November 2008 Archives
Earlier today our friends over at Wind Power Handbook put out a comprehensive article on getting hired for wind power jobs. The article states that "The wind energy industry is the fastest growing segment of renewable energy production" and this very well may be true for the United States which has clusters of "clean tech" centers focusing on Solar, Biomass, and other technology but limited availability of clean jobs across across agricultural states.
Wind however, blows everywhere so jobs and support positions are growing nation wide. As the image below suggests, even the most remote locations can harness wind and thus require workers. It contrast to Solar jobs, it doesn't matter if you live in Silicon Valley near Nano Solar and have a masters in mechanical engineering or Boulder Colorado near NREL. Even Barack Obama has touched on widespread nature of wind in relation to building a Smart Grid for our nation. If you're on the market for a new job in the world of clean tech or wind power then check out our free green jobs board which actually has a couple of recent wind postings, otherwise cruise on over to the Wind Power Handbook site and give it a look!
Wind however, blows everywhere so jobs and support positions are growing nation wide. As the image below suggests, even the most remote locations can harness wind and thus require workers. It contrast to Solar jobs, it doesn't matter if you live in Silicon Valley near Nano Solar and have a masters in mechanical engineering or Boulder Colorado near NREL. Even Barack Obama has touched on widespread nature of wind in relation to building a Smart Grid for our nation. If you're on the market for a new job in the world of clean tech or wind power then check out our free green jobs board which actually has a couple of recent wind postings, otherwise cruise on over to the Wind Power Handbook site and give it a look!
Under the new Obama administration alternative energy in the United States will become increasingly important, and invested in. Obama has outlined plans to increase US clean energy production from 3% (where it currently stands, minus hydroelectric) to 10% by 2012 and 25% by 2025. What this means is that more and more home owners, businesses, and electric companies are going to be incentivized to go green.
Wind power is a big focus, and with huge tracts of land and mountains in Colorado, Wyoming, and California already utilizing massive wind turbines successfully this model will surely be expanded across the US. As Barack Obama gave his moving and historic president elect speech tonight cleantech stocks have been on the rise and are rated well to continue upwards. In the wind power space here are a few stocks to keep your eye on.
General Electric (GE) - While only a small percentage of the massive company is focused on wind, it is one of the leading US companies producing the technology (as other parts of the world, including Germany, have been leading).
Suzlon Energy Limited (India) , Nordex AG (Germany) , REpower Systems AG (Germany, now acquired by Suzlon) , Xinjiang Goldwind Sci & Tech Co., Ltd (China), and Acciona SA (Spain) are all foreign but worth looking into if you're new to the wind market and want to follow US deals down the road.
Wind power is a big focus, and with huge tracts of land and mountains in Colorado, Wyoming, and California already utilizing massive wind turbines successfully this model will surely be expanded across the US. As Barack Obama gave his moving and historic president elect speech tonight cleantech stocks have been on the rise and are rated well to continue upwards. In the wind power space here are a few stocks to keep your eye on.
General Electric (GE) - While only a small percentage of the massive company is focused on wind, it is one of the leading US companies producing the technology (as other parts of the world, including Germany, have been leading).
Suzlon Energy Limited (India) , Nordex AG (Germany) , REpower Systems AG (Germany, now acquired by Suzlon) , Xinjiang Goldwind Sci & Tech Co., Ltd (China), and Acciona SA (Spain) are all foreign but worth looking into if you're new to the wind market and want to follow US deals down the road.
I have an engineering consulting practice and live in a state that is
in America's wind corridor (Colorado) so I sometimes have people who own rural
land inquire about wind farm leases and whether their land might be
suitable for the construction of some wind turbines.
In order to be a desirable site for wind development, your land needs to be in close proximity to power lines with available capacity to transport the power to end customers. If not, it gets very expensive to build new distribution lines (about $500K per mile) and so wind developers tend to look for sites with proximity to existing lines and not too far from population centers that will use the electricity.
Secondly, there needs to be evidence of strong and consistent wind with an annual average of around 15 mph or more to be attractive. To measure annual average wind, the site usually has some meteorological towers constructed and a year's worth of wind data is gathered. Today, it's not unusual for a developer to target a large site where more than a hundred turbines can be erected. This requires getting leases and permits from many different land owners. If you haven't been approached by a wind developer, you might want to check with you neighbors to see if any wind developers have been knocking on their doors. People in Wyoming with large ranches that are in close proximity to existing lines have had a steady stream of wind developers asking them to sign wind contracts.
A typical wind turbine today has a blade diameter of around 270' and is capable of generating 2 MW of power. The minimum spacing is about 3 diameters (810') in rows, and 10 blade diameters (8100') apart in columns. Often times, the geography of the land will dictate where the towers can be erected, but in general, they try to get them spaced at least that far apart to make sure they don't disrupt each others' wind too much and that they can be accessed easily for periodic maintenance. Even though each turbine doesn't take up much land, probably less than a half acre, due to the spacing requirement, it is not possible to position them closer to each other than about one turbine per 50 to 75 acres.
If you have a small amount of land on which you might fit a few turbines, the viability of being part of a wind project is predicated on having other land in close proximity to yours where the rest of the turbines can be arranged to make up a wind farm. Also, signing a contract with a wind developer is no guarantee of how many turbines will end up on your property. It often covers just right-of-way issues for accessing and laying cables and you may or may not end up hosting any turbines, and in those cases, you would not get any rent for the turbines if they end up on your neighbor's property due to better siting conditions.
The developer will pay for all the costs associated with getting the permits and constructing the towers (which cost about $2-3M each). The land owner gets a yearly rent, which is usually based on electrical production of the turbines. I've seen amounts from $2500-$6000 per turbine annually, depending on how much power can be generated
In order to be a desirable site for wind development, your land needs to be in close proximity to power lines with available capacity to transport the power to end customers. If not, it gets very expensive to build new distribution lines (about $500K per mile) and so wind developers tend to look for sites with proximity to existing lines and not too far from population centers that will use the electricity.
Secondly, there needs to be evidence of strong and consistent wind with an annual average of around 15 mph or more to be attractive. To measure annual average wind, the site usually has some meteorological towers constructed and a year's worth of wind data is gathered. Today, it's not unusual for a developer to target a large site where more than a hundred turbines can be erected. This requires getting leases and permits from many different land owners. If you haven't been approached by a wind developer, you might want to check with you neighbors to see if any wind developers have been knocking on their doors. People in Wyoming with large ranches that are in close proximity to existing lines have had a steady stream of wind developers asking them to sign wind contracts.
A typical wind turbine today has a blade diameter of around 270' and is capable of generating 2 MW of power. The minimum spacing is about 3 diameters (810') in rows, and 10 blade diameters (8100') apart in columns. Often times, the geography of the land will dictate where the towers can be erected, but in general, they try to get them spaced at least that far apart to make sure they don't disrupt each others' wind too much and that they can be accessed easily for periodic maintenance. Even though each turbine doesn't take up much land, probably less than a half acre, due to the spacing requirement, it is not possible to position them closer to each other than about one turbine per 50 to 75 acres.
If you have a small amount of land on which you might fit a few turbines, the viability of being part of a wind project is predicated on having other land in close proximity to yours where the rest of the turbines can be arranged to make up a wind farm. Also, signing a contract with a wind developer is no guarantee of how many turbines will end up on your property. It often covers just right-of-way issues for accessing and laying cables and you may or may not end up hosting any turbines, and in those cases, you would not get any rent for the turbines if they end up on your neighbor's property due to better siting conditions.
The developer will pay for all the costs associated with getting the permits and constructing the towers (which cost about $2-3M each). The land owner gets a yearly rent, which is usually based on electrical production of the turbines. I've seen amounts from $2500-$6000 per turbine annually, depending on how much power can be generated
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