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NOVI, Mich. -- ITC Holdings this week filed paperwork representing the first step in a major new electricity transmission project that will bring renewable energy from wind-rich but low-population areas to regions with high demand, especially major Midwest cities like Chicago and Minneapolis.

ITC's "Green Power Express" will be able to transmit 12,000 megawatts of power over a network of transmission lines from wind farms in North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa to cities in the Midwest. The project marks a much-needed advance in upgrading the country's electric infrastructure to accommodate the shift from the hub-and-spoke model developed to deliver energy from centralized power generation plants to the more dispersed and smaller-scale model of renewable energy generation, whether from wind, solar, biomass or other sources.

"The Green Power Express is in many ways the true definition of a 'smart grid'," said Joseph L. Welch, the CEO of ITC Holdings. "According to a study by CRA International, efficient movement of up to 12,000 MW of wind power through the Green Power Express would result in a reduction of up to 34 million metric tons in carbon emissions, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of about seven to nine 600 MW coal plants, or nine to eleven million automobiles."

Expected to cover 3,000 miles of transmission lines, the Green Power Express will cost between $10 and $12 billion, and ITC Holdings said it will continue to work with the developers of wind-power projects in the region to make sure the new grid will reach as many generation sources as possible.

The Green Power Express announcement comes on the heels of a report released on Monday that estimates the United States will need to invest upwards of $80 billion in the electrical grid to meet renewable energy generation. If the country is going to add another 229 gigawatts of wind power to its energy supply in the next 15 years, it will take around 15,000 miles of new transmission lines to deliver it all to market.

That report was published by the Joint Coordinated System Plan (JCSP), a group of transmission operators covering the Midwest and northeast; it offers a conceptual transmission and generation plan that covers the region spanning Montana to Maine and Minnesota to Texas.

Source: Greenbiz.com

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/02/11/green-power-express-brings-wind-energy-cities
[[b]Submitted by hempistry[/b]]]]> hempistry<ajingrao@nospam.com> Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:37:31 -0700 http://www.hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.170.4 http://www.hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.155.4
Two offshore wind farms proposed along the East Coast are running into some turbulence.

A decision on whether to give an environmental go-ahead to Cape Wind, the controversial Massachusetts wind farm off the coast of Cape Code, could be delayed, reports The Boston Globe.

A Coast Guard review of Cape Wind has been extended at the request of a Minnesota congressman, James Oberstar, who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Mr. Oberstar sought further study of how the turbines would affect ship radar. “It remains unclear whether the delay will prevent the Minerals Management Service, the agency responsible for evaluating Cape Wind and awarding its lease, from issuing its final environmental review by the end the year as planned,” The Globe reported in its Green Blog.

A Rhode Island offshore wind-farm proposal has also been unsettled by recent developments, according to Providence Business News — including the unexplained departure of the chief executive of Deepwater Wind, the developer (which also plans to help build a wind farm off New Jersey). Another hitch is the rise of a competing application, by Grays Harbor Ocean Energy.

The Providence paper notes that the proposal by the year-old, Seattle-based company “was one of seven nearly identical applications (for projects on both coasts) that Grays Harbor filed with FERC on Oct. 22.” (FERC refers to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the applications can be found here.)

As if this turmoil were not enough, the Providence paper notes that the Deepwater and Grays Harbor proposals feed into an ongoing feud between two regulatory agencies, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Minerals Management Service, over which entity should supervise offshore wind farms.

Source New York Times
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/turbulence-for-two-east-coast-offshore-wind-farms/
[[b]Submitted by hempistry[/b]]]]> hempistry<ajingrao@nospam.com> Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:27:00 -0700 http://www.hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.155.4 http://www.hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.139.4
Engineers from the University of Zaragoza have developed an algorithm that can optimise hybrid electricity generation systems through combined use of renewable energies, such as photovoltaic and wind power, and non-renewables, such as diesel. Their study, published online in the magazine Renewable Energy, envisions storing the energy in batteries or hydrogen tanks.

“The objective of this project is to minimise both the costs and polluting emissions generated by energy production within isolated systems in the electric network, as well as reducing the amounts of unprovided energy (energy required by appliances and devices, but which cannot be supplied)” Rodolfo Dufo, one of the authors of the study and a researcher at the Higher Polytechnic Centre of the University of Zaragoza, told SINC.

The engineers looked at isolated installations, which are provided with electric energy from photovoltaic solar panels, aerogenerators – sometimes known as windmills – and diesel generators, which use electrochemical (normally lead acid) batteries or hydrogen (by means of electrolysers, hydrogen tanks and fuel batteries) for storage. They have also looked into the possibility of redirecting the hydrogen for external uses, such as powering a vehicle, for example. “The optimisation of all these systems is a very complex process, and classic optimisation techniques are not usually appropriate in these cases due to the high computational costs they incur,” said Dufo.

The study, published in the magazine Renewable Energy, is the first time a mathematical algorithm known as SPEA (Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm) has been used for the optimal “multi-objective” designing of hybrid electric energy generation systems.

The algorithm provides an optimum range of solutions (known as ‘pareto’), from which the designer can choose the most appropriate according to the relevant budgetary conditions, acceptable levels of pollutant emissions, and the amount of unprovided energy involved. Optimisation using SPEA allows a range of possible solutions to be obtained “within a reasonably short timescale”.

This method has been used to start testing a new design of isolated energy system using exclusively renewable sources (photovoltaic, wind, hydrogen and batteries), based at the Foundation for the Development of New Hydrogen Technologies’ facilities in the Walqa Technology Park in Huesca, Aragon. The device is already operational, but the researchers are currently working on data collection in order to be able to obtain results to ensure the system’s optimal configuration.

“Given the current energy crisis and the threat of climate change, isolated electrical network systems such as this are going to become ever more important, since they can simultaneously optimise costs, pollutant emissions and unprovided energy”, said the engineer.

Source: Science Daily

[[b]Submitted by hempistry[/b]]]]> hempistry<ajingrao@nospam.com> Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:53:35 -0700 http://www.hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.139.4 http://www.hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.67.4
Pennsylvania A Player In Wind Energy
(KDKA) They hardly make a sound, rising 215 feet out of the corn and soybeans, spinning 230 feet in diameter.

The six wind turbines at a Somerset County dairy farm cut an imposing sight across the skyline but the cows don't seem to pay them any mind.

Bob Will said "yes" eight years ago when energy executives asked to erect the turbines and he's been reaping a duel harvest ever since. In addition to milk and wheat, Will gets a percentage of the profits.

In the past decade, Pennsylvania has become a major player in wind energy with nine major wind farms. Eight of them are on this end of the state, including the newest one called Casselman just over the ridge from Will's farm.

Each one is taking advantage of a broad wind channel originating in the West Virginia panhandle and sweeping across our mountains and valleys.

The turbines convert the wind into mechanical energy which becomes electrical energy. Together with a sister farm at Mill Run in Fayette County, Will's farm produces enough energy to power 8,200 homes.

Still, some say that's just a drop in the bucket.

Other energy producers say that the wind and the sun will fall short in meeting our energy challenges. Steve Windber of coal giant Consol says they're destined to be the smaller players in the energy picture.

But expect to see more turbines both big and small, like the one proposed by a new Allison Park company to light ball fields in Green Tree.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
[[b]Submitted by Hemp4Fuel[/b]]]]> Hemp4Fuel<contact@nospam.com> Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:54:35 -0700 http://www.hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.67.4