News about Solar, Wind and alternative green power technologies

An announcement out of the Copenhagen summit states that nine European countries will work toward developing an aptly named Super Grid that will make it easier to share their offshore wind power.

Cross border sharing of wind generated electrical current will become much easier to navigate using a super grid for distribution. The nine nation power grid would be located in the North Sea and would see them linking Irish wind installations with the continent of Europe or the reverse scenario.

The cost of the project has yet to be unveiled however, such an undertaking would assist Europe achieve its objective of having twenty percent of its power provided by renewable projects by the year 2020.  According to Green, Inc. the offshore wind generation just now contributes only 0.3 percent to Europe’s overall consumer energy commitment. This compared to Denmark’s 4.5 percent share of wind current generation using offshore wind turbine installations.

The partnership is named the North Seas Countries’ Offshore Grid Initiative and it includes Denmark, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden and Ireland. Experts see the plan as being good for future development of wind turbine ventures as well as crafting together a broader electricity market.

Offshore wind generating projects are finding their way into European markets in  more prolific manner than in North America and this venture is one more step in that direction. Norway for instance is one of a couple countries installing deep water wind turbines that could lead to an expansion of existing offshore wind generating installations.

American companies have begun to examine the potential of gearless wind turbines; GE is among them, in an effort to take advantage of offshore wind production projects such as what is taking place in Europe. Renewable wind energy projects are continuing to gain momentum globally as countries take advantage of their coastlines as a form of clean energy production.

Utilizing the prevailing winds off the coasts of the world’s oceans should see more innovative partnerships emerge such as the Copenhagen 9 has entered into.