A penetration level commonly used is the Wind generation penetration level, defined as the ratio of the total installed wind power capacity to the total installed generation in the system.

This executive report summary comes from the DOE and was written by Astrom Grid Inc’s Lawrence E. Jones.

Wind doesn’t always blow consistently and sometimes doesn’t blow at all, but wind energy is not unreliable – just ask grid operators. In a recent report, Strategies and Decision Support Systems for Integrating Variable Energy Resources in Control Centers for Reliable Grid Operations. Grid operators provide first-hand perspectives on how variable energy sources, including wind energy, actually impact grid operations.

Grid operators ensure that you receive electricity reliably and at an economical price. They balance electricity supply and demand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year round. Think of them as the air traffic controllers for the power system, constantly monitoring and directing activities on the grid to keep the lights on in homes and businesses.

The study finds that the ability to forecast variable energy output is vital to successfully integrating variable energy into the electrical grid. The study also finds that decision support tools are also essential to helping grid operators incorporate wind forecasts and obtain optimal power flow in their grids. The study describes several decision support tools used by grid operators. However, existing decision support tools in the United States must evolve further as more domestic variable energy enters the electrical grid.
Despite these challenges, the grid operators interviewed have a positive outlook for integrating variable energy and are eager to share and apply best practices with other operators.

The Energy Department funded two organizations, Areva Federal Services and Alstom Grid, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. As part of the study, Areva and Alstom interviewed 33 grid operators in 18 countries responsible for integrating 72% of the wind energy world-wide into their grids.
Over the past two decades, there has been a large increase in the production of wind energy across the world, growing from roughly 2 GW in 1990 to almost 200 GW in 2010. The final report and executive summary provide further insight from grid operators about the challenges, solutions, and successes of integrating variable wind energy into the grid.

DOE
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/wind/pdfs/doe_wind_integration_report.pdf

Windpower Engineering & Development

Unigear Industries in Montreal is capable of large custom gears.

David Brown, a manufacturer of industrial gearing and support services, says it has acquired Montreal based industrial gear manufacturer Unigear Industries Inc. Unigear is a privately held business known for its high quality gears. With its flexibility, innovation, quality, and performance it has an excellent reputation for customer responsiveness and a high standard of customer service in the North American gearing market.

David Brown (DB) already has a presence in key markets in North America, such as mining, and oil and gas, as well as through its premier double-enveloping worm gearing business Cone Drive, based in Traverse City, Michigan. The acquisition of Unigear and its industrial gear manufacturing and service capability is a key part of DB’s global and North American growth strategy. The business will be brought under the DB umbrella and will trade under the name: Unigear – a David Brown Company. The Unigear team, including President Ron Mehra and VP Peter Zurcher, will remain with the company and play key leadership roles going forward.

The parent company says it has a vision for the future and a defined growth strategy developed around expanding in key global markets including mining, oil and gas, conventional power, rail, and renewable energy such as solar, wind, and hydro. The acquisition of Unigear provides DB with wider access to many of these strategic industry segments coupled with local capability to manufacture and service industrial gear products for the North American market.

DB says expanding its aftermarket service offering is integral to its strategy to provide customers with locally employed specialist teams delivering world-class service. As well as becoming a North American manufacturing center of excellence, the company will also establish a service center at its Montreal facility to support customers in Canada. Additionally, the business is planning further expansion through the opening of a service center in the mining region of Kentucky, with near term plans for the establishment of additional service centers in strategic locations across North America.

David Brown
www.Davidbrown.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

In the United States, Goldwind turbines are in operation or due to be operational in Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Ohio, Iowa, and now Montana. Goldwind also recently announced deals of 34.5 MW in Chile and 15 MW in Ecuador.

Officials with Volkswind USA and Goldwind USA says that Chicago-based Goldwind USA has acquired two, 10-MW wind farms, referred to as the Musselshell Project, in Shawmut, Montana. Volkswind has obtained the necessary permits for construction and secured power purchase and interconnection agreements with NorthWestern Energy. The project is expected to begin construction soon with commercial operations as early as Q3 2012.

The Musselshell wind-farm concept originated with a landowner who worked with Volkswind to advance the project. Volkswind has been building and operating wind farms in Europe since 1993. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to Jeffrey Wagner, President of Volkswind USA, Goldwind’s permanent magnet, direct drive, and grid-friendly turbines provide an ideal fit for the site. “Goldwind’s gearless technology is relatively unique in the us market. Its megawatt size, efficiency, and reliability perfectly matches the requirements of the wind farm,” said Wagner.

Company VP Matthew Olive says the deal demonstrates continued acceptance of Goldwind’s technology in the West. “This sale marks our 14th deal in the Americas since we entered the market in June of 2010,” he added.

“This project marks Goldwind’s third acquisition in the United States accompanied by our project in Pipestone, Minnesota and our 109.5 MW Shady Oaks project in Lee County, Illinois,” said Goldwind USA CEO Rosenzweig. “Through our affiliate, Goldwind Capital, we have worked to offer a variety of financing solutions to support our customers’ projects in the United States, including common equity, mezzanine financing, and project finance.”

“I’m pleased to welcome Goldwind and the local tax revenue and jobs this project will bring to Montana,” said Montana’s senior us Senator Max Baucus, who met with Goldwind Group CEO Wu Gang and Tim Rosenzweig in Beijing in 2010 to discuss opportunities for doing business in Montana.

Goldwind USA
www.goldwindamerica.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

Power Conversion forsees the electrification trend doublling over the next 20 years. The oil and gas industry will lead the trend and use electrical systems to extract and transport natural gas more efficiently.

A supplier of power generation and energy-deli equipment says the first step in the integration of its acquisition of Converteam is to rename it Power Conversion. The company’s skill in process controls, automation, and high-efficiency power electronics, motors, and generators will let the company better meet the needs of customers looking to improve operational efficiency and productivity.

Large industrial companies are replacing mechanical processes with high-efficiency, customized electric alternatives that deliver better reliability, require less maintenance and create lower emissions in industrial processes. This electrification trend is expected to double over the next 20 years. One of the trend’s leading drivers is the oil and gas industry, which is using electrical systems to extract and transport natural gas more efficiently.

About 25% of electricity produced globally is used to power electric motors in a wide range of industrial applications. Power Conversion’s solutions could help improve their energy efficiency by 30%, helping reduce electricity consumption and energy intensity. Power Conversion, with GE’s Industrial Solutions business will address all steps in the energy conversion chain with a portfolio built around rotating machines, power electronics, wind converters, solar inverters, and process control technologies.

The fastest growth in the industrial automation sector is expected to be in Brazil, Russia, India, and China, and the Middle East. The expansion will be driven by a demand in energy efficiency, and integrated electrical and mechanical equipment critical to customers competing in highly competitive industries.

GE
www.ge-energy.com/

Windpower Engineering & Development

For 2007 through 2011, Value Proposition studies revealed that the MISO region realized between $4.3 billion to $5.7 billion in cumulative savings.

The Midwest Independent Service Operator says its annual Value Proposition study shows it provided between $2.2 and $2.7 billion in quantitative benefits for the region in 2011. The regional transmission organization provides the benefits through its ongoing grid reliability and efficiency measures. “This study breaks down and analyzes hard data to show exactly how those savings occur,” says MISO CEO John Bear.

For instance, the study identifies $2.2 to $2.7 billion in economic benefits delivered to the region in 2011 from the following areas:

• Improved reliability ($320 to $479 million)
• Market commitment and dispatch ($426 to $470 million) through dispatch of energy, regulation, and spinning reserves
• Wind integration ($163 to $196 million)
• Compliance ($62 to $93 million)
• Generation investment deferral ($1.4 to $1.7 billion) through footprint diversity, generator availability improvement, and demand response.

New in the 2011 analysis is compliance as a quantitative benefit. In its role as a balancing authority and planning authority, MISO performs many compliance activities that would otherwise fall to its members to complete. These efforts alone save members between $62 million and $93 million per year.

In addition to quantitative benefits, MISO also continues to demonstrate significant qualitative benefits for its wholesale market participants including:

• Price and informational transparency
• Planning coordination
• Seams management

The complete 2011 Value Proposition study, including detailed calculation methods, is available here: www.misoenergy.org.

Windpower Engineering & Development

The research shows that wind energy technology was far from static over the study period, and estimates that the levelized cost of wind energy is now trending towards an all-time low within fixed wind resource areas.

Briefing materials are available to summarize a recent analysis of onshore wind energy cost trends. The analysis was conducted jointly by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), titled: “Recent Developments in the Levelized Cost of Energy from us Wind Power Projects.”

The briefing presentation summarizing the work is at: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/reports/wind-energy-costs-2-2012.pdf. (Side note – portions of this work were also presented in a multi-part webinar in December 2011, with audio and video is available at: http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/filter_detail.asp?itemid=3337).

The LBNL-NREL work analyzes wind energy costs in three time periods: projects installed 2002 to 2003, projects installed 2009 to 2010, and projects based on current wind turbine pricing and to be installed in ~2012-2013. The research shows that wind energy technology was far from static over this period, and estimates that the levelized cost of wind energy is now trending towards an all-time low within fixed wind resource areas. Key findings include:

• When only accounting for capital cost and capacity-factor trends, the levelized cost of wind energy based on current turbine pricing is estimated at 5 to 26% below the previous low in 2002-2003, depending on the quality of the wind resource. When also considering plausible assumptions for O&M, financing, and turbine reliability trends, levelized cost reductions are estimated at 24 to 39% since 2002-2003.
• These trends have been driven primarily by sizable improvements in capacity factors within individual wind resource classes due to hub height and rotor diameter scaling, and by the drop in wind turbine prices over the last 2 years. Longer-term improvements in O&M, reliability, and financing are also playing a role, though trends in these factors are less certain. Technology advancement and learning clearly still apply to onshore wind-energy technology.
• The levelized cost of wind energy increased significantly between 2002-2003 and 2009-2010 due to turbine price and project cost increases that were not fully offset by performance improvements. Turbine prices have since declined, while performance improvements have continued, yielding a substantial predicted decline in the levelized cost of wind energy.
• The levelized cost of wind energy in the best wind resource sites is approaching about $0.03/kWh (with available federal tax incentives). Due to improvements in low wind-speed technology, the gap between the cost of wind energy in low and high wind speed areas has narrowed considerably, opening new areas of the United States for potential development.
• The amount of land area in the United States that can support 35%+ project-level capacity factors has increased by 130 to 270% since 2002-2003 due to improvements in turbine technology. The amount of land area that can support wind projects with costs of under $0.05/kWh (with federal tax incentives) has increased by almost 50% over the same time period.
• Despite recent advancements, at least three factors may intervene to raise the levelized cost of wind energy for purchasers:
• The potential for increased pricing if demand for wind turbines begins to catch up with available supply, or if other exogenous influences are triggered (e.g., higher commodities and/or labor costs)
• The potential continued trend towards lower wind speed sites as a result of transmission and siting restrictions, and
• The potential loss of federal tax incentives for wind energy after 2012, which currently reduce the cost of wind energy for purchasers by nearly  $0.03/kWh.

LBNL
RHWiser@lbl.gov

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
eric.lantz@nrel.gov

Windpower Engineering & Development

The line-up of speakers includes Danotek Motion Technologies’ CTO, Dan Saban who will be giving a presentation titled, “Cost Effective Drivetrains for Multi-Megawatt Wind Turbines with Medium-Speed Permanent Magnet Generators” on Tuesday, March 13th at 9:25 a.m. This presentation will offer attendees an understanding of the drive-train system design trade-offs for a lowest cost of energy wind energy generation system. Attend this session to understand how magnet costs drive the optimal system solution including distinguishing between market-driven factors and physics-based constraints. Read more about his presentation here.

“Magnetics 2012 is a once-a-year opportunity for professionals involved in magnetics technologies to learn the latest advancements in magnetic applications, technology and materials as well as global issues of supply, demand and pricing of magnetic materials,” said Heather Krier, conference program manager and editor of Magnetics Business & Technology magazine.

Windpower Engineering & Development

How to make superconducting wire

“The validation of General Cable Superconductors shows that the Conductus 2G HTS wire development is progressing to meet the demand of innovative power applications such as Roebel cable, which offers high current carrying capacity for future superconducting applications such as motors, generators and transformers,” says Jeff Quiram, STI’s president and chief executive officer.

Superconducting motors, generators, transformers and other rotating machines are expected to generate the large future demand for HTS wire. Manufacturing process cuts and cables 2G HTS wire to long lengths and flexible current rating from 200A to 2kA. Coils using HTS wire will let a range of devices operate at higher power densities. When compared to a copper wire based electric machine with equivalent output power, future superconducting motors and generators will enable significant size and weight reductions for the motors with higher efficiency.

Superconductor Technologies Inc.
http://www.suptech.com

A developer of high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials and associated technologies says General Cable Superconductors Ltd. (GCS) has completed testing of STI’s second generation (2G) HTS wire. General Cable Superconductors, a HTS continuously transposed cable provider in New Zealand, developes HTS cable using advanced designs with multiple successful projects presently in operation. GCS tested the wire, from Superconductor Technologies Inc.,  and confirmed that it met their critical current power objective.

“The validation of General Cable Superconductors shows that the Conductus 2G HTS wire development is progressing to meet the demand of innovative power applications such as Roebel cable, which offers high current carrying capacity for future superconducting applications such as motors, generators and transformers,” says Jeff Quiram, STI’s president and chief executive officer.

Superconducting motors, generators, transformers and other rotating machines are expected to generate the large future demand for HTS wire. Manufacturing process cuts and cables 2G HTS wire to long lengths and flexible current rating from 200A to 2kA. Coils using HTS wire will let a range of devices operate at higher power densities. When compared to a copper wire based electric machine with equivalent output power, future superconducting motors and generators will enable significant size and weight reductions for the motors with higher efficiency.

Superconductor Technologies Inc.

http://www.suptech.com.

Windpower Engineering & Development

An insurance services firm for the renewable-energy industnry, has added an additional $100 million to its existing offshore renewable energy project capacity.

GCube says significant growth in the offshore renewable energy sector, particularly in Europe, and potentially the US and South East Asia in the near future, brings a market need for insurance capacity that supports the global proliferation of offshore wind developments. The company provides insurance services for renewable energy projects in wind, solar, biofuels, wave, hydro, and tidal around the globe.

The firm has secured the additional financial sector support despite a difficult market, a task that highlights confidence in the business from its capital providers.

“While more expensive than its onshore counterpart, offshore wind is politically beneficial and offers the potential for a much larger market,” said Fraser McLachlan, Chief Executive Officer, GCube. “Part of its substantial cost base is due to the technical challenges of installation and maintenance. Working directly with new capital, we are now able to offer underwriting capacity that will support the most ambitious offshore developments worldwide.”

“With the development of North American offshore wind energy still a year or more away, it is important we continue to provide financial and operational security to assist developers and investors who have already committed to this space,’ says GCube Insurance Services President John McLane.

GCube
gcube-insurance.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

Core members of the ERD3 project.

One aim of the ERD3 is to produce and promote a comprehensive set of recommendations for the next U.S. administration to accelerate the development and deployment of low-carbon-energy technologies. The project has three primary goals:

• Develop a way to assess opportunities in energy research, development, and demonstration (ERD&D) investment and producing a set of comprehensive recommendations for the U.S. administration’s investment in ERD&D.
• Prepare an annual analysis and set of recommendations on the Department of Energy’s ERD&D budget.
• Understand the private sector’s current role in carrying out and funding of ERD&D in United States and internationally, drawing conclusions about effective structures of public-private undertakings, areas of opportunity, and strategies on international cooperation on energy-technology innovation.

ERD3, low carbon technology, energy goals

The development of comprehensive policy recommendations for a greatly expanded U.S. federal energy-technology endeavor will require, among other things, a study of the effectiveness of past and current U.S. energy-technology innovation policies and programs, assessing the innovation system as a whole, from basic energy research to early deployment and widespread diffusion.

The project will also develop a set of criteria for designing an expanded portfolio of federal ERD&D activities, identify logistical, institutional, and distributional challenges to a large increase in spending and the widespread diffusion of low-carbon technologies, and discuss potential incentives to overcome such challenges.

On an annual basis, project members will evaluate the U.S. federal energy research, development, and demonstration spending. The effort builds on the efforts of ETIP, which has been keeping track of federal ERD&D expenditures back to 1978.

Finally, it is crucial to study and compare energy-technology innovation activities in the public and private sectors in Europe, Japan, China, India, Brazil, and other large economies to better understand the global picture of energy technologies. The analysis of the private sector and international picture will also let the ERD3 project identify energy technology areas the United States ought to be filling.

The Harvard ERD3 project will convene workshops, and has a distinguished Advisory Committee with members from academia, industry, and the nonprofit sector. The dissemination of the project’s final and intermediate analysis and recommendations regarding U.S. energy-technology innovation policy to appropriate stakeholders will be a crucial part of the ERD3 activities.
Core members of the ERD3 project are:

Venkatesh “Venky” Narayanamurti, Co-Principal Investigator

Matthew Bunn, Co-Principal Investigator

Kelly Sims Gallagher, Senior Associate

Laura Diaz Anadon, Project Manager

Melissa Chan, Research Fellow (until December 2010)

Charles Jones, Research Fellow

Ruud Kempener, Research Fellow

Audrey Lee, Research Fellow

Nathaniel Logar, Research Fellow

Gabriel Chan, Research Assistant

The ERD3 Project is funded by a grant of $1.46 million from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

ERD3 Project

Harvard ERD3

Windpower Engineering & Development