Tag Archives: Wind

University of Alaska gets $3 million grant for rural hybrid energy

From The Associated Press, Friday, September 17, 2010:

A University of Alaska group will receive $3 million to study options to optimize wind-diesel hybrid energy systems in rural Alaska.

The Alaska Center for Energy and Power, based at UA Fairbanks, was awarded the grant by the federal Department of Energy.

The university says Alaska already has systems pairing wind turbines with diesel power plants but many are not performing as designed due to extreme weather and remote, distributed grid systems.

Research paid for by the grant will investigate technical issues related to power stability, long-term energy storage and control systems to better use fluctuating wind power.

Research also will investigate turbine performance in cold climates and remote locations and challenges such as icing, foundations in poor soils and remote monitoring.

Wind power company in 'talks' with AVEC

From The Tundra Drums, Wednesday, September 15, 2010:

WindPower Innovations Inc., a wind power infrastructure and smart grid solutions company (PINK SHEETS:WPNV), announced talks with Alaska Villages Electric Co-op (AVEC), a non-profit electric utility, owned by the people served in 53 villages throughout interior and western Alaska, and is the largest service area of any retail electric cooperative in the world.

News of the talks arrived in a written statement from WindPower.

“We are in the second round of talks with AVEC to enhance the efficiency of their 250-500 kW wind turbines with our system optimization and grid-tie solutions,” says John Myers, president and CEO of WindPower Innovations. “Alaska represents a marketplace in the hundreds of millions and soon to be over a billion dollars for wind and other alternative energy sources, and the adaptability of WindPower Innovations’ technology allows us to capitalize on opportunities in extreme and remote environments where others can’t. We will be able to provide AVEC with solutions that help them break through barriers in efficiency and help solve the challenges faced by Alaska’s extremes in climate, geography and distance.”

AVEC is in the process of upgrading and increasing the operating efficiency of its power plant facilities and distribution lines, along with expanding its wind power segment, continuing to move away from costly diesel-generated power.

Continue reading: Wind power company in ‘talks’ with AVEC

Small-scale turbines get big praise in two villages

From The Tundra Drums, Monday, December 21, 2009:

Two Western Alaska villages spinning power from small wind turbines say they’re saving thousands of dollars a year.

“I’m still amazed at what they’re doing,” said Gerald Kosbruk, president of the tribal government in Perryville on the southern Alaska Peninsula.

However, the head of the largest utility in rural Alaska, Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, cautioned that such wind turbines have their drawbacks.

Click here to read the full story.

When is it time to replace your boiler?

ASK A BUILDER

By CCHRC Staff

The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life.

Q: Oftentimes, if you get an energy rating done, replacing the boiler is the top recommendation. Is it worth the money and effort?

Boilers need to be examined on a case-by-case basis, so before you do anything, speak with a heating professional.

Often, there are little things you can do to a boiler that will make them more efficient. A lot of these little fixes depend on where your boiler exhausts, if you can add an outdoor reset, how much baseboard you have and if it’s time to have your system tuned. Sometimes small changes or additions in controls can help increase the efficiency of the boiler, and sometimes it just needs to be replaced with new technology.

However, fixing your old boiler won’t help if you are trying to gain points on your energy rating. Consult your energy rating paperwork to determine if the payback from replacing your boiler is worth the effort.

Q: Since we are in an Arctic climate, are there any challenges to having a wind system way up here?

There are not a lot of problems with most homesized wind turbines and their materials caused by the cold, dry Interior climate. That being said, wetter parts of Alaska have problems with ice collecting on towers and blades. When that happens, it throws the blades out of balance.

One way to gauge the effectiveness of a wind system is to check where it is made or where this type of system is installed. If a system is successfully installed in the cold regions of Canada, it’s probably OK for Alaska. Some systems are designed for areas that do not have cold temperatures, and they may not supply the right parts or materials, such as cold-weather grease, to function well in our climate.

Q: Most double- and triple-pane windows have gas between the panes. If a pane breaks, the gas will leak out. Is this any type of hazard?

Today, most window gases are Krypton or Argon. These gases are inert, so they pose no threat to human health. Still, multiple- paned windows are more energy efficient with the gas inside. As gas leaks out, air will leak in along with a little moisture. The moisture will cause frost or fog inside your window.

On that note, a window pane doesn’t have to be broken to let the gas escape. If the seal around the edge of the window fails, the gas can leak out. You can tell when a seal is broken because condensation will build up inside the window between the panes even if no glass is broken. Again, any frost or foggy windows are a sign that you could have a broken seal. Seals break down over time due to age, building settling, hot or cold exposure and a variety of other factors. Fortunately, windows can be refilled with gas and resealed by a professional.

Alaska HomeWise articles promote home awareness for the Cold Climate Housing Research Center. If you have a question, e-mail us at akhomewise@cchrc.org or call 457-3454.

Kenai regulates turbines

From Peninsula Clarion, Tuesday, November 24, 2009:

Kenai is doing more than any other city in the state in terms of encouraging wind turbine development within city limits, a leader in Alaska wind energy installation said.

On Nov. 4, the Kenai City Council passed an ordinance establishing the rules for building generators in the city. Nadia Daggett, Alaska Wind Industries’ owner called it the most progressive set of urban wind turbine regulations she’s seen in Alaska.

Click here to read the full story.

Corporation still planning Fire Island wind farm

From The Associated Press, Wednesday, November 25, 2009:

The Cook Inlet Region corporation says it plans to go ahead with the Fire Island wind farm project, despite a split last month with a developer.

The Anchorage Native corporation told The Anchorage Daily News it could fund the $165 million project by itself and hopes to sign a deal next month with another developer. The Legislature has committed $25 million for a transmission line to the Anchorage grid.

The wind farm could be generating electricity by the end of 2011.

Wind turbines whirling in Nome

From the Anchorage Daily News on Sunday, January 25, 2009:

An 18-turbine wind farm in the Snake River Valley has begun producing 10 percent of the energy needs in Nome. It is the first step toward more self-sufficiency, says Neal Foster, president of Banner Wind LLC.

“It’s not only a way to help cut (energy) costs,” said Foster. “We felt it was like putting our toe in the water, to become more and more self-sufficient. The intent is to add more to that, to increase our expertise and knowledge of alternative energy. The next step for us is to move into the villages. We want Nome to be the hub.”

Bering Straits Native Corp., which is the Alaska Native regional corporation for the Nome area, along with area village corporation Sitnasuak Native Corp. jointly own Banner Wind’s turbines, which have the potential to generate up to 1.2 megawatts of power.

Click here to read the whole article.

Department of Energy report: 20% wind energy by 2030

From the U.S. Department of Energy website, posted 5/5/08, retrieved 1/5/09:

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a report that examines the technical feasibility of using wind energy to generate 20% of the nation’s electricity demand by 2030. The report, “20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply,” includes contributions from DOE and its national laboratories, the wind industry, electric utilities, and other groups. The report examines the costs, major impacts, and challenges associated with producing 20% wind energy or 300 GW of wind generating capacity by 2030.

The report’s conclusions include:

  1. Reaching 20% wind energy will require enhanced transmission infrastructure, streamlined siting and permitting regimes, improved reliability and operability of wind systems, and increased U.S. wind manufacturing capacity.
  2. Achieving 20% wind energy will require the number of turbine installations to increase from approximately 2000 per year in 2006 to almost 7000 per year in 2017.
  3. Integrating 20% wind energy into the grid can be done reliably for less than 0.5 cents per kWh.
  4. Achieving 20 percent wind energy is not limited by the availability of raw materials.

Read the complete report, “20% Wind Energy by 2030, Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply” (PDF 9.1 MB).

Wind spurs second land rush in Wyoming, other western states

From the New York Times, on Thursday, November 27, 2008:

A quiet land rush is under way among the buttes of southeastern Wyoming, and it is changing the local rancher culture. The whipping winds cursed by descendants of the original homesteaders now have real value for out-of-state developers who dream of wind farms or of selling the rights to bigger companies.

But as developers descend upon the area, drawing comparisons to the oil patch “land men” in the movie “There Will Be Blood,” the ranchers of Albany, Converse and Platte Counties are rewriting the old script.

Click here to read the whole article.

Obama energy and environment plan

From www.change.gov, retrieved on Thursday, November 20, 2008:

The energy challenges our country faces are severe and have gone unaddressed for far too long. Our addiction to foreign oil doesn’t just undermine our national security and wreak havoc on our environment — it cripples our economy and strains the budgets of working families all across America. Barack Obama and Joe Biden have a comprehensive plan to invest in alternative and renewable energy, end our addiction to foreign oil, address the global climate crisis and create millions of new jobs.

Click here to read the whole page, and find links to other elements of the plan.