Omaha Forums

OPPD gets 12 proposals to provide wind energy

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2 ... d=10458697

NANCY GAARDER WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:Seems like there's plenty of interest in helping the Omaha Public Power District more fully embrace wind power.

The uility on Friday received 12 proposals to provide it up to 80 megawatts of wind energy.

NANCY GAARDER WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:Nichols said its possible that OPPD could formalize its wind power agreements by April. The utility would like to add the wind power to its grid no later than 2010.

For more years than anyone cares to remember, Sen. Don Preister has ineffectively pursued renewable energy solutions.  Unfortunately, he, like most of his feel good, save the planet advocates ignore the fact that energy from wind is unreliable and very EXPENSIVE.  Without government incentives (that would be your taxes and mine) wind generation and ethanol are boondoggles that would have never hit the market because they do not cash flow.

And now Sen. Preister wants to mandate that Nebraska public power districts should provide at least 10% of your power from "green" sources.  It is another one of his crackpot ideas and fortunately for Nebraskans, the vast majority of senators will continue to pay little attention to what Sen. Preister thinks.

Want the best power generation bang for our buck ?   Expand the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant and build more just like them!

Nuclear can be part of the solution but it cannot be the only solution. It needs to be a combination of wind, solar, hydrogen, natural gas, etc. If we are too dependent on a single source of energy we'll be in the same boat that we're in with Oil.

Nebraska lawmaker sees bright future for wind energy

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2 ... d=10525354

ROBERT PORE, THE GRAND ISLAND INDEPENDENT wrote:GRAND ISLAND, Neb. -- With Elkhorn Ridge wind farm in Knox County set to open this month, State Sen. Annette Dubas of Fullerton is optimistic about Nebraska’s wind energy future.

The $140 million Elkhorn Ridge wind farm, from which Grand Island will be buying 1 percent of its energy needs, will have 27 wind turbines, the largest wind farm in Nebraska.

The reason for Dubas’ optimism is the release of the National Renewable Energy Lab economic development report that she said paints a “thriving future for the Nebraska economy and embraces wind business development.’’

The report, Dubas said, estimates economic impacts in Nebraska based off of the Department of Energy’s “20 percent Wind Energy by 2030’’ numbers.

ROBERT PORE, THE GRAND ISLAND INDEPENDENT wrote:She said the report projects 64,400 to 117,000 total new “full-time equivalent’’ jobs will be created through renewable energy development, including construction workers, road crews, on-site managers, technicians, local hardware stores/employees and spare parts retailers. That would amount to $7.4 billion to $14.4 billion in total increased economic development into the state.

Jobs, she said, may include payments to supporting businesses, such as banks, construction companies, component suppliers and steel manufactures.

The report also estimates a $570 million increase in total property tax payments because of wind power.

I'm having a hard time seeing the wind turbine contractor making a difference in the bottom line of the local Ace Hardware store... "Aw heck, they didn't send bolts with our multi million dollar wind turbines... go run down and pick some up Joe".


It's phenomenal how many wind turbines they have in Iowa now... many sprouting up just to our east.  I don't understand why the Nebraska taxpayers (ie our public utilities) can't qualify for a federal tax credit... in the same way private energy companies can.

Stargazer wrote:It's phenomenal how many wind turbines they have in Iowa now... many sprouting up just to our east.  I don't understand why the Nebraska taxpayers (ie our public utilities) can't qualify for a federal tax credit... in the same way private energy companies can.

I drove to KC this winter and they are all over the hills on the way down 29 through.  The other cool thing I have been seeing is on the new episodes of "This Old House" is the use of solar panels on the roof to make electricity and to sell the excess back to the local utility.

Here is another wind Story:

OPPD rides wind power into future

http://omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10543688

Nancy Gaarder - http://www.omaha.com wrote:The Omaha Public Power District plans to make wind energy its next big source of electricity, while also working with customers to cut electrical use.

The goal is to forestall, by possibly 10 years, a major power plant project that likely would cost a billion-plus dollars. The utility just completed a $710 million coal plant near Nebraska City that goes on line this spring.

Gary Gates, chief executive officer of OPPD, said that the utility has set a goal of generating 10 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020. Most of that is expected to come from wind turbines, because most other forms of renewable energy, notably solar, are not yet as affordable.

I bet they're just going to 'buy it' as they need it from Mid American across the river.

Where's the plan for the OPPD wind farm mentioned?

Once again, OPPD's big investment in alternative forms of energy will amount to nothing more than 'public education'.

I drove through Iowa and Minnesota last week on my way to Wisconsin.  I could not believe how many large wind farms there are in both states.  Very impressive.

Greg

Did you know that a wind farm has a typical capacity factor of only 35-40%?

Did you know that the capacity factor of the  Ainsworth NE wind energy facility has been declining for the past three years?

Did you know that the Nevada Solar One facility, the third-largest solar power plant in the world, has a capacity factor of less than 25%?

Did you...once work for sports center?

Still cleaner than anything else.....  Helps the local economy's too.

The net capacity factor of a power plant is the ratio of the actual output of a power plant over a period of time and its output if it had operated at full nameplate capacity the entire time. To calculate the capacity factor, total the energy the plant produced during a period of time and divide by the energy the plant would have produced at full capacity. Electrical energy is usually measured in kilowatt hours, or megawatt-hours in the electrical industry. Kilowatts or megawatts alone are not units of energy. They are units of power. Energy is power multiplied by time. Capacity factors vary greatly depending on the type of fuel that is used and the design of the plant. The capacity factor should not be confused with the availability factor.

Typical capacity factors
Wind farms 20-40%. [5][6]
Photovoltaic solar in Massachussets 12-15%.[5]
Photovoltaic solar in Arizona 19%[7]
Thermal solar power tower 73%[8]
Themal solar parabolic trough 56%[8]
Nuclear 60% to over 100%, U.S. average 92%.[5] Worldwide average varied between about 81% to 87% between 1995 and 2005.[9]
Base load coal plant 70-90%[5]
Combined cycle gas plant, about 60%[5]

build more nuclear!

OPPD wants 400 megawatts of wind power by 2020.  How many turbines would that require?

omaproud wrote:OPPD wants 400 megawatts of wind power by 2020.  How many turbines would that require?

If I remember right, the new ones coming on line are 5 MW so they would need 80.

The newest Nebraska wind farm (Elkhorn Ridge near Bloomfield) has 27 wind turbines rated at 3 MW each.  

It is misleading to refer to wind farms in terms of MW because a 80 MW wind farm is not equivalent to a 80 MW conventional power plant.   You cannot tell a wind turbine how much power to produce.   The lower capacity factors for wind turbines are because the wind speed is below design velocity most of the time.  An 80 MW wind farm will produce about as much energy per year as a 35 MW conventional generator.

Dark Eyes wrote:It is misleading to refer to wind farms in terms of MW because a 80 MW wind farm is not equivalent to a 80 MW conventional power plant.   You cannot tell a wind turbine how much power to produce.   The lower capacity factors for wind turbines are because the wind speed is below design velocity most of the time.  An 80 MW wind farm will produce about as much energy per year as a 35 MW conventional generator.

So...an 80MW wind farm will produce about as much energy per year as a 35MW conventional generator, or as much waste as a 0.01MW conventional generator?

I was merely pointing out what may be a common misconception about wind power.  

If the local utility announces it will add 200 MW of wind turbines, that does not mean the utility will be able to punch up 200 MW of wind power anytime it wants.   Far from it.

Wind power may be emissions-free but it is not without disadvantages.  

One of which is that the energy content of wind varies with the cube of wind speed.  Which means a + or - 5 mph variation in wind speed can cause substantial fluctuations in power output.   (Do the math.)   Seems like this would be a scary prospect to an electric system operator trying to maintain steady voltages on the grid.

Wind power would be no different than other forms of power - some is dedicated to base load, some is dedicated to peak load.  If wind power can prolong the time before we need to build more coal-powered plants, where's the harm?

icejammer wrote:Wind power would be no different than other forms of power - some is dedicated to base load, some is dedicated to peak load.  If wind power can prolong the time before we need to build more coal-powered plants, where's the harm?

Wind turbines are not equivalent to fossil-fueled power plants because of the way they operate.

Base load power plants run all the time at close to 100% rated capacity.  Wind turbines can't do that.  

Peaking units are brought on line as needed during times of peak demand.  You can't tell a wind turbine how much power to produce.  They are not dispatchable.  

Wind turbines can provide a supplemental source of electricity, no harm in that.  But that's about all they can do.

Dark Eyes wrote:Wind turbines are not equivalent to fossil-fueled power plants because of the way they operate.

Base load power plants run all the time at close to 100% rated capacity.  Wind turbines can't do that.  

Peaking units are brought on line as needed during times of peak demand.  You can't tell a wind turbine how much power to produce.  They are not dispatchable.

Really?  I had no idea....  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:

Does Nebraska (or Omaha? I don't know which would control it) allow those private windmills that I'm always seeing flashed around on the sundance channel?

I guess if you'd have the room for it I don't see why you couldn't do it.

The rules are pretty strict in Omaha for them.  The demand is starting to show up though and there will have to be a few changes to accommodate the different technologies.  There are a few models that are relatively innocuous on a single family home.  However, there are also 'home' models that are 50' tall that are 15' across.  Those would seem pretty obnoxious if in my neighbors yard!

My grandpa was recently contacted about adding a turbine or two on his farm.  His property was just a small piece of a massive wind farm.  Its all still in the planning stages, but it looked like a good deal.  You can still farm or ranch right up to the base of it, you get a lease for the land and you get a % of the revenue.

As far as local "urban/suburban" areas, I was looking up some zoning in LaVista the other day for a project and noticed the wind tab so I looked at it, they did seem to be fairly strict.  Also, in other states if you have solar on your roof, you can sell the energy that you don't use to the local utility, however I do not think OPPD will let you do that.

Why again is there such a focus on wind and solar by our government?  Wind represents about 0.9% of our power generation and solar is much less (not to mention the debates over the amount of energy used to create the panels).  So, our president is investing how much money to "double our wind energy output?"  And, why are we not following every other first world country (including just about every European nation) and investing in nuclear plants?  Can anyone name a single nuclear incident in the US that was not contained by built in safety features?

I think the reason wind gets a lot of run is because it has a very visual presence with the huge wind towers.  While wind is not the answer for all our energy needs, every little bit helps offset the impact of another fossil fuel plant.

joeglow wrote:Why again is there such a focus on wind and solar by our government?  Wind represents about 0.9% of our power generation and solar is much less

I think you answered your question there.

joeglow wrote:And, why are we not following every other first world country (including just about every European nation) and investing in nuclear plants?

Good question.  Ask the oil industry that's controlled the White House for 8 of the last 8.2 years.

Big E wrote:

joeglow wrote:And, why are we not following every other first world country (including just about every European nation) and investing in nuclear plants?

Good question.  Ask the oil industry that's controlled the White House for 8 of the last 8.2 years.

Or ask the people in the White House the 8 years prior to that.....oh wait, it's mostly the same ones in there now.

Puh-leeze, if there's anyone I can stand less than an ignoramus, it's Rush Dumbaugh.  (and no, I'm not suggesting you or anyone here is an ignoramus)  All I'm pointing out is that it does no good to blame an "oil consortium" in the White House when nobody has done anything for the last 30 years.  

(And let's not get into Revisionist history here a la Clinton, the economy was pretty much on cruise control for the last 25 years, with major economic indicators much better than historic averages throughout.  We had major bubbles built up in the markets both during the Clinton and Bush years, both of which burst.)

Looks like a house over by Aksarben Village wants to build a wind turbine on their Roof:
http://co.douglas.ne.us/omaha/cityclerk ... ng/446.pdf

Has anyone seen those billboards for OPPD that say, "Become a Green Power Partner" and it has a picture of a wind turbine? What a |expletive| joke.

StreetsOfOmaha wrote:Has anyone seen those billboards for OPPD that say, "Become a Green Power Partner" and it has a picture of a wind turbine? What a |expletive| joke.

Just curious, but do you ever have a positive outlook about anything? Honestly, I'm not trying to come off like a jerk or anything, but it seems like everytime I see a post or thread of yours, you're bitching about something.  :what:

Bosco55David wrote:

StreetsOfOmaha wrote:Has anyone seen those billboards for OPPD that say, "Become a Green Power Partner" and it has a picture of a wind turbine? What a |expletive| joke.

Just curious, but do you ever have a positive outlook about anything? Honestly, I'm not trying to come off like a jerk or anything, but it seems like everytime I see a post or thread of yours, you're bitching about something.  :what:

Streets is positive about topics, just not MAT, License Plates, and OPPD...

OPPD does allow you to sell back power by net metering.  What they don't do, that some disagree with (not me) is buy it at retail prices.  They credit back 'avoided cost' onto your bill for what you have provided.

Thanks Brad.

Bosco,
I can see how it might appear that I am overly negative sometimes. As Brad mentioned, this negativity is mostly confined to the areas of urban transportation and local leadership, on-account-of both being such enormous jokes in Omaha and at the state level. These are areas where I find such glaring hypocrisy and ignorance I can't help but comment in a negative way.

I realize that, unfortunately, this negativity can serve to belie my profound love for Omaha.

If you want to see some positive comments, check out any thread concerning urban development and project updates, especially Midtown Crossing.

Thanks Streets. Like I said, I didn't want to come off as a jerk, it was just an observation. Thanks for the clarification though.  :yes:

Great news.

I just hope this is the beginning of a grassroots movement.  It's been a long-standing fantasy of mine (over 30 years) to see electric power decentralized.

I was just looking at the latest Wind Turbine Numbers....

http://www.awea.org/projects

Nebraska is #6 in Potential Wind Power, Iowa is #10

However Iowa has 3034 turbines compared to Nebraska's 153.  Iowa has 15 times more turbines in One Farm alone than Nebraska does in the entire state!

Ag groups: Don't blow this chance

http://www.omaha.com/article/20091013/NEWS01/710139984

Paul Hammel WORLD-HERALD BUREAU wrote:LINCOLN — Two agriculture heavyweights, the Nebraska Farm Bureau and Nebraska Cattlemen, are joining the fight for increased development of wind energy in the state.

A new association featuring the two farm groups is delivering a blunt message: Nebraska needs to act now to cash in on its abundant wind resources.

“Nebraska is quickly falling behind neighboring states in wind-energy development,” said former State Sen. Bob Kremer, chairman of the advisory board of the recently formed Nebraska Energy Export Association.

The Nebraska Farm Bureau, the state's largest ag group, and the Cattlemen, the state's largest livestock organization, are two major players in the association.

Advertising
Nebraska ranks sixth nationally in wind potential, but only 22nd in using the resource, according to the American Wind Energy Association.