A Big Wind is Coming - Or How Wind Power Stands Poised for Explosive Growth

Recent reports state that by 2030 wind could account for 20% of power generation in the United States and up to 30% worldwide.

Currently wind power accounts for less than 1% of generated power both worldwide and in the US. But wind power is already experiencing rapid growth, expanding 20% in 2006 to about 11,600 megawatts in the US; enough to power 3 millions households.

Germany leads on the world stage, adding some 7,588 megawatts of generating capacity last year alone; a 23% increase over the previous year. The EU has a total generating capacity in excess of 48,000 megawatts.

Clearly, it’s getting windy.

Nonetheless, these targets for generating capacity are ambitious, even with the recent strong growth of wind power. A single wind turbine typically generates between 1.5 to 3 megawatts. An average coal-fired power plant generates 450 megawatts on up. Currently there are only five wind farms in the US that have a capacity greater than 260 megawatts. Current wind power capacity of 11,600 megawatts still represents less than 1% of all generated power consumption. While such a dramatic growth and change in our energy structure seems daunting now, president of BP Alternative Energy North America Robert Lukefahr says "…you have to remember that we've made big leaps before."

Where there is a will, there is a way.

And despite the huge uphill climb to make wind energy a significant contributor, some expect to see up to half a trillion dollars in wind energy development in the next 25 years, making the dot-com boom seem somewhat small in comparison.

For all the promise of wind energy, it is not without its detractors or problems. While there is a growing trend for rural farmers hard hit economically to find a, well, a windfall by leasing their land for wind turbine installations, others decry the loss of “viewshed” and insist the constant noise made by the turning blades of the turbine can be maddening. Manufacturers of modern wind turbines claim that the latest models only produce about 50 decibels of sound, about the same as the hum of a refrigerator.

Another serious problem is that of wildlife destruction. My brother-in-law works monitoring bird-kill at one of the older wind farms here in Northern California’s Altamont Pass. This is a significant problem.

Wind energy is a promising source of renewable energy, one that stands poised for enormous growth. I wholeheartedly embrace the potential of wind energy. However, no form of power generation is completely benign. There is no doubt that wind farms alter the landscape, they produce at least some noise, and they are extremely dangerous to birds and, for reasons not yet completely understood, bats.

There is also the reality that manufacturing the vast amount of equipment needed to meet the ambitious growth targets for wind energy in itself will require a lot of energy, presumably from non-renewable sources.

Is any of this a reason not to pursue wind energy on a massive scale? I don’t think so. We just need to be aware that there is no free lunch, and learn our lesson from our perhaps somewhat naive passion for oil that began over a century ago. If we had known then what we know now, what would we have done differently?

As we move into new energy economies, we should look forward to the consequences of the actions we take today, and realize there will be a cost to anything that we do.

We must be willing and able to pay the price.

Source Information and Further Reading:
Plenty Magazine
Planet Ark
Wikipedia - Energy Policy in the United States
Wikipedia - World Energy Resources and Consumption
OnEarth Magazine - Natural Resource Defense Council
American Wind Energy Association

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A Big Wind is Coming - Or How Wind Power Stands Poised for Explosive Growth

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