| Wind power offered as one of the renewable energy sources |
Wind power offered as one of the renewable energy sourcesThe 2003 White Paper of the International Solar Energy Society offers wind energy as one of the renewable energy sources to supplement world electric energy production.An extract from the 2003 White Papaer states: Global wind power capacity exceeded 32,000 MW by the end of 2002, and has been growing at a 32% rate per year. Utility-scale wind turbines are now in 45 countries. The price of wind-produced electricity is now competitive with new coal-fired power plants, and should continue to reduce to where it will soon be the least expensive of all of the new electricity-producing resources. A goal of 12% of the world’s electricity demand from wind by 2020 appears to be within reach. So is a goal of 20% of Europe’s electricity demand by 2020. This development pace is consistent with the historical pace of development of hydroelectric and nuclear energy. The 20% penetration goal for the intermittent renewable energy resources is achievable within present utility operations, without requiring energy storage.  An extract from
Wind Farming & The Australian Electricity System Fact Sheet 2 states:
Whenever a wind farm is operational, its output is being fed into an electricity
grid and the energy is being used somewhere in the system downstream. Although
the contribution of wind energy is currently quite small relative to the total
generation on Australian electricity networks, every unit generated from wind is
a unit that does not need to be produced by other generation, 90% of which comes
from fossil fuels. The type of generation actually displaced (and hence the
emissions saved) by wind energy, will vary depending on the geographic location
of the wind farm and the time of generation. Depending on where it is located in
Australia, a typical new 50 megawatt (MW) wind farm displaces between 65,000 and
115,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide - equivalent to leaving tens of thousands of
tonnes of coal in the ground each year. The amount varies depending on what type
of fossil fuel the wind energy is displacing. In terms of mechanical operation and maintenance, wind turbines are more than
99% reliable, compared to around 97% for the steam turbines used by coal plants.
Because turbines in Australia are generally located to take advantage of strong
and consistent winds, their utilisation rates (the amount of time they are in
use) are generally in excess of 95%, which compares favourably with conventional
power plants. Wind turbines are very efficient in converting the primary fuel
(wind) to energy. Today’s large scale machines typically operate at efficiencies
of approximately 47%. This compares with coal to energy conversion efficiencies
of 30 – 40 % for coal burning plants, where the majority of energy is lost as
heat in the exhaust. Large scale wind generation needs to work hand in hand with conventional sources. AusWEA has a target of 5,000 MW of wind to be installed in Australia by 2010 - about 6% of Australia’s electricity needs. Recent modelling by technical experts has revealed that at least this amount of wind power can be integrated into the national grid subject to wide distribution, strong interconnection and state of the art forecasting. However, there are plans in some overseas countries for wind power to contribute as much as 10% of energy needs by 2010.
The Australian Wind Energy Association's Vision is for a robust Australian Wind Community that makes a significant contribution to safe, reliable, economically and environmentally sustainable energy supply in Australia. The Australian Wind Energy Association's Mission is to represent the Australian Wind Energy Community and promote the sensitive and appropriate uptake of wind energy. http://www.auswea.com.au/auswea/ ISES Whitepaper, Transitioning to a Renewable Energy Future is
copyright protected by ISES & Dr. Donald W. Aitken 2003. All rights reserved by
ISES and the author. |
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