Wind energy performance map for Europe

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Excerpt: A recent map illustrates that for 2011, wind speeds were 5-10% above normal in northern Europe and up to 10% below normal in southern Europe. The data, collected by renewable energy assessment and forecasting company 3TIER,  shows departures from long-term mean wind speed with above normal area …

Site Assessment 101

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Excerpt: A first step in the development of a wind farm is to identify land with sufficient wind to support a commercial project. This calls for a series of studies, one of which is the wind-study assessment that looks at historical wind data. There may be a meteorological or met tower in the area that has a …

Weather operations now include Alberta

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Excerpt: MDA EarthSat Weather says its current wind-generation forecast product has now been expanded to include AESO (Alberta). Already providing accurate and reliable hourly forecasts for ERCOT, MISO, and BPA, PJM, CAISO and IESO, this web-based system uses state-of-the-art forecast methods to produce …

Report: O&M costs headed up

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Excerpt: A trend line suggests O&M costs actually go up over the time period of consideration, especially when considering new data as a result of this survey. This is also supported from anecdotal data suggesting an increasing trend in wind O&M costs. Scatter is also observed with the Lawrence B …

Owners & Developers 101

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Excerpt: Owners and developers of wind projects play a crucial role in the industry, but it’s often unclear who does what. Developers are contracted by the project owner to plan and develop a project, often from the beginning stages of site assessment through the final stage of commissioning. Developers wi …

Report: Fighting corrosion, friction, and fouling

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Excerpt: Coatings to combat corrosion, friction, and fouling can offer big efficiency benefits, but need to offer strong balance between performance and cost, says Lux Research. The protective coatings market continues to be driven by extreme cost sensitivities and increasing environmental and regulatory …

Renewable energy resources detailed online

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Excerpt: A new geospatial application developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) lets users easily and accurately map potential renewable energy resources in the U.S. The interactive tool, RE Atlas, is free to use and available online at http://maps.nrel.gov/ …

Kathie’s Question: Can renewable energy sources complement each other?

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Excerpt: I recently read a few articles, including one in the Star Tribune, that discus incorporating wind and solar power in renewable energy projects. Wind and solar energy sources aren't constant, so kind of makes sense right?  But when the wind isn't blowing you can't say the sun will be shining w …

OEM has a good 2011: Installations up 13%

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Excerpt: Wind turbine manufacturer Nordex installed a total of 428 additional wind turbines around the world in 2011, an increase of 13% over the previous year (2010: 378 turbines). This growth was dominated by multi-megawatt turbines, which accounted for 77%. The average capacity per turbine remained st …

Software assists designing wind turbines

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Excerpt: Software called Bladed provides wind turbine and component manufacturers, certification agencies, design consultants, and research organizations a design tool that has been extensively validated against measured data from a wide range of turbines. The developer says the software is the industry …