From: Frank Leslie [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> 
> Subject: AWEA Windpower 2006 Trip Report
> 
> The American Wind Energy Association (an industry
> lobbying group) held this
> large convention (~4500 attendees) in Pittsburgh PA
> 6/4 through 6/7/2006.  The opening General Session
addresses were by Gov.
> Tom Vilsack, IA; Gov. Ed
> Rendell, PA; Alexander Karsner, US Assistant
> Secretary of Energy Efficiency and
> Renewable Energy, DOE; and Randall Swisher,
> Executive Director of AWEA.
> 
> Mr. Swisher said that the wind market had increased
> 36% during 2005, with 2431
> MW of turbines installed. He mentioned climate
> change as an important driver.
> Pres. Bush wants "up to 20% of the Nation's energy"
> produced by renewables by
> 2020. AWEA recently held a career fair. He told me
> later that there is a strong
> need for engineers and technicians trained in wind
> systems. AWEA has started a
> campaign "If not wind . . .  Then what?", implying
> that one needs to consider
> from where the nation's energy will come. There are
> transmission line
> constraints, and getting those lines permitted is
> more difficult and troublesome
> than permitting wind farms.
> 
> Secretary Karsner emphasized the research and
> development that EERE is chartered
> to accomplish. He said that they "want to listen
> more to respond better". They
> are presently planning transmission corridors across
> the nation to better tie
> sources to load centers. There is also an
> Asia-Pacific cooperative that supports
> wind.
> 
> Gov. Vilsack emphasized the need for Iowa to plan
> for the energy future, and how
> wind and biomass (ethanol) were the paths chosen.
> Iowa is now #1 in soy-diesel
> production. There are now 747 wind turbines in north
> central and northwest Iowa.
> Community colleges are training technicians to work
> on wind turbines. He ended
> with a dramatic recounting of how Iowa National
> Guard troops were at risk in
> Iraq, and that he called all survivors of deceased
> Iowa warfighters. He spoke of
> a helicopter pilot whose craft was hit by a missile
> as he transported 18 troops.
> The widow said that he saved the lives of 18
> survivors even when he might have
> saved his own instead. She said that she was able to
> live with his death as the
> troops must have needed her husband more that she
> did.
> 
> Gov. Rendell welcomed the development of windpower
> in the state and is a strong
> advocate. PA has many areas under windfarm
> development. He is a champion of
> education, and has been involved in alternative
> energy talks. He wants to get
> energy from within the state to avoid the money
> going out of state. He expects
> wind to provide 4000 MW by 2020. He urges Pres. Bush
> to achieve energy
> independence by 2020. They developed a model wind
> ordinance so that communities
> could rapidly adopt wind without a long delay. They
> are working with Audubon and
> Sierra Club in avoiding migratory paths in wind
> turbine siting. A PA wind
> assessment is being completed by a Catholic
> University there.
> 
> They have installed solar energy at the PA State
> Capitol for emergency
> communications support. There is an energy grant
> program. Transportation uses
> 60% of their energy. An Advance Portfolio Standard
> (or RPS) is in effect to
> shift fuel usage. They are buying hybrid cars for
> state uses that aren't off
> road and are restricting the purchase of SUVs where
> they aren't used off road.
> Turnpike E85 pumps are coming at $1.75 a gallon!
> Clean Coal Gasification will
> take coal waste that is around the state and produce
> diesel fuel, cleaning up
> large waste piles that contaminate water. Their
> energy secretary is Katy
> McGinnty, a former Undersecretary of DOE RE
> programs. 
> 
> I focused upon the Technical session track, which
> deals with the wind regime and
> current developments in wind energy. There were also
> tracks on Business, Policy,
> and Utilities. I'll cover a few highlights. The
> presentations will be available
> on CD from AWEA for those who wish details.
> 
> There is an efficiency push to get more energy per
> turbine, which means larger
> diameter rotors. Availability is now at ~97%; the
> capacity factor due to the
> wind is usually said to be 25% to 35%. The
> production rate is one WT (wind
> turbine) every 15 minutes. 6000 MW expected this
> year. There has been 4 billion
> invested in wind. 
> 
> There was a session focusing upon "Reducing
> Uncertainty in Wind Resource
> Assessment". Marc Schwartz presented tall tower
> data. Michael Brower, writer of
> "Cool Energy" while he was at UCS, is indeed the
> principal at AWS Truewind that
> makes high resolution wind maps to aid state WT
> siting.
> 
> The Gov. of IL wants 8% RE by 2013, and 75% of that
> from wind. In PA,
> electricity is now 6.6 cents/kWh. Exel Energy is now
> the #1 purchaser of wind
> energy (he emphasized that he would work that into
> his talk 7 times and did).
> The cost of wind energy is now increasing slightly
> due to demand and increasing
> labor and steel costs. Carbon issues are driving
> changes in energy selection.
> Two kilomiles of new 750 kV transmission lines are
> needed across the US.
> Utilities must stop "science projects" and make
> money. There was a reference to
> "reverse NIMBYism", where residents want wind
> turbines nearby. Natural gas
> peaking may be used to stabilize wind energy.
> 
> The electrical Grid is "one machine" and needs wide
> area control. Wind
> forecasting of wind ramps (increasing speed) is
> needed. Autoregressive models
> perform poorly during wind ramps. Vertical or 3-D
> sensing is required. Turbulent
> mixing is an important factor. There may be
> "incenting" of forecasts with
> increase or decrease in fees for accuracy. 
> 
> At AWS Truewind, these specialized forecasting
> graduates need diverse modeling
> and atmospheric skills. Staffing is moderate now.
> Modeling and deep programming
> skills are preferred. 
> 
> There have been well-funded anti-wind campaigns like
> stopillwind.org, with free
> DVDs emphasizing all the bad things. 
> 
> Vestas had an exhibit of the nacelle of their new
> turbine on display. It has
> four generators on the transmission for great
> reliability and ease of change
> out. (There were about two square blocks of exhibit
> area.) 
> 
> At WVs Mountaineer windfarm, there were some 48 bats
> killed per turbine, a
> significant problem. There were no kills at stopped
> turbines. FAA lights don't
> matter. Bats investigate blades, while birds avoid
> them. Two groups have a
> marine radar on a truck for studies of flight paths.
> Handheld bat call detectors
> are used for detecting activity, but not useful to
> tell how many are present.
> Hoary bats have lower pitched squeaks than others,
> so species deterimination is
> possible. Birds migrate about 500 ft above ground
> and are above WTs. 
> 
> There were some future investigations of wind energy
> direct to hydrogen
> electrolyzers, and pumping air at 1200 psi into
> caverns. I have a contact at
> Univ. of ND that is working with wind to hydrogen
> power regulators and is
> willing to provide information and advice. 
> 
> This conference presented the current endeavors and
> future studies in wind
> research and development. There has been sufficient
> progress for evolved designs
> and the challenges are becoming better defined. 
> 
> Frank
> 
> P.S.: En route, I stopped at the Beech Mountain wind
> turbine test site (~5100
> ft) run by the Appalachian University at Boone NC.
> They have many small wind
> turbines in test there, and use datalogging and
> wireless transfer. 
> 
>
|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> | Frank R. Leslie, M.S. Space Tech     |    Adjunct
> Lecturer in Renewable Energy
> 
> | Florida Tech, DMES, Rm. 104, 150 W. University
> Blvd., Melbourne FL 32901    
> |    (321) 674-7377         |       
> http://my.fit.edu/~fleslie     (Renewable
> Energy)   
> | Florida Tech email:  [log in to unmask]   |
> http://my.fit.edu/wx_fit/roberts/RH.htm
> | Adjunct Advisor to the Green Campus Group (Campus
> Sustainability)
> | Home: 1017 Glenham Drive, NE, Palm Bay FL
> 32905-4855  |   (321) 768-6629   
> | Home email: [log in to unmask]                |    
>        28-01.3130N /
> 80-35.6136W      
> | www.geocities.com/windy4us (Wind Energy
> Experimenters) | KD4EYQ  
> |050912 
>
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