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And :

4 Gigawatt Swedish Wind Farm Receives Local Approval

photo: Ian Munroe via flickr

Here's a seriously gigantic renewable energy project that's moving forward, despite hard economic times: What could well turn out to be Europe's largest wind farm has won approval from regional authorities in Norrbotten, Sweden. Should the Swedish government also grant approval (which could take up to 12 months), construction on the $6.9 billion project could start in two and a half years, and be completed in ten:

Article continues: 4 Gigawatt Swedish Wind Farm Receives Local Approval

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Located in Taveljso, in the municipality of Piteå, the project site is 175 square miles in size and would contain 1,101 wind turbines.

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More :

Norwegian Wind Power Could Become Europe's Battery

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by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 05.28.08

Science & Technology (alternative energy)

Norway and Wind Power, Sitting in a Tree...
What's the best thing you could buy with oil money right now?

Norway's Oil and Energy Minister, Aaslaug Haga, seems to think that wind turbines is a good bet. The scandinavian country is the 5th biggest exporter of oil in the world, but it also has the longest coastline in Europe and lots of strong wind. A 30-page report vy the Energy Council, comprising business leaders and officials, says: "Norway ought to have access to up to 40 terrawatt hours of renewable energy in 2020-2025, of which about half would come from offshore wind power."

Turning Oil Into Renewable Energy

Sufficient wind parks -- totalling 5,000 to 8,000 megawatts installed capacity -- would cost between 100 billion Norwegian and 220 billion Norwegian crowns ($43.89 billion) assuming prices of 20-28 million crowns per installed megawatt. The energy would be equivalent to up to about eight nuclear power plants.

That's a lot of money, but that's also the value of about half a year's oil output for Norway. It would be kind of a giant offset scheme.

Wind Power Even When the Wind Doesn't Blow
One thing that makes Norway - like Quebec - particularly well suited for wind power is the presence of hydro. When the wind blows, you can slow down the flow of water and accumulate it behind the dams, and when the wind doesn't blow, you can open up the valves. And since Norway has about half of Europe's reservoir capacity, it could keep producing even with long periods without wind (which is fairly rare offshore).

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So, 4 GW capacity with a 30% capacity factor gives a little over 1 GW average, or about what one average-size nuke unit provides. The wind farm takes up 175 sq. miles of real estate, whereas the nuke uses maybe a few hundred acres. So I wonder which one has the greater environmental impact wrt land use?

Plus over 1100 separate generators, each of which has to be managed, tied to the grid, and maintained, versus one unit to manage and connect and maintain. Having been in the regional dispatching center for a power company, I know which one the dispatchers would rather manage.

This whole business is beyond crazy. They're spending godawful amounts of time, money, and trouble scraping up a few MW capacity here and there from these minuscule, unreliable, chaotic sources, when the 800 pound gorilla of an answer is right in front of us.