in autumn 2009.

Wind is strongest and most consistent far out to sea, making deepwater placement of wind turbines attractive for power generation. StatoilHydro has developed HyWind based on floating concrete constructions familiar from North Sea oil installations—HyWind consists of a 2.3 MW wind turbine attached to the top of a Spar-buoy.

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BP Reinforces Commitment to China With Series of Agreements; Coal Conversion, Wind, Acetic Acid

January 19, 2008

BP has signed a series of agreements in China involving the strategic integration and commercialization of coal conversion technologies; wind power generation; and world-class acetic acid production.

The British Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown and the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, as well as officials from both the British and Chinese governments, witnessed the signing during a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

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Beluga Shipping Launches MV Beluga SkySails

December 16, 2007

The MV Beluga Skysails at christening. Click to enlarge.

Beluga Shipping GmbH has launched the 140m MV Beluga Skysails, the world’s first application of the SkySails towing kite auxiliary propulsion system on a cargo vessel. (Earlier post.)

The MV Beluga SkySails is equipped with a towing kite measuring 160 square meters for the first phase of operations. The company anticipates that in this first phase the ship will consume 10-15% less bunker fuel. Later, when the sail is scaled up to 320 square meters in the course of the coming year in order to increase efficiency on the high seas, potential savings of 20-30% are “definitely feasible and realistic,” according to the company.

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Babcock & Brown to Buy Bluewater Wind

October 01, 2007

Proposed location (hatched red) for the Delaware Offshore Wind Park. The red dots represent locations for which Bluewater developed visualizations of the wind farm. Click to enlarge.

Babcock & Brown is buying Bluewater Wind, the developer of a proposed 150-turbine, 450MW wind farm to be located 11 miles off the coast of Delaware.

The acquisition by Babcock & Brown addresses the last major hurdle in the effort to finance and build Delaware Offshore Wind Park—potentially the first major offshore wind park in the US—which is how the $1.6 billion project would be funded.

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