Hopefully, with the realisation that offshore wind is creating a whole new life for many industrial sectors and facilities, and the fact that it's largely a regulatory-driven activity, governments will realize that this is the perfect opportunity to re-invent and rehabilitate the concept of industrial policy to make sure that this sector gets built in the most sensible and cheapest way possible, and gets integrated into the existing grid properly.

In your enthusiasm, you inadvertently give conservatives a whole bunch of dog-whistles to push against.

Concepts such as "regulatory-driven" and "industrial policy" are exactly" what the ConDem-Nation feel they were elected to prevent. Indeed you give the game away when you note that they have cut the funds allocated to provide the port facilities necessary to drive this from British soil.

The millionaires have the City to make their money for them, so they just invest in the companies that provide it. They don't actually care that the jobs provided aren't British, they really just want the money.

keep to the Fen Causeway

I find it fascinating, especially from an industrial point of view. I suppose there is a lot of jockeying going on among the various big French industrials who have studiously avoided any significant exposure to wind over the past few decades... and will now want their share of government-guaranteed projects!

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

THE EXPENSIVE DREAM
about clean energy

For some context: while these guy's conservative-liberal dream coalition is in a disarray with the FDP skirting the 5% limit, their beloved reforms are stalled, the government chose this time to push its unpopular nuxlear power plant life extension plan, while the Greens soar above 20% in the poll. And they just love to play Don Quixote. It was one of the very first signs of SPIEGEL's transformation.

Founder Rudolf Augstein died in November 2002. Shortly after,

1. a series of articles highly critical of the USA getting ready to attack Iraq was 'balanced' by serialised excerpts from Kenneth Pollack's crap propaganda book about Saddam;
   
2. in stark contrast to earlier in-depth reportages, SPIEGEL TV (the chief editor of which became Augstein's successor) made a flimsy generalising reportage about criminal refugee seekers;
   
3. After a long history of Israel-critic articles (Augstein was a former schoolmate of Uri Avnery), one of the main commentators suddenly felt free to push a rather Likudnik line;
   
4. The tradition of the economy section to interview an economist with unconventional views every week ceased;
   
5. finally, months after the on-line edition published a thorough debunking of anti-wind propaganda, came this cover article:

THE WINDMILL MADNESS
From the dream of environmentally friendly energy to landscape destruction with high subventions

Now, I think SPIEGEL's transformation had deeper reasons than a simple change at the helm, and I think some of the opposition to wind has the same roots. The current generation at the helm is the youth of the late seventies, the half-generation right after the '68ers. Every generation is supposed to rebel; but a large part of this generation chose to rebel against the fading and failing ideals of the hippies and beatniks and soixante-huitards of the previous generation. And they're still at it. Of course, the constant urge to bring down ideals can only be nihilistic, and if I am allowed some psychologising, the lack of own grand achievement only adds to the destructive urge...

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

I don't know that there are 10, but in the meme world these types of top ten lists do get some traction. The explanations of why they are myths will have to be short and easy to understand, but with scientific citations and evidence. 200 words max.

Now, I don't track the wind industry, except what I read here, so my suggestions for which myths will be deconstructed in the top 10 list will be only averagely informed.

1. Birds are killed and migration routes disturbed
   
2. They are noisy
   
3. They are ugly and destroy the landscape
   
4. Wind energy can't be stored
   
5. Radar is dangerously affected
   
6. The electricity they produce is too expensive
   
7. The best wind is too far from the grid
   
8. Inefficient
   
9. Cause health problems locally
   
10. Danger to shipping

I had a glass of champagne with Vattenfall execs as we toasted the announcement this morning, and of course we were treated to fish'n chips for lunch. At the same time, possibly related to britain's inability to get it's shit together, Vattenfall has announced it is focusing on Sweden, Germany and Netherlands.

I have no time to comment on some of the major points brought out by the diary or comments.  But i can say i haven't seen the industry in general hit so hard in many years.  All the effort to build up secure component supply chains has been for naught, as framework contracts are allowed to lapse and turbines are sitting at shipping terminals and even airports with nowhere to go.

To a small degree, this is partly an effect of the major players and North Sea governments using focus on offshore wind to ignore the blatant need for further use of the far cheaper, almost risk-free onshore resource. The manufacturing chain is hurting like i haven't seen in a decade or more.

to a larger degree, this is now the effects of the energy and banking wars indicative of the end of the fossil era.

the comment is also an indictment of amurkan energy policy, which has now reached the level of criminally ridiculous. the US DOE is in the process of committing to an aggressive offshore policy, while the vast potential of US onshore has been given a further kick in the ass, as the companies who thought the ~US onshore market secure enough to invest in CAPEX are taking the financial hit deeply.

offshore must progress, to bring costs and risk down, and to bring the level of the technology up to onshore standards. but at the expense of the polluting technologies, not at the expense of onshore wind.

Can't write more now, but thought a brief report from the field was in order.

PS. one of the joys of Husum is that there are 25,000 people here, with several hundred hotel rooms within 25 km.  so people stay at vacation homes up to a 100 km away, even across the border in Denmark. net access in the boonies is non-existent (though my stick is working in town now) makes it fun.

and there are some very interesting technical developments here. peace.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

'An Enormous Market'

The Nordseewerke's new business manager, Frank Wübben, 38, also appears confident. Wübben left competitor Enercon to join SIAG this July and he knows the wind turbine business. Adding together all the plans in all the countries that border the North and Baltic Seas, he says, there's construction in the works for more than 20,000 wind turbines on those two seas by 2015. So far, only 3,700 of the projects have been approved. "It's an enormous market," Wübben says, and one with few competitors. Germany has just 10 other companies manufacturing wind turbine towers and bases.

The new Nordseewerke have already signed a first basic contract to produce 180 towers by 2014, Wübben says, and the company will be able to construct 50 to 100 towers per year. If demand increases, he adds, it would be possible to increase that number to 300.

In other words, production capacity for the large number of planned offshore wind turbine sites has not been met, not by far. Not every shipyard can suddenly convert to manufacturing wind turbines, of course, but Wübben believes there's room in the business for a few more.

          A W E S O M E    D u d e   ! ! !

Good business overview:

http://www.powermag.com/issues/cover_stories/Top-Plants-Fowler-Ridge-Wind-Farm-Benton-County-Indiana _2303.html

A recent, generally positive overview:

http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/09/01/wind-turbines-can-bring-financial-windfall-issues-for-land owners/

Neighbors generally not bothered by them:

http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/living_green/benton-and-white-county-wind-farm-locals-say-theyre-not-so-bad

2008 article on Indiana's wind potential:

http://pharostribune.com/local/x488909923/Indiana-s-first-commercial-wind-farm-online

Negotiating tips for landowners:

http://timessentinel.com/local/x1048559191/Wind-farm-issues-examined

fairleft