In this issue: (Wind Energy Works! member names are highlighted.)
1.  Responses to article in the New York Times
2.  Make your own TV ad; win $10,000
3.  Manufacturers looking at wind to power plants
4.  How many homes can a megawatt of wind serve?  Explanation below.

NEW YORK TIMES ON WIND INTEGRATION

Matthew Wald’s December 28 article, “It’s Free, Plentiful and Fickle," describes
as a “big problem” something that is pretty well understood - that wind energy is
mainly an energy resource and not primarily a capacity resource. 
Interwest Energy Alliance’s Craig Cox prepared an annotated response which can
be found on the Wind Energy Works! website.

Additionally, the Alliance for Clean Energy New York (ACENY) submitted a
letter to the editor, printed here:

To the Editor:

It’s Free, Plentiful, and Fickle (12/28) was misleading. We don’t need to build
back-up power for wind turbines;  traditional power sources are already in place.
Recent analysis for New York State concluded that the grid could easily
accommodate at least 3,000 megawatts of wind power without significant
changes to operations.

Wind turbines can produce at peak demand. Last summer, Maple Ridge Wind Farm
(Lowville , NY ) was producing 145 MW (63 percent capacity) on the day sweltering
temperatures drove New York to an all-time peak electricity demand record. Annually,
Maple Ridge produces 1 percent of all the electricity used in New York.

We need to worry less about how price-stable, pollution-free renewable energy
doesn’t fit with the conventional energy system paradigms and focus more on
how it helps avoid higher medical bills, smoggy days, national vulnerability,
acid rain and the many impacts created by global warming.

Carol E. Murphy, Executive Director

Alliance for Clean Energy New York

It is worth noting that New York Times columnist Thomas L Friedman's Op-Ed of
December 15 challenged President Bush to devote rest of his term to making the
US a leader in renewable energies.  Friedman says the program Bush began when
he was governor of Texas has made the state lead producer in wind-generated power
and that Bush should expand the renewable energy mandate for every state.

CREATE YOUR OWN 30-SECOND TV AD
PROMOTING CLEAN ENERGY
Win $10,000 and see your ad used in a national TV ad campaign!

Smartpower is hosting a contest for the best ad to educate Americans that Clean Energy
is real, is here and is working.  Check out the contest website and submit your best idea. 
Deadline for submissions: February 1, 2007

WIND POWER FOR GREEN FACTORIES IN OHIO
Green Energy Ohio Tests Wind at Two Ohio Manufacturing Plants

Honda of America, Mfg., (Honda) and Iten Industries partnered with
Green Energy Ohio(GEO) in December 2006 to begin wind studies to
evaluate the potential of installing wind turbines for power generation at
manufacturing plants located in Logan and Ashtabula counties.

Both industrial sites now host 164-foot (50-meter) meteorological towers
equipped with anemometers at multiple heights to measure wind speed and
direction over the next 12 months. This detailed understanding of the wind
flow characteristics at a site is required before a large-scale wind turbine can be installed.

At the end of 2006, the Honda and Iten test towers were the 7th and 8th across the
state in GEO&# 8217;s public Ohio Wind Resource Database, explained GEO
Wind Program Manager Steve Watts.  See here for more. 

EXPLANATION OF "HOMES POWERED" FIGURES
 
The American Wind Energy Association and many in the wind industry use an
estimate of 300 homes served per megawatt of wind and some are recently asking
how that figure is derived.  It involves taking an average capacity factor - the amount
of electricity output by each turbine according to studied and expected wind
conditions – as well as assuming an average amount of electricity used by households. 
 
Because wind energy is variable, a “capacity factor” is calculated, usually on a monthly
or annual basis, to indicate how much power is produced. At a typical wind farm site,
some electricity will be generated 70-90% of the time, the facility will generate power
at full rated capacity about 10% of the time, and on average throughout the year the
plant will generate 30% to 35% of its rated capacity.
 
No power plant generates at 100% “nameplate capacity” 100% of the time.
(Nameplate capacity refers to the maximum generation potential of a power plant.)
A conventional power plant is occasionally closed for maintenance or repairs,
or runs below full capacity to best match energy demand.
 
The equation we use to show how much energy comes from installed
wind turbines is thus:
 
For one megawatt (MW) of wind @ 33% capacity factor: 
1 MW x 8760 hours/year x 0.33 = 2890.8 megawatt-hours (MWh)
of energy per annum. If an average house uses about 800 kilowatt-hours per month,
ie 0.8 MWh per month or 9.6 MWh per year, one MW of wind capacity can provide
the energy for 2890.8 / 9.6 = about 300 households.
 
If the capacity factor goes up or down, or the amount of electricity used per
household (kWh) is on average higher or lower (energy use varies in different parts
of the US ), the number of households capable of being served by one megawatt
of wind will change. 

MISSED AN UPDATE?

Previous Wind Energy Works! updates are available here.

If you have news, please let us know.