RSS Renewable Energy News & Information

  • 49.9-MW Hudson Ranch I Geothermal Plant Unveiled in California May 18, 2012
    EnergySource hosted the unveiling of its 49.9 Hudson Ranch I geothermal plant, now renamed John L. Featherstone Plant – a geothermal innovator in the Salton Sea area, today in Imperial Valley, California. Commissioned on March 9th, it is the first geothermal plant to go online in the Salton Sea area in 20 years. Recognizing the area's huge potential cap […]
  • Will Chinese Solar Module Tariffs Restore Balance to the Industry? May 18, 2012
    In the quest to "level the playing field," the 31 percent anti-dumping tariff announced Thursday was a good start, said SolarWorld President Gordon Brinser, but even more is needed to bring the industry back into balance. […]
  • Apple to Power 3 Data Centers with 100 Percent Renewable Energy May 18, 2012
    Greenpeace advocates gathered outside of Apple's Cupertino headquarters early this week dressed as iPhones and iPods, declaring their outrage about the company's lack of clean energy use. They projected social media messages from supporters on the side of the building: […]
  • Energy Efficiency: What Are the Laggards Thinking? May 18, 2012
    Why do some states avoid creating policies that encourage consumers and businesses to save energy? What’s the psychology of the laggards? A new report by the American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy sheds some insight as it examines the states that consistently fall behind in the organization’s annual energy efficien […]
  • NLP Solar Sales Training Live Webinar May 30th & 31st May 18, 2012
    […]
  • The Forest's Treasure: A Profitable Solution to Woody Waste May 18, 2012
    When forests are logged, managed or selectively trimmed so they'll be less susceptible to raging fires, there are usually huge piles of stumps, branches and other wood debris left laying on the ground. Now a group of researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle is developing a portable technology to turn these waste piles into treasure troves […]
  • Are IT Data Centers Emerging as a 'Killer App' for Green Power? Part 1 May 17, 2012
    Last month, Greenpeace launched a series of coordinated protests at Amazon, Apple and Microsoft locations to draw attention to the companies’ use of GHG intensive fuels in powering their data centers.  The protests were a follow up to their recently released report, “How Clean is Your Cloud,” which criticized the companies fo […]
  • 31 Percent Anti-Dumping Tariffs Announced for Chinese Solar Panels May 17, 2012
    The U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday announced stiff anti-dumping tariffs of around 31 percent on crystalline silicon solar panels imported from China, leading to a new round of concerns on how the duties will impact the growing American solar industry. […]
  • Domestic Module Manufacturing: PV Globalization or Political Vote-Seeking? May 17, 2012
    Despite 2011 having been a particularly challenging year for PV cell and module manufacturers, new small-scale module manufacturing facilities continue to be implemented, especially in emerging markets. In some cases, these companies/facilities are either aligned to local government policies or are implemented purely as diversification strategies. Other exam […]
  • Can the Voice of Solar Shine Brighter? May 17, 2012
    Solar manufacturers and installers face the same challenge as many business owners: How can a company make time for media outreach as part of their overall marketing strategy? With so many other tasks vying for our time and dollars, making connections with the media, which is one of the best forms of free publicity, is often forgotten about. Why? […]
  • Mission Critical: A Clean Energy Call to Arms May 17, 2012
    They say nothing can get done in Washington, D.C. on the issue of clean energy, which has become a political lightning rod over the last year. With Congress at a high watermark of partisanship, accusations abound on Capitol Hill that American energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and the policies that support them are job killers and a money-wa […]
  • Rethinking the Role of Government in Cleantech May 17, 2012
    Another year, another wringing of the hands over tax credits and incentives for clean technology. Lobbyists and vendors in the U.S. are once again singing the blues, calling for continued and expanding government investments in clean technology. At the same time, political challengers continue their Solyndra hootenanny, raking the curren […]
  • Five Shining Examples of Renewable Energy Innovation and Investment May 17, 2012
    Sinking revenues and shrinking policy support may be causing a bit of a haze on the renewable energy horizon, but there's plenty of sunshine trying to peek through if you look hard enough. […]
  • Proposed New Jersey Solar Bill May Not Solve SREC Woes May 16, 2012
    Note: An update on the status of this legislation can be found here: Trade-offs Begin - NJ S1925 Update Senators Bob Smith and Stephen Sweeny recently introduced New Jersey Senate Bill 1925. The bill proposes to amend New Jersey's current solar Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirements in an attempt to help stabilize […]
  • House Armed Services Committee Proposes Ban on Biofuels May 16, 2012
    Just one month before the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) in Hawaii, the world's largest international maritime exercise, the biofuels industry has encountered a possible roadblock. The House Armed Services Committee issued its report on next year's Pentagon budget, which inclues a measure that would exclude the development and purchase of bio […]
«  
 

Harnessing the Wind

SWETA POKHAREL

An Unconventional Route Towards Development
Introduction

A wind turbine to generate electricity is wonderfully a new concept for a country hit hard by load shedding and Amrit Singh Thapa and four of his co – partners have made us proud by developing the three wooden blade HAWT machine, a first of its kind in Nepal. This machine can generate up to 800W of electricity. It can be installed anywhere without hassle and the best part is that it is inexpensive and is within reach of the layman too. These innovative and aspiring lads are all researcher of Energy Study Centre, Kathmandu Engineering College and are keen to conserve the environment and save the country from further degradation.

The wind Turbine converts the kinetic energy inherent in the wind to mechanical energy and consequently converts it into electricity – one of the most convenient and equally consumable and dependable amenities. Thus infrastructure, as expensive as light or heat in the form of power, is visible to the eye whole heartedly, be it in the urban sunshine or the rural picturesque since the wind is available everywhere.

Background

The first wind turbine ever made was in the Northern European Countries in the 1180’s and many still exist in the Netherlands. In the case of Nepal, the first significant extraction of wind energy was made by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) in 1989 in Kagbeni of Mustang District. Unfortunately, this demonstration project of 20kW capacity was a failure owing to poor design and structural failure. The high installation cost thus did not justify further development.

At present Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) has set up two wind turbine generators in Pyuthan district and each generates 400 watts of electricity. Two more units are under construction at the same place. Practical Action Nepal has installed more than 13 small wind power plants (100W & 200W) in 7 different locations of Nepal (sample model by Peru & Srilanka). According to AEPC there are various hilly regions including Kathmandu, Makwanpur, Kagbeni, Ramechhap, Thini, Palpa, Mustang, Manang, Pyuthan, Phakhel, Okhaldhunga, Myagdi, Kaski & Nagarkot which could be possible sites for generating wind energy in Nepal. “According to a recent study, 3,000 MW of wind energy can be generated in Nepal,” says
Dr. Govind Raj Pokharel, Former Executive Director of Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) which falls under MoST. “A study has shown that around 70 MW of electricity can be generated through wind power around Kathmandu valley alone,” says Bharat Poudel, an engineer at AEPC.

While around 126,334 GWH of power has been generated through wind energy technology in the world, 94,000 MW of electricity has been generated through wind power. Of this, 22,000 MW wind power has been generated by Germany alone, while India has produced 8,000 MW wind energy. Similarly, 19 percent of total electricity supplied in Denmark is generated from wind power while wind energy is still one of the least harnessed energy sources in Nepal.

The Government of Nepal has targeted to generate 20MW power through wind energy within this year. According to the outgoing Minister for Environment Science and Technology (MoST) Ganesh Sah, the government has allocated some money to begin work in this regard. The former Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, in this year’s budget, had proposed to mark the current fiscal year as the ‘Year of Alternative Energy’. “Twenty megawatt of electricity will be generated through wind energy around Kathmandu valley through public-private-partnership model,” reveals the budget. However, the Renewable Energy Database for Nepal reads that there is no strong general description on wind mapping and the technology of installation of wind turbine units range very low. Until and unless there is enough data on wind velocity, it is difficult to estimate the wind energy potential. This reveals that today, in such a phase of crisis, implementation is the only possible measure to produce possible estimates.

For more details :
http://www.spacesnepal.com/harneesing_the_wind.htm

Share and Enjoy:
  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Twitter
September 2nd, 2009 | Category: Energy Study Centre

610 comments to Harnessing the Wind

1 2 3 ... 13
1 2 3 ... 13

Leave a Reply

 

 

 

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>