CM – US & Denmark reveals big plans for wind power

Denmark and the US have aggressive offshore wind energy plans.

CAMEROON MAGAZINE - GM17/10/20215 Mins read39 Views

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Here’s the thing about renewable energies like wind and sun that a lot of people don’t understand. The “fuel” that makes them work is free. This does not mean that the devices we build to generate energy from wind and sun cost nothing and do not cause greenhouse gas emissions. But let’s not pretend that all of the concrete, steel, and piping that goes into making a thermal power station is kind of cheap and carbon-free.

And yes, the renewable electricity from there To bring it to its place of use where it is manufactured, new transmission lines must be built. But they don’t let oil and gas into our rivers and oceans like pipelines do. Isn’t it strange how fossil fuel defenders question the need for new transmission infrastructure when it comes to electricity from renewable sources but never when it comes to electricity from thermal sources? One is a scourge, the other a blessing? Does that make any sense?

The key point is, once the thermal power plant fuel is used up, we need to go out and find more of it. The prices for coal, oil and gas are not stable. They fluctuate constantly – sometimes very much – which makes long-term business decisions difficult. The world will be given a hard lesson this winter about the real cost of fossil fuel dependence. Due to the scarce supply of non-natural gas, prices are likely to skyrocket. This could double or triple electricity costs in some places.

But the cost of sunlight never increases. It’s free and always will be. All we have to do is collect it and distribute it efficiently, and man will forever have all the electrical energy he could possibly need.

Wind is just solar energy in a different format. Think about it. Wind is air that moves from one place to another. And what moves the air? Temperature differences. And what causes temperature differences? The sun. Whether it’s a breeze filling the sails of a boat or the jet streams orbiting the globe, the sun is the ultimate source of all air movement on earth.

Denmark has been experimenting with offshore since 1991 Wind power. No wonder two of the world’s largest wind turbine companies – Vestas and Ørsted – are both Danish. For years people have been thinking about building artificial islands in the North and Baltic Seas as bases for offshore wind farms. Now the government has officially approved the idea. The Danish state will own 50.1% of the islands, while private partners own the rest.

The island in the North Sea will have a capacity of 3 GW, which is the electricity consumption of three million households and twice the amount of energy of all offshore Wind turbines in Denmark today equates. It is also roughly half of total Danish electricity consumption. The capacity will be gradually expanded to a maximum of 10 GW, which could cover the electricity consumption of 10 million households and contribute to the further electrification of Denmark and its neighboring countries.

The artificial island in the Baltic Sea is to be located off the island of Bornholm. The power from the offshore plant is distributed from Bornholm to the power grids on Zealand and the neighboring countries. The turbines off the Bornholm coast will have an output of 2 GW, which corresponds to the electricity consumption of two million households.

The decision to build the two energy islands was made as part of the climate agreement of June 22, 2020, signed by the Danish Government, the Liberal Party, the Danish People’s Party, the Social Liberal Party, the Socialist People’s Party, the Red-Green Alliance, Conservative Party, Liberal Alliance and the Alternative.

Offshore wind power is popular because the equipment is far out on the road Sea can be placed where it is invisible to people on land. We don’t mind a tangle of masts, wires, and transformers messing up our built environment, but for heaven’s sake we have to deal with the sight of a spinning turbine. Eeeek! In addition, wind speeds over the ocean tend to be more stable and predictable than on land, which makes offshore wind more reliable.

Last week the US government announced plans for seven large offshore wind farms on both coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico. They are part of a plan by the Biden government to create 30 GW of offshore wind power by 2030 – enough for 10 million households. Sharp-eyed readers will find that the Danish authorities expect 30 million households to have that much electricity, which tells you something about how much electricity an average house in the US uses compared to households in the rest of the world Home Secretary Deb Haaland said her department hopes to hold lease sales for areas off the coasts of Maine, New York and the mid-Atlantic, as well as the Carolinas, California, Oregon and the Gulf of Mexico through 2025. According to The Guardian, the projects could avoid around 78 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions and at the same time create up to 77,000 jobs.

In addition to offshore wind, the Ministry of the Interior is working with other federal agencies to increase the production of renewable energies on public land, Haaland said the goal of generating at least 25 gigawatts of renewable energy on land from wind and solar energy by 2025.

The government’s wind initiatives are facing a multitude of technical and political challenges. Who will ever forget a certain ex-president telling a group of scruffy admirers that wind turbines « kill all birds »? But the same people don’t shy away from offshore drilling rigs (many of which are visible from land) spilling millions of liters of crude oil into the sea, when pipelines threaten water supplies for millions of people, or when fracking domestic drinking turns water into toxic. Can you say « hypocrites » boys and girls? Yes, we knew you could.

However, the government is taking steps to address these concerns. The DOE announced last week that it is allocating $ 11.5 million to study the risks offshore wind development can pose to birds, bats and marine mammals. It will also monitor changes in commercial populations of fish and marine invertebrates at an offshore wind site on the east coast and spend $ 2 million on visual inspection and audible monitoring of marine mammals and seabirds at potential wind sites on the west coast.

» In order for Americans living in coastal areas to take advantage of offshore wind, we need to ensure that the surrounding ecosystem is conserved by coexisting with fisheries and marine life – and that is exactly what this investment will do, « said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm .

The end result is the LCOE – three times the net, the absolute measure of what it costs to generate kilowatts of electricity. Water seeks its own level, nature abhors a vacuum, and the economy longs for the cheapest option. Today the electricity production costs of wind and solar energy are lower than those of thermal generation and are becoming cheaper and cheaper. And why not? Renewable energy costs are zero. It doesn’t get any cheaper!

Fossil fuel supporters will get upset about national security, energy independence and the wonders of military power, but the truth is that renewable energies not only reduce CO2 emissions, but also increase national security, Providing energy independence and eliminating much of the need for prestige armies can enter any country for free. What could we possibly be waiting for?

Steve writes on the intersection of technology and sustainability from his Florida and Connecticut homes, or wherever the singularity might lead him. You can follow him on Twitter, but not on social media platforms run by evil overlords like Facebook.

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