We Saw a Chicken …

Tag: wind

  • Stewart’s Images :: AWEA 2006

    Clipper wind turbine nacelle, at AWEA06

    Stewart’s Images :: AWEA 2006 – pictures from the floor of the American Wind Energy Association trade show and conference, Pittsburgh, PA – June 4-7, 2006

  • AWEA06: by the river (or in it, nearly)

    by a river at AWEA06

    We’re not getting the best weather for the conference, but I hear that the coincidentally-running Three Rivers Arts Festival has had rain 18 out of the 20 years it has run, so noone’s surprised.

    Conference hasn’t quite started yet, but the preliminary swag is quite promising; yoyos and balsa aircraft.

    I spent the day in workshop run by KidWind, who have a school science kit for teaching the basics of wind turbine effectiveness. We got to build wind turbines, and test them. Here’s mine, big wean that I am:
    stewart's kidwind turbine

    I guess I got some losses near the hub there, but at least it worked. I was the only developer type there (there was a DoE person, and lots and lots of Pennsylvania teachers). I came away impressed, and hope I can work with Michael Arquin of KidWind to bring the project to Ontario.

    (This post has the worst GPS location ever; could only get a fix to within 100m, so that’s why the map location appears to be in the river.)

  • too many wind turbines in the UK? Hardly!

    Flying back from Denmark over the UK the other day, I hoped to see at least some wind farms. In a highly unscientific study, I peered out the window from approximately Nottingham to Iona. You know how many wind turbines I saw? Four. You know how many were working? One. Hardly something that’s taking over the landscape.

    And strangely, the one I saw working, at Chelker Reservoir, I used to drive past quite often on my way to Skipton. I’ve never seen more than a couple of those old WEG 300kW two-bladers running. I was frankly amazed there were any of them left. Even from 10000m, you could make out the herky-jerky rotation.

  • Ã…rhus, in the middle of our street

    And so our Danish Wind Odyssey draws to a close, after visiting Rinkøbing, Lem and Randers today. We’re up at an unsensible hour tomorrow to fly to Copenhagen. It was a great trip. Will post photies.

  • Danish Modern in Ringkøbing

    I’m currently checked into a hotel which reeks of 70s Danish modern — blonde wood, bare brick, smoked glass surfaces — and, like many places in Denmark, cigarette smoke. Being in the presence of an authentic Beocom phone makes up for it though:

    Beocom Phone

    Also, there’s a cute little wind farm outside; a few Vestas V27s (or smaller) on lattice towers at 56° 7′ 22.11″ N, 8° 13′ 48.94″ E:
    Little wind farm near Ringkøbing, Denmark

  • Herning: not just a gerund

    Morning in rainy Herning. Not much to say except we’re zooming off to see the wind turbine nacelle factory in Brande this morning.

  • from on high near Bøvlingbjerg

    View from the nacelle of a 2.3MW wind turbine

    (above thumbnail links to 2048×768 panoramic image.)

    It’s nice here at the Risø test centre, with a view of over 70 wind turbines across Jutland. I’m on top of a Siemens 2.3 MW turbine. There’s an elevator, before you ask how I got up an 80m tower.

  • in Aalborg

    I like Aalborg. I think we’re staying in exactly the same hotel (the Scandic) as I stayed in 10 years ago with RES. We’re going to see some really big wind turbines tomorrow.

    Oh, and the Google Maps locations I picked off for this hotel are pretty darn accurate; the one I double-clicked on for this hotel is less than 50m from my room. I like.

  • Here be small wind turbines

    Saw three little turbines just at Huntingwood and McCowan (from the pleasantly slow 169 Huntingwood bus). They’re probably the nearest (working) wind turbines to my house.
    I’ve tagged this post with their location, so you can see it on my geo mashup page.

    OEC office, with turbines

    Update: they are at the Ontario Electrical Construction Company building, and they are Fortis turbines.

  • Wind Blog » Blog Archive » On Birds

    This is good: Wind Blog » Blog Archive » On Birds.

  • i see…

    Blue skies, crops growing, grasshoppers hopping, wind turbines turbing, blue-winged swallows over my head.

    In short, it’s a beautiful day in Kingsbridge.

  • Happy Nuke Day!

    Yup, Chernobyl was 20 years ago. Let’s just have a wee pause for a technology that’s still messing us up, yet we’re told it’s the green technology of the future. Yeah, and I bet it’ll be too cheap to meter, too.
    There are still farms in Scotland affected by the fallout from Chernobyl. Though, what with all the nuke plants in Scotland, it could be any one of them that’s the real culprit.

    Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a wind farm to survey …

  • running again

    The WindShare turbine is running again – yay!

  • Hwy86 Turbine

    AOC 15/50 near Listowel

    I think it’s an AOC 15/50; note the downwind design and prominent blade tips.

    It’s near Mornington, which is SE of Listowel on Hwy 86. Catherine and I spent the weekend in Goderich, and we came home the scenic route through Wingham and St Jacobs.

  • sick little turbine

    I hear that the WindShare turbine is not well, and there is no diagnosis yet.

  • It is open!

    Donna Cansfield, provincial energy minister, officially opened Kingsbridge Wind Farm today. We had cake.

  • down on the ‘farm

    The view from Golf Course Road …

    Kingsbridge Wind Farm, near Goderich

  • no standard offer goodness for WindShare

    Tallking to the OPA today, it seems that WindShare doesn’t qualify for SOC because it’s behind ExPlace’s meter. Aargh!

    Update: I got a call from the OPA; they were wrong. Grandfathered embedded generation such as the WindShare turbine will be eligible after all.

  • This wind study brought to you by the Canadian Nuclear Association

    So there’s a new report on wind integration in Canada, written by The Conference Board of Canada. People are picking up on it, and even the doughty Refocus quotes “… electricity from onshore wind is uneconomic in comparison with traditional alternatives“. Hmm.

    So I read the report, and what do I find in the Preface?

    As part of an ongoing initiative to investigate energy policy options and the future of the Canadian energy system, the Canadian Nuclear Association contracted The Conference Board of Canada to conduct a comparative study of various countries’ experiences with supporting and implementing large-scale wind projects.

    So we’re expected to believe that the CNA would wish to have an objective and non-partisan report written on wind power, eh?

  • Standard Offer is Go – March 21

    From OSEA:

    The moment we have all been waiting for has arrived! The Ministry of Energy, the Premier, David Suzuki and OSEA will be announcing the Standard Offer Program on March 21st. We are organizing a celebration and press event in partnership with the Ministry of Energy that will take place at 3 pm at Exhibition Place, Toronto, home to Ontario’s first community wind turbine.

    Please mark this date in your calendar and watch for further notices (via email and at www.ontario-sea.org) on details regarding location, speakers and entertainment.

    This is a celebratory event – please everyone, let us celebrate the positive role the Standard Offer Contract program will play in Ontario for renewables, for community power, for cost effective power, and for our air quality and health!

    Thanks to everyone for their efforts!

    If the province has got this right, we really will see a lot more wind power in Ontario.