Helping the powerless - EWEA · Smart grids will lead to more wind power, say EU grid operators Smart grids would signifi cantly reduce the costs of integrating variable renewable

T H E E U R O P E A N W I N D I N D U S T R Y M A G A Z I N E

September 2010Volume 29/No 4

MÁIRE GEOGHEGAN-QUINNEU Research Commissioner

MÁÁIREINTERVIEW Helping the powerless

Small wind turbines and what they can do

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3WIND DIRECTIONS | September 2010

| contents |

Wind Directions is published fi ve times a year. The contents do not necessarily refl ect the views and policy of EWEA.

Publisher: Christian Kjaer Editor: Sarah AzauWriters: Sarah Azau, Chris Rose, Crispin Aubrey, Elke Zander, Zoë CaseyDesign & production: www.inextremis.beCover photo: Asofenix/Seth Hays

letter from the editor 5Small is still beautiful

brussels briefi ng 6The latest EU news

interview 11Philip Lowe, Director-General for Energy at the European Commission

wind news 15

interview 18Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, EU Research Commissioner

mini focus 20Global Wind Day 2010: more than just clowning aroundHard Rain exhibition: picturing the worst

wind bites & wind dates 29

focus 30Small wind energy’s steady climbBringing power to the people: trip to NicaraguaNeil Jeffery, CEO of Renewable World

wind energy basics 45What is offshore wind energy?

technology corner 46HVDC: The future for far offshore connections

country focus 49A closer look at Ukraine

zoom on grids 51Examining the backbone of Europe’s energy future

EWEA news 52

EWEA welcomes new members 55

the last word 58Kyle Damon, primary school teacher

T H E E U R O P E A N W I N D I N D U S T R Y M A G A Z I N E

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| letter from the editor |

The European wind industry has always thought big. The pioneers in Denmark in the early 1980s were working on a technology for which there was little support or interest at the time. But they had a vision. And over the years, the industry grew bigger and bigger, spreading to Spain and Germany, then to other coun-tries, and these days we are the leaders of the pack: installing more new capacity in Europe in 2008 and 2009 than any other power-generating technology.

As the industry has matured, the turbines too have shot up from babies to giants: from small machines of several kilowatts, the industry is now installing 6 MW turbines nearly 200 metres high, and is likely to go even bigger at sea. The growth is a sign of the strength and potential of this carbon free technology.

Helping the powerlessYet thinking big makes no sense if we forget the advantages of what is small. 1.6 billion people around the world have no access to electricity, and small wind turbines can provide clean, sus-tainable electricity that transforms the lives of isolated rural communities. In this issue of Wind Directions, we explore small wind: the technol-ogy, its development and, above all, its benefi ts.

On p.35, we visit one such community in Nicaragua that now has electric light and a water pump thanks to a 1kW turbine set up by EWEA’s partners, Renewable World. We fi nd out how it has changed the villagers’ existences so far, and the business opportunities it could open up in the future. EWEA is proud to have made the donation to Renewable World that allowed the turbine to be put up, and will continue to fund them through our events such as the upcoming GRIDS 2010 conference this November.

Wind energy all over the worldWind energy, big and small, is truly a worldwide phenomenon, and the 2010 Global Wind Day showed this perfectly, with 220 events – from wind farm open days to shows, workshops, parties and competitions - taking place in around 30 countries, including many which had never taken part before, such as Venezuela, Canada, Brazil and Mongolia. Here in Brussels, the 29.5m wind turbine blade EWEA set up next to the main buildings of the European Commission and the European Council was a real talking point.

From 13 to 25 September, another area of Brussels will become a wind energy focus as part of EWEA’s ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ campaign. On the Place du Luxembourg in the EU area, EWEA is putting up a banner made up of images from Mark Edwards’ harrowing Hard Rain exhibition depicting the brutal reality of global warming, and explaining how zero carbon wind energy is already helping tackle climate change. We take an in-depth look at the Global Wind Day and the ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ campaign on p.21.

The many citizens who came and marvelled at the wind farms opened to the public for Global Wind Day, and the villagers in Nicaragua buying their fi rst ever electric light bulbs, would have been somewhat disappointed to discover that the turbines weren’t connected to anything. Wind energy technology, big or small, makes no sense without a reliable power grid transporting the electricity produced from A to B. Europe’s old and outdated grid needs urgent upgrading and extending, and the many issues surrounding the grids question will be at the heart of the GRIDS 2010 event on 23-24 November in Berlin. More information on p.52 and on www.ewea.org/grids2010. ■

Small is still beautiful By Sarah AzauEditor

6 WIND DIRECTIONS | September 2010

| brussels briefi ng |

EWEA members exclusive: NREAPs and summaries online

All EU countries have to come up with a plan detailing how they intend to meet their 2020 renewable energy targets and hand it in to the European Commission.

These ‘National Renewable Energy Actions Plans’ or NREAPs are being posted on EWEA’s members’ lounge as and when they are made public.

EWEA is also providing a summary of how each NREAP relates to

power grid issues, administrative procedures and support mechanisms, and will be analysing the annual wind power installations proposed by each country.

If you are a member of EWEA, you can see the NREAP page by logging into the members’ lounge on www.ewea.org and clicking on ‘Obtain key information’. For more information on membership of EWEA, contact

Christi Newman at [email protected].

Thousands of potential new renewable energy jobs

Up to 22,000 new jobs could be created if the EU’s 2009 Renewable Energy Directive were implemented in the non-EU countries known as the ‘Energy Community’.1

That’s according to a new study which, using the same methodology as the EU, put the countries’ hypothetical 2020 renewable energy targets at 24%. The countries had 17% renewable energy in 2005.

Savings in CO2 emissions in the heat and electricity sector would be 12.5%-21% depending on factors such as electricity demand. More information: www.energy-community.org

1 Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and UNMIK – and the candidate Contracting Parties of Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine.

Use of renewables increases while other fuels drop in 2009

In 2009, renewable energy provided 19% of electricity in the ENTSO-E area (34 countries, including the EU-27), according to a report from the EU grid operators’ body. The so-called ‘System Adequacy Retrospect’ for 2009 indicates that this was an increase of 12% compared with 2008.

Overall, however, there was 3% less power generation in the ENTSO-E area in 2009 - which could be linked to the

worldwide fi nancial and economic crisis that started in 2008 - and generation from renewables was the only type to go up.

The report, ‘System Adequacy Retrospect 2009’, looks back at power generation, demand and adequacy in 2009, with a focus on the power bal-ance, margins and the generation mix.Read the report: www.entsoe.eu

Cheap emissions allowances are delaying switch to renewable energy

The EU’s greenhouse gas emis-sion reduction targets must be increased to 30% by 2020 to stop the Emissions Trading System (ETS) from failing, argues EWEA.

The ETS involves capping carbon emissions and making companies pay to emit more than that level. But if emissions are already below that level because of the economic crisis, the ETS and the price of car-bon collapse, as nobody needs extra emissions rights.

Today the carbon price is low, but hasn’t yet collapsed, mainly be-cause the power sector is stocking their allowances (EUAs) in anticipa-tion of the time after 2012 when the cap will continue to be lowered. However, the power sector passes 100% of the EUA costs to consum-ers, who get no emission reductions in return.

“To ensure the ETS works as intended – to make polluters pay and help tackle climate change, the target needs to be increased to 30% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020”, says Rémi Gruet, EWEA’s Regulatory Affairs Advisor. “This would cost consum-ers just 15% more, according to the European Commission.”

A European Commission Communication broached the 30% question earlier this year; dis-cussions will continue at the EU environment ministers’ meeting in October. More information:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment

EWEA’s position paper on reducing greenhouse

gas emissions can be found on www.ewea.org

Photo: EWEA


IUCN paper to help offshore wind developers protect marine life

A new report should provide guid-ance for offshore wind developers by explaining how to take potential impacts on marine life into account, says EWEA.

The report, from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), supported by E.ON Climate and Renewables and the Swedish

International Development Cooperation on Agency (Sida), points out how wind energy can help tackle climate change, and have positive local impacts such as blocking trawling. It discusses other issues such as disturbance effects from noise, pointing out how these can be mitigated. More information: http://data.iucn.org

Photo: iStockphoto

Renewable energy and grid development key for new EU energy strategy

Smart grids will lead to more wind power, say EU grid operators

Smart grids would signifi cantly reduce the costs of integrating variable renewable power generation and so help wind power grow cost-effectively, said the European grid operators (ERGEG, shortly to become the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators - ACER) earlier this summer.

The ERGEG paper outlines recommen-dations for overcoming challenges to the development of European smart grids policy framework.

“Most of ERGEG’s conclusions are welcome, but it is important that they also recognise the benefi ts that renewable technologies bring in terms of savings in operational costs of power generation, and improvements in network effi ciency and security,” said Paul Wilczek, EWEA’s Regulatory Affairs Advisor. More on ERGEG: www.energy-regulators.eu

| brussels briefi ng |

Half Europe’s power set to come from renewables by 2020

Electricity from renewable sources could provide up to half the EU’s power by 2020 if current growth rates are maintained, says a new report from the European Commission. In 2009 about 19.9% of EU electricity came from renewables, it estimates.

One of the key growth areas is wind energy. The report points out that wind power exceeded the EU target of 40 GW by 2010 by more than 80% in 2009, with 74 GW installed.

However, the report also points out that current growth rates will not be main-tained without a stable and ambitious legislative framework.

In a separate recent news release, the EU’s statistics offi ce, Eurostat, an-nounced that renewable energy made up 10.3% of energy consumption in the EU27 in 2008, compared with 9.7% in 2007 and 8.8% in 2006. The leading countries were Sweden (44.4% renewa-bles), Finland (30.5%) and Latvia (29.9%). In terms of electricity, 16.6% came from renewables in the EU in 2008.More information on JRC report:

http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/refsys

More information on Eurostat data:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu

Photo: iStockphoto

Priorities for the EU’s energy strategy 2011-2022 must include building and operating modern integrated grids, work-ing towards a low-carbon energy system, ensuring EU leadership in technological innovation, improving energy security and opening up the EU energy market, said EWEA in its response to the European Commission’s recent consultation.

“The strategy needs to start by imple-menting legislation that’s already been agreed, such as the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive and the third energy market liberalisation package”, said Justin Wilkes, EWEA’s Policy Director. “This will be the starting point for mak-ing further progress, particularly on grid issues”.

EWEA’s full response is on www.ewea.org

The Commission’s consultation document is on:

http://ec.europa.eu/energy


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| interview |

What are you currently working on as regards renewable energy and especially, wind power?At the moment, we’re focusing on the steps to-wards the 20% targets set in the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive. I think that by 2050, we could be getting 30% of our electricity from wind energy in the EU, or even 50% provided balancing capac-ity is added. There is lots of potential – Spain had 92 days this winter when its entire electricity demand was met by wind.

But there are challenges, the biggest of which is infrastructure. We need to extend grids, to bring lots of wind and solar energy online with all the benefi ts they have. To do this, a lot of investment will be needed.

Later this year we will release an infrastructure package that will identify all the technical, physi-cal, regulatory and fi nancial measures needed to facilitate the development of the network infra-structure. And before the infrastructures are built, we need public acceptance.

Can the EU meet its renewable energy targets?Yes. Certain countries, like Germany, Spain and Denmark, will have no problem meeting their individual targets because they have invested in cutting-edge technology and they have a real commitment to renewables. Others will have more diffi culty and may need to get green energy from across their borders.

But what is important is that we are able to meet the 20% renewable energy goal not in a time of economic crisis, like now, but at cruising speed, in more “normal” economic conditions.

Ultimately we need to bring in more renewable generation capacities as some oil and coal-fi red power plants are phased out. The question is how

Philip Lowe is the Director-General for Energy at the European Commission. He talked to Sarah Azau

about the DG’s ongoing work on renewables and how the future is looking.

to do this: do we bring them in quickly, or allow a longer transition period with more gas consumed in the short term.

Tremendous progress has been made already on the cost-effectiveness of wind and solar energy. But we still need incentives to attract investors and bring costs further down. Each Member State needs to set its regulatory regime and tariffs to give the necessary incentives while not prolonging the subsidies to renewables any longer than is justifi ed.

“By 2050, we could be getting 30% of our electricity from wind energy in the EU, or even 50%.”

Thinking energetically at the European CommissionPhoto:

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| interview |

Any market distortions of the different national support systems should also be addressed, to obtain further effi ciency gains and exploit the in-ternal market to the full. Wind power capacity for instance should not be installed where subsidies are, but where it is most appropriate to do so. In

these times of economic crisis and national debt and defi cit combating, this becomes all the more relevant to make the systems viable.

How important are the National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs), and what effect will they have?The NREAPs are crucial for achieving the 20% renewables target and for the design of future network infrastructures. They are the backbone of the implementation of the Directive and very im-portant for the Commission’s ability to effectively enforce the legally binding commitments.

The Renewable Energy Directive sets goals for 2020. What do you see happening beyond that time?In our 2050 Roadmap we want to develop various scenarios which will all put us on the right track to a low carbon economy. All these scenarios will undoubtedly require more energy effi ciency and development of intelligent networks and perhaps more regulation in order to raise standards for grids and metering across the EU. Do you think we could have 100% renewables in 2050?Everything is possible with a certain amount of technical progress – but a realistic objective is a low carbon economy in 2050, and in most scenarios that means an 80% reduction in CO

2 compared with 2005 levels. But zero carbon emissions, and 100% renewable energy would be very diffi cult for some parts of the economy, such as aviation and shipping, which can’t yet run on 100% renewables unless we see major techno-logical breakthroughs in those areas. ■

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For 92 days this winter Spain’s entire electricity

demand was met by wind.

Public acceptance of wind energy is also crucial

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| wind news |

AUSTRALIAWind turbines are safe, says Australian studyA new independent study released in July concludes that wind turbines have no adverse effect on people’s health.

The study, by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council, found no evidence that wind turbines had a direct effect on people’s health.More information: www.nhmrc.gov.au

CHINAOffshore farm now onlineChina’s biggest offshore wind farm has started transmitting power to the nation-al grid through a submarine cable. The Donghai Bridge wind farm off Shanghai’s coast, made up of 34 wind turbines of 3 MW, can fuel more than 200,000 city households.More information: http://cdm.unfccc.int

EUROPEA2SEA to deliver new turbine installation vesselA2SEA has signed a $139 million (€109 mn) contract to build a new offshore wind installation vessel sched-uled for delivery in the second half of 2012. Currently, A2SEA has four jack-up vessels, which are essential for putting up offshore turbines. The fi fth vessel will be the fi rst to be tailor-made for the offshore wind sector. It will be able to put

up turbines in water depths up to 45m, and carry eight to 10 turbines at once.More information: www.a2sea.com

INDIA25.5 MW wind power project for Rajasthan stateHindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has ordered 17 S82 wind turbines from Suzlon Energy Limited for a new wind farm to be sited in the Jaisalmer district of the state of Rajasthan, India. The project should be commissioned by early 2011. More information: www.suzlon.com

NORWAYFive demo offshore turbines to be installed in Norway and Sweden GE is to install up to four 4 MW direct drive wind turbines off the southwest coast of Norway for technical and environmental feasibility studies. It signed a cooperation agreement with Norwegian energy companies Statoil and Lyseto jointly carry out the project, which will be installed as from 2012.

GE recently announced plans to invest approximately €340 million to develop or expand its offshore wind tur-bine manufacturing and service facilities in four European countries – the UK, Germany, Norway and Sweden. More information: www.gepower.com

SPAINSpain’s fi rst smart network launched in CastellónIberdrola Renewables is set to invest €22 million in Spain’s fi rst ever smart grid, in the city of Castellón. The move involves adapting over 600 transformers and replacing the more than 100,000 power meters supplying the city’s 175,000 inhabitants.

The smart network supports remote services and enables clients to access the electricity market, monitoring their electricity usage data in real-time.More information: www.iberdrola.es

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| wind news |

SPAIN €25m blade manufacturing facility opens in NavarreAcciona Energy has opened a new wind turbine blade plant at Lumbier in Spain’s Navarre region, worth €25 million of investment. Initially, 64 people were employed at the factory, but this is set to increase to 148 this September.

The plant will produce 34 and 37.5 metre long blades for the AW-1500 wind turbine, and will produce 150 blades a year when at full capacity. More information: www.acciona.com

SWEDENVestas to provide turbines for repowering in GotlandVestas has bagged an order to supply, install and commission 21 of its 3 MW turbines for a 63 MW project on the island of Gotland, south-east of Sweden. The installation will take place later in 2010.

The Gotland project is a joint enter-prise between Näsudden Väst Invest, Slitevind AB and Stugyl AB. More information: www.vestas.com

UKGovernment grants €11.9 million to offshore wind industry The UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has awarded grants worth of £10 million (€11.9 mil-lion) to the offshore wind industry.

Photo : Vestas

Photo: Keenpress Publishing/Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson

The UK offshore wind industry has received a

fi nancial boost

Siemens Windpower will receive £5 mil-lion, and a further £5 million of grants will be awarded to seven UK companies with the aim of building the UK supply chain and developing new cost-effective technologies for offshore wind.More information: www.decc.gov.uk

London Array wind farm gets loan from EIBDenmark’s DONG Energy will receive a £250 million (€298m) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to build the 1GW London Array offshore wind farm. The EIB made a fi rst £250m loan to the London Array project in June 2010, bringing the total fi nancing to £500m.

The fi rst phase of the London Array wind farm will have a capacity of 630 MW from 175 turbines and is ex-pected to begin operation in 2012. More information: www.dongenergy.co.uk

URUGUAYCompanies keen to build wind farms A tender of 150 MW of wind energy capacity in Uruguay has led to 950 MW in offers from 15 different companies. Another 150 MW will be contracted at a later date. The contracts will last 30 years, and be for farms between 30 MW and 50 MW. More information: www.miem.gub.uy ■


| interview |

Shortly after she was appointed EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Chris Rose asked Máire Geoghegan-Quinn a few questions about her new role, budgets and wind power.

Has the European Commission already identifi ed its fi nancial commitment for the implementation of SET-Plan roadmaps? In October 2009, the Commission identifi ed an investment gap (public and private) for the devel-opment of low carbon technologies of €50 billion over the next 10 years.

The exact split between EC/Member States/industry cannot be predetermined in advance – it will vary according to the specifi c activities to be funded.

But the bulk of the new investment will obvi-ously have to come from where the bulk of the money is – that is industry and the Member States. The Commission’s budget is limited to the amounts allocated to it by the Council – in other words the Member States – and by the European Parliament!

Discussions on further investment of EU funds will be part of the overall review of the EU budget to be launched shortly.

Meanwhile, the Commission will focus its available instruments and funding, particularly the Energy Theme of the seventh Framework Programme (FP7), on the SET-Plan priorities.

Is the launch of the SET-Plan roadmaps going to have an impact on the dimensions and priorities of the FP7 ENERGY budget (currently €2.35 bn - while the total budget of the FP7 is over €50 bn)? As I’ve said, the Commission will focus on the SET-Plan priorities – in particular on the European Industrial Initiatives. The interim review of FP7 is underway. I cannot prejudge its outcome.

What is the ‘SET-Plan’?

In November 2007, the European Commission proposed a strategy to encour-age the uptake of low carbon technologies – like wind energy - in the EU. This is known as the ‘Strategic Energy Technology Plan’, or SET-Plan. The SET-Plan was offi cially launched earlier in 2010.

One of the plan’s proposals was to increase research efforts through actions plans – known as ‘roadmaps’ - for various key low-carbon technologies including wind energy and electricity grids. The aim of the roadmap is to help the technology become mature enough to achieve large market shares in the time up to 2050.

The wind roadmap has a budget of €6 billion, approximately half of which will be provided by the industry. Its objectives are:

• To maintain Europe’s technology leadership in both onshore and offshore wind power.

• To make onshore wind the most competi-tive energy source by 2020, with offshore following by 2030.

• To enable wind energy to supply 20% of Europe’s electricity in 2020, 33% in 2030, and 50% in 2050.

To achieve these goals, the European wind road-map will prioritise certain areas of work: new turbines and components, offshore technology, grid integration, wind resource assessment and spatial planning.

Researching the way forwardThe EU Science and Research Commissioner stresses the importance of

industry action and solid fi nancing.

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“The proper development

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“Financing of course remains a key issue. We need more

investment to achieve our goals.”


| interview |

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn was born in Carna, County Galway, Ireland, in September 1950. A qualifi ed teacher, she served as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (member of parliament) for the Galway West constituency from 1975 to 1997, then as Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications (1992–1993) and as Minister for Justice (1993–94).

Changing the overall allocation of funding to the Energy Theme would require a decision by the Council and European Parliament.

The total budget of the grids roadmap is only €2 bn.

How is the Commission going to support the prop-er development of EU grids and ensure high levels of penetration of renewables in the system? The budget for the grids roadmap does not in-clude the costs of the grid infrastructure that will be needed for large-scale demonstration projects, which is why the cost appears to be low. Only the additional costs related to research and demon-stration aspects are included.

The proper development of EU grids, including high levels of penetration of renewables, is a priority for the Commission. This will be refl ected in the new Energy Strategy for Europe 2011-2020 currently un-der development. The SET-Plan will provide a strong support to this, particularly through the industrial initiatives and the Energy Research Alliance.

And what are the synergies that could be devel-oped between the grid roadmap and the road-maps focusing on renewables?There will be close coordination at both political and administrative levels to maximise synergies between the grids roadmap and what we are do-ing on renewables.

What will help reach a successful implementation of the SET-Plan?We have strong political support for the SET-Plan from Council and Parliament – this was a crucial fi rst step.

Industry has also demonstrated its commit-ment – and if we are to succeed, continuing that commitment is indispensable.

The research community, in particular through the creation of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), has shown that it is ready to adopt new ways of working to rise to the chal-lenge. The Member State representatives in the Steering Group have a vital role to play in making

sure research funding focuses on the right, com-monly agreed priorities.

Financing of course remains a key issue. We need more investment to achieve our goals – as simple as that.

Accordingly, is the goal of spending 3% of nation-al GDPs on R&D going to facilitate the implemen-tation of the SET-Plan? The 3% objective is an overall one for R&D. In high growth – potentially high reward sectors such as low carbon technologies, the level of investment, particularly by industry, could and should be much higher.

I want industry to grasp the low carbon opportunity and step up its own investment levels – industry needs to back itself to succeed. The Commission is supporting that by setting out a strategic framework, working to create the right invest-ment conditions and by backing the right research projects. We will continue to listen to stakeholders on how best we can help.

What is the link between the SET-Plan and the 2011-2020 energy action plan? Technological innovation will be crucial over the 2011-2020 period. The SET-Plan will be the EU vehicle for promoting that innovation. ■

“I want industry to grasp the low carbon opportunity and step up its own investment levels – industry needs to back itself to succeed.”

One of the SET-Plan

roadmaps focuses on

EU grids

Photo: European CommissionPhoto: iStockphoto


| mini focus |

Wind power creates sustainable energy, spurs on the economy by providing new jobs and helps reduce stresses on the en-vironment, the mayor of Tillsonburg, Ontario said during a Global Wind Day tour of the Erie Shores Wind Farm.

“Actually, it’s been an extremely valuable ex-perience,” said Stephen Molnar, who along with a number of other politicians was part of a tour of the four-year-old Erie Shores facility in southern Ontario, which is described as being one of the largest wind power facilities in Canada, representing nearly 3% of the nation’s installed wind capacity.

The tour of Eire Shores was one of hundreds of events that occurred as the second annual Global Wind Day ricocheted around the world on 15 June.

From Italy to Austria, from Scotland to Belgium, from Japan to the US, from the Netherlands to Estonia, tens of thousands of people turned out for events, tours and exhibitions on Global Wind Day and during the days leading up to and imme-diately following 15 June.

The little town of North Ayrshire, Scotland saw more than 600 people visiting the Dalry

Community wind farm under sunny skies to cel-ebrate Family Open Day on 12 June which tied in with Global Wind Day, the Scottish Renewables Festival and the RenewableUK Wind Week.

The event in North Ayrshire was replicated around the world. From wind farm open days and conferences, to exhibitions, information days, sporting contests and photo contests, the power of wind was celebrated by politicians, scientists, entrepreneurs, environmentalists and journalists.

In the Argentinian city of Buenos Aires, celebra-tions reportedly started on Global Wind Day with a visit to an elementary school where students took part in an open class about wind energy. Simultaneously, a small wind exhibition was held in a central square where a live concert of wind in-struments surprised the visitors to the exhibition.

In an event in the Villa Borghese in Rome, new research unveiled on Global Wind Day showed about 87% of Italians are in favour of more wind energy in their country. “At Global Wind Day, we want to reiterate the importance of renewable energies as one of the key solutions to the eco-nomic and climate crisis,” Edoardo Zanchini from Legambiente, an Italian environment group, said.

More than just clowning aroundAs EWEA’s ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ campaign gathers pace, Global Wind Day on 15 June allowed people

all around the world to learn of the real benefi ts of wind energy while having fun.

By Chris Rose

Photos: EWEA/Jason Bickley

Wind energy dominated

the Brussels skyline


Klaus Rave of GWEC, Ingmar Wilhelm of ENEL and

Arthouros Zervos of EWEA at the Wind Day reception

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Bulgarian children joining in

In Brussels, the erection of a 29.5 metre long wind turbine blade was certainly the highlight of EWEA’s Global Wind Day. The visibility couldn’t have been better — it was on the Schuman roundabout, just a stone’s throw from the European Commission and Council main buildings. The blade was ac-companied by information panels in English, French and Flemish.

“We are very excited this project has worked out and we were able to show that wind energy is not only providing environmental and economic benefi ts but can also be an aesthetic object, a symbol for a renewable energy future,” said Elke Zander, EWEA’s campaigns offi cer.

From fresh air to hard rain: update on EWEA’s campaign

Over 2,000 turbines have been adopted around Europe as part of EWEA’s ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ campaign and many more people have voted for their favourites.

The prizes on offer to the adopters of the most popular turbines – a weekend for two people in the vibrant Danish capital Copenhagen, or in Mont Crozin in Switzerland’s beautiful Jura region, with travel, accommodation, and of course a trip to a wind farm included– are encouraging many to sign up and persuade friends to vote.

The next stage in the campaign, which promotes wind as a ‘breath of fresh air’ in the battle against the energy, climate and economic crises, is a photo exhibition, ‘Hard Rain’, which is up for two weeks in Brussels this September.

For more information on ‘Hard Rain’ see p.23-26.For more on the campaign, and to adopt or vote for a turbine, go to

www.ewea.org/freshair.

Mingling at the foot of the

wind turbine blade

usual tremendous effort to organise events in their countries, but also that we were approached by many new, enthusiastic people,” she said. “In many countries, events took place for the fi rst time: for example in Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Mongolia.”

Wind power rightly deserves to celebrate its own special day as a result of its increasing popu-larity and rapid growth around much of the world, according to the Secretary General of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

“Imagine being able to harness the power of nature in a sustainable way to create abundant clean energy, tackle climate change, create jobs and end our dangerous dependence on polluting fossil fuels”, Steve Sawyer said.“It’s not a dream, it’s wind energy — and it defi nitely deserves a special day.”

By the end of 2009, GWEC reported there was a total of 158.5 GW of wind power capacity installed around the globe. The more than 38 GW of new global wind power capacity installed last year represented a staggering 41.5% increase over 2008.

And so Global Wind Day unfolded. Related events were also held in Sweden, Estonia, England, Ireland, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Spain and other nations.

Wind was in the air and people from all walks of life responded enthusiastically. ■

The erection of the blade was just on time for the beginning of the EU’s Green Week and the Fête de l’Environnement, and EWEA also held a press conference and a reception on 14 June at the foot of the blade.

Zander said Global Wind Day proved again the impact it can create all over the world. “This year’s big accomplishment is that not only our reliable partners all over the world made their

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Wind power can help society make the neces-sary transition away from polluting fossil fuels, said Mark Edwards, the photographer who organised the Hard Rain exhibition.

“There is nowhere near enough investment in renewable energies and wind power is already a proven technology,” Edwards said in an interview.

Sponsored by EWEA as part of its ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ campaign, the Hard Rain banner features 44 photographs depicting the human and environmental ravages of climate change. When the photographs taken by Edwards and others are married to the lyrics of Bob Dylan’s 1962 recording A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, the effect is both sobering and contemplative.

That the exhibit, which takes place between 13 to 25 September, coincides with the European Mobility Week from 16 to 22 September and with

Brussels’ No Car Sunday on 19 September will only add to its growing appeal.

Edwards estimated that the exhibition has been seen by 15 million people since it began in May, 2006, in over 50 cities around the world.

“It’s continued to gather pace,” Edwards said. “Unexpectedly, I must say.”

Edwards said it took him a long time to realise why people responded so positively to both the lyrics and the photographs.

“The pictures are a bit like real life. They are all part of a world gone wrong, out of sync with nature.”

Edwards thought of illustrating Bob Dylan’s lyr-ics after being rescued by a Touareg nomad who played him A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall on a port-able cassette player. Many years later he turned it into an exhibition.

Picturing the worstAs summer ends in Brussels, visitors, politicians and workers traversing the

Place du Luxembourg adjacent to the European Parliament will be treated to a

haunting photographic exhibition that highlights the need for humankind to end

its dependence on polluting fossil fuels.

Mark Edwards

‘I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways’

Bangladeshi refugees, Calcutta, India

By Chris Rose

Photos: Mark Edwards / Still Pictures


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‘Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter’

Mother and child living in a drainpipe, Calcutta, India

‘And I tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it’

A wedding party protests against air pollution, Russia

Photo: A.Zhdanov/UNEP/Still Pictures

Dylan gave Edwards permission to use the lyrics to the song, which the musician wrote in re-sponse to the threat of nuclear war.

Edwards hopes Hard Rain inspires people to get involved in addressing climate change.

He and American writer Lloyd Timberlake are working on adding a new compo-nent to the exhibit called ‘What’ll You Do Now?’, which presents solutions to the problems illustrated.


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‘I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard’

Taj Mahal, India


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“We are convinced that Place du Luxembourg, directly in front of the EU Parliament, is the ideal location to bring attention to the most urgent questions of our time and demonstrate their con-nection,” says Elke Zander, EWEA’s campaigns of-fi cer. “We want to show that wind energy can help solving the challenges Europe is facing: climate change, depleting energy resources, unpredictable fuel and carbon costs and possible supply disrup-tions. Wind is also a free fuel that will never run out. It meets 5% of the EU power demand, and provided jobs for 192,000 Europeans in 2009.”

Edwards says he will be pleased if the exhibit makes people think about the immediate and im-mense need to tackle global warming.

“I hope decision makers will be interested and it will be a reminder that we have to take bold steps [on climate change] or we are just all going to get poorer.”

“Wind is clearly a technology that has enor-mous potential,” said Edwards. “The key now is to really push for implementation and investment in technologies like wind power, that can de-carbon-ise energy; that is absolutely critical.”More information about the Hard Rain Project is available at:

www.hardrainproject.com ■

‘I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans’

Oiled bird, Brazil

‘I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest’

Logging road, Amazon, Brazil

Photo: D.Rodrigues/UNEP/Still Pictures


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| letters |

Dear Sarah,I really like reading Wind Directions, but it would be great to have some job or careers related advice for those of us looking to move into the sector. Maybe you could include interviews with workers, and some job ads?Best regards,Andrea, Norway

This is something we are currently evaluating, Andrea, based on the suggestions from the readers’ survey. We’ll let you know!

Dear Sarah,The eMag version of your magazine is nice to look at, but sometimes not practical to read. Is it possible to send a PDF version out as well?Thanks in advance,Tom, Canada

Yes, Tom, we already do. You can access the PDF by going into the eMag and clicking on the small ‘PDF’ icon on the bottom left of your screen.

Dear Sarah,How many houses can one turbine produce electricity for?Deborah, Spain

Deborah - today’s onshore turbines have an average capacity of 2.5–3 MW. One can produce more than 6 million kWh of electricity in a year – enough to supply 1,500 average EU households. For answers to more wind energy questions see the FAQ on www.ewea.org by going to ‘Press room’ and ‘FAQ’.

Dear Sarah,Recently I have read of the development of fl oating turbines for offshore wind parks. I was wondering whether WD had any information on whether any are already in the water, or being tested, (and an opinion on whether the concept will work out)?

From my perspective, they seem to offer several advantages compared to the monopile foundations we are mainly using at the moment. Some can be assembled directly on the quay and be towed out to their farm by simple tug boats for example without any need for big costly jack-up barges.

Of course it is diffi cult to have an idea about the economics of these new concepts, but they are an interesting option for deep waters and projects further offshore.Thank you for any info,René, France

René, there are indeed some fl oating turbines already operating, such as Blue-H in Italy, and Hywind from Statoil Hydro in Norway, and other concepts are being developed. You can read more about Hywind in the Science Corner of the December 2009 Wind Directions.The big question mark is the economics: because the substructures have to be manufactured one at a time for the moment, it is very expensive. This may change as the technology develops and one concept becomes standardised. Cost-effective fl oating turbines would open up massive opportunities for the expansion of offshore wind energy to deeper waters. ■

Your lettersDo you have something to say about Wind Directions, wind energy, renewables, EWEA’s events or anything else? Write to Sarah Azau at [email protected] with the subject title: Wind Directions letters page, and your letter could appear in the next issue!

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WIND DIRECTIONS | September 2010

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Small wind’s steady climbStill in its infancy, small wind power is now beginning to

come on strong, providing energy far and wide

By Chris Rose

Small wind has got off the ground in Venezuela30

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Considered an alternative technology two decades ago, industrial-scale wind power is now a mainstream power source, at the forefront of an ambitious new green energy economy that many experts say is needed if humankind is to survive unscathed the nascent 21st century.

Part of this phenomenal energy metamorphosis is the expanding market for small wind facilities that, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), increased globally by 10% last year and 15% in the US.

Described as those with rated capaci-ties of 100 kW or less, small wind sys-tems are usually used to power homes, farms and small businesses in rural and isolated areas.

AWEA’s annual Small Wind Turbine Global Market Study indicated the US continues to remain the market leader for small wind, adding new installed wind power capacity of 20.3 MW in 2009, almost equal to half of the capacity installed in the world (42.5 MW) the same year.

The study notes that, despite the ongoing fi nancial crisis and the economic downturn, 9,800 small wind turbines were sold in the US in 2009 and 21,000 were sold around the world. More than $82 million (€63 mn) was invested in the US small wind market last year while $189 million (€146 mn) was invested globally. Last year also saw US small wind power capacity reaching 100 MW, 75% from systems whose capacity is lower than 10 kW.

Half of this 100 MW milestone capacity came within the past three years, the study noted. “Manufacturers attribute this growth to a mixture of new and improved federal and state incentives, optimistic private equity investors, and sustained con-sumer demand,” the study says.

On the brinkRon Stimmel, manager of legis-lative affairs and small systems for AWEA and the author of the study, said he is confi dent the small wind industry is destined for continued growth.

“A lot of things are coming together,” Stimmel said, adding demand, invest-ment, government incentives and en-vironmental factors are driving growth. “I do have a lot of confi dence [in small wind]. We’re on the cusp but I see a lot of promise.”

Stimmel said it is extremely diffi cult to get accurate totals about the industry: the study notes only 40 out of 253 iden-tifi ed small wind companies responded to the AWEA survey.

But he says that, based on hard data accumulated for the past four years alone, sales indicate the global small wind sector, excluding US to-tals, now represents a minimum of an additional 60 MW.

Noting that very few small wind manufac-turers in Asia responded to the annual market survey, the study also forecasts the potential for growth — especially in China, Japan and India — as being huge.

Having said that, the study noted an estimated 100,000 small wind turbines are now installed in the world. Approximately two-thirds of all small wind systems sold globally in 2009 were made by US manufacturers.

About 250 companies around the globe manufacture or plan to manu-facture small wind turbines, the study said, adding 99% have fewer than 100 employees. More than one-third of those companies are based in the US.

Talking numbersThe fi ve largest small wind manu-facturers last year in terms of kW sold world-wide were, according to the study, Southwest Windpower of

Arizona, Northern Power Systems of Vermont, Proven Energy of Scotland, Wind Energy Solutions of the Netherlands and Bergey WindPower Co. of Oklahoma.

The UK and Canada are the largest identi-fi ed markets for small wind after the US, ac-cording to the study.

The study notes the world’s leading 15 manufacturers con-tinue to predict exponential sales growth in the US market over the next fi ve years, with projections of over 1 GW (1,000 MW) of cumulative installed small wind capacity in the United States by 2015.

Depending on the wind resource, the Skystream turbine generates between 30-80% of the power

required by a typical home

The small wind industry is an important source

of employment

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“People wanting power for their home

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“The economic recession led these manufacturers to pare down their growth projections somewhat from last year’s report, but they remain optimistic about achieving their target,” the study says.

Without diminishing the efforts of small wind facilities and the important role they play, especially in isolated areas with no access to electricity sup-plied along a grid, it should be noted that compared to industrial-scale wind power the sector is … well… still very small.

Consider: the Global Wind Energy (GWEC) reported by the end of 2009 there was a total of 158.5 GW of industrial-scale wind power capacity in-stalled around the globe. The more than 38 GW of new global wind power capacity installed last year represented a stagger-ing 41.5% increase over 2008.

Asia, North America and Europe each installed more than 10 GW of new capacity in 2009. By the end of the year, Europe had more than 76 GW of total installed capacity.

The GWEC report also noted the 2009 market for turbine installations was worth about €45 bn and the global wind industry now employs about 500,000 people.

Filling a holeIt is important, however, to realise that the small wind sector also continues to expand, if not in a similarly success-ful bombastic trajectory compared to industrial-scale wind energy, but in a quiet manner that provides desperately-needed green electricity along the way.

After all, people wanting power for their home or business don’t really care about the difference between large wind and small wind; they just want to turn on a switch and have power immediately.

And, increasingly, that’s just what small wind does in a world where at least one-quarter of the global population lives without electricity. (The International Energy Agency estimates 1.6 billion people are currently without electricity, while Greenpeace suggests it is more than two billion.)

Small wind defi nitely has a role to play in rural areas of developing countries where electrifi cation is limited, according to EWEA’s Head of Policy Analysis.

“It is positive for having access to electricity in more remote areas,” Glória Rodrigues said, adding that small wind is, in terms of minimising pollution and environmental degradation, preferable to using diesel-powered generators. (For the story of how small wind energy has brought electricity to an isolated commu-nity in Nicaragua for the very fi rst time, see p.35.)

Rodrigues also noted that small wind helps to create jobs, diversify and enrich the economy and promote regional development.

Small and very small wind turbines are emerging to meet several distinct needs, according to ‘Wind Energy — The Facts’, the seminal text on wind power.

The second edition of ‘Wind Energy — The Facts’ (WETF), published in 2009, noted that small wind power works in rural electrifi cation projects and provides power to isolated homes, boats and telecommunication facilities. Additionally, the book said, the prospects for sig-nifi cant demand for “micro-generation” in urban areas is prompting technical developments in small wind design which could result in signifi cant improvements in the economics.

“Furthermore, increasing fuel costs are encouraging developments in the technically demanding fi eld of high-penetration wind-diesel systems,” the book added.

The two main areas small wind turbines are used are in au-tonomous electrical systems and in distributed generation.

Also called “stand-alone,” “grid-isolated,” and “off-grid,” autonomous systems are not connected to any larger electrical system and therefore as solely responsible for the control of voltage and frequency, WETF said.

Distributed generation occurs, mean-while, in systems with small genera-tors connected to a larger distribution network where a network operator is re-sponsible for overall control. WETF notes this is often called “grid-connected” or “on-grid” connection.

“Despite the attention given to multi-megawatt wind farms, the markets for autonomous electrical systems and distributed generation using small wind turbines can be attractive if prices of conventional electricity or fossil fuels are suffi ciently high, or in many developing countries, where hundreds of millions of people live without access to electricity,” the book said.

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A small turbine whizzes round

in Venezuela

Every part of the turbines is inspected in the factory

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The path to maturityIt pointed out, however, that despite the maturity reached in the development of large- and medium-sized technol-ogy for industrial-scale wind farms, at the moment, small wind turbines are far from technologically mature and economically competitive.

“Average costs for current stand-alone wind turbines vary from €2,500 to €6,000 per installed kW, while in distributed generation, a small wind turbine can vary from €2,700 to €8,000 per installed kW,” WETF said.“Both these fi gures contrast with the costs of large wind turbines, which are in the region of €1,500/kW.”

Small wind turbines have great potential, the book says, but design and engineering challenges, as well as com-mon standards, need to be addressed to produce reliable machines.

Generally speaking, in terms of isolated applications, three categories of small wind turbines exist — very small systems, hybrid systems and wind-diesel systems.

Very small systems, the book notes, usually have a generating capacity smaller than 1 kW and include mobile applications such as boats and cara-vans, and wind home systems used in rural electrifi cation. Hybrid systems, which usually have a capacity of less than 50 kW, refer to applications using wind power and other generation sources such as photo-voltaic. Wind-diesel sys-tems are typically used in larger isolated applications greater than 50 kW.

In terms of grid-connected systems, especially in areas like Europe which already have an extensive electrical grid,

there is some potential for small wind applications. “The high concentration of population in urban areas provides a great opportu-nity for on-site distributed generation from wind power by installing small wind turbines on rooftops, even though the roughness of the urban envi-ronment can mean a reduced and more turbulent wind fl ow,” the book says.With regard to future R&D needs, the book said all components of small wind turbines — including blades, generators, regulation systems and power convert-ers — could be improved. The book also said new designs to integrate small wind systems into an urban environment should be effi cient, pleasing to the eye, robust and extremely quiet.

Small wind in the newsJust as a myriad of stories on the in-ternet reveal an astonishing interest in large-scale wind energy, small wind fa-cilities are also generating a lot of buzz. The infl uential US publication Time magazine recently published a story on small wind facilities that suggested the sector’s future is robust.

“We see a time when there are six million to eight million small turbines at work in a world where people want to do something about the environment they live in,” Time quoted Alexander Ellis III, a partner at RockPort Capital, a Boston-based venture-capital fund that’s backing Southwest Windpower. “We believe there’s a huge opportunity out there.”

Another recent story, this time in the Kansas City Star, suggested small wind turbines will someday dot backyards across the US Midwest if Abigail Stutzman, an elementary school

student, has anything to say about it.

The Star quoted Stutzman, inspired by her school’s recent installation of a turbine,

as saying, “When I grow up, I want to live off the grid.”

Yet another example of small wind power going global was reported recently in the Philippine Daily Inquirer which published a story saying more than 5,000 rural villages may gain access to energy after the Asian Development Bank completes the installation of small wind power systems in the Philippines, Nepal and Mongolia.

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The global market for small turbines went up by

10% in 2009

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The calm factory exterior belies all the work going on within

Photo: Southwest Windpower

“We’re on the cusp but I see a lot of promise.”


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Zooming inJuande Bornay is the sales manager of Bornay, a Spanish small wind turbine company his father founded in 1970.

He said Bornay has fi ve models avail-able with a power capacity of 0.6, 0.8, 1.5, 3 and 6 kW. Prices vary with the 1.5 kW machine costing about €4,000 and the 6 kW turbine costing €9,000.

The company uses its four decades of experience to blend technology, in-novation, serial production, and made-to-measure project solutions, he said, combining diverse clean sources for self-suffi ciency to supply electricity and contribute to distributed generation.

He said there is increased interest in small wind turbines in Europe and around the world through grid-connection and distributed generation applications.

All of this extra attention is producing hundreds of products associated with the small wind turbine sector, he said, and new companies are appearing all the time in expectation of capturing some of the growing market.

Bornay said there is a big difference between small wind turbines and large wind turbines, with the only similarity be-ing the name.

“Big wind turbines are designed to work in windy places where the wind resource is present and working always with the grid presence,” he said. “Small wind turbines are normally bought by private users and placed where the energy is needed in places that normally do not have wind resource data.”

He said one of the main obstacles to small wind turbines becoming even more popular is that in some countries the requirements to install a turbine are the same for a large 1 MW machine as they are for a 3 kW system, which is a bureaucratic night-mare that drives costs up every step of the way.

Another obstacle in many nations is the lack of a feed-in-tariff, he said, which reduces the economic viability of small wind turbines.

Bornay said the company, which has 18 employees and is located near Alicante, has so far installed about 5,000 small wind turbines in 45 countries.

He also said he believes small wind power has an exciting future.

“We have to do a lot of work yet but the future is very interesting,” he noted.

Southwest Windpower, the world’s leading small wind system company, has been in business since 1987 and is lo-cated in Flagstaff, Arizona. The company, which has about 90 employees, has had more than 160,000 small wind systems placed in at least 88 countries, market-ing manager Miriam Robbins said in an interview.

Robbins said Southwest produces a variety of small turbines, ranging in size from 0.4kW, which costs about €700, to a 3.7kW grid-connected system that retails at approximately €11,600.Asked how the company became so successful, Robbins said the co-found-ers had an international vision for the company from the very beginning and worked hard to get Southwest prod-ucts exported. She said the company also created partnerships to improve the technology.

“There’s a lot of potential out there considering the world’s energy needs,” Robbins said. She added, however, if the small wind sector is to experience even greater growth it will have to continue educating people, companies and gov-ernments in the developing world about the sector’s benefi ts while also lobby-ing to streamline permitting issues in developed nations.

Acknowledging that the sector does have to deal with a lack of certifi cation and some technological unreliability,

Robbins noted that such problems are to be expected in a rap-idly growing industry.

She said she is confi dent that overall

the small wind sector will continue to experience global growth and success.

“It has the same potential as solar world-wide,” Robbins said. “The potential is to grow by leaps and bounds.”

She added that Southwest now has a sales and distribution centre in Cologne, Germany to launch its grid-connected system in Europe and just appointed a managing director for the European market. ■

“The potential is to grow by leaps and bounds.”

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Bringing power to the people

Small wind turbines can transform the lives of some of the world’s poorest people, providing

electricity to communities miles from the nearest power lines. Wind Directions’ Sarah Azau visited

one such project in Nicaragua.

Photo: BlueEnergy

For most Europeans, the renewable en-ergy question revolves around the eco-nomic and environmental benefi ts offered by sources like wind and solar power. But for many poorer citizens of the world, who live miles from an electric grid, renewa-bles can make the difference between a life in semi-permanent darkness and one brightened by the reliability and cleanness of electric light.

One such community can be found in the tiny vil-lage of Cajiniquil, in central Nicaragua. The village, which can only be reached by foot, is perched on the top of a row of hills on an extinct volcano, and the height and the plateau the village sits on make it a perfect spot for a wind turbine.

EWEA’s chosen charity, Renewable World (formerly the Koru Foundation) – which works to provide renewable energy to communities in need - cer-tainly thought so. In May 2010, after a

year of preparation with a local project partner, it installed a 1kW wind turbine in the village. This was made possible thanks to the donation EWEA presented to Renewable World at its 2010 Annual Event in Warsaw.

For the last month, the villagers have had electric light for the fi rst time ever, replacing the dangerous, smoking home-

made paraffi n lamps they used before. Moreover, the turbine will also power an electric pump so the villagers have ac-cess to clean water, rather than the river water they currently have to drag up to the village in buckets.

A trip to the heart of AmericaI went to Nicaragua with the CEO of Renewable World, Neil Jeffery, to visit the project EWEA helped fi nance, talk to the people involved and affected by it, and fi nd out more about Renewable World’s work.

The morning after my arrival, we set off to visit Cajiniquil. With us is Jaime Muñoz, Director of Asofenix, the local project

partners based in Managua, the Nicaraguan capital, who found the village, spotted its wind potential, and developed the project with the support of Renewable World.

As he drives us cautiously over roads piled waist-high with rubble and boulders, he explains some-thing of the villagers’ involvement in the project to me.

“A year before we began putting in the wind turbine, we started working with the local community, so we could assess any potential barriers and ensure they knew exactly what to expect. This way, when the time came to build, which took three months, they were very enthusiastic.”

“A year before we began putting in the wind turbine, we started working with the local community, so we could assess any potential barriers and ensure they knew

exactly what to expect.”


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others, and so rather than connect them to the turbine and incur some power loss through the cables, we are going to fi t them with individual solar panels.”

The village’s “power grid” was set up by a team of renewable energy experts from an organisation called BlueEnergy, based on Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast. They were also responsible for building and transporting, then installing - with the help of the villagers - the turbine.

After a lunch of rice and beans, washed down with ‘avena’, the local oat drink, we go and have a closer look at the turbine, which is on the very edge of the hill, over-looking kilometres of lush plains. The wind is considerable, and the blades are whiz-zing round, making a light buzzing noise. At thirteen metres, the turbine is miniscule to anyone who has seen an industry-sized one, but it provides enough energy to power the lighting for all the village, and to activate the pump on the well.

Thinking mechanicallyDahley Gomez is the son of Carlos, the “mayor” of Cajiniquil. He followed a training session with BlueEnergy, and is now responsible for maintaining the turbine in his village. Each household that receives the electricity will pay a small monthly sum – probably around US$3

– towards the upkeep of the turbine and electric system.

When maintenance and repairs need to be carried out, there is no need for a helicopter or a crane on a turbine this size. Instead, it is fi xed within a frame of metal tubing that is anchored to the ground, with a chain which allows one of the anchors to be released and the machine to be gently lowered.

Dahley shows us the control centre for the turbine: a small wooden cabin in the centre of the village. Inside, there is a panel with each switch and box care-fully labelled, and below the panel sit the eight batteries. If too much electricity is produced, there is what they call a “dump load” system of wire coils, where the extra power comes off as heat.

I speak to Gustavo Reyes, the local electrician whom Asofenix asked to design and build Cajiniquil’s tiny electric system.

“It was the fi rst time I’d built a system this big, but it wasn’t so diffi cult to do. It took four days’ work using cables from an ironmon-ger’s in Managua”,

he explains. “In fact, I think the villagers were surprised by how long the whole wind turbine process took; they thought it would go up as if by magic, but there are stages to go through. First, you anchor the tube, then the other pieces are added, and the rotor last. Luckily an engineer from BlueEnergy was on hand to help us”.

Their surprise aside, what do the villag-ers think of the turbine and the difference it has made?

After driving for over three hours, we reach a point at which the road runs out. From here on we need to walk up-wards towards the across rolling, fertile hills towards the village. The land is a rich green from the fi rst three weeks of what the Nicaraguans call “winter”(the six-month rainy season), and dotted with boulders. We see the turbine, looking tiny on the horizon, but spinning rapidly. On arriving in the village itself, we are greeted by clucking hens. The village is quiet because it’s only noon and the men will be out in the fi elds, looking after their corn and bean crops, for a while longer.

The village itself is made up of 20 houses. “About fi fteen of them now have electric light thanks to the wind turbine – they have four energy-saving lightbulbs per household, and one even has a television”, explains Jeffery. “The other fi ve houses are a bit further from the

Nicaragua – the facts

• Nicaragua, situated between Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south, is the largest country in Central America.

• It has a population of about 5,900,000 made up of mestizos, whites, amerindians, blacks and others. The main language is Spanish.

• Its share of fossil energy is 75% (mostly oil).

• Its share of renewable energy is 25% (mostly hydro and geothermal), but its fi rst large wind farm came online in February 2009 (40 MW).

‘We can see one another better with the new lighting

system. It is also much healthier... I think the change

has been enormous”

Carrying some of the turbine components to the

village

acts


| focus |

‘We can see one another better with the new lighting system”, says Dahley. “It is also much healthier, as we know that the smoke from a candil [a tin or bottle with a cloth wick for lighting] can pro-duce great harm. I think the change has been enormous”

“For the women it has really helped our work, and our cooking”, enthuses Zoraida Olario. “Imagine if the wind was too strong before, the fl ame would blow out and we would be thrown into darkness! So now it is more stable for women, who in the majority are the ones who have to cook, and get up in the morning to do breakfast”.

At my visit, the well still needed a few more days of work, but it was also set to make a real difference to daily life, with the wind turbine-powered pump allowing tanks to be automatically fi lled with fresh, clean water.

The Caribbean workshopOn our second day, we take a tiny, twelve-seater plane from Managua and buzz over to the idyllic-looking Corn Island – just off the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. Having deposited most of the passengers – European and American tourists – on the landing strip, we take off again and head back towards the coastline and Bluefi elds, our destination: the capital of the Atlantic Sur region and Nicaragua’s main port. With a mixed Creole-Mestizo population of around 46,000, it is much smaller, poorer and more rural in feel than Managua.

We are heading for the headquarters of BlueEnergy, Renewable World’s partners who are responsible for the building of the turbine at Cajiniquil. Guillaume Craig, Director of BlueEnergy, takes me around their workshop, explaining how they went about building the turbine.

“We took the classic small wind turbine design by Hugh Piggott, and made some adaptations for the environment here. For example, the original design uses a plywood tail vane, but we found that with the high levels of humidity out here, it ab-sorbed too much water and became heavy. So instead we use fi breglass”.

Ronaldo Quintano, who heads the work-shop, explains that another issue was the blades, which were originally in ma-hogany, but the use of the precious wood was made illegal. They then wanted to go for fi breglass, but “the ones we could obtain locally had the wrong resistance”, meaning they would have been too weak to withstand the wind. Fibreglass of the correct resistance could be imported from the United States, but it was only sold in bulk, rather than the small amounts BlueEnergy needed for their 1 kW turbines.

Who says it’s tough to build a power grid?

Putting the fi nal touches to the rotor

Photos pp. 36-37: Asofenix/Seth Hays

Dahley looks after the turbine and its electrics


| focus |

Persuading the big shotsThe technical issues surrounding a wind energy project are of course only one side of the story. As many European and North American developers know all too well, obtaining the support of the right authori-ties is crucial to a project’s success. The same is true in Central America - in one Nicaraguan community at Set Net on the Caribbean coast, the wind energy project failed when the community leader died and no-one wanted to be responsible for maintaining the turbine.

Local woman Cindy Bennet Wilson’s role is to link with local governments to get agreement on BlueEnergy projects and, crucially, ensure there is someone to

“So now, we use layers of cedarwood that we glue together and laminate,” ex-plains Quintano. Later, an engineer tells us that the reason they use layers rather than a block of wood is simply to allow the wood, gathered in nearby forests, to dry out more quickly.

The fact that the BlueEnergy turbine can easily be fi tted with parts from local supply stores is one of its most important features. Only the hub has to be imported.

Another technical issue involved the stators of the turbine – where all the coils of wire are found at the centre of the rotor - which initially kept burning out. The BlueEnergy team, made up of

The stators used to get too hot until the engineers made the turbine furl at high wind speeds

Testing a 12 foot turbine at Bluefi elds Photo: BlueEnergy

Phot

o: B

lueE

nerg

y

locals and several European, American and Australian engineers, worked on a system that moves the turbine out of the wind – known as “furling” – as soon as it reaches a speed of 10m/s to stop the system overheating.

The BlueEnergy team call the 1kW tur-bine model used at Cajiniquil a “12 foot turbine”, referring to the rotor diameter (3.6 metres). However they are currently developing a “14 foot turbine”, which would have the advantage of producing 30% more power at lower wind speeds, and later aim to build a “17 foot turbine”. BlueEnergy have asked Renewable World to support them in the development of these new turbines.

Pedro, Dahley and Zoraida describe life with

electricity


| fi rst person |

The well is also to be powered by the turbine

maintain the renewable energy systems once they are in place. She has to sell the project at three stages: to the government of the autonomous Sur region (of which Bluefi elds is the capital), to the govern-ment of the territory within the region, and fi nally to the government of the community itself.

Persistence is key: “They may say no at fi rst, but you mustn’t get discouraged; you need to keep trying”, she explains.

This said, there are some strong fans of renewables amongst the authorities. Rupert Clair Duncan is from the commu-nity government of Monkey Point in the Rama and Creole territory of the Sur re-gion. Around 600 people live near Monkey Point, which can only be reached by boat. A 1 kW BlueEnergy wind turbine is installed in Duncan’s village, and an extra 1.4 kW is provided by solar panels, and he is full of enthusiasm.

“Before, we had kerosene lamps and a fuel generator. It was unhealthy and expensive. But we don’t have to buy the sun! We don’t have to buy the wind! We live a better life now, and we want to make our wind energy system even bigger so all the houses in Monkey Point have power from the wind turbine.”

And slowly, renewable energy is becom-ing part of long-term political thinking: the territorial Sur government now has a

30 year plan which includes the develop-ment of renewable energy, and the federal government of Nicaragua is developing its third hydro project.

Powering businessIt is not simply a case of bringing light and clean water to those who need them most, or removing the need to use dirty paraffi n fl ames and drink polluted river water, however miraculous that already is. Sustainable electricity opens up second-ary health benefi ts and even business opportunities to the world’s poorest. This is an important part of Renewable World’s thinking.

At Monkey Point, for example, the turbine powers a community fridge, so that medicine can be kept cold in this isolated

community. It also means the village women can store their produce. When we visited Cajiniquil, the ground was littered with small ripe mangoes, most of which will be thrown away. (Indeed,

the hotel we stayed at in Bluefi elds, despite the region’s fertility and abundance of tropical fruit, served only beetroot juice for breakfast. Anything else would have gone off while being transported in the hot sun.) The mangoes of Cajiniquil could be made into jam or juice and stored in a fridge powered by the wind, and potentially sold at the market.

“Of course, there are issues with trans-port, information and infrastructure”, points out Jeffery. “But the wind power available opens up a huge realm of pos-sibilities for further improving the lives of those in the community, and this is what we are starting to work on now with our project partners like Asofenix.”

EWEA and Renewable World

EWEA considers the work of Renewable World to be extremely important. At each of its events, presents a cheque to the foundation, with a sum representing 1 Euro per participant at the event. At the EWEA annual event 2010 (formerly EWEC) in Warsaw, a cheque worth €5,400 was passed over, and this sum went directly towards the wind turbine at Cajiniquil.

If you would like to know more about how you, or your company, could get involved to help them tackle energy poverty in developing countries, call Nicola Ward on +44 1273 606685, email [email protected] or go to their website www.renewable-world.org.

“Wind power available opens up a huge realm

of possibilities for further improving the lives of

those in the community”

Houses like this one now have cleanly sourced

electricity, and will soon have fresh water too

While those of us living in Europe and the developed world go back to debating the complexities of feed-in tariffs, grid codes and the relative merits of different shaped blades, it is refreshing to remember now and again the transformative impact one small turbine has had on the lives of the villagers of Cajiniquil. ■

Photo: Asofenix/Seth Hays

Phot

o: A

sofe

nix/

Set

h H

ays


| focus |

A foundation of hopeNeil Jeffery has been CEO of Renewable World (formerly the Koru Foundation) since December

2009. He told Sarah Azau about the group’s work bringing sustainably sourced electricity to some of

the world’s poorest people.

“Renewable World was established to deal with poverty in emerging markets where the populations have no access to electricity. Currently there are 1.6 billion people worldwide who don’t have access to clean power. Typically, they burn either kerosene or wood to provide light and heat where needed, but this has signifi cant health impacts and can be fatal.

“We work to provide clean, safe, sustainable sources of electricity through small-scale renew-able energy projects which are off-grid. These are typically wind, solar or hydro.

“At Renewable World, we focus our work on certain key geographical areas. These are Central America, Eastern Africa, and South Asia.

“This is primarily so that we can increase the impact we can have on people there, build rela-tionships strategically, and work closely with our partners to see what needs they have and build a toolbox of assistance we can provide to them.

Photos: Asofenix/Seth Hays

Partnering up“The local partners we work with are normally non-profi t organisations who have some capacity in renewable energy. The partners then link to the community where we have the renewable energy source, so for example, in Central America we work with two local partners and one is an expert in hydro and the other in wind. We bring those experts together.

“What is the process we follow from start to the end of a project? To choose the project we usually go through our partners: they direct us towards communities that might benefi t from a re-newable energy source. Then we need to choose the most suitable type of renewable energy to implement. We supported the development of a tool by Imperial College London called a Sure tool, which looks at the most appropriate renewable energy source for each community depending on the geography and factors like the wind speed,

“Currently there are 1.6 billion people

worldwide who don’t have

access to clean power.”


| focus |

whether there is a water source, also taking so-cial and anthropological factors into account. We have a very rigorous assessment process for any potential project – there’s a monitoring and evalu-ation process we go through.

“Once you’ve chosen to put in, say, a small wind turbine, you need to ensure that energy source will be sustainable and that it responds appropriately to the needs of the community. This means you need to establish who owns that resource, how maintenance is organised, who is responsible for ensuring the turbine will still be around in 20 years’ time... This is when you get to this idea of a micro-business made up of the local people, which effectively owns the resource, and then charges a small fee for everyone who uses the electricity, and those fees are utilised for the maintenance.

Getting down to business“In order to ensure the micro-business works properly there needs to be an understanding amongst the people of what a business is, how it works, how equity schemes work, how

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Documents

Helping the powerless - EWEA · Smart grids will lead to more wind power, say EU grid operators Smart grids would signifi cantly reduce the costs of integrating variable renewable