US DoE report: Enabling Wind Power Nationwide; Offshore wind; UMass/UML R&D

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Alex Brown

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May 27, 2015, 3:08:01 PM5/27/15
to Listserve UML Climate
US Department of Energy report:  "Enabling Wind Power Nationwide"
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/05/f22/Enabling-Wind-Power-Nationwide_18MAY2015_FINAL.pdf
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Wind and Water Power Technologies Office has evaluated the potential for wind power to generate electricity in all 50 states, concluding:

1. The United States has vast wind resources across all 50 states. Continued advancements in turbine technology–including those that enable higher hub heights, larger rotors, and improved energy capture–can access the stronger and more consistent wind resources typically found at greater heights above ground level They also enable wind to be a true nationwide economic resource;

2. Advancements in wind technologies have already yielded broad cost-competitive deployment in locations with high wind speeds. Market trends and technological innovations are increasingly unlocking cost-effective wind in regions with more moderate wind resources;

3. Based on an advanced turbine concept and assuming hub heights of 110 meters (m) (which are already in wide commercial deployment in Germany and other European countries), the technical potential for wind deployment is estimated to grow to 4.3 million square kilometers, a 54% increase compared to current technology with 80-m hub heights. By pursuing hub heights of 140 m, the technical potential for wind deployment is estimated to grow to 4.6 million square kilometers, a 67% increase compared to current technology with 80-m hub heights (Figure ES-1). The geographic distribution for this expanded wind technical resource would include new regions such as the Southeast, as well as increasing the already cost-effective areas where wind power is currently installed; and

4. Improvements in siting practices have contributed to the deployment of 65 gigawatts (GW) in cumulative installed wind capacity (as of 2014). Pursuing more moderate resource quality sites can and should be done in coordination with the broad stakeholder community for wind to coexist with the environment and federal and state agency missions.
Also:  http://www.energy.gov/windvision

Thanks to TakePart.com:  http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/05/26/us-could-get-third-its-electricity-wind-and-will-save-billions-gallons-water
... But getting 404 gigawatts in 48 states by 2050 will require a major expansion of offshore wind power from nothing today to 86 gigawatts in 35 years. 

Offshore Wind Farms Could Supply Much of the U.S.'s Electricity (If They Ever Get Built)
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/how-to/361941/   (May 8, 2014)

UMass and UML wind energy research and development:

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