All Posts Tagged With: "Wind turbines"
Decentralized energy is the logical solution to climate change and water shortage
Living in the hydro-rich Pacific Northwest it is hard to imagine rationing showers and lawn watering in order to have a few hours a day of electricity, but that is what is happening in Venezuela right now.
One of the severest droughts in decades has given Venezuela’s socialist president a political nightmare as hydro-electrical power dribbles to a standstill, unleashing blackouts, rationing and protests. The waters behind the Guri dam, which supplies more than half the nation’s power, have touched perilously low levels.
Nevertheless, with energy production requiring as much water as agriculture and once mighty rivers like the Rio Grande no longer reaching the ocean and energy usage expected to grow beyond existing capacity, unless we decentralize now, it will happen here.
There are many reasons I focus upon wind energy, not the least being the ample supply…this from the November 2009 Scientific American.
Plenty of Supply
Today the maximum power consumed worldwide at any given moment is about 12.5 trillion watts (terawatts, or TW), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The agency projects that in 2030 the world will require 16.9 TW of power as global population and living standards rise, with about 2.8 TW in the
U.S. The mix of sources is similar to today’s, heavily dependent on fossil fuels. If, however, the planet were powered entirely by WWS, with no fossil-fuel or biomass combustion, an intriguing savings would occur. Global power demand would be only 11.5 TW, and U.S. demand would be 1.8 TW. That decline occurs because, in most cases, electrification is a more efficient way to use energy. For example, only 17 to 20 percent of the energy in gasoline is used to move a vehicle (the rest is wasted as heat), whereas 75 to 86 percent of the electricity delivered to an electric vehicle goes into motion.Even if demand did rise to 16.9 TW, WWS sources could provide far more power. Detailed studies by us and others indicate that energy from the wind, worldwide, is about 1,700 TW
Another reason I favor wind is that wind is the only renewable energy source that does not require any water during the production of electricity. Even solar requires massive amounts of water when used in a centralized system.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, to generate one kilowatt hour of electricity from nuclear power 2.3 litres of water are needed. Coal requires 1.9 litres and oil consumes 1.6 litres…Some CSP technology utilises rows of curved mirrors focus heat onto a tube filled with oil which boils water to make steam, in turn spinning a turbine a turbine – this is called a trough system. Another uses reflective mirrors called heliostats to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto liquid-filled tubes used to generate steam and spin turbines.
In the case of trough technology, the water footprint is considerable – around 3.6 litres per kilowatt hour.
This video produced in England shares the benefits of decentralizing even if still using fossil fuels.
The World does a nice write up on the V-LIM wind turbine
Just in case you didn’t see it you can read it here
Mary Geddry, CEO of Coquille-based Rogue River Winds, said the ultra-efficient, low-profile, sturdy wind turbine with a built-in generator called the V-LIM, is generating interest.
She’s gearing up production. But don’t expect any local manufacturing jobs to spin out of it — at least not anytime soon.
“There just isn’t the infrastructure in Coos County at this time,” she said.
After attempts to get the V-LIM off the ground locally failed, Geddry relocated the project to Portland where a prototype was in the works, before she again relocated it to Cottage Grove where it was completed and may be manufactured.
She said some manufacturers in Alaska and the East Coast have expressed interest in producing it, as well.
Federal agencies including the DoD are under heavy pressure to meet 25% of their energy needs from renewable sources.
Driven by new government requirements that call for each military branch to purchase or generate at least 25 percent of the energy they use from renewable sources by 2025, the project is funded by a $4 million federal investment under the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill…
One factor causing concern with wind energy is the belief that traditional wind turbines interfere with radar, hence the interest in a low profile system like the V-LIM.
Maddow – Spending freeze counter productive
Spending freezes historically worsen economic recessions rather than stimulate them, so what is Obama doing? Rachel gives a great argument. After watching the video read my rant below about why US taxpayers are subsidizing manufacturing jobs in China and how it is bad for the country.
Presently, China is the primary supplier of generators for traditional multi-megawatt wind farms. According to Rebecca Smith in the Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2009, a proposed 600MW wind farm in Texas relying heavily on federal subsidies, grants and tax credits for funding, is expected to create 2,800 jobs with only 15% of those jobs in the US and the rest flowing to China.
The Shepherd’s Flat Wind Farm slated for 2012 in Arlington, Oregon includes a $1.4B contract to General Electric for 338 turbines with the electricity destined for California. Oregon has the manufacturing infrastructure in place to produce the generators and create long-term family wage jobs right here at home.
V-LIM Power curves
The first power curves for the V-LIM are done and I will publish them here after some additional verification soon. We have learned a lot from these tests, have changed the magnet topology for a more focused flux and will segment the stator for faster saturation in the production models. Even without these changes we outperform our competitors and after such a long hard struggle, I can’t tell if I am happy or just relieved to be past this point. Am definitely exhausted.
More data soon to come, here and at Rogue River Wind.
Mountain Pass rare earth mine reopening in California
As noted here before, the Chinese have a near monopoly on the production of high-gauss neodymium magnets crucial to the production of electricity. Now, a once abandoned mine in Mountain Pass, California is being reopened to try and minimize the dangers of geopolitical concerns and the supply of rare earths.
These minerals, such as samarium and neodymium, are prized for chemical properties that make them indispensable in a variety of industrial and military uses, including polishing glass, oil refining and manufacturing missile guidance systems.
They also play a crucial role in the development of “green” technologies such as hybrid cars, wind turbines and compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Heat-resistant magnets made with rare-earth alloys are key components of the electric motor in the Toyota Prius, for example.
Mining operations ceased at Mountain Pass in 2002 amid environmental concerns and cut-rate competition from China, although processing of previously dug ore continues. [Emphasis mine]
Given my company, Rogue River Wind, Ltd, hopes to manufacture our products in the US we are hopeful that environmentally safe mining practices can be maintained in Mountain Pass to provide the neodymium magnets we presently buy from China.
Home at last after visiting the LIM
Prepping the stator to be mounted on the axle.
Just home from another packed trip to check on the LIM and meet with a couple of industry leaders.
Applying the magnet brackets in the rotor.
The boy who harnessed the wind
This is a great and inspiring story and a lesson to people everywhere that it is possible to innovate a way out of adversity and hard times without genuflecting before invasive corporations.
Transporting the V-LIM stator for wiring
Engineers at a faciity in Portland transport the V-LIM stator to be properly wired in anticipation of the first testing of the new generator.
Sadly, the coils wound in Coos County had to be rewound. The ceramic insulation applied by a local powder coater cracked and failed and mitigation attempts to ease the sharp edges of the coil core by the former local fabricator were inadequate causing multiple shorts. All the money invested using local talent may have helped the local economy, I don’t know, but my company has nothing to show for it and is almost a year behind schedule.
Happily, we are making great strides and hope to invite Oregon Department of Energy for the first spin test of the new generator before the end of August. It has been a long hard haul made all that much harder trying to do it here in Coos County… no more!
Moving the V-LIM to Portland
After trying very hard to complete the V-LIM turbine with local talent I am giving up on Coos Bay for the time being and taking the components to Portland for final assembly. Once complete we will bring it back to Coos County for testing.
Recent bad experiences with some local ‘business persons’ and local workers, the character of whom seem to be more prevalent than not, have left a very bad taste in my mouth for ever establishing a manufacturing facility in Coos County. Rogue River Wind, Ltd, will see the Western Oregon Wind project through for the school kids and then leave Coos County to the ‘manly men’ who think nothing of trying to pick the pockets of a hard working companies and the public that lets it happen.
Not that all experiences have been bad, there are good companies in Coos County like Koontz Machine Shop in Coos Bay and CAPCO powder coating in Coquille, (well worth the drive from North Bend), even the International Port of Coos Bay has been awesome, but the three bad experiences are soooo bad that I just don’t want to do business here anymore. Luckily for me, I don’t have to.
PSU electrical engineering students work on the LIM
Data collection sensors and components have been built into an interactive console that will allow data viewing online. These electrical engineering students will be graduating in two weeks.
Finally! My stator is complete
Well, almost… still needs some buses and rectifiers and so forth but those will go on after it mounts to the axle.
V-LIM turbine moving along more quickly after moving to a new location
Rogue River Wind, Ltd moved the V-LIM wind generator to a new location with 12’ rollup door in order to do the final assembly. We have three full time workers now, four if you add me, winding coils, rolling copper and buffing, drilling, tweaking, measuring and calibrating.
We also have a four-member capstone team at Portland State University working out the motor control circuitry and data collection sensors and parameters. Everyone is working feverishly now to make of for time lost awaiting one part delayed by, of all things, weather.
The WOW (Western Oregon Wind) Project is making its way through the House subcommittee on Energy and Water and has garnered a lot of support around the state. There are still hurdles to cross before we secure federal funding for the 40% cost of WOW but thus far we are clearing every one.
The smart/micro-grid proposed in the WOW project has some very high-powered technical brains working in the background to help make WOW a reality and provide alternative funding for our local schools. We have engineers in Portugal and Washington State along with experts in Brussels and Virginia all contributing to this unique concept.
Coos County is blessed to have such abundant renewable resources and so many willing and capable contributors to bring a wide scale renewable energy model to fruition here on the coast. Things are beyond busy for me right now hence the brevity of this week’s column but I can sure the excitement for those of us working on this project is reaching a fever pitch.
Brian McAndrew, a bright young journalism student from the University of Oregon, interviewed me today. We talked about the LIM and the WOW project and how important it is to invest in our youth as well as our infrastructure. For this reason, once again, I urge everyone to write or call Congressman Peter DeFazio and thank him for carrying the WOW project to committee. His contact information locally is
Congressman DeFazio
125 Central, Suite 350
Coos Bay, OR 97420
Phone: (541) 269-2609
V-LIM update
A quick update on the V-LIM.
First, yesterday I gave a couple of talks on decentralized energy and setting up micro-grids to generate local energy and earn revenue to perhaps fund schools and local infrastructure. Again, keeping our dollars local rather than exporting them to investor owned utilities not only helps reduce our dependence upon foreign fuel but provides price stability and improved reliability.
The long awaited carbon fiber version of the rotor is promised to arrive the end of the week. The stator assembly is underway and we expect to test the generator with the existing rotor before permanently affixing the magnets to the new one within ten days.
I can hardly wait.
Did I just hear you say "little" Trinity? I think not ! She's half-grown !
Congratulations to you all ...
http://www.larryvanelsberg2010.com/index.html 
Thanks, Den, this is very useful 