Randy Manion, Western Area Power Administration

As we continue in an era of fuel price volatility and risk in energy markets, the value of sound resource planning— hedging against a previously unforeseen range of possible market scenarios—is higher than ever. In addition, the importance of customer service and of delivering value to customers is higher than ever. Renewable energy—wind power—has valuable characteristics that can enable municipal utilities to address both of these concerns.

In the face of new and emerging market conditions, municipal utilities across the country find themselves at a crossroads. Load requirements are expected to continue increasing, while in many cases, existing supply contracts will end within the next few years. Further, customers throughout municipal utility service territories express consistently high levels of interest in renewable energy alternatives. In most cases, the preferred renewable technologies are solar and wind; given the cost advantage of wind, it is frequently the renewable of choice.

Municipal Utility Green Power Programs

Investor and publicly owned utilities around the country have begun offering renewable energy or green power options (generally referred to as green pricing programs) to their customers. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) ranked utility green pricing programs based on a variety of criteria. They found that municipal utility green pricing programs were consistently among the most successful, regardless of the criteria used.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP): Green Power for a Green LA

The LADWP program is ranked in the top five in all categories. This program offers a low-cost, broad-based product to its customers. For a $3.00 monthly fee, residential customers can opt to receive 20% of their power requirements (about 100kWh per month) from renewable energy.

Austin Energy: Green Choice

Austin’s 61 wind turbines, located in Upton County, Texas, have a total capacity rating of 70 MW and will provide enough energy to meet the needs of 20,000 homes. Austin Energy has enrolled more than 6,500 participants, or approximately 2% of its customer base, in its Green Choice Program. Austin Energy customers who subscribe to Green Choice will see the normal fuel charge on their power bill replaced by a green power charge. Because of Austin Energy’s 10-year power supply contracts for wind and methane gas, the green power charge will remain fixed until 2011. Although the green power charge will never change for subscribers, other customers who choose not to participate in the Green Choice program will be subject to the fluctuations in fuel adjustment charges. Green Choice customers pay a premium of 1.1 cents per kWh.

Waverly Light and Power

In July 2002, NREL awarded its first Paul Rappaport Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Award to Waverly Light and Power for its contribution to the development of wind power in Iowa. Waverly began its wind program in 1991 when the city faced a power supply crisis. Since Waverly installed its first turbines in 1993, Iowa’s wind power capacity has grown to more than 300 MW. Iowa now ranks third in states with installed wind capacity, behind California and Texas.

Benefits to Municipal Utilities and Their Customers

More utilities are recognizing that wind power provides significant benefits to the utility and its customers. First and foremost, customers want renewables. Customer interest in renewables has been established repeatedly in customer surveys across the country. Second, wind power provides price stability benefits. Again, it has been amply demonstrated that price risk mitigation is important to a utility’s financial stability and is highly desired by risk-averse customers. Third, renewables provide significant local, regional and national environmental benefits. Finally, wind contributes substantially to local economic development, a benefit that will be of great importance to all municipalities.

Municipal Utilities’ Concerns with Using Wind Power

Municipal utilities have traditionally expressed three major concerns with incorporating wind power into their resource mix.

“Wind power is more expensive than available fossil fuel options.” Several factors have emerged to address this concern. First, the cost of wind power has dropped dramatically in recent years and, in some locations; wind is equal to the low-priced fossil fuel alternative on a levelized cost basis. Second, the lack of price volatility for wind generation reduces the costs of hedging fossil fuel price risk. Finally, in light of customer preferences, wind power can play a significant role in supplying value and satisfying customer needs.

“Because wind power is intermittent, the costs of transmission and ancillary services are increased.” This important issue is currently under intensive study. A variety of groups, most notably the Utility Wind Interest Group, are presently engaged in detailed studies assessing the impacts of wind generation on utility operations. Early results suggest that the costs of incorporating wind generation into utility resource portfolios are much less than traditionally believed. Although not definitive, the Bonneville Power Administration recently eliminated their generation scheduling imbalance penalty for wind generation (see the section on utility integration).

“Our utility is not familiar with wind technologies.” For municipal utilities that are concerned about their lack of extensive experience operating wind generation technologies, power purchase agreements are a viable financial and practical option. In addition, many municipal utilities are coming to the conclusion that wind power will be a significant component of their future resource portfolios and are making the decision to learn about this technology now.

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Wind Power Solutions

Although it is much less expensive to initially get hooked into the local electric company’s grid than it is to set up and hook into wind turbines, in the long run one saves money by utilizing the wind for one’s energy needs—while also becoming more independent. Not receiving an electric bill while enjoying the advantages of the modern electrically-driven lifestyle is a wondrous feeling.

Electric bills and fuel bills are rising steadily—but the cost of wind turbine energy is zero, and the cost of installing and hooking up a turbine is steadily coming down as demand rises and more commercial success is realized by various companies producing the turbines and researching technologies to make them ever more efficient. In addition, people are moving away from the traditional electric grids and the fossil fuels for personal reasons including desire for greater independence, the desire to live remotely or rurally without having to “go primitive”, political concerns such as fears of terrorist strikes on oil fields or power grids, or concerns about the environment. Again, this motivation to get away from the traditional energy sources is the same one that causes people to seek the power of the wind for their energy, giving more business opportunities to profit from wind turbine production and maintenance, which drives their costs down for the consumers.

In nearly thirty states at the time of this writing, homeowners who remain on the grid but who still choose to use wind energy (or other alternative forms) are eligible for rebates or tax breaks from the state governments that end up paying for as much as 50% of their total “green” energy systems’ costs. In addition, there are 35 states at the time of this writing where these homeowners are allowed to sell their excess energy back to the power company under what are called “net metering laws”. The rates that they are being paid by the local power companies for this energy are standard retail rates—in other words, the homeowners are actually profiting from their own energy production.

Some federal lawmakers are pushing to get the federal government to mandate these tax breaks and other wind power incentives in all 50 states. Japan and Germany already have national incentive programs in place. However, “A lot of this is handled regionally by state law. There wouldn’t really be a role for the federal government,” the Energy Department’s Craig Stevens says. And as might be imagined, there are power companies who feel that it’s unfair that they should have to pay retail rates to private individuals. “We should [only have to] pay you the wholesale rate for … your electricity,” according to Bruce Bowen, Pacific Gas & Electric’s director of regulatory policy. However, the companies seem to be more worried about losing short term profits than about the benefits, especially in the long run, of the increased use of wind turbines or other wind power solutions. Head of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies of California V. John White points out, “It’s quality power that strengthens the grid.”

The globe faces an imminent energy crisis. This is as a result of our reserves of fossil fuels like coal and petroleum are diminishing rapidly. Moreover, there’s the perpetual threat of environmental pollution. Hence there is a acutely aware effort everywhere to modify to various modes of power generation that do not pollute the atmosphere, are sustainable and do not depend upon the consumption of our already dwindling reserves of fossil fuels. Wind power is one such standard various source of energy. Wind power technology isn’t a completely unique invention, but really dates back to the time of the first settlers who used the ability of the wind for crushing grains with the help of gigantic windmills having ‘sails’ measuring 10 to 20 feet. However, it was not till 1979 when Danish engineers developed little (and sensible) electricity generators fitted with light-weight PVC blades capable of manufacturing electricity that wind power became practically possible and commercially viable. This paved the means for the wind power turbines that we have a tendency to see today.

The success of the Danish engineers didn’t go unnoticed by the planet and alternative nations were quick to follow in their footsteps. Consequently, soon after their initial look, wind turbines came up in nice numbers all across the US and the UK. What made different energy thus widespread was their ability to help the user save on electricity bills and additionally reduce their dependence on the local utility company. But, wind energy was not without some disadvantages. The foremost serious drawback was thanks to the highly unpredictable nature of the wind itself. Low wind speeds have forever posed a significant problem for wind turbine systems. Another problem with the turbines was the noise associated with them. No wonder, they were typically dubbed as ‘roaring monsters’ thanks to the nice noise created by the rotors. But, use of better bearings and careful redesigning of the inner mechanism have reduced the noise to a mere intermittent ‘wheezing’ heard throughout times when the turbines are spinning at high speed. Of course this can be one of the high reasons why wind turbines are rarely put in in residential areas or shut to human habitation.

So a lot of for wind power. Let’s have a look at another very widespread type of alternative energy, viz. solar power. Solar power has had a terribly curious history of its discovery. Calvin Fuller, Gerald Pearson and Daryl Chaplin of Bell Laboratories accidentally discovered, what’s widely thought to be the mother of the trendy solar cell, silicon semiconductors that had terribly strong solar properties while researching on the behavioral pattern of non-metals. Following this seminal discovery, the primary solar cell was soon developed and everybody was amazed to search out out how effective they were in generating electricity, particularly when made to figure in clusters. Solar power became a second hit and caught the individuals’s imagination like wildfire. Terribly soon firms and manufacturers everywhere got themselves busy creating and putting in solar panels all across the land. The US government conjointly encouraged the use of this new technology by staring to offer incentives, grants and rebates for each installation undertaken inside the country. Solar power promised a world of advantages to the user. The main benefit came in the form of slashed electricity bills and problem-free supply of current that required no raw material or just about zero maintenance. The sole downside that solar power suffered from was its inability to perform in the absence of the sun, particularly once dark.

The unavailability of solar power once dark could be a downside that’s not completely irresolvable. To ensure uninterrupted power provide for twenty-four hours, and conjointly to significantly cut back electricity bills one might go for the subsequent setup.

• Take into account installing both solar panels as well as wind turbines within the identical premises. While the solar system will generate power throughout the day, the turbine will guarantee uninterrupted power offer at night.

• Add a battery bank to the system as a stand-by unit. Batteries will simply store some amount of the generated power that may be used throughout times when each the systems are unavailable.

• Get the system connected to the grid therefore that each one surplus power can be sent back to the grid, helping you make earn from selling power to the utility.

• It doesn’t take a lot of to create cash from the system. With both units running simultaneously, the buyer will not only want any current from the grid but will truly be ready to sell back to it their own generated current.

With each passing day, a lot of and additional people everywhere are enthusiastically adopting various power. The demand for solar and wind power for residential use has already picked up considerably, and can continue to climb up the popularity curve in the following years. Even though there are still some technical glitches, they’re not of a terribly serious nature and will be resolved in the close to future through continuing analysis and development.

So, are you ready to create the switch to ‘solar’ and ‘wind’ power? People across the planet currently apprehend the benefits of installing a solar or a wind power system at home. By doing this you are currently solely contributing to scrub up the environment, however the advantages are monetary in addition to you’ll be able to scale back your power bills. Take facilitate of a manual that can facilitate you put in it step by step by showing you where to line it up, how to try and do it, how to wire the system, where to induce the elements and therefore the batteries from and will inform you regarding the safety instructions too. This is often the best way to urge things started off smoothly, particularly if you’re new to the topic of alternative energy.

Solar wind power is most likely the foremost common form of other, renewable energy offered anywhere. There are tons of reasons as for why it’s such a widespread alternative and perhaps you have already researched the superb advantages renewable energy has got to offer. If you haven’t looked into these edges, you’d be well advised to. But, it would appear that a lot of folks believe they will only benefit from solar wind power if they live among the United States however this could not be further from the truth.

It’s certainly true to say that the majority of the home DIY manuals and guides are usually sourced from the US and the overall trend seems to be that these are utilised mainly by people who live here. However, that should not mean that solar wind power is out of the reach of other countries and no matter where in the planet you live, there is fully no reason whatsoever why you can not reap the great rewards that homemade solar wind power has to offer you.

If you have a look at the fundamental build necessities for a solar power panel or a windmill generator, all of them consist of items that are readily offered in most countries. There’s nothing that you require in the US that you can’t get in Canada, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, China, South Africa and so on. Within the unlikely event that you are doing become stuck, don’t additionally forget that you’ll use the web and you’ll order small parts from almost anywhere in the planet if required.

Since the biggest range of DIY guides are created in the US, they are all written in English and the simplest made, high quality systems can typically include short video tutorials which again can be spoken in English. This hopefully should not be too much of a drawback as most of the bigger countries in explicit have English as either their initial or second language. There are several free programmes out there on the net today that will simply convert any text document into any language of your alternative!

One point to be aware of is that the electrical systems in many countries are different to those of the US. But, this again ought to not be a major problem. The essential principles of solar wind energy are such that it can still be designed and used completely anywhere in the globe in the identical method as it might be in the US. Additionally to this, if you’re looking to put in a solar power panel or windmill generator in your home, there would be no harm in taking the advice of a local qualified electrician before the installation process just to be safe.

We have a tendency to are all reminded nearly a day of how there is a major energy crisis and that energy costs can get higher and higher. For this one reason alone there has never been a better time to explore different renewable and natural sources of power for our homes. Regardless of where in the planet you reside, solar wind power could be a great choice that is reasonable to implement and will give your home with hour’s worth of free, renewable energy for years to come.

It is easily at intervals reach of anyone, anywhere in the world!

If you decide to create your own Solar Wind Power, you’ll have a satisfying and rewarding experience provided you follow instructions which have been written by the experts.

Directions should be well structured, clear and arranged and you must have access to assist if you should want it.

To know about energy efficiency equipment to use and how are these important, visit renewable energy. For you to know more about wind turbines,its tips, effects of using turbines, and benefits of wind energy. More info in our energy management.