Somerset wind turbines seen as aviation hazard
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Federal Aviation Administration says that half of the 30 windmills proposed by Gamesa Energy USA for a controversial wind power project on an ecologically sensitive ridge area in Somerset County are a hazard to aviation.
Opponents of the wind turbine project hope the FAA's preliminary finding will shut it down, but FAA officials say even a final determination would not stop the development.
The project would be located in the watershed of two of the state's highest quality trout streams and along the Allegheny Front ridge, a major bird and bat migratory route, of Shaffer Mountain in the northeastern part of the county.
"It should be the end of the project, but I think Gamesa will call in some of its political clout to get the FAA to back off," said Jack Buchan, a member of Sensible Wind Solutions, which opposes the development.
Gamesa said the FAA findings won't affect the proposed project, which experienced delays in securing state permits for the 22,000-acre site. The state Department of Environmental Protection rejected Gamesa's first three permit applications as incomplete and is considering a fourth submission.
The FAA said that 15 of the 404-foot-tall wind turbines exceed "obstruction standards and/or would have an adverse physical or electromagnetic interference effect" on the airspace above ridge or nearby airports and flight routes.
But Laura Brown, an FAA spokeswoman, said the presumed hazard determination is the first step in a give-and-take process between the FAA and the developer that could alter the height and location of the turbines.
Even a final FAA determination that a project is a hazard to aviation doesn't mean it won't be built because the FAA has no legal authority to stop any development, Ms. Brown said. But such a determination can make it hard for a development to get insurance coverage.
Gamesa was invited to the state by Gov. Ed Rendell in 2004 as part of a green jobs initiative. The company manufactures turbines in Ebensburg, Cambria County.
If all 30 turbines planned for the Shaffer Mountain project are built, they would have a maximum electric power generation capacity of 66 megawatts, enough to power 30,000 homes.
Don Hopey can be reached at dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Turbines Still New, in Manufacturing Infancy
New Knowledge about Materials to Increase Wind Turbine Reliability
Summary posted by Meridian on 1/5/2010
Source: Nanowerk
Author: n/a
The Danish Council for Strategic Research’s Programme Commission on Energy and Environment, Denmark, has granted funding for a new center at Risø Technical University of Denmark (DTU), to be called the Danish Centre for Composite Structures and Materials (DCCSM). The new center will conduct research to increase the operating reliability of wind turbines. Wind turbines are usually made from composite materials and are designed to last for at least 20 years, but during this period they are exposed to harsh weather, and are often located in areas that make servicing the machines expensive and challenging. Reliability, and minimizing stoppages, is paramount. The DCCSM will look to improve its understanding of what makes a nanoscale defect morph into a major fracture that can cause a wind turbine to stop completely. Sensors that detect damage as early as possible, at the nanoscale level, will need to be developed in order to repair and replace blades before the turbine suffers a stoppage. The DCCSM will also conduct research on best materials, design and manufacture of wind turbine blades. The article can be viewed online at the link below.
The original article may still be available at www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=14215.php
Summary posted by Meridian on 1/5/2010
Source: Nanowerk
Author: n/a
The Danish Council for Strategic Research’s Programme Commission on Energy and Environment, Denmark, has granted funding for a new center at Risø Technical University of Denmark (DTU), to be called the Danish Centre for Composite Structures and Materials (DCCSM). The new center will conduct research to increase the operating reliability of wind turbines. Wind turbines are usually made from composite materials and are designed to last for at least 20 years, but during this period they are exposed to harsh weather, and are often located in areas that make servicing the machines expensive and challenging. Reliability, and minimizing stoppages, is paramount. The DCCSM will look to improve its understanding of what makes a nanoscale defect morph into a major fracture that can cause a wind turbine to stop completely. Sensors that detect damage as early as possible, at the nanoscale level, will need to be developed in order to repair and replace blades before the turbine suffers a stoppage. The DCCSM will also conduct research on best materials, design and manufacture of wind turbine blades. The article can be viewed online at the link below.
The original article may still be available at www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=14215.php
Natives Fight Cape Cod Wind Farm
From The Independent World
Native tribes fight Cape Cod wind farm
Ten-year battle to build US's biggest wind turbines approaches endgame
By David Usborne in New York
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
AP
The unspoilt view east from Popponesset beach in Mashpee, Massachusetts
The plan to build an enormous wind farm in Nantucket Sound, off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, has seen off a string of formidable enemies. They include the Kennedy clan, and others among the old money families of the coast, and Bill Koch, the billionaire oil and coal tycoon, the main financial force behind the opposition. The struggle to obtain the necessary permits has been under way for almost a decade.
The installation would, if constructed, be the biggest offshore wind farm in the US by far and would lend a much-needed shot of credibility to President Barack Obama's efforts to boost the renewable energy industry.
Last year, the battle appeared to have turned in the favour of the project, named Cape Wind, after a long-awaited environmental impact assessment concluded that the proposed wind turbines – 130 of them, each one 440ft high, spread over an area the size of Manhattan – would present negligible ecological problems.
But all bets were off again after complaints from two Indian tribes on Martha's Vineyard, the Mashpee Wampanoag and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head. Wampanoag means "people of the first light", and the tribes maintain that Nantucket Sound is integral to their spiritual traditions of watching the sun rise in the east.
Their worship requires unrestricted views, they claim. And the project would also disturb their ancestral burial grounds. The National Park Service has heeded their plea, and the entire area of ocean has been listed for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
It is not necessarily the death knell for Cape Wind. Supporters of the project say the Wampanoag's land is on the western side of Martha's Vineyard, which does not face Nantucket Sound. But it is certain to lend new hope to its opponents.
The Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has summoned all the parties involved in the debate to meet in Washington DC next week with a view to settling the issue by 1 March. "After several years of review, it is now time to move the Cape Wind proposal to a final decision point," Mr Salazar said in a statement.
The talks would, he added, "discuss how we might find a common-sense agreement on actions that could be taken to minimise and mitigate Cape Wind's potential impacts on historic and cultural resources."
That Washington is now expressing a fresh urgency about resolving the stand-off drew a tentative welcome from Cape Wind. "While we found the National Park Service decision disappointing, far more important is that Secretary Salazar has signalled the beginning of his personal involvement in bringing the Cape Wind permitting process to a speedy conclusion," a spokesman for the project, Mark Rodgers, commented.
The late Senator Kennedy was part of a coalition of Cape Cod residents and sailors who argue that the turbines, which would be clearly visible from shore on a clear day, would do grave damage to the area's tourism industry and spoil its natural beauty.
But they in turn were bitterly criticised by environmentalists who saw the coalition as having entered an unholy alliance with the coal industry, one of America's dirtiest industries, and of being guilty of stark hypocrisy over the affair.
The farm, first proposed in 2001, would cost at least $1bn to build. It would be visible from Nantucket itself and from Martha's Vineyard. Both islands are important magnets for prosperous summer visitors.
Mr Obama, who spent his summer holiday last year on the Cape Cod coast, has been careful not to take sides publicly on the controversy.
Native tribes fight Cape Cod wind farm
Ten-year battle to build US's biggest wind turbines approaches endgame
By David Usborne in New York
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
AP
The unspoilt view east from Popponesset beach in Mashpee, Massachusetts
The plan to build an enormous wind farm in Nantucket Sound, off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, has seen off a string of formidable enemies. They include the Kennedy clan, and others among the old money families of the coast, and Bill Koch, the billionaire oil and coal tycoon, the main financial force behind the opposition. The struggle to obtain the necessary permits has been under way for almost a decade.
The installation would, if constructed, be the biggest offshore wind farm in the US by far and would lend a much-needed shot of credibility to President Barack Obama's efforts to boost the renewable energy industry.
Last year, the battle appeared to have turned in the favour of the project, named Cape Wind, after a long-awaited environmental impact assessment concluded that the proposed wind turbines – 130 of them, each one 440ft high, spread over an area the size of Manhattan – would present negligible ecological problems.
But all bets were off again after complaints from two Indian tribes on Martha's Vineyard, the Mashpee Wampanoag and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head. Wampanoag means "people of the first light", and the tribes maintain that Nantucket Sound is integral to their spiritual traditions of watching the sun rise in the east.
Their worship requires unrestricted views, they claim. And the project would also disturb their ancestral burial grounds. The National Park Service has heeded their plea, and the entire area of ocean has been listed for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
It is not necessarily the death knell for Cape Wind. Supporters of the project say the Wampanoag's land is on the western side of Martha's Vineyard, which does not face Nantucket Sound. But it is certain to lend new hope to its opponents.
The Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has summoned all the parties involved in the debate to meet in Washington DC next week with a view to settling the issue by 1 March. "After several years of review, it is now time to move the Cape Wind proposal to a final decision point," Mr Salazar said in a statement.
The talks would, he added, "discuss how we might find a common-sense agreement on actions that could be taken to minimise and mitigate Cape Wind's potential impacts on historic and cultural resources."
That Washington is now expressing a fresh urgency about resolving the stand-off drew a tentative welcome from Cape Wind. "While we found the National Park Service decision disappointing, far more important is that Secretary Salazar has signalled the beginning of his personal involvement in bringing the Cape Wind permitting process to a speedy conclusion," a spokesman for the project, Mark Rodgers, commented.
The late Senator Kennedy was part of a coalition of Cape Cod residents and sailors who argue that the turbines, which would be clearly visible from shore on a clear day, would do grave damage to the area's tourism industry and spoil its natural beauty.
But they in turn were bitterly criticised by environmentalists who saw the coalition as having entered an unholy alliance with the coal industry, one of America's dirtiest industries, and of being guilty of stark hypocrisy over the affair.
The farm, first proposed in 2001, would cost at least $1bn to build. It would be visible from Nantucket itself and from Martha's Vineyard. Both islands are important magnets for prosperous summer visitors.
Mr Obama, who spent his summer holiday last year on the Cape Cod coast, has been careful not to take sides publicly on the controversy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
