Wind power has more potential to provide developing countries with access to cheap and clean energy, according to a UN project. Thousands of megawatts of new renewable energy potential in Africa, Asia, South and Central America have been discovered by a pioneering project to map the solar and wind resource of 13 developing countries.
The SWERA team has assessed wind and solar energy resources using a range of data from satellites and ground-based instruments -- often with surprising results. In Nicaragua, for example, SWERA assessments of wind resources demonstrated a much greater potential than the 200 megawatts (MW) estimated in the 1980s.
Wind power is the most developed of the renewable energy resources and in many ways is more suited for use in developing countries than PV solar, thermal solar and ocean power. Its major advantage, of course, is that the technology is fquite mature and it can produce power at costs competitive with fossil fuels. Many of the componenets for an installation can be fabricated using local labor, not requiring special manufacturing equipment. Several manufacturers of wind power equipment have set up fabrication and assembly facilities in countries where there products are to be installed. If some of the components, which are relatively small, cannot be made locally they can easily be imported from more developed countries. Wind power plants have some geographical limitations, but in many countries they can be installed in both coastal and interior locations--both in plains areas and in hilly or mountanous areas--locations which are generally more diverse than can be used by solar or ocean power technologies.
Already China, environmentally, probably the most important country in the developing world, has enlarged its target for wind energy as a result of the findings. Goals set by China's Center for Renewable Energy Development call for 6 GW (gigawatts) of installed wind capacity by 2010 and 30 GW by 2020. Currently, wind power accounts for only 0.17 percent of the country's total installed energy capacity, according to a recent report in the People's Daily of Beijing. To date, more than 40 wind farms have been developed in China, with a total capacity of 764 MW.
GE plans to assemble the wind turbines for the 150 MW Jiangsu Rudong Concession II Wind Project project in Shenyang, China. The project will consist of 100 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines, with 67 of the units to be installed in 2006 and the remaining 33 in 2007.
The Nordex Group (Germany) has a joint venture contract for the local production of megawatt-class wind turbines in China. The company’s partners are the regional utility Ningxia Electric Power Group (40%) and the Ningxia Tianjing Electric Energy Development Group (10%). Nordex Wind Power Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd. will be assembling wind turbines with a capacity of 1.5 megawatts in the province of Ningxia. The joint venture has already received its first major order of 200 MW to be constructed until 2009. The partners will be completing the first 26 turbines for China in the coming year. After the necessary production quality is secured local manufacturing content will be raised step by step. This will be facilitated by further wind farm projects being planned by the partners with a volume of up to 600 MW. If this business volume is achieved in the medium term, the joint venture will be able to extend the production facility to accommodate an annual output of 200 turbines.
The SWERA study defines suitable areas as those that could generate 300 watts per square metre, needing winds of at least 6.4 to 7 metres per second at 50 metres above the ground. The countries where SWERA has carried out surveys to date are: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Cuba, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sri Lanka.
The SWERA clearinghouse provides information about solar and wind energy resources in thirteen partner countries around the world. Products held in the SWERA archive include data on wind and solar energy potential, plus detailed country energy analyses.
Resources:
Wind could be our best weapon against global warming, Andrew Buncombe, The New Zealand Hearld, December 7, 2005
Solar and Wind Energy Potential--An ENN Commentary, Gordon Feller, Environmental News Network, May 17, 2005
Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment, UN website
GE to Assemble Wind Turbines in China for 150 MW Project, Renewable Energy Access, December 8, 2005
Nordex Establishing Joint Venture in China, Press release, December 2, 2005
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