Global Wind Power Hits Amazing 100,000 Megawatt Milestone - and Soaring!
That’s an astonishing 100,000 megawatts, which is the same as saying enough electricity for the needs of 150 million people, already... and we have only just begun to harvest the cleanest, freest energy on our world… the wind...and If the full cost of carbon emissions are incorporated into the price of natural gas and coal, onshore wind will also become the cheapest electricity source on the planet.
The growth figures on tapping this renewable source are tremendously encouraging for those of us that are already aware that (along with solar) ‘this is the future’ of ourmost basic energy needs… and more than able to supply the peak population of 12 billion people in 2020, without one micro-atom of pollution in comparison to either today methods, or tomorrow's needs.
(Just for those of you who don’t know much about s-curves and the population (like everything else including information etc) reaching saturation point and dropping off after the 2020 peak of 12 billion: you can investigate it further in Peter Russell’s book The White Hole In Time (revised as Waking Up in Time), or again on pp23 of the collection of works on the Mystery of 2012, previewed in my previous post <<here>>
The facts are that generating electricity from wind-power is catching on around the planet like a storm, which could well become a blessing in the extra power they will end up supplying in their wake.
In Europe last year, record growth of 40% in wind harvesting, accounted for an additional 8,660 megawatts of wind power capacity compared to 2006. In fact 2007 marks the first year in history that wind power growth exceeded all other forms of power source additions, including natural gas!
In terms of 'new capacity added,' Germany remained the frontrunner, by adding a huge 22,200 megawatts throughout 2007; only slightly lagging behind the United States, Spain, China, and India in 'total wind capacity' overall.
Spain proved to be the real stunner in the European market in 2007, installing 3,520 megawatts, the highest number ever in Europe in a single year. Spain now ranks third in the world, behind the United States with a massive wind capacity with 15,100 megawatts overall … like ducks to water, but then anyone who supports Antonia Gauidi's architecture, has got to have it right in my books.
For the record; Wind-generated electricity now meets nearly 4% of Europe’s total electricity demand, that's enough to supply electricity to 90 million residents!
Suprisingly, thanks to the utilities seeking new energy sources, the US did well too in 2007 with an additional 45% added, increasing the power output capacity to 5,244 megawatts of power available to the grids of America. For the first time, this made wind power responsible for more than 1% of overall U.S. electricity production, powering some 4.5 million homes in just 12 months.
For my readers from the US you’ll be interested to know the stats:
~ Texas is the leading state, which now has 4,356 MW of installed wind power, or more than one-quarter of the U.S. total.
~ California is running in second place with a 2,439 MW, or 15% capacity.
Despite the fact that (because of it's newness) Wind power (for now), is initially more expensive to build, install and then “bring to market” than more conventional coal-fired and natural gas-fired power plants, the word around the global village is that 2008 wind power growth rates will only be limited by a shortage of wind turbines, as wind harvesting suffers its first ‘Twister...’
And whilst on the subject of China and India, they have alsootherwise taken to wind power for domestic markets like kites in the park, with some of highest growth rates of the world.
India reached a total installed capacity of 8,000 megawatts overall in 2007, retaining it’s fourth position in the Global Top 10 wind power countries. However, due to the lack of a national renewable energy law to help establish cohesive goals and provide economic incentives for future growth in Indian wind energy projects, China will likely overtake India in installed wind power capacity by late 2008, or early 2009.
In fact, China has taken to wind power with all the fury of a cyclone and installed 3,450 megawatts of wind capacity in 2007, a massive 156% increase over 2006! This far exceeds China’s recent 2010 goal of 5,000 megawatts. The credit goes to The Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association projects, which offer a unified vision, goal and financial incentives like a ‘feed-in tariff,’ offering greater investment in offshore wind farms, as well as financial relief to the wind-power installations already in China. The results of such a pro-active and positive approach could well see China exceed the projected 120,000 megawatt capacity by 2020 - two times over, making it more than 60% wind powered… NOW THAT IS POWER!
Off Shore Wind Farms of SE England
The total offshore wind capacity currently adds to about 1,170 megawatts worldwide, which is roughly 1.2 percent of the 100,000 megawatts of the total global 'installed capacity’ at the end of 2007...
Denmark maintains its worldwide leadership position, with 426 megawatts of installed offshore wind power capacity, followed by the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Finland. With more than 1,200 megawatts presently under construction worldwide, offshore wind capacity is expected to more than double by the end of 2009.
*yawn* No word from Australia yet, outside of our existing 200 MW of ‘experimental capacity,’ but then it’s early days as the Rudd government tries to sort out the financial mess left to it from the previous ‘environmentally unconscious hazard,’ which called itself a government.
It seems that under the previous government the Australian ‘X-spurts’ were paid to endlessly debate whether or not wind power was viable or not, and whether the wind would keep blowing or not *incredulous look on my face* ...me thinks Parliament could have powered its own turbine with all that hot air … hopefully this new lot will decide that it is, before the coal and oil runs out?
Again, it’ll be up to us to push for it at the next elections, if not before… in fact all you articulate Orblers could write a letter to Penny Wong or Peter Garrett today ... what are you waiting for?
You can read the full report and world statistics onearthpolicy.org
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Another fantastic post Lilla.
Let's hope the trend continues -- and it looks like it will! What do you think will eventually provide the most power -- solar or wind? Do you know if solar provides anything like the amount of power that wind does?
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Thank you for the compliment, and that is such a good question adn your timing is perfect; I was just having this conversation on my 'solar boom post', with a student.
The fact is that I think Wind Power is the better of the two because of some prickling questions where solar panels are concerned, long term .. mainly how do you build them when oil is no more and silicon hard to come by?
Quite possible we would have thought of something else, but the metal bearings in a wind turbine will be able to come from recycled metals for hundreds of years to come, if all else fails... not to say that we couldn't build new panels from recycled plastics too, hey?
It is a really interesting question, but all in all looking at it from the perspective of maintenance compared to the Maglev Magnetic Giant turbine that will produce 1 gigawatt and run for 500 years without replacement parts, I think commerically WIND has got it all, especially where low maintenance costs are concerned.
I actually invisage that each house of the future will power at least 60% of its own needs from solar (thermal) energy means and 'top up' perhaps from the national grid based on wind power ( which will power commerical things like street lights and factories) ... who knows, we may have mini turbines on our house rooves and water tanks to power the pumps of the future too ... it makes sense to me.
Of course it means that govenrments will have to take of outmoded 'blanket' rulings and allow us to find ways to generate our own power... but that's already happening with water and all part of the changes in our consciousness and thinking that has to 'shift' with the times.. which I mentioned in my last post.
What about you, which do you think?
Lilla ...
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you should do an article on venturi like generators, placed on sea beds, which are a magnificent source of energy, as they are always in motion with the ebb and flow of the tide.
One of my brothers developed one, and it worked incredibly well, so well that on the initial test, being dragged behind a boat, it broke the chain and sunk!
However, the project faltered, as they couldn't get the right finances, nor would anyone in government help to set it up.
This happened a long time ago mind you, about twenty or more years ago, so he was way ahead of his time.
But, overseas the sea water based generator system is doing quite well.
Not only does it have the advantage of never running out of energy to drive it, from wave motion, (unlike wind power models) , it is not seen by the eye, as it is submerged.
A lot of lovely coast line has been sacrificed for those ugly wind turbines.
cheers
fog
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Great post, and Fog's brother's prototype sounds interesting too...
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I was at a conference the other day and a wind farm producer showed a photo of each wind turbine and overlayed a JUMBO over the propella's, a jumbo is BIGGER, i was genuinely surprised at just how massive they are.
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Good Morning Fog,
In January I wrote something about the New Eco City they are building in San Francisco Harbour and had a great link within it on this subject... try this[Link]. In the post I briefly touched on these huge proto-type tide-turbunes that will generate the bulk of the energy needed for the city's 15,000 odd residents. . . and I think there is a link there to a great site that shows how these things work... I'll have to back track and have a look later today, thanks.
I remember at the time, thinking exactly that : I would have to look into this a little further and do a post on it as people may be interested, and because I was fascinated from the word 'go.'
I promptly then forgot about it, sorry... but I will look into it now you've reminded me.
Your brother was way ahead, no doubts... I guess it is only because people are starting to wake up to the fact that we can choose differently ... and thanks to pioneers like your brother, the x-spurts and politicians have the initial trials to step-off from... because as you say Fog, these things worked... but nobody wanted to invest in them.
Well you know what they say; Necessity is the mother of
inventionfunding ...*chuckle* ...very few visionaries also hold the purse strings...Sadly, it is the cost parity that has been the biggest hurdle to-date, not the problems created by floating fossil fuels in the atmosphere. To this end, I guess - to some degree - cost parity will remain a factor as we make the changes to free energy and tidal-turbines are another excellent example of harnessing free energy for the grid, realtively economically (with litle or no, 'down time).. However, I read a report that waffled on about little being known about the ongoing maintenance of them due to erosion ... bla bla bla ... critics aside (and quickly) ... to my way of thinking, there are ways to even make metal almost impervious to salt... like adding recycled polycarbons?
And - as you say - the benefits of the tides are that they are always moving, unlike the wind. Do we even need bearings? I am not sure whether the Meglav quantum-magnetics will work under water (something interesting to find out) ...?
There is that aesthetic quality too and I tend to agree on the wind turbines 'chopping up' the romance of the landscape, a bit... just like mankind to make them look unnatural... if it were me they would look like huge daisy's and roses, with brightly coloured whirling petals... or those windmills we used to get at the fair when we were kids ((laughs)) I just can't understand why God didn't put me in charge sometimes...
Perhaps they stick out like they do so the birds avoid those big ugly white 'humming' things... which is another problem of wind turbines, but also fishes caught in the tidal-ones, too.
Going off to play some tennis and see if I can figure it all out.
Have a great day!
Lilla ...
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I guess we won't really know until it all plays out, as it's so hard to predict what new technologies will emerge.
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that's good news about wind, but I wonder how much backlash there will be against them. One of the Kennedys apparently vetoed the creation of a wind farm near his home because it would spoil his view.
I like what fog's talking about: coastal cities using the waves. Waves are carrying so much energy!
And, Lilla, for energy storage, I like the flywheel, assuming they can house it in something safe. Solar during the day, sucking energy off the flywheel at night...
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It is technology that will probably save us all, no doubts about it... mind you when I say 'save' I mean help us maintain our current 'addictions' ((laughs)) you know, things like electricity, hot showers, air-conditioning and the like... I guess none of us will mind knowing that it isn;t costing the earth to have them... I know I'd feel better.
Thank you for the compliment, I hope you are not swearing too much? *wink*
Lilla ...
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You bet, that Maglev is the size of a business tower..... sits on about 100 acres?
Oh com'on that's massive alright... and I've said this before, but my intuition tells me that they would hum in the breeze too ... what d'you think? ...I'm thinking then, perhaps it won't be so trendy to live next to one, if it does?
..and I don;t like 'look' offshore, I have to agree with Fog... as I said I would have them all look like giant daisies or roses spinning in the wind ... at least add a little colour!
Thanks for the compliment my friend ... it is a sheer joy when someone appreciates what I am going on about ... and before this blog? ... really rare, most thought I was certifiable... ((laughs)) many still do...
Lilla ...
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I love the sound of the thermal steam being created by a series of mirrors or reflective surfaces, as you say, endless possibilities.. I have another for this blog that I just discoverred that is awesom too... but am so depressed to write atm, becasue another of my cutesy species just went extinct... I am so down about it... I may feature that first.
Lilla ...
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HAHA FLywheels, I cannot get my head around them (pun intended). I mean it get all the explanation and all, but slowing it down to release the kenetic energy has me miffed... just when I think I have it, whoosh it's gone again. I'll keep trying.
The exciting point is that I think you are right and I read somehwere that Nasa was experimenting with creating them as stand alone batteries ... and for something to power cars... that'd be cool.
For now though, over the next four years in Australia, I have a horrible feeling that when it comes down to the individual installing solar panels and the like into their home... it's still car batteries for those not in the millionaire bracket of eco-friendly... then again, I have some hope that this government will look at things a little more clearly over their term in office and add some spring to the words 'innovation' and 'economy' growth ...independant of the US housing market
Thanks for the great comment, but I'm off to mourn the end of yet another species on mother earth...and still so many in the balance...
Lilla ...
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nice to see such a lot of interest in this area!
By the way, I seem to remember my brother's version would alllow a fish to swim straight through the tube, I never saw the 'turbine' section, so I don't know how they achieved that, maybe the centre was clear and the sides had the turbines.
However, I think you may be on to an interesting idea, with the maglev concept being used underwater!
I can't see why it would not work.Maybe you sould research that area, who knows, your innovation might make BILLIONS!!!!
Rmemebr me, won;t you? Maybe send me a postcard once a year, from 'destination unknown', on board your personal cruise ship...run on wind, solar and turbines attached to the bottom of the hull!!!
cheers
fog
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As for the boat... Hahahaha reminds me of Waterworld... I loved that boat and thought it very cool... especially the pee filter. Imagine adding power from ...Solar. Wind... Earth...and.... Water... Geez, do you reckon Captain Planet would appear over the Port Bough? ... ((laughs)).
... thanks for stopping by.
Lilla ...
PS I will do a post on tide turbines and have just caught on that your brother's was different to the one's I was looking at in that previous post. Thanks for the Heads up Fog.
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...I know...I'm sorry...this IS a serious issue but I must be breathing in helium or something because I'm feeling light headed.
This...what you and Fog have been discussing, sounds amazing!
A world powered by Solar, wind, earth and water... hopefully one day, it will be elementary...
Brilliant article and news Lilla. Really rather in the sci-fi genre but it's real! It's happening!
much pyaar...
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It is me who is part fool I think, I never knew that about Bush ... and am not surprised since his oil fields will be shutting down soon too ... ((laughs)) see, it took me till now to 'get it' ... I am always lightheaded I think!
Yes, it is in the realms of Captain Planet land isn't it, but then if you read my previous post, you'll know why it looks like we'll all be living there soon ... *LOL* ... won't that be a joyous occassion?
Oh I know, I'm with you, it really is serious and I will look into the ability of megnetic, reverse-polarity, bearlingless-blades turning within the density of CO2 saturated with NaCI, soon ... but for now ... pass that helium will you... aaaaaaah that's better, it must be the remains of the Holiday catching up with me
Thank you for the lovely compliment.
oodles of pyaar
Lilla ...
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Gotta love the cracked people, they let the light shine through ... well when they are not being blown around ... /seriously/ it is an amazing breakthrough for us all I think, and perhaps one that won't be fully appreciated for a few years yet to come... by then I should have worked out how to get the maglev system into the water and turning those big suckers...*chuckle* as Fog said.
Lovely to see you here!
Lilla ...