Oregon Transmission Lines

I came across this really good statewide image of Oregon's wind resources and transmission system (thanks to the 25x25 Coallition). The transmission system being a critical item to refer back to from time to time. With all this talk of potential actually having a road to market is even more critical than if the wind blows, the tide rolls, or the sun shines.

The Pickens Plan on 60 Minutes

"We are at war with no guns with energy."
- T. Boones Pickens

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I saw the 60 Minute piece online. It is interesting and bold. The big new idea I'm hearing is a Federal push to build an energy infrastructure much like the major Freeway projects of the 50's. A modern new backbone for wind and solar power to plug these resources into.

By pushing for wind power and new grid infrastructure to plug into this would free up the necessary natural gas for on-road vehicles and freight mobility. I'm hopeful and like the conversation this is spurring.

T. Boone Pickens. Wind Power, Drinking Water, and the Future of Oil

If you don't know who T. Boone Pickens is you should. He is to the independent players in the petroleum industry what Robert Kennedy is to young liberals. The idealized figure, dubbed the "Oracle of Oil."

Much like Wall Street looks to Warren Buffet oil industry insiders all gossip about what T. Boone Pickens says, does, and what the future might hold. Fastcompany this month has a great interview with him. Definitely worth the read.

Fastcompany asks: "Texas tycoon T. Boone Pickens has been dubbed the "Oracle of Oil." So why is he building the world's largest wind farm?"

Windpower by State

Oregon Leads the US. Third place and we just past our RPS. I tracked it down on the Environmental Leader.

Ron Pernick: "The Future Ain't What it Used to Be"

Check out "The Future Ain't What it Used to Be" a great article by Ron Pernick. I found it at Renewable Energy World which itself is a good information site for energy geeks and commercially motivated types alike.

Little factoids from his article worth sharing:

According to the 2008 annual Clean Energy Trends report the "clean-energy markets" grew by 40 percent from $55 billion in 2006 to $77.3 billion in 2007.

Ron predicts these same technologies will reach $254.5 billion by 2017.

The EU has added 47,000 megawatts of new wind energy since 2000.

The EU has also added 9,600 MW of coal and 1,200 MW of Nuke.

The US has more than 50 new coal plants on hold because of CO2 worries and the anticipation of a federal carbon emissions cap under the next presidential administration.

The upfront cost comparison of Nuke versus Other:

1-gigawatt brand new Nuclear plant is between $2 billion and $6 billion.

1 - gigawatt of geothermal or wind is less than $2 billion.

1 - gigawatt of solar is between $5 billion and $10 billion.

And best of all - Ron quotes Oil Luminary T.Boone Pickens who has announced he will build the world's largest wind farm at 4,000 MW.

"I have the same feelings about wind as I had about the best oil field I ever found."
- T. Boone Pickens

NOTE: Ron Pernick is author of the Clean Tech Revolution, which I consider the best book available on the emerging new market for outside the box energy concepts. He also maintains a website and currently teaches at Portland State University. Go Stumptown!

UK Announces "Super Grid" and Massive Wind Power Investments

"Next year we will overtake Denmark as the country with the most offshore wind capacity." - John Hutton, UK Business Secretary

One of wind powers big shortfalls is it's inconsistent nature. The unpredictable speed it blows and therefore the hard to model contribution it might provide to a nation's energy grid are an entry level issue many wind projects deal with. There are several technology fixes for this short coming of wind the most promising being smart grid technologies.

The "Smart Grid" being those electrical grid tying and coordinating technologies that allow a next generation power infrastructure that is much more efficient, distributed, and smart enough to move power to where its needed far more efficiently than it currently is today.

It looks like the UK is moving forward with such a plan to weave distributed wind power generation significantly into the island's energy portfolio. With initial estimates of 7,000 new wind turbines and a willingness to raise the cost of electric bills to do so this is no small undertaking. Read the story at Plenty Magazine's website as well as the BBC.

According to the articles a company called Airtricity is responsible for the actual development and welcomes this type of project as the future path for all of Europe. At Airtricity's news page they have a series of press releases with several discussing the "Super Grid" concept.

For more in depth and easy to follow information about smart grid technologies I emphatically recommend The Clean Tech Revolution. Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder cover this market opportunity smart grid technology offers to today's investors. The authors of this awesome book also have a blog worth checking out as well.

The Oregonian Does Wind Power

From Wednesday's Oregonian. The picture was so well done I couldn't help but post it up. Perfect enough for Power Point. Check out the full size PDF. Its worth the look.

City of Portland Looking at Wind Resource

Picture shown was given to the Tribune "courtesy of" Gorge Community College. That's a real live Oregon wind project sharing agricultural land.

The city of Portland has had a goal of 100% renewable power for a while. As with even homeowners looking at the carbon footprint and energy needs such a task sometimes is easier said than done.

The Portland Tribune reports several interesting facts as it relates to Portland's project.

Not mentioned in the article. The fact that electricity is likely to increase above inflation (actually being a significant driver of inflation in the U.S. economy). The fact that these initial easy to locate and grid-tie wind resources are limited in number. The fact that long-term (over a decade) this investment will save the city a great deal of money and guarantee a longtime resource that will only get more efficient.

Also worth mention is that going for wind today would be the equivalent for investing in hydro seventy five years ago. The resource is limited and the first movers to acquire, tap, an use the resource will likely own it forever.

Its a smart move for the city. Long-term without any CO2 considerations at all it makes sense just to guarantee the city a resource with a set maintenance budget as opposed to commodity pricing.

Turbine Free Windpower

I saw this at Wired Blog Network.

From Wired: "Inspired by the famous Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the Windbelt is a tight plastic strip stretched in a frame, joined to magnets at both ends. When the wind blows across the belt, it vibrates (like when you blow a blade of grass to make music) and the magnets move inside wire coils, generating power. This table top version will put out 40 milliwatts and can power an LED. It's cheap and simple, and can generate power from breezes as slow as 10mph, making it ideal for developing nations."

I would file this under moderately scalable, small scale, and simple. Which means its probably not a business in itself. This doesn't mean it isn't a paradigm shifter for some industry or specific device though.

If for anything simply because of what this might be integrated in with. As with must cutting edge energy concepts it isn't the demonstrated technology. Its what it might be paired with and where that might go next.