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asked by paulachaneyThere are several developers that are working in the area (Hale County and surrounding counties as well). One group that has made quite a bit of progress in Hale County is Tri Global Energy. You can find a map and details about each development that are working on on their web site (http://www.triglobalenergy.com/ourprojects.html). Tri Global also has a local regional office in Lubbock, if you have specific questions about their development in Hale County you can contact their representatives in the Lubbock office (806.785.7770).
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The simplest answer to that question can be found on the AWEA web site on their fact sheets:
"Air has mass, and when it is in motion, it contains the energy of that motion("kinetic energy"). Some portion of that energy can converted into other forms mechanical force or electricity that we can use to perform work."
You can find out more basics on how wind energy works on the wind energy basics page of the AWEA Web site http://www.awea.org/faq/wwt_basics.html -
There is not a specific distance a wind farm must be from a transmission line to connect to the grid. Ultimately it is up to the developer to decide how much transmission they want to build to reach an electric grid tie in point. Basically, all electricity generated must come into the grid at a substation and therefore the wind farm developer must build or have a line built that will connect to the nearest substation. How far away that wind farm is from the transmission line depends on how much the developer wants to spend on building a tie in line.
The National Council on Electricity Policy notes a specific example in their 2004 publication, Electric Transmission: A Primer, wherein GE Wind paid to build a 40 mile long transmission line to connect their wind farm in Southern Colorado to Xcel Energy's power grid.
If you take the CREZ system that is being built in Texas for example, these companies (Transmission Services Providers, TSPs)are building lines and collection points throughout the state to increase the capacity of wind energy which can be moved from West Texas to load centers throughout the state. Wind farm developers will then be able to tie into those lines by connecting their wind farm at a collection station (substation). It seems likely that developers will be interested in land that is close to a transmission collection point, but there are many other factors that will determine whether a wind farm will be successful or not. Distance from a transmission line is not the only factor that developers will be looking at. -
Whether a turbine runs or not depends on a couple of factors. First, the wind speed must be between the cut-in and cut-out speeds for that particular turbine. Basically, the wind must be blowing strong enough for the turbine to generate electricity but if it's too fast the turbine can be damaged. In general, a turbine cut-in speed is usually around 10 mph and cut-out speed is usually between 55 to 65 mph.
Another issue is curtailment. This is when the wind turbines are producing too much electricity for the electric lines to handle. When this happens a wind plant operator will have to cut back by shutting some of the wind generators down. This happens as a result of the lack of transmission lines in a specific area. This report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/46716.pdf) has more details about wind energy curtailment. -
That depends on a lot of factors, but according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA),
"The output of a wind turbine depends on the turbine's size and the wind's speed through the rotor. Wind turbines being manufactured now have power ratings ranging from 250 watts to 5 megawatts (MW).
Example: A 10-kW wind turbine can generate about 10,000 kWh annually at a site with wind speeds averaging 12 miles per hour, or about enough to power a typical household. A 5-MW turbine can produce more than 15 million kWh in a year--enough to power more than 1, 400 households. The average U.S. household consumes about 10,000 kWh of electricity each year."
You can find a more detailed answer on AWEA's wind energy basics web page: http://tinyurl.com/29s3lmr -
It's definitely possible, although it depends on many other factors as well. A lot of time that's a prime location. There is a RES Americas wind development (Whirlwind Energy Center) just East of Floydada, TX that is situated just along the ridge of the caprock.
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Caprock Plains Wind...’s Bio
Non-profit landowner association looking to recruit wind energy development to our region, connecting landowners with industry professionals. Ask us questions about wind development in general or things specific to our region and help us make a FAQ list.
