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Monday, June 10, 2013
Google’s latest investment: Flying wind turbines
Google has made yet another energy investment, acquiring a startup that makes kite-like airborne wind turbines.
Makani Power, based in Alameda, Calif., announced the acquisition on its website, one week after it conducted a test of its self-flying airborne turbine prototype. Google was already an investor in Makani.
Makani say its technology can produce the same power as conventional turbines at half the cost and with 90 percent fewer materials.
Spinning Spur: Google sinks $200 million into Texas wind farm
Its turbines fly autonomously on kite-like devices that are “lightning hardened,” allowing them to produce power from stronger, more consistent winds at higher altitudes, according to the Makani website.
The technology also has the potential to play a large role in offshore wind, where there is far greater opportunity for power generation from wind than there is on land, the company said.
Though Makani has a long way to go, it said its technology would be far cheaper and possibly more productive than other forms of offshore wind turbines.
The acquisition was made by Google X, the division of the Internet search giant that invests in and develops new technology ideas, reportedly including Google Glass and self-driving cars.
‘Intelligent energy’: Google grants $2.6M to influence energy policy
“This formalizes a long and productive relationship between our two companies, and will provide Makani with the resources to accelerate our work to make wind energy cost competitive with fossil fuels,” said a statement on the Makani website.
Google has made more than $1 billion in energy investments, including a $200 million play in a Texas wind farm, as part of the company’s goals to advance a “clean energy future.”
Makani Power filmed a test of its autonomous airborne wind turbine prototype, viewable in the video below. The turbine controls its own flight in a circular motion.
"World's Most Admired"/Fortune 112 company seeks talent and ambition (Downtown LA)
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Posting ID: 3615677705Posted: 2013-02-13, 4:05PM PSTEdited: 2013-02-13, 4:05PM PSTemail to a friendTexas grid ready for summer heat, ERCOT says
The setting sun silhouettes electric transmission lines. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan, File)The Texas power grid may get a break this summer, with relatively normal temperatures expected, according to state electricity planners.
“There probably will be some tight days when it will be especially hot, or when we have unexpected generation off line,” said Robbie Searcy, a spokeswoman for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the electric grid for most of the state. “We will probably ask you turn your thermostats up a couple of degrees for a few days. It sounds like a simple thing and it is.”
In order to ensure that there is a sufficient amount of electricity generated for high demand days, state planners try to ensure that there is sufficient excess capacity in the system, and have targeted 13.75 percent as the ideal margin for Texas. Recent hot summers, which are used to calculate the expected demand, have made it more challenging to ensure that this margin is maintained. The current reserve margin is 13.3 percent, which has raised concerns for planners.
Looming blackouts: Bill suspends environmental penalties for utilities
New plants coming online in 2014 should close the gap between current generation and desired capacity, said Warren Lasher, director of system planning for ERCOT.
“The Public Utility Commission and ERCOT have been working to revise some of the market rules and that appears to be having an impact on the availability of reserves,” Lasher said, explaining that several additional plants will be completed by next summer and are now being added to ERCOT’s expected generation for 2014.
“Most of the changes are the result of natural gas plants, but we are seeing significant activity in wind plants as well,” Lasher said. “The transmission lines are being completed at the end of this year in the Panhandle, opening up additional portions of Texas to the ERCOT market.”
Can’t take the heat: Feds predict Texas will get hot, Texans will run ACs
Weather patterns indicate that the conditions that led to the blazing summer of 2011 have not materialized this year, according to Chris Coleman, a meteorologist for The Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
“We don’t expect to come anywhere close to those 2011 extremes,” Coleman said, explaining that the summer to date has been hotter and drier than the expected weather for the second half of the summer.
But while the relatively cooler days will be a relief, the drought is continuing to worsen in the western part of the state, as well as in the Texas Panhandle and South Texas, both of which have severe drought conditions.
“We are going into the summer in worse shape than we did a year ago,” Coleman said.
The summer is also expected to be relatively hurricane free: Texas grid planners are anticipating that there will only be one storm severe enough to be named that will hit the Texas area.
Weather warning: Hurricanes are trial run for cyberattacks, energy leaders say
ERCOT assesses El Niño and El Niña conditions and patterns to predict the likelihood of future storms. El Niño conditions occur when the sea water temperatures rise in the surface water in the tropics; El Niña conditions take place when the temperatures are lower. El Niña conditions indicate a more active hurricane system, Coleman said. The weather patterns are currently neutral between the two conditions.
“It should be a fairly quiet season,” Coleman said.
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