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WINDNEWS

WindStats Newsletter is a quarterly international wind energy publication with news, reviews, and wind turbine production and operating data from thousands of wind turbines ... plus much more.

Vol. 21, No. 2 - Spring 2008

Varied cost projections show bright long-term prospects  From 1980 until shortly after the turn of the century wind energy costs fell steadily. That downward trend ended around 2004, partly due to rising commodity prices and partly due to a worldwide shortage of wind turbines. Today, the projections for the future costs of onshore and offshore wind plant contain wide variations, some of which assume wind has a less than certain future. This assumption is false.

Challenges of 20 MW wind turbine concept come to light from today’s 5-6 MW models During the recent European Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition (EWEC) in Brussels, Belgium, one presentation dealt with the technical and economic feasibility of developing a 20 MW turbine by 2020. This future concept features a 250-meter rotor diameter and a 253-meter hub height, a huge and nearly unimaginable leap in dimensions compared to today’s largest 5-6 MW wind turbines. But not everybody is convinced about the viability.

Working toward lightweight generators Wind turbine weight poses an enormous challenge, particularly as the size of the turbine grows. Beyond a particular point, the price of cranes, foundations, towers and other components can begin to outweigh the benefits.

These stories plus... Wind turbine output and performance reports from over 7000 individual wind turbines–including side-by-side comparisons of capacity factors, kWh output, output per square meter of swept area, and more.

USA: On the back of three years of consistent growth, the US wind market is poised for a record-breaking surge with cumulative installed wind capacity to surpass 150 gigawatts (GW) by 2020, according to a recent market study from Emerging Energy Research, a leading research and advisory firm analyzing clean and renewable energy markets on a global basis. With 5,329 MW of new wind capacity installed in 2007, the US wind power market was responsible for installing more than 27% of newly added global wind capacity this past year, securing the US' position as the largest wind growth market by annual installations for the third straight year. 2008 is poised to set another record for annual installations in the US, with over 8 GW of wind projects currently under construction scheduled for operation by year's end, according to EER.

UK: Siemens Energy has won a major contract from Fluor Ltd. to connect Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm to the British power grid. With a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW), the Greater Gabbard project will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm. Siemens will also supply 140 wind turbines for this project, which will be constructed 25 km off the coast of Suffolk in the UK. The wind farm will be commissioned in two phases, with the entire construction scheduled to be completed in 2011. The Greater Gabbard project is owned by Airtricity, the renewables arm of Scottish and Southern Energy. The project was jointly developed by Airtricity and Fluor, where Fluor is the balance of plant contractor. The volume of the order for the grid connection is approximately EUR84 million.

Canada: NaiKun Wind Energy Group Inc. has registered its 320 MW Phase 1 offshore wind project with BC Hydro as part of the Clean Power Call Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Phase 1 will supply 120,000 B.C. homes with clean electricity and move the Province closer to achieving its goal of becoming energy self-sufficient by 2016.

Worldwide: Efforts to harness the energy potential of Earth's ocean winds could soon gain an important new tool: global satellite maps from NASA. Scientists have been creating maps using nearly a decade of data from NASA's QuikSCAT satellite that reveal ocean areas where winds could produce wind energy. The new maps have many potential uses including planning the location of offshore wind farms to convert wind energy into electric energy. Business Wire

China: A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd. (NASDAQ:APWR) ("A-Power"), announced that it has completed the construction of the first phase of its wind turbine production facility in Shenyang, China. The first phase is a 310,000 square foot production facility with an annual capacity to produce 300 2.5MW wind turbines and 420 750kW wind turbines. Business Wire

Germany: Siemens Energy announced that it will test two 3.6-megawatt (MW) wind turbines with direct drive (DD) technology at a site in west Denmark. Siemens will subject the two DD wind turbines to comprehensive testing for a minimum of two years. The purpose of this project is to assess whether direct drive technology is competitive with geared machines for large turbines. News Release

China: Arcapita announced a US$ 2 billion partnership to develop 1,650MW of wind generation capacity in China. Arcapita Bank B.S.C.(c), a leading international investment firm headquartered in Bahrain, announced that it has formed a joint venture partnership with Colossus Holdings, a Singapore based holding company of the Tanti group. Al Bawaba

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