NM tops nation in wind-energy growth

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | April 17, 2018 | Kevin Robinson-Avila

[CedarDave]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico ranked as the nation’s fastest-growing state for wind-energy construction last year, according to a new report from the American Wind Energy Association.

The state added enough new turbines to produce 571 megawatts of electricity, growing installed capacity by 51 percent to 1.68 gigawatts, according to the association’s 2017 annual market report, released this morning in Santa Fe. That’s enough electricity to power about 422,000 average U.S. homes every year.

And New Mexico could maintain front-running status for another couple of years, with 1.7 GW of new wind construction projects now in the pipelines for installation through 2020, said association spokesman Evan Vaughn.

“New Mexico is poised to double its wind generation in the near term,” Vaughn told the Journal’s editorial board on Monday. “It had the fastest growth rate of any state in the nation in 2017. There’s tremendous momentum underway.”

Nationwide, installed capacity grew by nearly 9 percent last year to nearly 89 GW. That’s enough electricity to power about 27 million homes, representing about 6.3 percent of the country’s total generating capacity.

New Mexico now derives about 13.5 percent of its electricity from wind energy. It’s one of only 14 states where wind turbines provide more than 10 percent of total generation, although some states use much more, with up to 30 percent in Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.

[fwdude]

Also tops nation in bird and bat deaths?

[CedarDave]

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[dp0622]

It’s all them beans they eat.

[rktman]

And storage of wind generated power............?

[CedarDave]

Also tops nation in bird and bat deaths?

sshhh... That information is classified.

[dhs12345]

Squirrels, lots of squirrels in squirrel cages.
The squirrels are “gently” electrocuted all day with the juice from the wind farm and keep running through the night in terror. Only problem: you have to replace them every day or so. No problem, there are plenty of squirrels and they are not on the endanger species list.

I don't know but it sounds as believable as millions of batteries.

[SpaceBar]

And none of it actually makes a real non-subsidized profit.

[mewzilla]

Per the EIA...

he New Mexico renewable portfolio standard requires investor-owned electric utilities to acquire 20% of electricity sold in-state from renewable energy sources by 2020. Of that 20%, at least half must come from solar and wind energy, and the balance must include shares from several other renewable sources, including distributed generation. Rural electric cooperatives are required to obtain 10% of their sales from renewable sources by 2020.105 New Mexico has regulatory policies that include net metering, solar easements, and interconnection standards, as well as a number of financial incentives that encourage renewable generation.

Oh, boy....

[allendale]

Wonder how many feral cat colonies make their home under wind turbines.

[Steve_Seattle]

How many thousands of acres have been visually despoiled by these wind farms? How many birds are killed?

[Moonman62]

Wind turbines are turning into tall monsters, but that’s also making them more economical. If they can compete economically, then let them.

[LegendHasIt]

Sure been windy here. Too bad I still haven’t gotten around to putting up my wind generator (A little 400 watt unit). Built a tower for it, but never got around to erecting it..

My theory of why it is so windy here in NM:

Texas sucks.

(Ducks for cover)

[LibertyOh]

Our daughter lives in Albuquerque where she and her husband had a new house built with solar panels added to their roof. It took over a year for the utility to connect their solar units to the house / grid. Apparently there is so much newly installed solar in NM that it may be impacting the utlity’s ability to sell the utility generated power, they sure were in no hurry to hook up a fully working system. In combination with wind, likely a lot of excess renewable power during the daytime in NM but the utility has to maintain peak power available at all times - really creates some interesting problems.

[DUMBGRUNT]

No need to “gently” electrocute any squirrels with my most excellent plan.

My plan is to scale up drinking birds and let them generate all the power we need, powered by water!

The hold up is, the Chinese are claiming prior art on the technology. And you know that solar and wind production is mostly from China.

[House Atreides]

“...really creates some interesting problems.”
********************************************
Like, ultimately, much higher energy costs....ask the German people.

[NorthernTraveler]

All these wind mills are taking energy out of the global environmental system.

Removing energy from the wind stream has to have some effect on wind strength and weather patterns.

When do we start hearing from the greenies that wind towers are bad because they are negatively affecting the wind patterns?

[dhs12345]

“My plan is to scale up drinking birds and let them generate all the power we need, powered by water!”

Cool idea. :)

I wonder if it would be considered renewable? That way you could get state and federal funding.

[dhs12345]

Good point. Also, don’t forget solar energy being absorbed by solar panels.

[Bonemaker]

Oh do enjoy those lovely bird killing propellers that add so much to the scenery! Actually, no...shove them up your ass.