Georgia Magazine - April 2011 - (Page 15)

Georgia’s energy outlook BY HEATHER TEILHET, GOVERNMENT RELATIONS REPRESENTATIVE, GEMC Clean Energy Reality Check Series, Article No. 4 Reality check: Wind energy in Georgia GEORGIA Magazine continues its focus on renewable energy this month with an in-depth look at the potential for wind power in our state. States like Texas, California, Oregon and Washington have the largest collection of wind generation facilities in the nation. Unfortunately, Georgia is not considered a blustery state for power generation. Although 2008-2009 brought new wind farms in the U.S. wind industry, all wind power generation projects face the same fundamental disadvantage: relative high costs due to the natural inconsistency of wind. As long as the wind is consistently blowing, electricity ﬂows. But wind’s unreliability, in addition to its distance to load centers, makes it a poor choice for large-scale renewable power production. Electric cooperatives in Georgia invested in an 18-month project to identify potential for wind-to-electricity generation in North Georgia. Green Power EMC (GPEMC), the ﬁrst and largest renewable energy program in Georgia, gathered wind data from a meteorological tower installed at Oglethorpe Power Corp.’s Rocky Mountain Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Plant in Floyd County. According to the data, even on the windiest days, wind speeds at Rocky Mountain only reached the lowest range for signiﬁcant power generation. “We intended to add a wind project on the top of Rocky Mountain,” says Michael Whiteside, president of GPEMC. “We installed our test project with the hope of eventually installing four to six turbines there, but after three years of gathering data, it became obvious there was not enough wind to make the project feasible.” Other studies in Georgia have shown that offshore wind capacity might have more potential. In 2005, Southern Co. and the Georgia Institute of Technology’s April 2011 Strategic Energy Institute (SEI) worked together on a study of the feasibility of offshore wind farms along Georgia’s coastline. The project, called Southern Winds, examined a detailed review of wind capacity data, site options, permitting and technology. The study concluded that coastal Georgia has large areas with good wind resources and shallow water conducive for wind farm development, but also determined consumers would pay dramatically higher prices for harnessing wind capacity offshore. Sam Shelton, founder of SEI and a retired Georgia Tech professor, ﬁrst studied wind farms in Europe. “The bottom line was that we found offshore wind resources are better than suspected in Georgia,” he says. “In Georgia, we can put all the turbines out beyond ﬁve to six miles,” Shelton says. “The Intercontinental Shelf makes these waters very shallow. That is the biggest advantage for wind development we have.” However, Shelton says offshore wind projects cost about 50 percent more than land-based systems due to special underwater cables and higher maintenance costs. The study’s ﬁnal report estimated an offshore wind farm could produce electricity at approximately 12 cents per kWh. Shelton estimates that cost is probably higher today. By comparison, more traditional sources of power generation such as nuclear, coal and natural gas currently run roughly 6 cents per kWh. “Emissions from production of wind electricity are zero,” Shelton explains. “But the bottom line for wind More online at www.georgiamagazine.org generation, as with all green energy, is that it comes down to economics.” Despite the infeasibility of large wind projects in Georgia, GPEMC is matching federal grant money to install a 60-foot wind turbine at Lumpkin County High School and Habersham Central Middle School. These turbines will transmit power generation information to the schools’ computer labs to educate students about renewable energy. A reality check on wind power generation in Georgia indicates that wind is a poor choice as a largescale renewable power source. On land, Georgia simply doesn’t have the natural wind capacity. Offshore wind is stronger and more consistent, but the costs are still not competitive with nuclear, coal and natural gas. Reality check: Wind energy Pros: Wind power is purely renewable and produces no pollution or emissions. Cons: Wind in Georgia is inconsistent. Offshore wind is more reliable, but very expensive to harness and distribute as electricity compared to nuclear, coal and natural gas. Outlook: Green Power EMC will use wind projects to teach students about renewable power options, but this resource is not currently feasible or practical to fuel our growing state. 15 WIND RESOURCE DATA DEVELOPED BY AWS TRUEPOWER LLC http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - April 2011

Georgia Magazine - April 2011
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Georgia’s Energy Outlook
Currents
Standing for the Fallen
Green Power EMC: First and 10
LEEDing the Way
Special Travel Guide
My Georgia
Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Cookbook of the Month
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - April 2011