Wind turbines likened to chocolate teapots...

Mike Lowson, Press and Journal Columnist wrote a very engaging article about wind turbines in Scotland, claiming wind energy is "as practical as a chocolate teapot".

He recounts statistics (which we've already mentioned on this blog) regarding the poor under performance of Scotland's present wind turbines - a mere 17% of capacity for five months in 2010 with 5% or less for a third of that period.

Mr Lowson would much rather see investment in tidal energy and after reading his column you may also find yourself in agreement.

I've always believed that the key to renewable energy is making the tools we already use more efficient. Wind, solar or tidal, it doesn't really matter. What matters is getting the most from the resources rather than just blindly building more of them.

You may not agree with the column's conclusions but you'll hopefully enjoy reading it. Click here to do so now.

photo credit: sarah robinson

Scottish green energy projects receive a slap in the face

New business rates based on an assessment two years ago in Scotland could see some renewable energy projects abandoned.

That was the verdict of Lib Dem environment spokesman Liam McArthur in an article in The Scotsman, as experts warn that specialist firms are struggling to cope with the new rates.

Where some wind farm business rates have doubled, hydro schemes have seen their business rates increase five-fold.

The green energy sector in Scotland is one of the worst affected industry sectors by the 2010 re-evaluation.

If you'd like to read a more in-depth report, including a reply from the Scottish Government, click here to visit The Scotsman.

photo credit: erikpaterson

It's an ill wind that blows

A few days ago, we posted how the 'green' science community was getting pretty hot under the collar following the recent 'climategate' and other renewable energy figures being called into question, and how they weren't going to take it anymore.

So when I spotted this story about Renewable UK considering filing a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission regarding a story the Sunday Times published about 'inefficient' wind farms, I thought this was the start.

It all centres around a report that the Sunday Times published calling into question the actual efficiency of wind farms around the uK, citing that several were not performing as well as they'd said they would.

However, it seems that the paper failed to mention that the figures it based its story on were from a report prepared by a lobby group opposed to onshore wind farms.

I'll let you read the full report on the Business Green website. If you're thinking of tracking down the original article on the Time's website - hurry up before they start charging for content.

photo credit: pescatello

Wind energy in Spain hits new record

Meanwhile.... over on the European Wind Energy Association's website, there's exciting news from Spain where apparently, on the 5th of November, wind energy reached a new record providing at it's peak, 45.1% of Spain's total electricity demand.

By 2020, Spain is expected to double its wind-power producing capacity from the current 16GW to 40GW.

You can read the full article from the Spanish Wind Energy Association by clicking here.

photo credit: maese

60,000 Wind Energy engineers and technicians required

Spotted on Electric website...

"UK government officials, power sector business leaders and academics signed an agreement to start training over 60,000 new wind energy engineers and technicians. The recent Wind & Renewables Skills Sector Accord was inked by Paul Cowling, UK Managing Director of RWE Npower Renewables; Chris Ehlers, UK Divisional Managing Director of Siemens; and Mark Andrews, an Apprenticeship Ambassador.

Under the contract, which was signed at the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) Summit in Liverpool, industry players have decided to develop training programmes and a skills route map for green collar workers to enter the industry."

The agreement comes amidst projections that the wind power industry in the UK will grow 10-fold form the current 6,000 jobs to 60,000 by 2020.

Time to dust off those C.V's!

Read the full article by clicking here.

photo credit: bethrankin

Wind Power breaks 4GW barrier in UK

The UK passed a major milestone last week with the commissioning of three wind farms, taking the UK to 4 Gigawatts of installed capacity.

The latest 1GW of capacity being added in less that a year - compare this with the first 1GW taking 14 years to deliver in 2005, 20 months for the second GW and a year and a half for the third.

UK wind power now powers the equivalent of Scotland's household needs, or 2.3 million homes.

And the good news is that the industry expects to see GW's 5 and 6 installed by the end of next year.

There are another 9GW worth of schemes in planning waiting for approval which would take our capacity to over 20GW - well on target for the Governments 30GW target, however with onshore approvals by local councils falling to a new low with just 25% of applications being approved, how likely is it that the UK will actually meet that target?

Read the full article online at SOAWorld Magazine - click here.

photo credit: phil parker

Everything is Bigger in Texas - $1 billion wind farm goes live

News from across the 'pond' reaches the Solar Panel Quotes desk that in Texas, everything really is bigger!

In a State typically associated with oil barons, cattle ranches and 10 gallon hats, last week, one of the world's biggest wind farms began operations outside Roscoe, Texas.

The wind farm has a capacity of 781.5MW from 627 wind turbines which cover an area of about 100,000 acres. 1 acre roughly equals the size of a football field.

Read more by clicking here to visit CleanTech Brief.

photo credit: linnybinnypix

Feed in Tariffs - Wind could be a better bet than Solar

From the pages of The Guardian website in July 2009, came a report on the Governments announcement of illustrative figures for Feed-in-Tariffs.

"After months of deliberation, the UK government has announced a range of illustrative figures for feed-in tariffs (FITs), which it's calling a Clean Energy Cashback scheme. FITs are fixed payments made to the owners of small generating stations for the electricity that they export to the grid. Micro-generators need high payments to justify their expensive investment in buying and installing green generation."

The Guardian's report makes an interesting case for Wind power being a better return on investment than Solar Panels, depending on where you live etc, and assuming the proposed figures become a reality of course.

Read the full Guardian report by clicking here.

photo credit: jamesjhs