aderfp633
Inscrit le: 27 Sep 2011
Messages: 7915
Localisation: England
|
 Posté le: Mar Oct 01, 2013 3:48 am Sujet du message: Is answer to B |
 |
|
{Is answer to B,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler on sale[/url].C.'s energy needs blowing in the wind?}
Wind farmBy Nelson BennettTue Jun 11, 2013 12:01am PSTA six-year boom in new wind energy installations in the U.S. appears to be ending. Now it's B.C.'s turn.At least, that's the hope of wind power producers – a hope that was rekindled with the re-election of Christy Clark's Liberal government, which supports the mining, liquefied natural gas and private power sectors.The question is whether new wind farms or run-of-river projects can be built in time to ride the LNG boom. There are billions of dollars in proposed investments in B.C. wind assets on the major projects inventory. They include two large projects in northeastern B.C. being developed by French energy company EDF Energies Nouvelles, but all of them are on hold.Developers are waiting to see if the B.C. government will issue a new call for private power projects – something NDP leader Adrian Dix opposed, citing a power surplus – the result of a BC Hydro load forecast that does not factor in the massive power demands that would result from an LNG industry and new mines."This so-called surplus doesn't exist," said Nigel Protter, BC Sustainable Energy Association executive director."We're looking at the biggest surge of energy demand in this province's history,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler sale[/url]," said Nicholas Heap, B.C. regional director for the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA). "The cheapest form of electricity we have now for generation in B.C. is wind power."Most of the clean energy projects built in B.C. thus far under private power purchase agreements have been run-of-river. But much of the prime run-of-river real estate has been developed or is under development, and the wind energy sector believes it's now its turn for a B.C. boom, for four reasons:the cost of wind turbines has dropped 20% in the last two years, making it cost competitive with other power sources;new mines and LNG will have huge electricity needs;wind is a natural fit for B.C. because wind and hydro power are complementary; andhydro and run-of-river can affect fish habitat, while wind power has a low environmental impact.Because a technician is needed for every three to five wind turbines, wind power also creates full-time jobs.But it takes about eight years to build a new wind farm, so LNG plants could be operating by the time any new renewable power projects are plugged into the grid. The LNG plants will burn gas in direct drive generators to liquefy and compress the gas. But the plants have larger electricity needs than just the liquefaction process, and so does the upstream gas sector,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler down jackets[/url], which needs electricity in the drilling, compression and piping of gas to LNG plants.The BP Group plans to have both direct drive (for the liquefaction process) and e-drive generators, which would draw electricity from the grid."There [are] significant opportunities for renewables, even if they go to direct drive, and that's in the ancillary increased electrical consumption that will come from LNG,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler sale[/url], and that can certainly be met with renewables,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler on sale[/url]," said Donald McInnes, a director for Clean Energy BC and executive vice-chairman for Alterra Power Corp. (TSX:AXY).Alterra has the largest wind project in B.C. – the 144 megawatt Doki wind farm in the province's north.The price of windA few years ago, the cost of wind power was prohibitive. But prices have dropped significantly in the last couple of years, thanks in part to a boom in wind projects in the U.S., which is now starting to tail off.In Australia,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]discount moncler jackets[/url], it's now cheaper to build a new wind farm than to build a new coal or gas-fired thermal energy plant,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler down jackets[/url], according to Bloomberg, and in the U.S., new wind power is cheaper than nuclear power.CanWEA says wind power's capital costs are now even competitive with the capital costs of hydro in B.C.According to CanWEA, there is 14,000 gigawatt hours (GW-h) of potential wind energy in B.C. at a capital cost of about $95 per megawatt (MW) hour. That's three times the capacity of Site C dam at the same capital cost.A new BC Hydro report puts the price for wind at between $96 and $332 per MW-h. But CanWEA says it doesn't know how BC Hydro arrived at that range, given that Hydro acknowledges wind power costs have dropped.Any wind and hydropower comparison has to factor in the reality that wind turbines generate power only about 30% of the time.Intermittent energy like wind and solar can pose a problem for power utilities once it becomes a significant part of the grid because it needs either to be stored or supplemented with power generated from other sources.In B.C., storage isn't an issue, if wind farms are grid-connected, because hydro dams are like batteries: water can be saved when wind turbines are turning, and released when they're not.B.C. still lags many other jurisdictions in North America when it comes to building wind power projects.There are only three large wind farms operating in B.C., and one under construction near Cape Scott on Vancouver Island.EDF's Canadian subsidiary has two large wind farm proposals in the works for northern B.C.: the Taylor Wind Project (up to 400 MWs) south of Fort St. John and the Sundance Wind Project near Tumbler Ridge (up to 250 MW).Combined,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler outlet[/url], they would have half the generating capacity of the proposed 1,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]discount moncler jackets[/url],100 MW Site C dam.Tags: Adrian Dix, Christy Clark, Donald McInnes, Alterra Power Corp., Canadian Wind Energy Association, real estate, coal,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler outlet[/url], natural gas, nuclear power, energy
_________________
People watching the forthcoming beginning of the German half of the inhabitants of Berlin are no interested in co-optation |
|
