Articles by
Paul Gipe
Community Wind Power: Local Energy for Local People by BWE–A Review
By
Paul Gipe
In a densely populated country like Germany, wind turbines as a consequence are installed near people, as are all other forms of infrastructure. That's one of the most striking observations North Americans make when visiting Germany - there are wind turbines, solar panels, and biogas plants everywhere. Thus, it's critically important for the expansion of renewable energy in Germany that the public not only accept wind turbines in the landscape but endorse it. . .
Community Power Update for North America 2012
By
Paul Gipe
Community wind energy as found in continental Europe represents an extremely small niche market in North America, despite more than a decade of effort by proponents in Canada and the USA. Community wind represents less than 2% of the nearly 47,000 MW of wind in the USA, and an even smaller percentage of the slightly more than 5,000 MW of wind in Canada. . .
NREL How To Design Geothermal Feed-in Tariffs
By
Paul Gipe
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) issued a long-delayed report this past summer on Geothermal FIT Design. . .
Danish Wind Turbine Owners Association 2012 Update
By
Paul Gipe
On a recent pilgrimage-and that's the only word for it-to Denmark in September we stopped by the Danmarks Vindmølleforening (the Danish Wind Turbine Owners Association) to visit my colleagues Asbjørn Bjerre and Steen Andersen. . .
Jordan Adopts Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariffs–and Shelves Nuclear
By
Paul Gipe
While North American regulators continue debating the merits of feed-in tariffs, another developing country has adopted the policy renowned for rapidly developing renewable energy in the developed world. . .
New Offshore Wind in Denmark 18 Cents per kWh
By
Paul Gipe
While traveling in Denmark this year I picked up a local newspaper (Dagbladet 13 September 2012, p 32) that had an article on the huge Anholt offshore project in the northern Kattegat--the straits between Denmark and Sweden. The 400 MW project had only one bidder, DONG, and the price awarded was 1.051 DKK per kWh. At the exchange rate then this was ~$0.18 per kWh. . .
Husum Wind Conference Launches Interactive Wind Map
By
Paul Gipe
As part of the giant Husum wind conference held every two years, organizers this past fall launched an interactive map of wind projects in the region surrounding the "grey city by the sea". . .
German Wind Association Survey of Wind Turbine Service 2012
By
Paul Gipe
At the World Wind Energy Association conference in Bonn this past July there was a session on operations and maintenance and service providers. Carlo Reeker summarized the findings of annual survey by the German Wind Turbine Owners Associations, Bundesverband WindEnergie, BWE. . .
Quebec Community Wind Projects 2012
By
Paul Gipe
In a colloquium at the 2012 Husum wind conference, there was a brief report on the progress of community wind in Quebec. By a rather loose definition of "community wind" to include municipal utilities and municipal participation with private developers, Quebec has assigned 294 MW in eleven projects, including one First Nation. The average tariff for the nearly 300 MW of projects is $0.125 CAD per kWh. . .
Preben Maegaard on the Bermuda Economy 2012
By
Paul Gipe
This past September we stopped by the Folkecenter for Renewable Energy in a swing through Jutland. There we met with Preben Maegaard, longtime director of the Folkecenter and one of the pioneers of Danish wind power. . .
Wind Energy — The Breath of Life or the Kiss of Death: Contemporary Wind Mortality Rates
By
Paul Gipe
Update: The most current database for the number of fatal accidents in the wind industry. Below is a summary table from the spreadsheet. Note that there are four other tabs not reproduced here. . .
Italy Abandons RPS – Adopts System of Feed-in Tariffs
By
Paul Gipe
This past summer Italy not only adopted new feed-in tariffs for solar, but also radically revised its program for wind and other renewables. The complex new Italian policies go into effect at the beginning of the new year. . .
