Renewable Energy
Kearney Hub - Twice as much new wind-generated energy capacity will be commissioned in Nebraska in the next two years than is in production today.
There are about 153 megawatts of capacity today, and more than 303 megawatts will be added by the end of 2012.
That doesn’t necessarily signal the start of a wind project explosion, according to renewable energy development managers from Nebraska Public Power District and Omaha Public Power District who spoke Tuesday at the Nebraska Wind Power 2010 Conference in Kearney.
NPPD’s David Rich of Columbus told some of the nearly 500 conference participants that the state’s wind potential is impressive. Nebraska ranks third in potential gigawatt hours and could provide 90 percent of U.S. electricity needs if the full potential could be realized.
“It works out to about 12 turbines per square mile, so it’s not really practical,” he explained.
As a fickle resource, wind can’t consistently meet base load demands. Other practical factors moderating the speed of wind power development are the lack of demand for excess power production and the need to build wind farms near transmission lines.
“We can only absorb these projects only so quickly,” said Dean Mueller, OPPD’s division manager for sustainable energy and environmental stewardship. He said wind power development is a good deal now, but it’s still hard to add production when utilities are generating enough to meet their customers’ needs.
Production tax credits for wind energy that expire on Dec. 31, 2012, are an incentive for the wind farm projects now in development. Read Full Article Here
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