Brief Wind Bursts Propel Spain to 40% Wind Power Generation

The duration was short, but the effects were real. Especially strong winds blew hard enough in Spain to allow wind power to generate 40 percent of the electricity needed to run the nation.

High winds blew through northwest Spain in early March, generating 11,180 MW in that region alone.

On average, Spain derives about 11.5 percent of its overall energy from wind turbines, according to this story.

When the high winds came through, the turbines were spinning at 69% of their maximum theoretical potential.

By 2010 Spain has set a goal of obtaining 30 percent of its electricity from renewable resources.

At 16,000 MW, Spain produces the third-most wind power in the world, behind the United States (25,000 MW) and Germany (24,000 MW).

With the lagging economy, some economists predict U.S. wind turbine additions to fall behind.

Coal Plants May Add Solar Thermal Power

As a way to reduce their greenhouse gases, as a percentage of total electricity produced, some coal-fired power plants are considering adding solar power, according to the Department of Energy.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), along with utilities, is studying whether it makes sense to add solar power to existing power plants in order to help cut greenhouse gas emissions. EPRI will collaborate with Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association Inc. and Progress Energy to evaluate the addition of solar thermal energy production to Tri-State’s power plants in Prewitt, N.M., and Roxboro, N.C., according to a press release.

EPRI is also considering the addition of solar thermal energy systems to natural-gas fired power plants owned by Dynergy Inc. and NV Energy. Those plants are in Kingman, Ariz., and Las Vegas.

The utilities would construct fields of mirrors, placed adjacent to power plants, that would focus the sun’s heat and boil water into steam, which would be integrated into the steam cycle of the fossil-fueled power plant, thus either reducing the burning of fossil fuel or increasing power production.