Cross Texas Transmission says the statistics are convincing and is asking the state Public Utility Commission what it thinks about the company’s preferred route for the first transmission line in the Panhandle solely devoted to moving wind energy.
Cross Texas applied Monday for permission to build the segment from a substation southeast of Childress to one southwest of Lefors. The PUC will include its choice for the route when it rules on the application. That choice does not have to be Cross Texas’ preferred route.
The distance between the points wind farms will plug into the system is 82.2 miles along a straight line, but avoiding obstacles and following existing rights of way stretched the preferred route to 94.9 miles. Some of the alternatives Cross Texas discarded were as long as 110 miles.
Click here for more information (and to see the map).
Nelson and Starcher have taught two courses online a number of times: 1) Wind Energy and Wind Turbines, and 2) Solar Energy. They have over 60 years experience in renewable energy, primarily in wind energy. Drs. Nelson and Chen have been thesis chairs on a number of projects at AEI. Department of Engineering and Computer Science and AEI are developing a renewable energy degree program.
Course Description
Renewable Energy (ET 4395-70) is an overview course with the use of spreadsheets for some analysis.
At the end of the course you should be able to:
Understand energy and power as it relates renewable energy production.
Be able to analyze data and predict energy production of renewable energy systems.
Understand operational parameters of renewable energy systems (mechanical, electrical, control).
Size systems and predict performance.
Understand institutional issues; local, environmental, and national.
Calculate economic values from simple payback to life cycle costs.
From West Texas A&M University’s web site, breaking news about AEI and wind energy education at WTAMU:
With more than 65 years of research experience in renewable energy between them, it’s no surprise that Dr. Vaughn Nelson and Kenneth Starcher are establishing the Starcher—Nelson Renewable Energy Scholarship for students at West Texas A&M University.
The two men, who have worked at WTAMU’s Alternative Energy Institute (AEI) since it was founded in 1977, have seen an increased interest in renewable energy and believe the scholarship will benefit students interested in studying alternative sources of energy.
“We’ve been teaching online introductory courses in wind energy and solar energy since 1998, and we get people from all over the world in the wind energy course,” Nelson, director of AEI, said. “They take the classes for continuing education credits or for certification.”
Class 4 Winds and AEI’s Ken Starcher will be discussing wind energy and wind power development in the Panhandle on KGNC-AM. The show starts at 10 AM, and you can listen to it live here! (You’ll need to sign up to KGNC-AM’s Listener Club first.)
We got this bit of news from Class 4 Winds… some information on Wind Energy development in the Panhandle, and why it hasn’t been going faster, courtesy of the Plainview Daily Herald. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
FLOYDADA ( Aug. 17, 2009) – Landowners in the panhandle of Texas know the wind blows and many of them are starting to question why they haven’t seen more wind energy development in the area. At a recent meeting held in Floyd County, experts reassured landowners that there is still potential for wind energy development.
Richard Amato, president and CEO of Venti Energy and wind subcommittee chair for the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association (TREIA) was the first speaker at Caprock Plains Wind Energy Association’s (CPWEA) annual membership meeting. Amato presented the attendees with a wind industry update, explaining that wind energy development in Texas has come a long way but it still has the potential to grow.
The Alternative Energy Institute will be showing a documentary, Energy Crossroads, in the Cornette Library at 9:30 AM on July 17th. Energy Crossroads is an award-winning documentary about energy consumption and alternative energy that offers concrete solutions for the future.
This award-winning documentary exposes the problems associated with our energy consumption. It also offers concrete solutions for those who want to educate themselves and be part of the solutions in this decisive era. The film features passionate individuals, entrepreneurs, experts and scientists at the forefront of their field bringing legitimacy and expertise to the core message of the piece.
This one was found by our friends at Class 4 Winds. Here’s a story about T. Boone Pickens and his wind farm project from the Dallas Morning News.
T. Boone Pickens’ plan to build the world’s largest wind farm is off.
Instead, Pickens said he will build five or six smaller wind farms, in the Midwest and possibly Texas, though he hasn’t settled on locations.
Last year, Pickens announced that he would build a 1,000-megawatt wind farm in Pampa, Texas. The problem a lack of a transmission line to bring the juice to population centers, Pickens said in an interview last week.
“I don’t think the first place we build, though, is where we thought we would because we don’t have the transmission,” he said.
Remember that idea he had to build his own transmission line? “It was a little more complicated than we thought,” he said.
You can read the rest of the article (and other Pickens news) here.
AEI’s Ken Starcher is gone this week at the WEATS symposium. The Wind Energy Applications Training Symposium (WEATS) is an internationally acclaimed workshop on wind energy first launched in 1988.
Designed for project planners, developers, utility officials, and engineers directly involved with energy projects within the Native American community, training will be held at three venues this year, Albuquerque, NM; Rapid City, SD; Portland, OR.
If you’re interested, you may want to check out AEI’s galleries of previous WEATS here.
Bill Paetzold was born in the depression and has been a farmer all of his life. During his years of dryland farming, he has seen the oil economy boom and bust, water levels drop, and fuel prices go through the roof. In his 70+years of wisdom, Mr Paetzold began to think there should be a better way, and he decided to do something about it rather than sit idly by.
In reading and talking to people about the energy problem, he discovered information about using hydrogen as a storage medium for energy. Using his own retirement funds, Mr. Paetzold has made an investment in equipment and his time to purchase one of the first electrolysis machines by Millennium Reign Energy. Their website is located here. He also purchased a 10 kw Bergey wind turbine.
Even that may have been enough for some, but Bill has expanded his promotion of the hydrogen economy by creating demonstrations of how hydrogen can be utilized. He has converted small engines and a 6 cylinder engine to run on straight hydrogen. He has modified a torch to run on hydrogen. He even grills his burgers on a hydrogen grill. Remember, this is hydrogen that he makes himself. His hydrogen making machine is connected to the Bergey 10 kW wind turbine. So, the wind blows, and he gets stored energy in the form of hydrogen. The hydrogen is stored in old propane tanks at 100 psi until he is ready to use it. The water that he is extracting the hydrogen from is collected from the roof of his house and barn when it rains.
It is an endless source of frustration to Mr. Paetzold that more people cannot see the simplicity and usefulness of using hydrogen on a regular basis. If we produce local, and buy local, Mr. Paetzold thinks that it could be a good thing for local economies as well.
While there is nothing new about using hydrogen, producing hydrogen, collecting rainwater, or using windpower, these items all together make up an energy system that is only utilizing locally obtainable fuel. This is Mr Paetzolds strongest argument for such use of hydrogen systems. One of the main arguments against a wind-to-hydrogen system is that efficiency of the energy storage is an issue. Mr. Paetzold is very interested in having independent testing performed on the Millennium Reign unit and proving what the efficiency of the whole system is in terms of energy stored, and energy used. The Alternative Energy Institute has expressed interest in Mr. Paetzolds work, but with neither he nor AEI have the funds to obtain the sensors needed for such testing without external funding focused on the effort.
Anyone interested in Mr. Paetzold’s hydrogen work can contact him through AEI.
The Alternative Energy Institute will be showing a documentary, Energy Crossroads, in the Cornette Library at 9:30 AM on July 17th. Energy Crossroads is an award-winning documentary about energy consumption and alternative energy that offers concrete solutions for the future.
