Let The WInd Blow  

The Next100 blog has a post on expanding wind power in California and how advances in mapping wind resources are helping the industry grow - Let It Blow.

Solar power is, if you'll pardon the pun, easily the hottest sector of the electric generation market today in terms of public interest. But if California is going to achieve the widely proposed goal of acquring a third of its electrical energy from renewable sources by 2020, wind energy will almost certainly be the flagship carrier of the renewable power industry.

Forecasts indicate that achieving the 33% renewable goal would require ramping up wind energy from 2,100 megawatts in 2006 to at least 12,500 MW by 2020. Solar, by contrast, would likely grow from 330 MW in 2006 to 6,000 MW in 2020.

Wind energy has the advantage of relative technological maturity, but that's also a handicap. Because developers have been installing wind turbines in Californa for three decades, many of the best sites--with high average wind speeds--are already taken. So how will the industry achieve major growth in the state?

In a talk yesterday to the Asia Pacific Partnership, at a wind energy conference sponsored by PG&E, Dora Yen-Nakafuji of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shed light on ways in which the wind industry is reinventing itself.

One remarkable advance is in our understanding of where, at what heights and at what speeds the wind blows in California. Major refinements in wind maps since the 1980s have significantly shifted target areas for new wind turbines. "We now have much more confidence" in the location of wind resources, Yen-Nakafuji said.

The average size of wind turbines has also increased dramatically--from 10 meters in the early days of Altamont Pass to 100 meters (almost twice the wingspan of a 747) today, boosting power output hugely and allowing them to take advantage of slower wind speeds. The newer turbines also have much more sophisticated power electronics and more aerodynamic blades. Older turbines at excellent wind sites can be replaced over time with newer, more efficient models to increase output.

Wind forecasting methods have also improved. As an example, she cited the increased use of Sodar (sonic detection and ranging) technology to measure wind speeds and detect wind shear that could put turbines at risk.