Tag: Wind power
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Dominion, DONG Seal Deal on Two Offshore Wind Turbines
Dominion Energy Virginia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with DONG Energy, the world’s largest offshore wind-power company, to build two 6-megawatt turbines off the Virginia Beach coast — a critical step toward opening up 2,000 megawatts of off-shore wind to development. Dominion will own the $300 million project, while Dong has committed to…
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Appalachian Power Nails Down 225 MW in Wind Power
Appalachian Power Co. is asking state regulators in Virginia and West Virginia to approve 225 MW of new wind generation from facilities located in Ohio and West Virginia. The Roanoke-based electric utility, which serves roughly 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee, already has 375 MW of wind generation, with another 120 MW…
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Electric Reliability and Energy Mix
Electric utilities in the 13-state PJM Interconnection regional transmission territory have a balanced resource mix — coal, nuclear, gas and renewables — that is “well equipped” to support reliable operation of the regional grid, PJM has found in a new report, “PJM’s Evolving Resource Mix and System Reliability.” But continued evolution of the resource mix —…
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Following the Least-Cost Pathway to CO2 Cuts
Global greenhouse gas emissions have increased steadily as China, India and other countries bring new coal-powered electric plants online, but the United States has bucked the trend. In the U.S. electric power sector, CO2 emissions declined 20% between 2007 and 2015. One might think that California, which is re-restructuring its electric power system to reduce carbon…
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At Last, a Wind Farm Virginia Can Call Its Own
It looks like Virginia soon will have its first commercial wind farm. The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has approved plans to build 25 giant turbines on a ridgeline in Botetourt County. Critical to the approval was an agreement by Charlottesville-based Apex Clean Energy to turn off turbines at its Rocky Forge site during warm,…
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Environmentalists Oppose Apco’s Green Tariff
Appalachian Power Company’s proposal to offer a special green-power tariff (which I covered here) has run into heavy resistance from environmentalists on the grounds that (1) it would be expensive and (2) it would prohibit competition in Apco’s service territory. Jim Pieroban explores the controversy in Southeast Energy News. The proposed tariff, Apco spokesman John Shepelwich…
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Renewable Energy Outlook in Virginia Still Sunny
Progress toward an electric grid powered by renewable energy has been frustratingly slow to many Virginians. There have been two main obstacles to ramping up production of wind and solar power in the Old Dominion: cost and reliability. Wind still has high hurdles in Virginia. There is a limited number of on-shore locations suitable for…
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Banking on Batteries
AES Energy Storage is building a global enterprise using industrial-scale batteries to make the electric grid cleaner and more reliable. Richmond-based Dominion Resources may be the most visible energy company in Virginia — its Dominion Virginia Power subsidiary is the dominant electric utility in the state — but it is not the biggest. That distinction belongs to…
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Rocky Forge Wind Turbines Not a Threat to Aviation
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ruled that 549-foot wind turbines, as tall as the Washington Monument, will not pose a danger to passing aircraft, thus putting Apex Clean Energy one step closer to building Virginia’s first commercial wind farm. As proposed, the Rocky Forge Wind project would string 25 turbines along a ridge line in Botetourt…
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The Market-Driven Path to Renewables
by James A. Bacon Texas, one of the most conservative states in the country, is not exactly what you’d call a hotbed of environmental activism. Yet the Lone Star state has added more wind-based generating capacity than any other; wind turbines and other renewables account for 16% of electrical generating capacity — and as much as…
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Fed Official Still Optimistic about Offshore Wind
by James A. Bacon As the cost of offshore wind energy in Europe continues to decline, Abigail Ross Hopper, director of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, believes that offshore wind will come to the United States eventually. Responding to a question by Dave Mayfield with the Virginian-Pilot what prospect she sees for ocean…
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Want more Solar and Wind Power? Then You Need More Gas Backup.
by James A. Bacon Elona Verdolini, Francesca Vona and David Popp are deeply concerned about climate change and the need to deploy more renewable energy sources. “Decoupling economic activities from fossil-fuel use (and hence, from anthropogenic carbon emissions) is the only way to avoid severe and pervasive impacts from climate change while sustaining economic growth,” they…
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A Major Setback for Virginia OffShore Wind
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has withdrawn $40 million in funding from the Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Advancement Project (VOWTAP), dealing a major blow to plans to build two experiment wind turbines off the Virginia coast and jeopardizing the prospect of major offshore wind development in the foreseeable future. Dominion Virginia Power had hoped…
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A World Where Bats and Blades Coexist
by James A. Bacon Critics have long lambasted wind turbines for killing hundreds of thousands of birds and bats. Charlottesville-based Apex Clean Energy, which seeks to build a wind farm in Botetourt County north of Roanoke, has submitted a plan that it says will mitigate the worst effects of its 25 whirling turbine blades. Apex…
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Appalachian Power Proposes Green Power Tariff
by James A. Bacon Appalachian Power has proposed an alternative rate for customers who want to purchase 100 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. A rider attached to the company’s Virginia tariff bundles the energy output of renewable generators to provide around-the-clock, carbon-free generation. The company, whose service territory encompasses the southwestern third of the state,…