From The Workbench - Alternative + Renewable Energy Blog Valuable information for do-it-yourselfers interested in the latest in alternative + renewable energy

Way to go OREGON!  I love when Wednesday actually gives us good news!  Today’s awesome alternative energy bit of news is that one of our great states in this wonderful nation is prepping, planning and is officially going to build one of the World’s LARGEST Wind Farms by 2012.

According to new reports, major utility company Southern California Edison is going ahead with plans to build a 909 MW, yes, 909 MW, wind farm between California and Oregon.  909 MW!  Good Lord.  The article I read mentioned that “….the new installation will actually be installed outside California in Gilliam and Morrow Counties in North-Central Oregon between 2011 and 2012.  The installation will consist of 303 3-MW turbines in a 30 mile radius. Shepherd’s Flat will generate around 2B kWh of wind power for SCE, about 10 percent of its total alternative energy portfolio.  The wind-rich region is one of the nation’s “bread baskets” of wind power.”

To me, some of the best news about this new installation is the simple fact that in creating it, no new power transmission lines need to be built.  By doing this, the wind farm can come online in much less time than other wind farms, and will allow the alternative energy and even the return on investments to come in much faster.  Not only that, wind power, per kWh, is cheaper than solar energy and a great deal of other alternative energy sources to cultivate and harness.

The bottom line, kudos to SCE, kudos to Oregon and California for this new MASSIVE wind farm.  For wanting to go green, this is a massive step forward.

Image via Wikipedia

So, you’re well versed on where harnessing the power of the blustery wind actually comes from, now you just need a bit more information on what different types of turbines there are that actually do the harnessing.  From the most ancient to the most recent, wind turbines have a long history and today we’re going to cover the “who’s who” of wind turbines.

It is no secret that wind energy is the number one fastest growing energy source in the whole world.  It is clean, it is renewable, it is readily available almost everywhere and it is not too difficult to actually capture and use.  What could be better?

So you know where it comes from, now you want to know how to capture it and what to use to actually do the capturing.  The age old question, are there different types of turbines?

Are there different types of wind turbines?

There are several types of wind turbines:

* Vertical-axis wind turbine—The main rotor shaft is arranged vertically, enabling the turbine to capture the energy of the wind without pointing directly into it. This works to the advantage of those who live in areas where the wind direction constantly fluctuates.
* Horizontal-axis wind turbine—These turbines have two to three blades and operate by facing the unit into the wind. An attached wind vane measures wind direction, enabling the turbine to best position itself to capture the wind.

Wind turbines are also available in several different sizes:

* Single, small turbines—These units are meant for individual use for homes, telecommunications dishes, water pumping or in remote areas where a grid connection is lacking. They can be coupled with batteries, solar power systems, or fuel systems to create a hybrid system.
* Utility-scale turbines—Typically, these large units (from 100 kilowatts to several megawatts) are combined with other large units to form a wind farm, providing bulk power to the electrical grid.

So while you might not be quite ready for the utility-scale turbines forming a giant wind farm, you’d be shocked, amazed, and pleasantly surprised by how much energy you can actually cultivate with just a small turbine or two placed strategically.  Again, combining the energy you store from the sun, with the energy you harness from the wind, the sky is the limit!

Happy Friday my friends!  I’m going to end on a positive note this fine Friday, and show you that at any given moment, all over the United States and rest of the world, there AREA projects in place to help save this planet.

I know it is rather easy to get discouraged given the current state of things environmentally speaking, but instead of doing that, why not read this, and get Excited!  Here is a short list, according to the Washington Post, of some Wind Turbine projects in the developmental stages as we speak.

Head over and check out the full article, then head over to Northern Tool and check out some wind turbine products yourself…it won’t be on quite the scale as these projects, but every little bit helps!

Have a great weekend and we’ll see you bright, early, and green on Monday.

• “FreedomWorks has proposed 131 turbines in the George Washington National Forest in Rockingham and Shenandoah counties in northwest Virginia.

• Highland New Wind will begin construction this year of 19 turbines in remote Highland County, known as Virginia’s Switzerland.

• Two small projects, one or two turbines, would power Tangier and Wallops islands off Virginia.

• U.S. Wind Force has received approval to build 25 turbines on Savage Mountain, southwest of Cumberland, on the border of Garrett and Allegany counties in Maryland.

• Clipper Windpower is seeking approval for 28 turbines in Garrett County atop Backbone Mountain, Maryland’s highest ridge, southeast of the Deep Creek Lake resort area.

• Synergics is seeking approval to build 24 turbines atop Backbone Mountain, south of U.S. 50 near Table Rock.”