Increasing wind market: New Energy for the New World

Wind Energy Newsletter for Customers and Business Partners Edition 2/2008 Contents Voltage Drop?    4 Fire Protection Systems  5 Capturing the Wind in a Bottle  6 Hélimax at Windpower 2008 in Houston, Texas: Dynamic Simulation of Utility-Scale Wind Farm Clusters  Dr. Dariush Faghani, Section Head Research & Development at Hélimax. Date: 3 June 2008, 1.00 – 2.30 p.m. in Ballroom C.  Please visit Germanischer Lloyd and Hélimax on their joint booth 223 at Windpower 2008 in Houston, Texas. Increasing wind market  Photo: © iStockphoto New Energy for the New World  More than a quarter of the wind energy capacity newly installed in 2007 was installed in Canada and the US.  After a number of setbacks in the past it looks like a long-term success story this time.  I t is now the third year that the US has led the international wind market. Last year newly installed capacity increased by world. In terms of total installed capacity the United States is going to overtake Germany, the former “world champion” , Edward Zaelke, former President and consultant of the American Wind Energy Association AWEA, on this development. 45 per cent, exceeding 5,200 MW. For the no later than next year with a total capac- “The question is whether the boom will international wind industry the US has ity of 22,000 MW. “We are experiencing a last.” A rhetorical question which Zaelke become the most important market in the new start-up of wind energy,” comments answers himself immediately: “This year ▶ beaufort 6  2/2008     AMErICA IS A WIND  ENErgy CoUNTry  “Westernmills” is the name of the windmills equipped with about 30 rotor blades that conquered mainly the West of the US and Canada in the second half of the 9th century. First they were used for pumping water, but from the 880s they delivered more and more electrical power as well – up to one kilowatt per mill. By 940 about six million windmills had been erected, and in 980 about 00,000 of them were still in service. The history of modern windmills in North America began in 94, when a .25 MW plant was erected in the State of Vermont. However, only four years later it collapsed due to a rotor failure. Then nothing at all hap­ pened for a long time until the oil price shock of the 970s triggered a true wind energy boom in the US. Huge wind farms with a total capacity of ,500 MW were built, mainly in the West Coast regions. The rise of nuclear Photo: © Vensys Energy AG power, falling oil prices and the lack of inter­ est of presidents Reagan and Bush senior brought this boom to a quick end in the early 980s. At the beginning of the new millennium the role of wind energy for North American Many wind energy plants in Canada – such as this one in Springhill, Nova Scotia – operate under arctic conditions. energy supply has grown again. The devel­ opment has speeded up since 2003, and from 2005 the US wind market has been the largest market in the world. April the US Senate extended the tax credits further growth of wind energy in the US is for power generated from renewables (Pro- the insufficient power grid. It is especially Historical windmill with 8 rotor blades. duction Tax Credit, PTC) until 2009 before the regional imbalance between generation it expired. That may seem a short-term and consumption that presents a challenge. measure by European standards, however In the plains in the Midwest there is much in America this is almost considered to be wind, but only few consumers. a stable framework. Yet this boom has its downside as well. Canada overcomes dent in growth curve  Today the US wind energy industry cannot In Canada the development is promising, master the current growth alone. “America but far less buoyant than in the US. Currently is a large market, and there are niches for the country is ranking as number 10 in the your business as well,” is what Friedrich world list of market volume for 2007, but it has Wagner, foreign trade expert of the North lagged behind expectations. Following the Photo: © Bundesverband WindEnergie e.V. Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Economic boom year of 2006 with just under 800 MW Affairs, told representatives of the German of newly installed capacity, the Canadian wind energy industry at a German-Ameri- wind energy industry had hoped that market can conference in Cologne. His recommen- volume would reach the 1,000 MW mark. But dation for the strategic approach is “Start at the end of 2007 the total growth was only small, but think big.” 386 MW. The European wind energy industry has According to the Federal Agency for External been in America a long time. After some ini- Trade (bfai), which watches the wind market tial hesitation the European turbine manu- in Canada closely, the reasons were delays facturers have not just entered the market, and uncertainties in the approval proce- we expect 40 per cent market growth.” In but they are also building the first produc- dures. However the most serious problems the long run AWEA forecasts a 20 per cent tion facilities in the US. Component manu- have been the bottlenecks in the transmis- average annual market growth. In 2030 the facturers and service companies are also sion grid which are similar to the US. Canada total installed capacity would then reach setting up their business. They make use of is a country with an extremely high per capita the 300,000 MW mark. the serious lack of qualified staff, which is energy consumption due to the extremely The course has been set. It is not only indi- a major obstacle to the development of the long transmission distances, cold winters and vidual states promoting wind energy by set- American wind energy industry. hot summers. Energy consumption, which ting quotas, but also Washington. In early Another barrier which could impede the is already high, keeps growing at an annual 2    beaufort 6  2/2008 ToP TEN U.S.