Great to see how U Mass - Amherst, University Ave. has incorporated bike routes adjacent but not on the roads. Stantec's fine design.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
On Land Wind Farms Growing. articular by the Boston Globe
First Wind, a Boston-based wind power developer, has installed enough turbines in the Northeast to generate an amount of electricity comparable to Cape Wind's 468 megawatts. Here's a look at First Wind's projects.
Despite controversy that has slowed the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound, land-based wind farms are expanding rapidly in the region.
One company alone, First Wind Holdings LLC of Boston, has installed enough turbines in the Northeast over the past few years to generate nearly as much power as the long-awaited offshore wind farm. Other companies, too, have developed wind projects in New England states.
Driving this growth are technological advances reducing the cost of wind turbines and increasing their efficiency, making wind power more competitive with traditional power sources — particularly in the Northeast, where electricity costs can run as much as 60 percent above the national average.
Turbine prices have dropped about 30 percent over the past few years, and new turbines are able to generate electricity at lower wind speeds.
Meanwhile, average electricity prices in the Northeast can top 15
cents per kilowatt hour, compared to a US average of 9.52 cents. New
wind technology can generate power at an average cost of about 10 cents
per kilowatt hour, excluding subsidies, according to the US Energy
Department.
“Some of the states in the Northeast have been some of the fastest-growing markets,” said Elizabeth Salerno, director of industry data and analysis at the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group in Washington. “Power prices are relatively high [there], so by delivering wind projects, you can develop a pretty affordable source of generation.”
First Wind has built wind farms in eight locations in Maine, Vermont, and upstate New York. With the 34 megawatts that will be added when the company completes its wind farm near Eastbrook, Maine, First Wind’s projects will have the capacity to generate nearly 420 megawatts of electricity, compared to Cape Wind’s 468 megawatts.
In addition, Quincy-based Patriot Renewable operates two wind farms in Maine and one in Buzzards Bay, with a total generating capacity of about 25 megawatts. The Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corp., a consortium of 14 municipal utilities and the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co., owns a 15-megawatt wind farm in Hancock that went online last year.
A megawatt of wind-generated electricity can power about 300 homes.
Despite the growth of land-based projects, the discussion about developing the region’s wind resources has often focused on offshore projects such as Cape Wind and a proposed “wind energy area” that would encompass nearly 165,000 acres of federal waters off the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Last week, US officials completed an environmental review of the wind energy area, an important step in opening the area to development.
Still, it could be years before any turbines are built offshore, meaning that more land-based projects will be needed to achieve renewable energy goals set by several states seeking alternatives to fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and natural gas. In Massachusetts, for example, the state has set a goal of installing 2,000 megawatts of wind-energy capacity in the state by 2020 and has required utilities to get 15 percent of their power from wind, solar, and other renewable sources in that same time frame.
Today, there are 61 megawatts of installed wind power capacity in the state.
This has created opportunities for companies like First Wind. Founded a decade ago, the company had its first project up and running in Hawaii in 2006, and its second operating in Maine in 2007.
Today, First Wind has 16 projects — totaling 980 megawatts of generating capacity — operating or under construction in the United States. Four went online in 2011, and another followed this year.
The latest project in the region, Bull Hill wind farm near Eastbrook, Maine, will produce power for NStar, one of the largest utilities in Massachusetts. The company’s other New England customers include ISO New England, the region’s grid operator, and Harvard University.
“Massachusetts is way ahead of everybody [with its clean energy goals] so, from a practical point of view, the demand is being created by Massachusetts,” said First Wind chief executive Paul Gaynor. That’s because wind power generated in other states is being bought by Massachusetts utilities and others to help meet the state’s renewable energy goals.
Although offshore wind is stronger and therefore an abundant and steady source of power, it has proved much harder to site projects in the ocean for a variety of environmental and technical reasons, including how to connect offshore turbines to the onshore power grid.
That’s not to to say land-based wind projects have not faced opposition — Gaynor said all of his company’s projects have — but it generally has not been as vehement and vociferous as in the Cape Wind controversy. That’s partly because First Wind’s projects tend to be in remote areas visible to few people. They also bring jobs to rural areas that desperately need them.
Take Washington County, Maine, one of the poorest areas in New England. First Wind built two projects totalling more than 80 megawatts in the county, creating about 200 construction jobs that lasted several months and pumping much-needed money into the local economy during the recent recession.
“The [businesses] that were really struggling, whether it was a woodcutter’s or a convenience store — they were all pretty much bolstered by this,” said Harold Clossey, executive director of the Sunrise Economic Council in Washington County.
Jack Parker, president of Reed & Reed Inc., a Woolwich, Maine, construction company, said its revenues have doubled since it started building wind farms for First Wind. The company has constructed four First Wind projects in Maine, as well as the Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative project in Western Massachusetts and other wind farms in New Hampshire and Vermont.
“It’s transformed our company,” Parker said. “Wind accounts for more than half our business.” Reed & Reed also builds bridges, parking garages, and marine facilities.
Wind power is helping the Massachusetts economy, said Richard K. Sullivan Jr., the state’s secretary of of energy and environmental affairs. About 600 wind power companies operate in Massachusetts, employing roughly 6,500 people, according to state data.
Sullivan said Massachusetts’ energy policies were crafted to be “agnostic to offshore [or] onshore” wind farms, in the hope of encouraging both types.
“It certainly brings environmental benefits,” Sullivan said. “But make no mistake, it’s also an economic development strategy.”
Erin Ailworth
First Wind, a Boston-based wind power developer, has installed enough turbines in the Northeast to generate an amount of electricity comparable to Cape Wind's 468 megawatts. Here's a look at First Wind's projects.
Bubbles are sized according to the wind farm's capacity (in megawatts).
Despite controversy that has slowed the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound, land-based wind farms are expanding rapidly in the region.
One company alone, First Wind Holdings LLC of Boston, has installed enough turbines in the Northeast over the past few years to generate nearly as much power as the long-awaited offshore wind farm. Other companies, too, have developed wind projects in New England states.
Driving this growth are technological advances reducing the cost of wind turbines and increasing their efficiency, making wind power more competitive with traditional power sources — particularly in the Northeast, where electricity costs can run as much as 60 percent above the national average.
Turbine prices have dropped about 30 percent over the past few years, and new turbines are able to generate electricity at lower wind speeds.
“Some of the states in the Northeast have been some of the fastest-growing markets,” said Elizabeth Salerno, director of industry data and analysis at the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group in Washington. “Power prices are relatively high [there], so by delivering wind projects, you can develop a pretty affordable source of generation.”
First Wind has built wind farms in eight locations in Maine, Vermont, and upstate New York. With the 34 megawatts that will be added when the company completes its wind farm near Eastbrook, Maine, First Wind’s projects will have the capacity to generate nearly 420 megawatts of electricity, compared to Cape Wind’s 468 megawatts.
In addition, Quincy-based Patriot Renewable operates two wind farms in Maine and one in Buzzards Bay, with a total generating capacity of about 25 megawatts. The Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corp., a consortium of 14 municipal utilities and the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co., owns a 15-megawatt wind farm in Hancock that went online last year.
A megawatt of wind-generated electricity can power about 300 homes.
Despite the growth of land-based projects, the discussion about developing the region’s wind resources has often focused on offshore projects such as Cape Wind and a proposed “wind energy area” that would encompass nearly 165,000 acres of federal waters off the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Last week, US officials completed an environmental review of the wind energy area, an important step in opening the area to development.
Still, it could be years before any turbines are built offshore, meaning that more land-based projects will be needed to achieve renewable energy goals set by several states seeking alternatives to fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and natural gas. In Massachusetts, for example, the state has set a goal of installing 2,000 megawatts of wind-energy capacity in the state by 2020 and has required utilities to get 15 percent of their power from wind, solar, and other renewable sources in that same time frame.
Today, there are 61 megawatts of installed wind power capacity in the state.
This has created opportunities for companies like First Wind. Founded a decade ago, the company had its first project up and running in Hawaii in 2006, and its second operating in Maine in 2007.
Today, First Wind has 16 projects — totaling 980 megawatts of generating capacity — operating or under construction in the United States. Four went online in 2011, and another followed this year.
The latest project in the region, Bull Hill wind farm near Eastbrook, Maine, will produce power for NStar, one of the largest utilities in Massachusetts. The company’s other New England customers include ISO New England, the region’s grid operator, and Harvard University.
“Massachusetts is way ahead of everybody [with its clean energy goals] so, from a practical point of view, the demand is being created by Massachusetts,” said First Wind chief executive Paul Gaynor. That’s because wind power generated in other states is being bought by Massachusetts utilities and others to help meet the state’s renewable energy goals.
Although offshore wind is stronger and therefore an abundant and steady source of power, it has proved much harder to site projects in the ocean for a variety of environmental and technical reasons, including how to connect offshore turbines to the onshore power grid.
That’s not to to say land-based wind projects have not faced opposition — Gaynor said all of his company’s projects have — but it generally has not been as vehement and vociferous as in the Cape Wind controversy. That’s partly because First Wind’s projects tend to be in remote areas visible to few people. They also bring jobs to rural areas that desperately need them.
Take Washington County, Maine, one of the poorest areas in New England. First Wind built two projects totalling more than 80 megawatts in the county, creating about 200 construction jobs that lasted several months and pumping much-needed money into the local economy during the recent recession.
“The [businesses] that were really struggling, whether it was a woodcutter’s or a convenience store — they were all pretty much bolstered by this,” said Harold Clossey, executive director of the Sunrise Economic Council in Washington County.
Jack Parker, president of Reed & Reed Inc., a Woolwich, Maine, construction company, said its revenues have doubled since it started building wind farms for First Wind. The company has constructed four First Wind projects in Maine, as well as the Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative project in Western Massachusetts and other wind farms in New Hampshire and Vermont.
“It’s transformed our company,” Parker said. “Wind accounts for more than half our business.” Reed & Reed also builds bridges, parking garages, and marine facilities.
Wind power is helping the Massachusetts economy, said Richard K. Sullivan Jr., the state’s secretary of of energy and environmental affairs. About 600 wind power companies operate in Massachusetts, employing roughly 6,500 people, according to state data.
Sullivan said Massachusetts’ energy policies were crafted to be “agnostic to offshore [or] onshore” wind farms, in the hope of encouraging both types.
“It certainly brings environmental benefits,” Sullivan said. “But make no mistake, it’s also an economic development strategy.”
Erin Ailworth
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Acting Locally.....Solar on our VT House.
We are in the middle of switching from oil to Solar Hot Water with a gas back up.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Maine to Harvest Ocean Energy
From the Boston Globe
Maine paves way for tapping ocean energy
PORTLAND, Maine - Maine regulators put three utilities on the path to distribute electricity harnessed from tides at the nation’s eastern tip Tuesday, a key milestone in a bid to turn the natural rise and fall of ocean levels into power.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission set terms for a contract that would be in place for 20 years.
The regulators also directed the three utilities to negotiate with Ocean Renewable Power Co. to put electricity onto the grid this summer, the first long-term power purchase agreements for tidal energy in the United States.
Power production will begin modestly, with the first unit
producing enough electricity for 20 to 25 homes; the pilot program calls
for additional units at sites off both Lubec and Eastport to bring
production to 4 megawatts, enough to power up more than 1,000 homes by
2016.
All told, the company sees up to 50 megawatts of tidal power potential off Lubec and Eastport, home to one of the world’s best tidal sites, where the tide rises and falls 20 feet twice a day.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission established what is called a contract term sheet for the project. It sets the rate to be paid for the tide-generated electricity at 21.5 cents per kilowatt hour, a subsidized rate that is far higher than the current standard offer of about 11 to 12 cents paid by most Maine residents.
Central Maine Power, Bangor Hydro Electric Co., and Maine Public Service Co. will negotiate a contract with Ocean Renewable under the framework established by regulators.
Richard Davies, Maine’s public advocate, said there were some mixed emotions over setting a rate that is so much higher than the current cost of electricity.
But Davies and his staff came down in support of the project because the cost of energy produced by fossil fuels will likely grow much faster than the cost of tidal energy over the course of the 20-year contract. In fact, he said, the energy could become competitive within five years.
The 21.5-cent rate, which grows 2 percent a year over the contract, makes the project feasible, Sauer said. It will be subsidized through a previously established state fund.
Ocean Renewable’s Maine Tidal Energy Project is one of two tidal programs to receive pilot project licenses earlier this year from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The other company, Verdant Power, is working to advance its own tidal energy system in New York City’s East River.
Verdant’s design looks a lot like a wind turbine, only it is underwater. Ocean Renewable uses rotating foils that lend the appearance of a manual reel mower for cutting grass.
Officials in Canada are watching the Maine project with interest. Ocean Renewable and Nova Scotia’s Fundy Tidal Inc. hope to install the same units in waters off Nova Scotia, where Bay of Fundy offers even greater tidal power potential, officials have said.
Maine paves way for tapping ocean energy
3 utilities get OK to use tidal flows to generate power
PORTLAND, Maine - Maine regulators put three utilities on the path to distribute electricity harnessed from tides at the nation’s eastern tip Tuesday, a key milestone in a bid to turn the natural rise and fall of ocean levels into power.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission set terms for a contract that would be in place for 20 years.
The regulators also directed the three utilities to negotiate with Ocean Renewable Power Co. to put electricity onto the grid this summer, the first long-term power purchase agreements for tidal energy in the United States.
“It’s
a landmark in the commercialization of tidal energy in the US,’’ said
Chris Sauer, president and chief executive of the Portland company.
Ocean Renewable intends to install its first underwater turbine unit this summer on Cobscook Bay under a demonstration project.Power production will begin modestly, with a pilot program calling for production of 4 megawatts, enough to power up more than 1,000 homes by 2016.
All told, the company sees up to 50 megawatts of tidal power potential off Lubec and Eastport, home to one of the world’s best tidal sites, where the tide rises and falls 20 feet twice a day.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission established what is called a contract term sheet for the project. It sets the rate to be paid for the tide-generated electricity at 21.5 cents per kilowatt hour, a subsidized rate that is far higher than the current standard offer of about 11 to 12 cents paid by most Maine residents.
Central Maine Power, Bangor Hydro Electric Co., and Maine Public Service Co. will negotiate a contract with Ocean Renewable under the framework established by regulators.
Richard Davies, Maine’s public advocate, said there were some mixed emotions over setting a rate that is so much higher than the current cost of electricity.
But Davies and his staff came down in support of the project because the cost of energy produced by fossil fuels will likely grow much faster than the cost of tidal energy over the course of the 20-year contract. In fact, he said, the energy could become competitive within five years.
The 21.5-cent rate, which grows 2 percent a year over the contract, makes the project feasible, Sauer said. It will be subsidized through a previously established state fund.
Ocean Renewable’s Maine Tidal Energy Project is one of two tidal programs to receive pilot project licenses earlier this year from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The other company, Verdant Power, is working to advance its own tidal energy system in New York City’s East River.
Verdant’s design looks a lot like a wind turbine, only it is underwater. Ocean Renewable uses rotating foils that lend the appearance of a manual reel mower for cutting grass.
Officials in Canada are watching the Maine project with interest. Ocean Renewable and Nova Scotia’s Fundy Tidal Inc. hope to install the same units in waters off Nova Scotia, where Bay of Fundy offers even greater tidal power potential, officials have said.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Old meets new
Saw this today. Enjoyed the old meets new plus multiple forms of transportation. Not to mention I took this from an automotive bridge with an iPhone looking out of my hybrid.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
India builds a solar farm to power a medium size city!
India flips the switch on world’s largest solar power plant
The Indian state of Gujarat has built the world’s largest solar photovoltaic power plant, a field of solar panels the size of Lower Manhattan. After only 14 months of preparation, they’ve just switched it on, adding 600 MW of power to the grid. That’s enough to power a medium-sized city’s worth of homes. Thing is HUGE.
The 5,000-acre solar park should help India meet its ambitious plans for moving to sustainable energy. The country aims to be at 15 percent renewables by 2020 — right now it’s only at 6 percent. Projects like the Gujarat plant will help by taking advantage of India’s intense sunshine.
However, India’s already in danger of being pushed out of the record-holding spot for world’s biggest power plant. Tunisia is working on a 2,000-MW plant, to open by 2016. The Gujarat solar field is already the size of some towns, so it’s not clear how much bigger plants can get — at least in non-desert countries — before they start having to build them over homes, fields, and household pets. Maybe it’s FINALLY time to start panelling the Moon, like I’ve been saying all along.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Dorchester Solar Field Now Opperational
National Grid's Dorchester's Solar farm is now operational.
Nice to see everyone's fine work producing renewable energy!
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