QUICK NEWS, 3-29: NASA WANTS WIND FOR LAUNCH; FALLOW FARMLANDS TO GO TO SUN; DANISH COLO PLANT MAKES TURBINES FOR WISC; CA C&T AUCTION TO START SMALL

NASA WANTS WIND FOR LAUNCH
NASA Proposes Wind Turbines For Va Launch Facility
March 28, 2010 (AP via WJZ13-TV)

"NASA wants to install wind turbines on Wallops Island to generate electricity for its flight facility…

NASA says the wind turbines would generate about a third of the flight facility's electricity. The goal is reduce the facility's utility costs and meet federal energy management requirements."

Virginia's coastal winds look strong enough to launch a rocket. (click to enlarge)

"Two 2-megawatt utility-scale turbines and up to five 2.4-kilowatt residential scale turbine would be installed.

NASA says it studied several renewable energy sources, including solar and geothermal. Wind turbines are the preferred alternative."


FALLOW FARMLANDS TO GO TO SUN
Enviros, growers agree on farmland reuse for solar
Jason Dearen and Tracie Cone, March 21, 2010 (AP via Washington Post)

"Cash-strapped farmers in California's agricultural heartland and environmentalists at odds over water rights and wildlife protections finally agree on something: that thousands of acres of cracked, salty farmland is the perfect site for a sprawling utility-scale solar farm.

"The 47 square-miles of land proposed for the Westlands Solar Park in remote Kings and Fresno counties is just one of dozens of unfinished solar projects in California, but renewable energy analysts say it is a rare one that enjoys the broad support of environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, powerful agriculture interests and state government."

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"Thousands of solar panels would be located on and near the salty-white, fallowed farm land [with transmission nearby], most of which is owned by the Westlands Water District, the largest such district in the country comprised of 600,000 acres of San Joaquin Valley farmland…Once [regulatory hurdles are met and construction is] completed, the first chunk of solar proposed for the site - the total size of which is roughly that of San Francisco - could generate up to 1 gigawatt of power, or enough to energize up to one million homes…

"The embrace of solar power as a new cash crop comes at a time when the district is struggling with mounting debt…A decade ago, Westlands floated a bond to buy 100,000 acres of farm land where poor drainage had created a salt buildup called selenium, making the land unusable for growers. But with the salty land came water rights, so Westlands bought it so it could divert the water allocations to more productive farms."

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"Since then, drought and environmental issues have cut revenue to Westlands by reducing the amount of water it can sell…Westlands now sees solar power as a way to put the land back to work…[W]ith Mojave Desert solar projects shrinking in number because of recent proposed legislation…the valley has become…[a prime location for solar and] other types of energy development…

"The path to the finish line is more clearly defined here than perhaps any other project in the state right now, said Carl Zichella, Sierra Club's director of western renewable programs…[and] with the more sunny desert sites mired in a political, regulatory and environmental morass, the Valley's solar value has increased…"


DANISH COLO PLANT MAKES TURBINES FOR WISC
Wisconsin wind-farm project means work for Vestas' Colorado plants
Cathy Proctor, March 25, 2010 (Denver Business Journal)

"Vestas Wind Systems’ Colorado wind-turbine manufacturing plants will…[fill] an order for 81 turbines for a Wisconsin wind farm, the Danish company’s spokesman said…The plants will make giant blades and steel towers and assemble nacelle housing for the project…

"Vestas said it had received an order from We Energies for 81 wind turbines, model V90-1.8 MW, for the Glacier Hills Wind Park…The turbines will be delivered in early 2011, with commissioning for the 145-megawatt project expected by the end of 2011. The order also includes a two-year service and maintenance agreement…"

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"The wind farm will help We Energies meet the state’s requirement to get 10 percent of the utility’s power from renewable energy resources by 2015…The total cost of the Glacier Hills wind farm is expected to be about $452.1 million, including site work, turbines and transmission lines…The capital cost of the farm alone is expected to be between $335.2 million and $413.5 million, depending on the turbines…"

Thanks to Vestas, Colorado stands out. (click to enlarge)

"Vestas is one of the largest manufacturers of wind turbines in the world. The company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Colorado to build a wind blade manufacturing plant in Windsor…[It] opened in March 2008…had a production shutdown during the first quarter, due to a drop in orders for wind turbines in 2009 stemming from the recession…[and] is expected to resume manufacturing within the next two months…

"The company also is completing the world’s largest tower plant in Pueblo, plus a nacelles assembly plant in Brighton and a second wind blade plant in Brighton. The new plants are expected to be up and running by the end of the year…Vestas supplied 88 wind turbines, model V82-1.65 MW, to We Energies in 2007 for the Blue Sky Green Field wind farm in Fon du Lac County, which started operations in 2008."


CA CAP&TRADE AUCTION TO START SMALL
Schwarzenegger Urges ‘Very Small’ Carbon Auctions
Simon Lomax (w/Joe Link and Richard Stubbe), March 25, 2010 (Bloomberg News via BusinessWeek)

"California’s planned cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases shouldn’t make industrial companies buy large numbers of pollution allowances at auction when it starts in 2012, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said…

"California’s 2006 global warming law aims to cut the state’s greenhouse gases to their 1990 level by 2020. The law authorized the air resources board to develop regulations, including a cap-and-trade program…If all the allowances are auctioned instead of given away at the beginning of the cap-and-trade program…[the transition could be too costly for] power plants, oil refineries and factories…"

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"Carbon allowances sold for $20 to $60 each would be worth $2.51 billion to $7.53 billion in 2012 and $7.3 billion to $21.9 billion in 2020, the panel, called the Economic and Allocation Advisory Committee, said…[Much] of the revenue should be used for rebates or tax breaks for California households, the panel said. Making polluters pay for most, if not all, the emission rights they need is better…

"Environmental groups in California support auctioning all the cap-and-trade program’s allowances. Companies to be regulated under the California cap-and-trade program, including oil refiners BP Plc and Chevron Corp., oppose the auction plan, which they say will drive up their costs and give interstate and international competitors an edge."

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"The air resources board, which will write the rules of the state’s cap-and-trade program, should use…[free] allowances to reward companies that have already cut their emissions [but not penalize California business]…

"To further limit the cost of the state’s global-warming program, regulators should give companies access to [offsets similar to those used in Europe’s Cap&Trade system]…Offsets are pollution-cutting projects from unregulated sources, such as farms and forests, which power plants, oil refineries and factories covered by a cap-and-trade program can buy instead of cutting back their own emissions…"