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Check out our student spotlight: Yudan Xie, winner of the WTAMU Student Em- ployee of the Year!
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The Alternative Energy Institute welcomed four interns from Paris, France. Clement Vanmeerbeck of Saint-Quentin, France, Guilain Ricoux of Dunières, France, Alice D’hier of Roubaix, France and Mathilde Grimaud of Marcq-en-Baroeul, France studied at the Alternative Energy Institute. Each of the interns worked on a project and their findings were presented at Supmeca in Paris, France.

Clement and Guilain worked on the SECO ARRA Solar/Wind project. They helped Associate Director, Ken Starcher install a variety of components for the Solar Arrays. Their main task was helping to install the Solar Trackers. These devices are used to track the sun and capture the peak hours of energy production by the solar array. During the course of their internship, they learned about concrete foundations, electrical wiring, three phase power, electrical grounding, and the mechanics of adjusting solar trackers. Overall, Clement and Guilain reported that their internship was successful and the administration at Supmeca was very satisfied with their performance.

Alice D’hier worked the verification and exact placement on a map of ALL of the Wind Farms in Texas. She started with a list of wind turbines compiled by former AEI director, Dr. Vaughn Nelson. She also analyzed an existing map, but found it lacking information that would be useful for developers and educators. After many hours of work and much investigating, she was able to obtain maps from different counties that outlined the true borders of various wind farms. Alice was able to create a map that showed three features: color, shape, and size. She also visually verified EACH wind farm location, turbine type, and number of turbines. The size of the indicators represent the capacity of the wind farms. The color denotes the period that the wind farm was built and the shape is a teardrop or anchor if the first of several parts of one wind farm. Each teardrop gives information about each of the wind farms. This includes the exactly gps coordinates, which phase of the wind farm that you are looking at, and what year the wind farm was built. Alice’s map can be viewed at: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=203693546728304903007.0004d021d1c71ea514751

Mathilde Grimaud worked with WAsP software. This software is a PC program that completes data analysis, wind atlas generation, wind climate estimation, and wind farm power calculations. Mathilde was charged with the task of learning to use the WAsP software, and then developing an easy method to model wind power production at different sites. She discovered several free software programs to convert files from one format to another. Those programs include: WAsP Climate Analyst 2, and NRG Symphonie Data Retriever. Mathilde developed a straightforward method and answered the questions: Is the WAsP Software reliable? She concluded that the latest version of WAsP is more reliable than the older version, but she needed to run more tests to get highly accurate results.

In late 2010, the Alternative Energy Institute began a project that involved testing two small wind turbines for certification by the Small Wind Certification Council (SWCC). That project is set to finish this later this year. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory provided the funding to test both small wind turbines. The Nikko 1kW and Hummingbird 10kW wind turbines were tested by the team of David Carr, Associate Director of Testing and Resource Assessment, Wesley Warren, Research Technician, and several students from West Texas A&M University.

NIKKO Company is a manufacturer of small wind turbines in Japan. They have been developing and producing small wind turbines for 10 years. The NIKKO 1kW wind turbine was designed to have a low cut-in speed and a passive pitch control. These two features allow the turbine to start generating power at low wind speeds and the turbine has a self-adjusting pitch control for additional safety and power generation during periods of high winds. The NIKKO 1kW was successfully tested by the Alternative Energy Institute and was certified by SWCC in 2012.

Potencia Industrial is the manufacturer for the Hummingbird 10kW turbine. The company has been designing and manufacturing special application, high efficiency electrical motors and generators for 50+ years. Potencia Industrial is a member of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the Mexican Wind Energy Association (MEXWEA), and the Electric Manufacturing Chamber of Mexico. The Hummingbird 10kW is set to finish testing in July 2013.

For more information on the National Renewable Energy Association, please visit their website at http://www.nrel.gov. Please visit http://www.nikko-company.co.jp/ for more information on NIKKO Company. Information about Potentica Industrial can be found at http://www.potenciaindustrial.com.mx/html/home-en.html.

a Project Department, WRB Refinery, Borger, TX 79007, USA
b Alternative Energy Institute, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX 79016, USA
c School of Engineering and Computer Science, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX 79016, USA

Highlights

• The paper shows a new style of wind power map for the state of Texas using ArcGIS.
• A new type of wind map is developed from the Texas wind power data.
• The paper represents the quality of the wind (wind and tane) over various heights.
• The Windtane map aids wind farm developers the most cost effective wind farms.

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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148113001468

Southern farmers are making changes now to wean themselves from the Ogallala Aquifer, a water source that gave rise to industrial agriculture and modern life on America’s plains.

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http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2013/world/texas-ogallala-photos/

Wind energy is the fastest-growing source of electricity production globally, and in the U.S., Texas ranks No. 1 for wind energy capacity. If Texas were a country, it would be sixth in the world.

Presently, Texas has 12,000 megawatts installed, which signifies a $20 billion investment in the state and creates jobs, said Elizabeth A. Salerno, director, Industry Data and Analysis, American Wind Energy Association.

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http://www.chron.com/jobs/article/Wind-energy-drives-more-than-just-turbines-4355259.php

AEI’s Wind Test Center focuses on testing wind turbines up to 50 kW and performing data analysis for developers and manufacturers.
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From Wind System Magazine

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From Texas & Energy storage,etc

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From the AWEA Blog : Into the Wind