Running Head: WIND ENERGY A 1

BETTER TOMORROW

Wind Energy, A Better Tomorrow

Jimmy Quemado Jr

27 June, 2016

University of Texas at El Paso

Dr. Pappoe
Wind Energy

Abstract

Centuries of abuse of fossil fuels has led to the overwhelming rise of global warming. In

the year's past humankind has searched for and developed alternative energy sources. But the

answer may have been discovered by the ancient Persians who invented the first windmills to

pump water and crush grain. The following will cover the wind energy, different programs, and

how usefully they are to the United Stated. The strengths of this paper would include the brief

history of wind power and its relativeness to the benefits of the United States.
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Wind Energy

The fuel in the earth will be exhausted in a thousand or more years, and its mineral

wealth, but man will find substitutes for these in the winds, the waves, the sun's heat, and so

forth. (1916) - John Burroughs. A hundred years ago Mr. Burroughs recognized that fossil fuels

would be expended, his prediction is becoming true every day as the cost of oil skyrockets,

everyday items increase in price. Alternative energy sources are the solution to ongoing crises as

humankind drains fossil fuels reserves and depletes the ozone layer causing global warming to

surge.

President Obama mentioned in State of the Union address on 12 January 2016 that In

fields from Iowa to Texas, wind power is now cheaper than dirtier, conventional

power.(Obama) His statement is true. However, there are abnormalities which contradict him.

Cleaner? Yes, but other than a few states wind energy has not been cheaper. When compared to

non-renewable recourses such as oil and coal most wind power programs are still quite more

expensive per megawatt. But is the price of a cleaner world not worth the price?

Wind energy is a growing market around the world; the United States is in the top five

leading the industry. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, the United States produced

190 million megawatts hours enough to power 18 million homes nationwide. Although the

numbers previously stated don't sound like much the offset of clean energy significantly

decreases the amount use of conventional power plants, which reduce greenhouse gas emissions,

dampening the rate of global warming.

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At the end of President Obamas presidency, he left the country with the legacy of

renewable energy administration. Making funding for projects dealing with wind power more

accessible and profitable for companies to use. These would include tax breaks and kickback to

stretch every dollar save by producing cleaner energy. With all of this in mind, it brings up

dissuasion to whether or not alternative energies such as wind power are beneficial to the world,

and requires thorough deliberations upon these three Questions:

1. What is wind energy

2. What types of wind energy programs are out there? Particularly in the United States.

3. How productive are these programs? And are they beneficial to the United States?

What is wind energy?

Wind energy has been used for thousands of years and can be harnessed in many

different ways. The first uses were for sail boats, and windmills used to power mills to crush

grain. Of course, new wind-powered energy is based on a design used by the Prussians in

2000bc, these windmills were much smaller than the ones of today but we quite an engineering

marvel of the day. A simple design of a propeller that caught the wind and turned pulleys has

evolved to spinning a generator allowing millions of homes to have energy. The two most

common types of wind turbines in use are, the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) or the

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT). HAWT are the turbines that most are familiar that

display a large propeller design, and are used on the commercial end of business. VAWT is

usually in an egg-beater style which is more common on smaller scale farms or household

living off the grid.

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What is the wind? The Wind is the byproduct of different air pressures, As the air over

bodies of water is cooler and heavier, the air above land heats and rises quickly. As the hot land

air rises the cooler ocean air rushes in the gap to fill the displacement, causing the air to move,

also known as the wind.

This is important to know how these wind turbines work. According to Gold Power

Global Renewable Energy Wind power converts the kinetic energy in the wind to generate

electricity or mechanical power. This is done by using a large wind turbine usually consisting of

propellers; the turbine can be connected to a generator to produce electricity. The propellers

turn the shaft with different charged magnets in copper wire loops. The rotor spinning in the core

of the generator causes electromagnetic induction, generating electricity.

The energy hardest from wind turbines most now go through a transformer to increase its

voltages so that it can travel the long distance from remote wind farms to houses. When it gets to

its final destination, the electricity must pass through another transformer to lower its voltage so

that business and home can safely be powered.

"As the grid penetration and power level of the wind turbines increase steadily, the wind

power starts to have significant impacts to the power grid system. Therefore, more

advanced generators, power electronic systems, and control solutions have to be

introduced to improve the characteristics of the wind power plant and make it more

suitable to be integrated into the power grid."-Blaabjerg

Advancements in technology are making sustainable energy programs such as wind power

possible. Although wind energy only accounts for four percent of the worlds energy consumption
Wind Energy

in the near future it could be closer to all of it. The Obama administration is holding fast to a

George W. Bush-era scenario in which wind provides 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030

doing it one better, actually, suggesting 35 percent wind by 2050 is viable"

F1. NREL Director Dan Arvizu & Ren21s Renewables 2013 Global Status Report

In figure one it is noticeable how the growth of wind energy has been in the last

seventeen years and it has continually grown since 2012. What is also amazing is how great of

bounds it increases since the 2000's. If the trend continues President Obamas goals may be

attainable.

What types of wind energy programs are out there? Particularly in the United States.

There are two major types of wind energy programs in the United States today. The

programs are rural and offshore wind farms. Government officials must plan for clean energy

sources to be out of the way because they are an eye sore. Mentioned by Jacquet "Public

participation in local planning decisions is widely advocated as an essential component of

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democratic decision making." is an important role of getting government support. When the

community is involved decision making becomes easier for lawmakers.

The land is at a maximum, and unfortunately, most people do not like to be able to see

windmills. According to Dr. Koos findings "Wind energy is a promising alternative energy

resource. However, the on-land wind farms are limited by space, noise, and visual pollution and,

therefore, many countries build wind farms near the shore.(Koo) Up until the last few years, this

feat was unfathomable in the United States although according to J. Firestone offshore wind

farms have been successful in Europe since 1991.(Firestone) Koo goes on to mention that "Until

now, most offshore wind farms have been built in relatively shallow water (less than 30m) with

fixed tower type wind turbines. Recently, several countries have planned to move wind farms to

deep water offshore locations to find stronger and steadier wind fields as compared to nearshore

areas.(Koo) Having the wind farm so from land would make for less harassment by people and

easier planning. With the benefits come flaws and struggles, Offshore wind farms must be able

to withstand oceanic storms and possibly take damage from sea traffic. Also, the rurality of the

wind farm would make it hard to build and maintain. With the challenges of moving off the land,

onshore programs have grown drastically in the past ten years. Higgins shows that "Currently

over 50% of renewable power is generated from onshore wind with a large number of offshore

wind projects in development" Onshore wind, farms may be more productive because at the

moment the ratio between on shore and off shore are in favor of the on shore. On shore wind

farm are easier established and accessible for matinees. Therefore production of these farms are

more likely to take place, but offshore wind farms are like to become more popular shortly as

law makers and scientist work together to bring wind energy off the coast of the United States.
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How productive are these programs? And are they beneficial to the United States?

My primary research is based on upon the Department of Energy's (DOE) findings,

documented in there 2013 report, Wind Vision: A New Era for Wind Power in the United States.

I based my primary research on this particular report because of the severity of my topic and the

United States Department of Energy would be the most reliable source. The study covers the

history of wind energy and tracks its progress up until 2013.

The weaknesses of my primary research are that based on time constraints, I could not get

in contact with the scientist that do this type of the investigation and do an actual interview. Also

given that the Department of Energy published the report it was written by a group of authors

which will affect my intext citations. Lastly, its greatest setback was that the most current

information was sighted from 2013, and a lot of advancement has occurred in technology and the

overall evolution of wind energy.

The strengths of my research are that it's from an accredited, published book authored by

the Department of Energy. It also contains main facts and figures that are related to wind energy.

The book also has a table of abbreviations that helps to understand the complicated terminology

of the scientist that wrote the document. The information gathered has been accumulated through

the research of many scientists around the country. The data covered a wide array of information

that focused on wind energy in the United States and how important it is to keep developing new

ways to harness and store wind energy. The scientist tackling this topic point out the many trends

in the wind powered energy that is helping to dampen or carbon footprint created by overuse of

fossil fuels. Lastly my primary research will cover the direct impact of supply and demand of

electricity in the United States, and how that effects the project funding of wind farms.
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Wind Vision: A New Era for Wind Power in the United States.

Wind energy in the United States is highly dependable on the supply and demand of

electricity of the residents of particular states. Quite frankly the annual electricity need of the

country have not spiked drastically enough for legislation to feel the need to intergrade more

alternative energy. The next figure demonstrates the steady rise of electricity use in the United

States.

Figure 2. AEO projected load growth cases vs. actual

The steady and gradual rise in the use of electricity since 2008 has reduced the need for

new electricity generation (Wind Vision 2013). In all consideration that makes sense, why spend

the capital on a new energy when an existing source is capable of doing its job. It comes down to

the mind set of "If it's not broke, dont fix it." Forasmuch as thats worth, the next figure

indicates how much nonrenewable dirty fuels are used to fuel traditional electricity sources.
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F.3Natural gas and coal prices and projections from two AEO Reference Cases

As displayed in figure three natural gas prices have dropped significantly, however this

trough is was only forecasted to last a few years and was projected to spike and raise notably in

the future. Expensive and dirty fuel sources dominate the market, causing clean renewable

energy programs to be pushed aside. Nonetheless wind energy is a well-studied source of energy

that the government is willing to fund and develop into a leading power producer.

Project Financing

The steep capital cost of land based wind farms affect the likelihood of development of

wind farms. The average cost of a kilowatt(kW) is anywhere from $1000/kW to $1,250/kW

depending on the state, compared to whereas coal would nearly be half the cost in the $600 to

$750/kW range (Wind Vision 2013). The numbers had risen due to the economic down fall in

the 2000's and peeked in 2009 and has dropped ever since as shown in the chart below.
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F.4Generation-weighted average, levelized wind PPA prices by PPA execution date and region

Without regard to the high initial investment required for a wind farm to started. An

individual wind turbine pays for its self with in the first three years and then becomes profitable.

With high tax rebates of clean energy programs, the cost of wind energy will diminish of time

and the government will end up paying for most of its additional cost. Another aspect to that

would be have to be factored in is overall cost and maintenance. According to the Department of

Energy "a recent report found U.S. wind O&M costs comprise scheduled maintenance (20.5%),

unscheduled maintenance (47.7%), and balance of system (31.9%)".(Wind Vision 2013) With

unscheduled maintenance being close to half of the O&M cost annually there seems to be a

reliability issue. Although maintenance records are not readily available the over view seems that

overall cost may rise and even double. In the next figure the O&M cost are shown, It shows the

cost of the turbines and that processing plants.

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F.5Components of installed capital cost for a landbased, utility-scale reference wind turbine

Conclusion

Certainty wind energy is in the future of the United States and the rest of the world.

Alternative energy may be the answer to the epidemic of global warming. Slowly but surely

wind technology will grow from a measly 4% of energy produced in the U.S to anywhere in the

high thirty percentile in the next twenty years. Wind energy is slightly more expensive than

conventional energy sources, but in the long run these turbines will be more profitable and will

help eliminate tons of polluting greenhouse gasses every year. Wind energy is going to power a

better, cleaner, future.

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Work Cited
Blaabjerg, F., & Ma, K. (2013). Future on Power Electronics for Wind Turbine Systems. IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in
Power Electronics, 1(3), 139-152. doi:10.1109/jestpe.2013.2275978 Firestone, J., Archer, C. L., Gardner, M. P., Madsen, J. A., Prasad, A. K., &
Veron, D. E. (2015). Opinion: The time has come for offshore wind power in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, 201515376. doi:10.1073/pnas.1515376112 Hao, E., & Liu, C. (2017). Evaluation and comparison of anti-impact performance to
offshore wind turbine foundations: Monopile, tripod, and jacket. Ocean Engineering, 130, 218-227. doi:10.1016/j.oceaneng.2016.12.008

Higgins, P., & Foley, A. (2014). The evolution of offshore wind power in the United Kingdom. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 37,
599-612. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2014.05.058

Hsu, M., Akkerman, I., & Bazilevs, Y. (2013). Finite element simulation of wind turbine aerodynamics: validation study using NREL Phase VI
experiment. Wind Energy, 17(3), 461-481. doi:10.1002/we.1599

Jacquet, J. B. (2014). The Rise of Private Participation in the Planning of Energy Projects in the Rural United States. Society & Natural
Resources, 28(3), 231-245. doi:10.1080/08941920.2014.945056

Koo, B. J., Goupee, A. J., Kimball, R. W., & Lambrakos, K. F. (2014). Model Tests for a Floating Wind Turbine on Three Different Floaters.
Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, 136(2), 021904. doi:10.1115/1.4024711

Osrio, G., Matias, J., & Catalo, J. (2015). Short-term wind power forecasting using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system combined with
evolutionary particle swarm optimization, wavelet transform and mutual information. Renewable Energy, 75, 301-307.
doi:10.1016/j.renene.2014.09.058

Wind Vision: A New Era for Wind Power in the United States Retrieved June 24, 2017, (2013) DOE/GO-102015-4557 March 2015 retrieved
from https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/03/f20/wv_full_report.pdf

18 Renewable Energy Charts From NREL Director Dan Arvizu & Ren21s Renewables 2013 Global Status Report. (2013, November 07).
Retrieved June 24, 2017, from https://cleantechnica.com/2013/11/07/renewable-energy-charts-renewable-energy-facts/