U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently announced the selection of 28 new wind energy projects for up to $13.8M in funding – including $12.8M in Recovery Act fundsThese projects will help address market and deployment challenges
including wind turbine research and testing and transmission analysis,
planning, assessments. Along with the new awards, Secretary Chu
announced the release of DOE’s 2008 Wind Technologies Market Report,
detailing $16 billion in investment in wind projects made in the U.S.
in 2008 – making the U.S. the leader in annual wind energy capacity
growth, as well as cumulative wind energy capacity.
“American families and businesses are struggling in a
recession and an increasingly competitive global economy. The Recovery
Act was designed to rescue the economy from the immediate dangers it
faces while rebuilding its fundamentals, with an eye toward new
industry and opportunity,” Secretary Chu said. “To help meet these
challenges, the Recovery Act invests significant dollars to put people
to work to spur a revolution in clean energy technologies.”
“Wind energy will be a critical factor in achieving the
President’s goals for clean energy, while supporting news jobs,” said
Secretary Chu. “While the United States leads the world in wind energy
capacity, we have to continue to support research and development as we
expand renewable energy deployment.”
DOE’s new report, a comprehensive overview of developments in
the U.S. wind power market released today, found that wind power
capacity increased by 8,558 megawatts (MW) in 2008. This $16B
investment in wind projects made the U.S. the fastest-growing wind
power market in the world for the fourth consecutive year. Wind power
contributed 42% of all new U.S. electric generating capacity in 2008;
for the fourth consecutive year, wind power was the second-largest new
resource added to the U.S. electrical grid in nameplate capacity.
The report, which has been issued annually since 2007,
analyzes a range of developments in the wind market, including trends
in wind project installations, turbine size, turbine prices, wind
project costs, project performance, and wind power prices. The report
also details trends in project financing, a key concern for the wind
industry in the current economic climate, as well as trends in project
ownership, public policy, and the integration of wind power into the
electrical grid. DOE’s report provides the wind industry, state and
local policy makers, and the general public with valuable information
on the state of wind power in the United States.
Some of the key findings of the report include:
- The U.S. continues to lead the world in annual capacity
growth and overtook Germany to take the lead in cumulative wind
capacity. For the fourth straight year, the United States led the world
in wind capacity additions, capturing roughly 30% of the worldwide
market.
- The cumulative wind capacity installed in the U.S. at the
end of 2008 would, in an average year, be able to supply roughly 1.9%
of the nation’s electricity consumption.
- Soaring demand for wind has spurred expansion of wind
turbine manufacturing in the U.S. As a result of this continued
expansion, the American Wind Energy Association estimates that the
share of domestically manufactured wind turbine components has grown
from less than 30% in 2005 to roughly 50% in 2008, and that roughly
8,400 new domestic manufacturing jobs were added in the wind sector in
2008 alone.
- Texas led all states with 7,118 MW of total wind capacity
installed, followed by Iowa (2791 MW) and California (2517 MW). Seven
states now have more than 1,000 MW installed, and 13 have more than 500
MW.
- Iowa and Minnesota have the highest levels of wind
penetration (in-state wind generation as a percentage of all in-state
generation). Seven states have wind penetration levels greater than 5%;
six utilities have in excess of 10% wind on their systems.
- Wind power remained competitive in wholesale power markets
in 2008, with average wind power prices at or below the low end of the
wholesale power market price range, although upward pressure on wind
power prices looks set to continue.
Download the full 2008 Wind Technologies Market Report.
Award Selections Announced recently. Award amounts are subject to final negotiation.
Supporting Wind Turbine Research and Testing
- Alpha Star Corporation – Advanced Composite Wind Turbine Blade Design Based on Durability & Damage Tolerance (Long Beach, CA) – $200,383
- Analatom, Inc. – Remote Structural Health Monitoring and Advanced Prognostics of Wind Turbines (Sunnyvale, CA) – $200,000
- Bayer Material Science, LLC – Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Polyurethane Composites for Wind Turbine Blades (Pittsburgh, PA) – $750,000
- Board of Regents, Univ of Nebraska-Lincoln – Online Nonintrusive Condition Monitoring and Fault Detection for Wind Turbines (Lincoln, NE) – $380,398
- DNV Global Energy Concepts, Inc. – Supporting Wind Turbine Research and Testing – Gearbox Durability Study (Seattle, WA) – $399,616
- Dow Corning Corporation – Lifetime Lubricating Fluid
for Gearboxes to Increase Efficiency and Durability of Wind Turbine
Drive Trains (Midland, MI) – $745,189
- General Electric – Wind Turbine Manufacturing Process Monitoring (Niskayuna, NY) – $697,769
- Honeywell International, Inc. – Condition Based Monitoring for Wind Farms (Golden Valley, MN) – $626,086
- Michigan Aerospace Corporation – Turbine Reliability and Operability Optimization Through the Use of Direct Detection LIDAR (Ann Arbor, MI) – $748,002
- Native American Technologies Company – Automated
Welding, Forming, Coating for On-Site Fabricated, Self-Erecting Utility
Scale Wind Towers (Lakewood, CO) – $749,739
- Northern Power Systems, Inc. – Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chain Automation (Barre, VT) – $683,388
- PPG Industries, Inc. – Wind Blade Manufacturing Innovation (Shelby, NC) – $741,754
- QM Power, Inc. – Advanced High Power Density Permanent Magnet Wind Generators (Greenwood, MO) – $398,005
- University of Massachusetts Lowell – Effect of Manufacturing-Induced Defects on Reliability of Composite Wind Turbine Blades (Lowell, MA) – $499,886
Transmission Analysis, Planning and Assessments
- Areva Federal Services – Best Practices and Advances
in Strategies and Decision Support Systems for Integrating Wind Energy
for Reliable Grid Operations (Bethesda, MD) – $275,610
- Western Electricity Coordinating Council – Balancing
Authority Cooperation Concepts to Reduce Variable Generation
Integration Costs in the Western Interconnection (Salt Lake City, UT) –
$319,200
- Electric Power Research Institute – Integrating Midwest Wind Energy into Southeast Electricity Markets (Knoxville, TN) – $399,135
- EnerNex Corporation – Documentation, User Support, and Verification of Wind Turbine and Plant Models (Knoxville, TN) – $749,868
- Hawaiian Electric Company – Hawaii Utility Integration Initiatives (H.U.I.) to Enable Wind (Honolulu, HI) – $750,000
- Illinois Institute of Technology – WINS: Market Simulation Tool for Facilitating Wind Energy Integration (Chicago, IL) – $749,877
- Regents of New Mexico State University – Investigating Short Circuit Models for Wind Turbine Generators (Las Cruces, NM) – $272,816
- Regents of the University of Michigan – Techniques for Voltage Control and Transient Stability Assessment (Ann Arbor, MI) – $413,534
- Tennessee Technological University – Multi-Level Energy Storage and Controls for Large-Scale Wind Energy Integration (Cookeville, TN) – $265,677
- The Regents of the University of Colorado – Upstream Measurements of Wind Profiles with Doppler Lidar for Improved Wind Energy Integration (Boulder, CO) – $233,082
- University of Texas at Austin – Techno-Economic
Modeling of the Integration of 20% Wind and Large-scale energy storage
in ERCOT by 2030 (Austin, TX) – $510,688
- University of WI-Milwaukee – Lithium-Ion
Ultracapacitors integrated with Wind Turbines Power Conversion Systems
to Extend Operating Life and Improve Output Power Quality (Milwaukee,
WI) – $422,266
- V&R Energy Systems Research, Inc. – Improving
Reliability of Transmission Grid to Facilitate Integration of Wind
Energy in Tri-State G&T and AECI (Los Angeles, CA) – $195,002
- WINData, Inc. – Use of Real-Time Off-Site
Observations as a Methodology for Increasing Forecast Skill in
Prediction of Large Wind Power Ramps One or More Hours Ahead of Their
Impact on a Wind Plant (Great Falls, MT) – $398,966
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Energy