Wind

On June 17, 1985, a media entrepreneur named John Hendricks took a chance on his dream, and launched what has become the largest nonfiction media company in the world, the Discovery Channel.

Amazingly, that means that the channel will turn 25 years old on Thursday, and several of the network's shows are celebrating the anniversary by running special episodes.

For "MythBusters," one of the network's top-rated shows, that meant the chance to put together an episode touting its five hosts' top 25 favorite moments. Since its debut, there have been 191 "MythBusters" episodes featuring … Read more

The New York Power Authority on Friday kicked off a multiyear review process for an offshore wind farm in Lake Erie or Lake Ontario.

The state has received five applications to build a wind farm, in a planning process that began in April 2009. The earliest that a functioning offshore facility could be operating is by 2015, according to the New York Power Authority.

The outlined review process underscores the difficulty of siting energy facilities in the U.S. Even with growing support for renewable energy, large projects face a tangle of environmental and regulatory reviews as well as the … Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Imagine if your country had an unlimited budget but a limited amount of land: what renewable energy has the most potential?

Rutgers University professor Clinton Andrews and colleagues ran the numbers on this thought experiment and came up with some surprises. They identified clear limits on some technologies, notably biofuels, but concluded that the bigger challenges to renewable energy and land relate to siting energy facilities, particularly transmission lines.

Andrews presented an early version of the paper at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy conference here on Monday. The goal of this analysis and others like it is … Read more

The U.S. is fertile ground for small wind turbines, according to a report published this week.

The annual small wind report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), released in conjunction with the organization's annual conference, shows that small-wind turbines installations have grown rapidly over the past three years and U.S. manufacturers are getting a foothold in the global market.

The installed capacity of the U.S. for small wind turbines--defined as under 100 kilowatts of capacity--grew by 15 percent last year compared to the year before, representing $82.4 million in sales and almost 10,000 … Read more

General Electric and an Ohio-based wind developer plan to build an offshore wind farm in Lake Erie in late 2012, the companies said Monday.

Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo) and GE said they have formed a partnership to build a 20-megawatt wind farm in Lake Erie using GE's direct-drive turbines, which are designed for offshore wind. The companies announced the deal at the American Wind Energy Association's annual conference in Dallas.

The 20-megawatt project, planned for outside Cleveland, Ohio, will use GE's 4-megawatt turbines, which feature a gearless, direct drive technology designed for reliability, particularly in … Read more

The United States could fall behind China and other countries in clean-energy technology unless Congress passes energy legislation, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Saturday.

Many U.S. investors were reluctant to plough money into big solar, wind, and other clean-energy sectors until they knew what technologies the U.S. government policy was going to favor, he said.

"There's too much capital sitting on the sidelines for lack of an energy policy," Locke said during a stop at a U.S. and Chinese joint venture project to build batteries for electric vehicles.

"The longer we wait, … Read more

Large amounts of solar and wind power could be added to the western U.S. power grid without significant spending if utilities make operational changes, the U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday.

The DOE report, conducted by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) over a three-year period, focused on how the WestConnect power grid would respond if 35 percent of its electricity was generated by renewable sources.

The results, researchers said, were surprising.

"You need to make some significant changes to operational practice to accommodate wind and solar, but you don't need a whole lot of additional … Read more

BOSTON--If you like the idea of greening your home or office by installing a small wind turbine, it may be best to picture the device on the ground and not the roof.

That's one of the pearls of wisdom shared here Tuesday by the city's Museum of Science, during a conference on small-scale urban wind turbines. The museum was reporting data from an experiment involving the installation last year of five such turbines on the institution's roof.

Dozens of young companies have developed microwind turbines designed for residential or commercial customers, leading to rapid growth in sales … Read more

Puget Sound Energy announced Wednesday it's beginning construction of its 343-megawatt Lower Snake River Wind Project in Garfield County, Wash.

The project will consist of 149 jumbo 2.3-megawatt wind turbines that will come from wind turbine manufacturer Siemens. When fully operational, they're expected to supply enough energy for 100,000 homes annually.

The project is not a one-site wind farm but--similar to the $1 billion wind energy complex in Texas--will be a connected system of turbines across various private lands.

About 40,000 acres of farmland will be utilized with farmers receiving energy royalty payments, as well as lease fees for the use of their land. Once the installation of the turbines is complete, 98 percent of the farmland on which the turbines sit will be able to be farmed as normal, according to PSE.

The Puget Sound deal confirms a trend. Partnerships between the wind energy industry and farmers are gaining traction across the U.S. With land lease rights for state and federal lands often hard to secure, wind energy developers have been looking elsewhere and have found the agricultural industry it would seem. States appear willing to foster the partnership as a way to attract wind turbine manufacturers and developers, while aiding their fledgling farming industries.… Read more