Ryan Shelby: Sustainability Designs and Innovations

The Department of Energy will be awarding the state of Massachusetts $25 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to accelerate development of the state’s Wind Technology Testing Center.

The center will focus on the test and development of next generation wind turbine blades for the market.  

According to a DOE’s 2008 report: “20% Wind Energy by 2030”, the US has an ample wind energy resource and it is technically feasible to wind energy to generate 20% of the nation's electricity demand by 2030.

The report's conclusions include:

1. Reaching 20% wind energy will require enhanced transmission infrastructure, streamlined siting and permitting regimes, improved reliability and operability of wind systems, and increased U.S. wind manufacturing capacity.

2. Achieving 20% wind energy will require the number of turbine installations to increase from approximately 2000 per year in 2006 to almost 7000 per year in 2017.

3. Integrating 20% wind energy into the grid can be done reliably for less than 0.5 cents per kWh.

4. Achieving 20 percent wind energy is not limited by the availability of raw materials.

5. Addressing transmission challenges such as siting and cost allocation of new transmission lines to access the Nation's best wind resources will be required to achieve 20% wind energy.

The last point is the most interesting to me.  If you look at the 50 meter US wind energy resource map, you will see that all lot of the wind energy is located in areas on or near Native American lands.  

I wonder if we will do it right this time and actually partner with Native American communities to setup wind farms that will provide economical, environmental, and tribal sovereignty benefits. 

Ideally, these Native American  communities should secure funding to set up their own energy companies and transmit any excess energy to the power grid.