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Pumped Hydro Storage In Switzerland | Earth Wise

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Pumped hydro energy storage is still by far the largest form of energy storage in the world, representing more than 90% of storage capacity worldwide.  The theory behind it is simple.  Water is pumped into an upper reservoir (that is, one at a higher elevation), and when electricity is needed, the water is allowed to flow downhill to power turbines and then is collected in a lower reservoir.   When there is excess electricity, it is used to pump water back uphill for use later.

Pumped hydro installations can’t be built just anywhere.  Geography and hydrology have to be suitable, which means high voltage transmission lines need to be constructed to link electricity sources like wind and solar farms with the storage location.  But in those situations where pumped hydro makes sense, it is a great solution to the energy storage problem.

Switzerland has just completed one of the largest pumped hydro facilities in the world.  The Nant de Drance installation makes use of the Emosson reservoir, which is an artificial lake built high in the Alps near the French border.  Over the past 14 years, 10 miles of tunnels have been dug into the mountains to connect the Emosson reservoir to the Vieux Emosson reservoir to the south.

In between the two reservoirs is a giant underground cavern where six of the largest water-driven turbines in the world are spun from the water rushing down from above.  The turbines have a capacity of 900 megawatts, making Nant de Drance one of the most powerful generating plants in Europe.  In terms of storage capacity, the installation has a maximum capacity of 20 gigawatt-hours, and can store that energy indefinitely, which is challenging for other storage technologies.

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14 Years In The Making, 20 GWh Pumped Hydro Storage Facility Comes To Switzerland (With Video)

Photo, posted September 7, 2009, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Floating Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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According to a new report by the Global Wind Energy Council, floating offshore wind technology is on track to grow from a miniscule market to a substantial contribution to the world’s energy supply over the next decade.  Furthermore, the United States represents one of the countries with the greatest potential.

Wind power is stronger and steadier in the ocean than on land, so the use of offshore wind is rapidly expanding.  However, because most installations are based on fixed structures attached to the sea bottom, they cannot be installed in very deep or complex seabed locations.

Floating offshore wind is based on structures that are anchored to the seabed only by means of flexible anchors, chains, or steel cables.  Apart from making it feasible to place wind turbines in deeper and more distant locations, floating turbines and platforms can also be built and assembled on land and then towed to the offshore installation site.

The floating offshore wind industry is currently in a pre-commercial phase but has great potential.  Many offshore locations with great potential in terms of their wind resources are unsuitable for conventional installations either because of the depth of the seabed or its complex structure.  This is particularly true of the waters off the coasts of California, Oregon, and the Gulf Coast, which otherwise offer excellent wind resources.

There are many issues to deal with in expanding the use of floating offshore wind, including transporting the power to shore and the ability of the local power grids to handle the incoming power.  On the other hand, distantly placed floating offshore wind reduces environmental concerns and eliminates issues associated with the visual impact of wind farms for coastal residents.

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What’s the potential of floating offshore wind?

Photo, posted May 10, 2015, courtesy of Olin Gilbert via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

California Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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Offshore wind has been pretty much a non-starter in the U.S. until recently.  Now there is considerable activity in the Northeast Atlantic with major projects getting started off the coasts of Massachusetts, New York, and other eastern states.  The prospects for wind farms in the Pacific, on the other hand, have been pretty dismal.  There are significant logistical problems posed by a deep ocean floor and also opposition from the Navy that does not want obstacles for its ships.

A combination of progress in floating wind turbine technology and the arrival of an administration highly supportive of renewable energy technology has changed the situation.  In late May, the Navy abandoned its opposition to Pacific offshore wind and joined the Interior Department in giving support to allowing two areas off the California coast to be developed for wind turbines.

The plan allows commercial offshore wind farms in a 400-square-mile area in Morro Bay in central California, and in another area off the Humboldt Coast in Northern California.

The two California sites could support enough wind turbines to generate electricity to power 1.6 million homes.  That would make the California coast one of the largest generators of wind power in the world.  The forthcoming Vineyard Wind farm in Massachusetts is expected to have 84 giant turbines.  The two California sites could hold more than 300 turbines.

The offshore wind industry is booming around the world, especially near the coasts of Norway and the UK, where the water is shallow, and turbines can be anchored to the ocean floor.  By contrast, the Pacific Ocean floor drops steeply from the coastline, making it too deep to anchor wind towers.  The newly emerging technology of floating turbines is the key to establishing offshore wind in the Pacific.

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Biden Opens California’s Coast to Wind Farms

Photo, posted August 7, 2013, courtesy of Ray Bouknight via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The World’s Largest Tidal Device | Earth Wise

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Most of the world’s activity in renewable energy is focused on solar and wind power.  The use of both is expanding rapidly. But there is also marine energy to be exploited.  Ocean waves and tidal movements hold huge amounts of energy.  Estimates are that the European Union could get 15% of its power from marine sources.  But ocean energy is currently expensive and there are significant technical challenges still to be overcome.

The world’s largest tidal power device will soon begin testing off the coast of Scotland.  The 680-ton, 240-foot-long, airplane-shaped device will be connected to the European Marine Energy Center for testing. 

The device, built by the Scottish company Orbital Marine Power, is designed to produce 2 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 2,000 homes.   It has a pair of 52-foot-long turbines attached to two wings.

Compared to wind and solar power, the marine energy sector has been much slower to develop because of the many difficulties of working in harsh marine environments as well as the technical challenges associated with harnessing power from waves and tides. But ocean waves and tidal movements hold enormous amounts of energy and have the advantage that they are available at all times, unlike wind and solar energy, which are variable in nature. 

Experts say that the future of tidal energy lies with arrays of floating or sea-bottom-mounted turbines that capture the energy of tidal currents in unobstructed waters.  There are various places around the world where this is an attractive opportunity, most notably in Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy, where the world’s most extreme tides – rising and falling more than 50 feet – contain vast amounts of power.

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The World’s Largest Tidal Power Device Will Soon Begin Testing Off Scotland

Photo, posted May 18, 2017, courtesy of Chris via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New Records For U.S. Wind Power | Earth Wise

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Wind-powered electricity has been increasing its contribution to the American energy mix for years as the number of installed turbines has rapidly grown.  In the final months of 2020, wind power set a number of new records.  Strong wind conditions in November and December, especially in the central states, led to record output from wind turbines.

On April 10, 2019, the U.S. set a record for daily electricity generation from wind turbines in the lower 48 states by producing 1.42 million megawatthours.  That record stood until several different days during November and December.  The newest record was set on December 23 when wind generation reached 1.76 million MWh.  That constituted 17% of total electricity generation in the U.S.   For the entire year of 2020, wind power accounted for 9% of U.S. electricity generation.

Late 2020 also saw new records set for hourly dispatch of wind resources.  On December 22, between 9 and 10 pm Eastern Time, 82 gigawatts of electricity sourced from wind power was dispatched across the U.S., breaking the one-month-old previous record of 73.4 GW.  Wind power varies considerably over the course of a day.  During December, wind power across the country varied between that record of 82 GW to a low of 14.6 GW.

The contributions from wind power are expected to continue to grow.  The U.S. currently has over 112 GW of installed wind capacity.  Project developers and grid operators plan to add another 12.2 GW of new wind capacity to the U.S. grid by the end of 2021.  More than half of that new capacity will be in Texas and Oklahoma.

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U.S. wind generation sets new daily and hourly records at end of 2020

Photo, posted July 12, 2010, courtesy of Tom Shockey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Renewable Energy And Green Ammonia | Earth Wise

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Several different clean technology trends may come together on farms across the country where wind turbines could power devices that produce green ammonia for fertilizer and zero emission fuel.

Distributed wind is a kind of renewable energy that doesn’t get much attention.  It refers to turbines that are used to generate electricity for on-site use, as for a factory or a farm.  It typically involves smaller turbines than the behemoths that are used in giant wind farms.

Installing a wind turbine or two on a farm could be quite valuable if the electricity generated could be used to make green ammonia.  Such an application would eliminate the problem of “stranded wind”, which is when a location has lots of wind but lacks access to the electricity transmission infrastructure.

If farmers could utilize wind energy to produce ammonia, they could make their own fertilizer as well as fuel and get relief from price spikes and uncertainties in the commodities market.  Of course, they would also make use of the electricity they generate on site.

Most ammonia is produced using a proven technology called the Haber-Bosch process.   Ammonia contains only nitrogen and hydrogen, both of which can be extracted from the air.  The trick is how to do it efficiently using renewable electricity.   The Department of Energy has a program called the REFUEL Initiative, which aims at deploying renewable energy to produce ammonia.  The University of Minnesota, among other places, has multiple programs dedicated to green ammonia technology. 

There is encouraging progress being made that may ultimately result in a common sight of wind turbines on farms producing fertilizer, fuel, and electricity.

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The Renewable Energy Cows Come Home, Now With Green Ammonia

Photo, posted July 15, 2009, courtesy of Daniel_Bauer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Largest Turbines In The Largest Offshore Wind Farm | Earth Wise

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The world’s largest planned offshore wind farm is going to make use of the world’s largest installed offshore wind turbines.  The Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the North Sea off the Yorkshire coast of England will ultimately generate electricity for more than 4.5 million homes in the United Kingdom.

The 3.6 GW project will cost $10 billion and will be developed in three phases, the first two of which will use 13-MW wind turbines built by General Electric.  The turbine’s blades measure 351 feet – longer than a soccer field.  The turbines stand more than 850 feet tall, which is five times the size of the Arc de Triomphe.  GE claims that a single rotation of one of these huge turbines can supply enough electricity to power the average British household for two days.  When the project is completed in 2026, it will generate 5% of the United Kingdom’s electricity.

The previous version of GE’s Haliade-X turbines, rated at 12 MW, were ordered by the energy company Orsted for installation in two forthcoming U.S. windfarm: the Skipjack Farm off the coast of Maryland, and the Ocean Wind farm off the coast of New Jersey.  The new version will be the largest turbines to reach operation in a commercial project.  Meanwhile, Siemens Gamesa has a 14 MW turbine under development.

The order for 190 of the 13 MW giant turbines for the Dogger Bank farm arrived at GE on the same day that the company announced that it will no longer supply power equipment to new coal plants.  Work on the Dogger Bank project started in January in an area of the North Sea that was previously dominated by oil and gas development.

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World’s Biggest Offshore Wind Farm Will Boast World’s Largest Installed Turbines

Photo, posted February 22, 2014, courtesy of Jonny Longrigg via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New Jersey And Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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New Jersey intends to become a major hub for offshore wind in the United States.  The state recently announced a plan to build a 30-acre port along the Delaware River for assembling and deploying wind turbines, as well as an additional 25 acres for manufacturing facilities.   The new port is expected to cost as much as $400 million and create 1,500 jobs in southern New Jersey.

The port will be located on an artificial island that was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers early in the 20th century.  The island is already home to three nuclear reactors.  No bridges exist between the island and the Atlantic Ocean, so turbines that are built at the staging facility could be hoisted upright and towed out to sea without obstruction.  Some components are as tall as 500 feet and when fully constructed on the ocean, the turbines selected for New Jersey’s first offshore wind project will be more than 850 feet tall.

A second phase of the program would add over 150 acres to accommodate extensive manufacturing facilities for turbine components like blades and nacelles.

Construction on the port is expected to start next year.  New Jersey has pledged to produce 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035 and to generate 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2050.  Apart from deploying offshore wind, New Jersey wants to have a significant piece of the supply chain for what is likely to be a growing industry along the northeast coast.  The state views offshore wind as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to not only protect the environment but also greatly expand its economy in a way that has immediate impacts and long-term growth.

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New Jersey Announces $400 Million Offshore Wind Port

Photo, posted September 18, 2010, courtesy of Vattenfall Nederland via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Compressed Air Energy Storage

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The increasing use of solar and wind power has created a growing need for technology to store up the energy they generate for use when it is most needed.

Historically, pumped hydropower has provided the largest amount of storage capacity, but it is limited to only certain geographic locations.   Battery energy storage has been growing rapidly, with the technology becoming better and cheaper over time.  But there are various other ways to store energy that have potential and may well find their place in the changing energy infrastructure.

One of these is compressed air energy storage, which has been around for more than a century.  It has been used as a backup method for restarting power plants.  But to date, the economic viability of using it at a large scale has been lacking.

A Canadian startup company called Hydrostor is developing compressed air energy storage technology that it believes can be used on a utility scale.

The way it works is excess renewable energy is used to run compressors that compress air.  Compressing the air heats it up and the heat is captured and stored in insulated hot water tanks.  The compressed gas is then injected into underground caverns.  When energy is needed, the compressed air is released, the stored heat is added, and the warmed gas is run through turbines to generate electricity.  Additional features improve the system’s efficiency.

Hydrostore has built a 1 MW pilot project in Ontario, Canada and is now commissioning a 2MW system as well.  It is funded to build a 5 MW system in Australia next year and it is bidding for 300 MW and 500 MW systems in North America.  The company has received equity funding from Baker Hughes, a large oil-and-gas services and equipment company.

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Storing energy in compressed air could finally become cheap enough for the big time

Photo courtesy of Hydrostor.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Largest Offshore Wind Farm

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The world’s largest offshore wind farm recently began operations in the North Sea, a notoriously gusty stretch of open water that has become home to multiple large wind farms.  The new Hornsea One wind farm is located 75 miles off the east coast of Yorkshire in the United Kingdom.

The first 50 turbines are now in operation and are generating electricity for up to 287,000 homes.  When the farm is completed sometime next year, it will have 174 turbines with a total capacity of 1.2 gigawatts, enough to power a million homes.  The farm will send electricity to the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Scandinavia.  The Hornsea One farm will have more than twice the capacity of the current largest offshore operation, which is also in the UK.

Because the farm is so far from shore, teams of workers will live at sea for two to four weeks at a time maintaining it.  Such operations are unprecedented and required new ways of operating to overcome the logistical and technical challenges of operating a massive power station far from land.

The UK has the largest offshore wind generating capacity in Europe, now more than 8.2 gigawatts and accounting for 44% of Europe’s offshore wind capacity.  All that capacity is one of the big reasons that the UK has been successfully weaning itself off of coal for increasingly long periods of time.

Meanwhile, the US continues to lag far behind in offshore wind with a grand total of 0.03 gigawatts of installed capacity.  That situation may be changing after the federal government auctioned off 3 major tracts of ocean late last year that potentially could generate over 4 gigawatts of power if fully developed.

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The World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Just Came Online

Photo credit: Hornsea Project One.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Giant Wind Farm for Oklahoma

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American Electric Power (AEP) is investing $4.5 billion to build the largest wind farm in the United States at a site in the Oklahoma panhandle.  Known as the Wind Catcher Energy Connection, the 2-gigawatt wind project will include 800 2.5-megawatt wind turbines built by General Electric.

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An All-Electric Plane

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The British discount airline EasyJet recently announced a partnership with American company Wright Electric to develop an all-electric commercial airplane that they said could be flying within 10 years.  The goal of the partnership is to develop aircraft with a maximum range of 335 miles, which is long enough for many of the European routes that EasyJet flies from its hub in England.

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More Power From The Sea

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The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology or OIST has been working on ways to generate electricity from the ocean for five years.  Their initial project, known as “Sea Horse” uses submerged turbines anchored to the sea floor that convert the kinetic energy of sustained natural currents into useful electricity, which is then delivered by cables to the land.  The project has been successful and OIST is now planning the next phase.

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Tidal Turbines Set An Energy Record

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Two turbines in the Pentland Firth in Scotland recently set a world record for monthly energy production from a tidal stream power station.  In August, the MeyGen installation off the Caithness coast of Scotland produced 700 MWh of electricity, enough to power 2,000 homes.

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Offshore Wind Progress

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Last December, the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States started operation off the coast of Rhode Island.   The Fisherman’s Energy Atlantic City Windfarm off the coast of New Jersey is under construction.  With the lengthy logjam finally broken, there is increasing activity in the emerging U.S. offshore wind sector.

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Volcano Power

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Geothermal energy uses the heat trapped beneath the Earth’s surface to generate electricity.  Typically, geothermal energy plants tap into the steam from natural sources such as geysers, or they draw water from hot, high-pressure underground sources.  The hot vapors are then used to drive electric turbines.

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Storing Energy In An Old Mine

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An abandoned, centuries-old iron mine in the Adirondacks about 100 miles north of Albany, New York may become the site of a new hydroelectric energy storage system.   The mine in the tiny hamlet of Mineville near Moriah, New York contributed iron for the first naval battle of the Revolutionary War that took place on Lake Champlain.  The mine hasn’t been used in over 45 years.

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