This week I am continuying my ten-month series based on articles I wrote for my Operations classes for my MBA at Presidio Graduate School. Hope you will like this series !
Wind farms
Wind power to bounce back in 2014
According to Treehugger : ” At the end of 2013, the wind farms installed in more than 85 countries had a combined capacity of 318,000 megawatts, which would be enough to meet the residential electricity needs of the European Union.” ” New data from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) show that wind developers built … Read more
United Kingdom got 10 % of its electricity from wind
We have seen in the previous years that the United Kingdom has been investing heavily on wind energy. In 2013 the country started the world’s largest offshore wind farms such as the London Array. It seems these efforts are paying off as no less than ten percent of the electricity demand in the country was … Read more
An American wind energy revolution
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has published on its website a series on infographics and a great animation showing how wind energy is rapidly gaining pace and its capacity is booming.
In 2003, there were 185 wind farms online, powering the equivalent of 1.6 million homes ; in 2008, there were 416 wind farms online powering 6.5 million homes. In 2012 there were 815 wind farms online powering 15 million US homes.
Yes, you read that right : in ten years the capacity increased ten-fold. Since President Obama took office, the capacity has been multiplied by more than two.
My review of Promised Land
I don’t publish movie reviews here anymore as I generally do that elsewhere. But tonight I watched a movie with a strong energy / environment connotation, so here is my review of Promised Land.
Featuring Matt Damon in the main role, Promised Land is about a fossil fuel company trying to buy drilling rights from farmers and land owners in a small Pennsylvania community.
While the movie’s story and the questions it raises are interesting if not crucial to many, I believe it could have been made better. IMDB gives it a 6.5, which is not that bad.
Germany is the example on renewables
While the French socialist party is targeting Germany for being too selfish, I thought it would be the ideal time to show how this country has understood vital lessons on renewables others didn’t.
For years if not decades, Deutschland has been at the forefront on energy efficiency and renewables. I wrote many articles here on how the country is leading on these crucial economic sectors.
It doubled the share of renewables in its electricity mix in only seven years. They now account for over 22 percent of the total. Solar PV accounts for a quarter of that.
Brazilian wind energy is really cheap
So cheap that it is disrupting the Brazilian energy market as Cleantechnica reported : ” Wind farms have won 55% of contracts awarded by Brazil’s national energy agency (…) and wind power now costs about 4.5 cents/kWh in the country. “
This is really really cheap as generally wholesale prices in Europe are three to five times higher. Cleantechnica has a very nice article on how renewables are becoming cheaper and cheaper as the prices of fossil fuels increase.
Grid parity – ie. renewables as cheap or cheaper than coal or gas – is slowly but surely arriving all around the world as I wrote in the past few weeks here.
Wind capacity increased 20 percent in 2012
I noted in January that cleantech investments decreased by 11 percent in 2012 and that it wasn’t a problem as prices decreased. Here is a direct proof of that as global wind capacity increased by no less than 20 percent in 2012.
According to the latest report from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), 44.7 GW of wind capacity were installed last year, the total capacity reaching 282 Gigawatts. Both the United States and China installed roughly 13 gigawatts each.
This takes place as renewables are gradually becoming cheaper than fossil fuels, which are still the main energy sources, but ultimately won’t be anymore in a few decades.
Germany to invest 200 billion euros in energy
To Energy Bloom : ” Chancellor Angela Merkel is planning to spend 200 billion euros ($263 billion) developing an energy program that will create a series of offshore wind farms that will cover an area six times the size of New York City. “ ” (…) Germany has a plan to boost its renewable energy … Read more
Prepare for a wind energy century
Last week the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released a report stating the United States could get twenty percent of their electricity by offshore wind by 2030.
On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, China installed 13,8 GW of capacity in 2009 alone, to reach a capacity of 25,8 GW. A report notes that the wind capacity could reach 250 GW by 2020. These are staggering figures.
Meanwhile, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) notes that this energy source could provide a fifth of global electricity by 2030. Let’s have a detailed look at each of these news.
Brazil to invest $5.5 billion in renewables by 2013
According to CleanTechies : ” The Brazilian government earlier this month held a wind, hydroelectric and biomass auction that is expected to prompt US$ 5.52 billion in investments in renewable energies in Brazil. “ ” (…) Brazil currently holds 65 percent of the installed potential for wind power generation in Latin America. The country currently … Read more