Planning And Development Of Wind Farms

The generation of electricity by wind energy has the potential to reduce environmental impacts caused by the use of fossil fuels. Although the use of wind energy to generate electricity is increasing rapidly in the United States, government guidance to help communities and developers evaluate and plan proposed wind-energy projects is lacking. Environmental Impacts of Wind-Energy Projects offers an analysis of the environmental benefits and drawbacks of wind energy, along with an evaluation guide to aid decision-making about projects. It includes a case study of the mid-Atlantic highlands, a mountainous area that spans parts of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. This book will inform policy makers at the federal, state, and local levels.

Offshore wind farms are being developed on a major scale around the UK coastline as part of the drive to increase renewable energy production. This presents a new departure for the renewables sector. Having fewer physical constraints than on land, they avoid the planning system, which currently ends at low water mark. However, planning authorities and the communities they represent are deeply concerned about the consequences of offshore wind farms along their coastal zones. This book presents an empirical investigation into the attitudes of local planning authorities into the development of offshore wind farms, examining these findings in light of wider debates about the use and management of the seas and the potential contribution of the mechanisms of planning. The book also raises questions about the geographical limits of planning and how to go about establishing a form of spatial planning to cover the marine environment.

Small wind turbines utilize wind energy to produce power with rated capacities of 100 kilowatts or less. With this increasingly popular technology, individual businesses, farms, and homes can generate their own electricity and cut their energy bills , while generating power in an environmentally sound manner. The challenges facing the engineers who are tasked with planning and developing these small wind systems are multifaceted, from choosing the best site and accurately estimating power output, to obtaining proper permitting and troubleshooting operational inefficiencies. Optimization of project development for small wind applications is a necessity. Small Wind: Planning and Building Successful Installations provides a cohesive guide to achieving successful small wind installations from an informed expert. It is a comprehensive information resource from one of the world’s most experienced small wind professionals, covering all the key issues for small wind system development, from site and machine selection to international standards compliance. Establishes technical guidelines for the growing number of engineers called upon to plan small wind projects Identifies and explains the critical issues for small wind installations, including siting, turbine choice, applications and permitting, economics, load management, and grid integration Examples from real projects demonstrate key considerations for success, complete with template spreadsheets and measurements needed to support project planning efforts Includes reports on the most commonly used turbines and designs and synthesizes and clarifies relevant wind industry documentation, saving readers endless hours of research

Wind power is developing rapidly, in terms of both the number of new installations and in interest from stakeholders including policy-makers, NGOs, research scientists, industry and the general public. Unlike the majority of other texts on wind power, which are written primarily for engineers or policy analysts, this book specifically targets those interested in, or planning to develop, wind power projects. Having outlined wind power basics and explained the underlying resource and technology, the author explores the interactions between wind power and society, and the main aspects of project development, including siting, economics and legislation. This book will be an essential reference for professionals developing new sites, government officials and consultants reviewing related applications, and both specialists and non-specialists studying wind power project development.

Named as one of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles of 2012 Every year, Choice subject editors recognise the most significant print and electronic works reviewed in Choice during the previous calendar year. Appearing annually in Choice's January issue, this prestigious list of publications reflects the best in scholarly titles and attracts extraordinary attention from the academic library community. The authoritative reference on wind energy, now fully revised and updated to include offshore wind power A decade on from its first release, the Wind Energy Handbook, Second Edition, reflects the advances in technology underpinning the continued expansion of the global wind power sector. Harnessing their collective industrial and academic expertise, the authors provide a comprehensive introduction to wind turbine design and wind farm planning for onshore and offshore wind-powered electricity generation. The major change since the first edition is the addition of a new chapter on offshore wind turbines and offshore wind farm development. Opening with a survey of the present state of offshore wind farm development, the chapter goes on to consider resource assessment and array losses. Then wave loading on support structures is examined in depth, including wind and wave load combinations and descriptions of applicable wave theories. After sections covering optimum machine size and offshore turbine reliability, the different types of support structure deployed to date are described in turn, with emphasis on monopiles, including fatigue analysis in the frequency domain. Final sections examine the assessment of environmental impacts and the design of the power collection and transmission cable network. New coverage features: turbulence models updated to reflect the latest design standards, including an introduction to the Mann turbulence model extended treatment of horizontal axis wind turbines aerodynamics, now including a survey of wind turbine aerofoils, dynamic stall and computational fluid dynamics developments in turbine design codes techniques for extrapolating extreme loads from simulation results an introduction to the NREL cost model comparison of options for variable speed operation in-depth treatment of individual blade pitch control grid code requirements and the principles governing the connection of large wind farms to transmission networks four pages of full-colour pictures that illustrate blade manufacture, turbine construction and offshore support structure installation Firmly established as an essential reference, Wind Energy Handbook, Second Edition will prove a real asset to engineers, turbine designers and wind energy consultants both in industry and research. Advanced engineering students and new entrants to the wind energy sector will also find it an invaluable resource.

The 1990s have seen some remarkable changes in geographical information (GI) provision and computer technology that have impacted on many of the activities that constitute planning in all its different forms. However, relatively few texts in the field of geographical information systems (GIS) and planning have been published since Henk Scholten and John Stillwell edited Geographical Information Systems for Urban and Regional Planning in 1990. This volume seeks to redress the balance by showing how GI of various types is being used in urban, physical, environmental, socio-economic and business planning contexts at local, regional and national scales with the assistance of GIS and modelling methods, and how the uses of GI and GI technologies have evolved over the last decade. During this period, a number of meetings took place in Europe in different locations organised initially by European Geographical Information Systems (EGIS, 1990- 94) and more recently by the Joint European Conference and Exhibition (JEC) on Geographical Information (1995-97). These meetings brought together members of the GI community from across the world to discuss GI research and GIS applications. One of the Special Interest Groups associated with the JEC gatherings was that on 'Geographical Information and Planning' and several of the contributions in this book have their origins in papers presented to the group's meetings.

Offshore wind farms are being developed on a major scale around the UK coastline as part of the drive to increase renewable energy production. This presents a new departure for the renewables sector. Having fewer physical constraints than on land, they avoid the planning system, which currently ends at low water mark. However, planning authorities and the communities they represent are deeply concerned about the consequences of offshore wind farms along their coastal zones. This book presents an empirical investigation into the attitudes of local planning authorities into the development of offshore wind farms, examining these findings in light of wider debates about the use and management of the seas and the potential contribution of the mechanisms of planning. The book also raises questions about the geographical limits of planning and how to go about establishing a form of spatial planning to cover the marine environment.

Bringing together contributions from leading researchers, this volume reflects on the political, institutional and social factors that have shaped the recent expansion of wind energy, and to consider what lessons this experience may provide for the future expansion of other renewable technologies.