Wind briefly provides 25 pct of Spain's energy

Reuters ^ | 1/16/2008 | Joe Ortiz

[Uncledave]

MADRID, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Wind power at one moment on Wednesday provided Spain with a record 25 percent of its energy needs as output touched 9,563 megawatts, beating the previous record of 8,375 MW set in March last year.

Red Electrica (REE.MC: Quote, Profile, Research), which operates the electricity network, said that at 1427 GMT demand nationally was 36,638 MW, of which 29 percent was satisfied by combined cycle power stations, 16 percent from nuclear power plants and 15 percent from coal-fired stations.

Among other sources, hydroelectric power provided just 3 percent of power needs, Red Electrica said.

Many parts of northern and eastern Spain have been under alert for high winds this week with the northwest coast of Galicia battered by storms. (Reporting by Joe Ortiz, editing by Anthony Barker)

[Uncledave]

Renewable Energy Ping

Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off

[OB1kNOb]

I wonder what it provides them on average though.

[chimera]

The title says it all: briefly. A modern nation that aspires to be a significant player on the world economic stage needs reliable, continuous energy, not brief spurts. Small countries who are minor players can get by on fits and spurts, but the big boys need energy on demand in large quantities.

[DungeonMaster]

That’s excellent!!!

[WakeUpAndVote]

And how much is nuclear/coal/oil?

Anyone?

[Uncledave]

The title says it all: briefly.

The point is that it's growing in importance and usefulness. This isn't some static point they're at. Spain has done an excellent job with integrating wind onto their grid and managing that power. In fact, their utilities and wind developers are buying up wind assets in our country.

[thefactor]

a local ski area has one massive propeller spinning on top of the mountain. it is quite impressive! you can hear it cut through the wind. my girlfriend was freaked out. it looks like a killer transformer coming over the mountain.

[TRY ONE]

The title says it all: briefly.

Wind & Solar are alright, but NUKES do it ALL night!

[patch789]

replace the word ‘energy’ with ‘electricity’.

[The_Reader_David]

I heat my house with natural gas—reliable continuous energy, but I burn less of it when I decide to build a fire in my Franklin stove and use renewable wood energy (should we make it sound trendy and green and call it ‘biosolar’?).

Out here in the Great Plains, the wind is pretty constant, as it is in some costal areas. Sure, you need some instant-on gas turbine generators to replace it when the wind dies down, but modern wind-turbines will cut the nation’s energy bill the same way my wood stove—used only on really cold nights and when we feel like watching a fire—does for my household. (I’ve never bought wood for it: ‘forestry’ on my 1/3 acre lot which fronts a stream, and is thus partly the typical Kansas ‘gallery forest’, plus picking up firewood neighbors are discarding has given me plenty, with only ‘infrastructure costs’ of buying an ax, some wedges, a sledgehammer, and a chainsaw (and maintenance on the same).

Also, there are various technologies for storing wind energy when the electricity generated exceeds demand (one clever scheme is to compess air with the excess energy, then use it to drive the same turbine when the wind is down and electric demand is up).

[BluH2o]

Flew from Atlanta to Madrid a few years ago. As the aircraft approached the NW coast of Spain, in the early morning light, numerous wind mill farms could be spotted along the tops of mountain ridges. The same goes for southern Spain near Tarifa as you enter the Straits of Gibraltar. Spain probably is foremost in Europe in utilizing this power source.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Thank you Hildabeast and the other dims of the dimocrat party that continue to keep our country in the dark.........

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

Spain probably is foremost in Europe in utilizing this power source.

Try Denmark and then Germany. Germany has the most installed capacity in the world. The Danish have the largest (consistent) percentage supplied by wind.

Of course the Dutch have been using wind power for centuries, so they win the longevity prize.

[woollyone]

good thing your bird didn’t blindly fly into one of them...I hear they’re deadly to birds!

[thackney]

one clever scheme is to compess air with the excess energy, then use it to drive the same turbine when the wind is down and electric demand is up

Clever is a relative term. Compressing air creates a lot of wasted energy lost to heat. Pumped hydro (pumping uphill to a reservoir feeding a hydro power plant) doesn't not have near the losses of compressed air.

[Uncledave]

Compressing air creates a lot of wasted energy lost to heat. Pumped hydro (pumping uphill to a reservoir feeding a hydro power plant) doesn't not have near the losses of compressed air.

Of course, you have to be near a dam to make use of this.

One neat thing about the compressed air storage option is that the wind turbines can be designed much more simply, inexpensively, and easier to maintain. You just run the compressor right off the drive shaft - no need to deal with anything electrical, and all the gearing is much simpler.

These guys are out in front of it: http://www.generalcompression.com/about-us/

[Uncledave]

Meant to include you on #16

[thackney]

You would need to be near a salt dome to store a significant amount of compressed air. The most impressive thing I see done at your link is raise money from investors.