Wind Energy Expected to Grow Dramatically
Posted on: Friday, 16 May 2008, 15:00 CDT
Wind turbines could provide 20 percent of U.S. electricity supplies by 2030, delaying development of new coal plants and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S Energy Department said in a report.
The U.S. would need to add 300,000 megawatts of wind-power capacity to generate a fifth of demand forecast for 2030 by expanding annual installations to 16,000 megawatts in a decade, up from the 5,244 megawatts completed last year. Wind will provide more than 1 percent of U.S. power this year.
Wind power is the fastest growing renewable energy source in the U.S. and made up 30 percent of all power-plant capacity last year. The addition of 293,000 megawatts of wind would require 50,000 square kilometers (31,075 miles) of land and new high-voltage transmission lines.
The wind turbines and transmission lines could be added at a present-value cost of $43 billion, and would generate power for $60 to $100 a megawatt-hour, assuming component prices decline over time and efficiency improves, the report said.
Wind "entails higher initial capital costs in many areas, yet offers lower ongoing energy costs than conventional power plants for operations, maintenance and fuel," DOE said.
FPL Group Inc., Horizon Wind Energy LLC, BP Plc and other developers, taking advantage of federal and state incentives, have struggled to keep up with demand for the renewable energy.
General Electric Co., the largest U.S. supplier of wind turbines with 45 percent of the market last year, has expanded production and still is sold out through 2009.
Generating 20 percent of electricity from wind would eliminate 7,600 million tons of carbon dioxide by displacing 18 percent of coal power and 50 percent of natural gas power. Wind would also save 4 trillion gallons of water, particularly in the West, that would have been used to spin turbines or cool fossil plants.
Developing that amount of wind power also would delay construction of 80,000 megawatts of coal-fueled power plants.
Oklahoma's largest electric utilities have invested heavily in wind power. American Electric Power-Public Service Company of Oklahoma, Tulsa's chief power provider, generates about 9 percent of its total power portfolio of 4,400 megawatts from wind.
Earlier this month, AEP-PSO, the largest provider of wind energy in the state, issued a request for proposals to add 200 megawatts of renewable energy by 2010.
Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. has also announced plans to expand its ability to provide renewable energy to its customers.
The utility has announced plans to build transmission lines in western Oklahoma that could bring additional wind power to its 762,000 customers in Oklahoma and western Arkansas.
OG&E plans to increase its wind power capacity by more than four- fold. Its 170 megawatts of wind energy could climb to 770 megawatts, the utility said.
Originally published by Staff and wire reports.
(c) 2008 Tulsa World. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Tulsa World
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds