Wind Power News: News
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
Wind energy outlook bleak for U.S., Europe
The outlook remains bumpy for the wind-power industry after regulatory turmoil along with flattening demand in China hampered growth in key markets last year, according to a report from the Global Wind Energy Council released Tuesday at the European Wind Energy Association’s annual event in Copenhagen. Potentially sluggish demand after presidential elections in the U.S. and Europe’s debt troubles are further expected to weigh on the industry’s growth potential in coming years, while new markets in South America and Canada . . .
Wind investment suffers global decline
Private investment and finance for wind power declined last year, offset by a surge of interest in solar energy, according to research. Analysis by the Pew Charitable Trusts of the G20 nations revealed a 15% decline in global wind investment between 2010 and 2011, despite a 6.3% increase in private investment in renewable energy technology worldwide. Solar was the main beneficiary of this general upturn, enjoying a 44% increase in investment to $128 billion and accounting for more than half . . .
Siemens windmill woes clip investor return as delays persist
Siemens AG (SIE) Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher lent his face to a company advertising campaign last month that promoted a greater focus on renewable energy. Investors are still waiting for evidence the foray will pay off. Siemens may have to lower its full-year profit goal when it reports earnings next week. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predict net income of about 5.57 billion euros ($7.32 billion), compared with Siemens’s own target of 6 billion euros. The power-transmission unit may book . . .
Clean energy could lead to scarce materials
Rising demand for wind turbines and electric vehicles could strain supplies of some rare earth metals. As the world moves toward greater use of low-carbon and zero-carbon energy sources, a possible bottleneck looms, according to a new MIT study: the supply of certain metals needed for key clean-energy technologies. Wind turbines, one of the fastest-growing sources of emissions-free electricity, rely on magnets that use the rare earth element neodymium. And the element dysprosium is an essential ingredient in some electric . . .
Vestas, Gamesa warn of possible faults in older turbines
Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) and Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA, two of the four biggest wind turbine manufacturers, warned clients of possible flaws in a pair of their older models. Gamesa told customers of a potential fault in a component of the G-47 660-kilowatt turbine, a spokeswoman for the Spanish company said today by phone. Vestas also told clients about a possible flaw in the “root part” of the blades for the V47 turbine of the same capacity, spokesman Andrew . . .
Vestas, Gamesa dispute cost, scope of old turbine flaw
Vestas and Gamesa dispute an analyst’s estimate of the scope and cost of a fault affecting some of their older wind turbines. The two turbine giants were put on the defensive by a report from Maurice Rosenthal, ING Groep NV analyst, alerting investors to the problem, which appears to affect a component joining the blades to the hub of older 660kW turbines from both companies. The report gained broader attention from a Bloomberg story and weighed on Vestas and Gamesa . . .
Birds would take a beating
Re “City spins idea for wind rotors atop buildings” (news article, Feb. 29, 2012): I oppose the positioning of these 55-foot wind turbines on top of buildings. These turbines can pose a danger to the community in the event of storms and hurricanes. These turbines pose a hazard to our rapidly declining birds. Large numbers of these passerines, hawks and other birds would be mutilated and killed by these turbines. Warblers, swallows, vireos, flycatchers and other birds eat vast numbers . . .
Wind turbine growth to slow as market looks east: BTM
The world’s top wind turbine maker Vestas shed market share in 2011 in a global sector forecast to grow much more weakly in the next five years. Vestas’s Chinese rivals again grabbed four spots among the world’s top 10 players, according to Danish consultancy BTM Consult which blamed government austerity measures for the cut in its industry growth rate outlook by one third compared with 2011. BTM also said Europe lost out to Asia as the largest wind power continent . . .
Study: Fuel demand not cut by alternative energy
There aren’t enough wind turbines in the world to outpower humankind’s appetite for energy, a study by University of Oregon researcher Richard York has found. Photovoltaic cells haven’t outgenerated the growing demand, on average, in the 130 countries that comprise much of the inhabited world, York found in a study that will appear in an upcoming issue of Nature Climate Change journal. All the alternative energy types developed over the past half-century, including nuclear power, have done little to stem . . .
Noise pollution is changing forests
A few years ago, researchers discovered that in areas polluted by human-made noise, a species of hummingbird seemed to increase in population, while a jay species seemed to decrease. The same researchers now report that noisy areas have more flowers, but fewer trees. The findings appear in the current issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. It’s a domino effect, said Clinton D. Francis, an evolutionary ecologist at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, N.C. . . .
