Taco de Baja
Super Nomad
Posts: 1913
Registered: 4-14-2004
Location: Behind the Orange Curtain, CA
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Mood: Dreamin' of Baja
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Baja wind power: Coming soon?
First it was the beaches being developed by mega-ports and mega-resorts; now its the mountains and inland areas slated to be used as mega-wind farms
with very little environmental review. All so Alta California can be "green"..... Progress?
Map in PDF: http://www.nrel.gov/wind/pdfs/mexico_baja.pdf
Large URL map: http://www.nrel.gov/wind/images/map_mexico_baja.jpg
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Baja California, Mexico -- Gamesa, the expansionist Spanish wind-power company, is stepping up its forays into Mexican with hopes to sell as many as
2,000 wind turbines to Baja California. Its plans come at a time when observers expect the windy state bordering Southern California will attract $6bn
of wind investments by 2015.
A string of industry heavyweights including Cannon Power, Union Fenosa and Sempra Energy are already pursuing ambitious projects in the region and
others are on their way, sources say. The companies hope to export the bulk of future production to the sunny state, which is having trouble meeting
its renewable energy targets.
Gamesa's regional sales director William Robinson says developers are so enthused about Baja's prospects that the region could attract 5,000 MW of
generation capacity by 2017. This will require around 2,000 turbines, which Gamesa hopes to supply from its US factories.
Already, Gamesa has a 10-year contract to sell turbines to Cannon Power, which is on track to build as much as 1,000 MW of wind parks by 2016.
$6 Billion by 2015
Cannon is just as excited about the region's wind potential. According to president Gary Hardke, the area stretching 10 miles wide and 80 miles long
could lure as much as $6bn from a wide range of wind players in five years.
This is mainly because California's saturated wind market and difficult permit environment is making it increasingly hard for developers to expand
there. In contrast, Baja has a huge untapped wind resource and permits are much easier to procure, observers say.
"There are no wind resources available in California like we have in Baja," Hardke confirms. "There is a huge corridor along the mountain
range that is still untapped." ["Mountain Range" = Sierra Juarez and San Pedro Martir]
Overall, Baja has 10,000 MW (and possibly even 20 GW) of commercially viable wind-power potential, experts say. So far, there are 70 MW in operation
but this is about to change as Cannon and several and the other utilities break ground on over 2,000 MW of projects. While Mexico's grid is expected
to consume some of the production, the majority will be exported to California, which has fallen behind in its ambitious green agenda.
Rader acknowledges some of this capacity could come from Baja California as the projections are based on in-state and out-of-state power stemming from
inter-connection grids. If the developers' predictions are right, the upcoming 5,000 MW slated for Baja would mean California could have nearly 10,000
MW of wind capacity in six years.
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link
[Edited on 1-18-2011 by Taco de Baja]
Truth generally lies in the coordination of antagonistic opinions
-Herbert Spencer
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13048
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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in san jaunico we saw the wind turbines but the folks we talked to say there are problems with power there...just not enough...what say you san
juanicans??? or is it a problem with storage or distribution of power perhaps??
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Taco de Baja
Super Nomad
Posts: 1913
Registered: 4-14-2004
Location: Behind the Orange Curtain, CA
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Mood: Dreamin' of Baja
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Probably not windy enough according to their research.....Plus, that would be a long transmission line from San Juanico to Alta California.
Wind Resource Map - Baja Sur
Truth generally lies in the coordination of antagonistic opinions
-Herbert Spencer
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64857
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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What about use by locals?
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Taco de Baja
Super Nomad
Posts: 1913
Registered: 4-14-2004
Location: Behind the Orange Curtain, CA
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Mood: Dreamin' of Baja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
What about use by locals? |
"While Mexico's grid is expected to consume some of the production, the majority will be exported to California, which has fallen behind in its
ambitious green agenda."
Have things gotten are so bad we even have to outsource our green agenda and in the process wreck another country’s pristine open space?
Truth generally lies in the coordination of antagonistic opinions
-Herbert Spencer
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rob
Senior Nomad
Posts: 509
Registered: 10-19-2004
Location: Pacific Coast, BCS
Member Is Offline
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For the other half . . .
http://www.nrel.gov/wind/pdfs/mexico-bajasur.pdf
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64857
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Is there one for the rest of Baja Norte, too?
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Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
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Mood: Happy!
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Taco de Baja
Probably not windy enough according to their research.....Plus, that would be a long transmission line from San Juanico to Alta California.
Wind Resource Map - Baja Sur |
Getting a transmission line from even the San Matias Pass area would even be challenging. T Boone Pickens was having a hell of time getting
transmission line access to his Texas wind farms, so he bailed on the project.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64857
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Yah everybody wants clean energy... as long as they don't have to see it or have wires bringing it to them!
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oladulce
Super Nomad
Posts: 1625
Registered: 5-30-2005
Location: bcs
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| Quote: | Originally posted by shari
in san jaunico we saw the wind turbines but the folks we talked to say there are problems with power there...just not enough...what say you san
juanicans??? or is it a problem with storage or distribution of power perhaps?? |
It seems like there's always wind here but... In 2000 we contacted the Sandia Corp (Dept of Energy research facility) who coordinated the San Juanico
project about wind energy to decide if we should go wind or solar on our home. They sent us 2 years worth of daily wind records and turns out it
really isn't windy enough to invest primarily in wind turbines.
We asked why the US companies hauled all this equipment down here and donated it to a Mexican town and the reply was "too much red tape doing research
in the US. It was cheaper and more valuable to our research to set up down there and then give the equipment away."
The San Juanico plant started up in 1999 and is a "Hybrid" of wind and solar which is meant to supplement the primary source of power which is the
diesel generator- the hybrid system wasn't meant to supply the town's power needs. Sandia /Arizona dept of Energy/Mohawk showed CFE and some local
guys how to maintain the equipment and handed it over.
For the first few years the power was only on for a few hours in the evening and the wind and solar was able to keep up and you didn't hear the big
generator very often. Later they increased the power to 8 hrs/day. A few years back they switched to 24 hr power. There have been no additions to the
"renewable" sources of energy during that time but everybody has TVs, refers, etc now.
The diesel engine is the primary source of power and the lifeline for electricity in the town. The husband of Nomad CP is the town hero whether locals
know it or not! He's spent countless hours working on the generator recently after the power was off for a week. The CFE jefes from La Paz go directly
to CP's house and grab her esposo when they come to town or have questions. And the "CP family" thought they had retired and moved to a sleepy Mexican
village!
So when you passed thru Shari, there had been problems with the diesel gen recently and the power had been off but it wasn't related to the wind/solar
system. Just like anywhere, folks get used to just flipping a switch and having the lights come on and don't always know what it takes to get the
juice there.
(CP please correct if I got any "facts" wrong)
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BajaGringo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3922
Registered: 8-24-2006
Location: La Chorera
Member Is Offline
Mood: Let's have a BBQ!
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| Quote: | Originally posted by oladulce
| Quote: | Originally posted by shari
in san jaunico we saw the wind turbines but the folks we talked to say there are problems with power there...just not enough...what say you san
juanicans??? or is it a problem with storage or distribution of power perhaps?? |
It seems like there's always wind here but... In 2000 we contacted the Sandia Corp (Dept of Energy research facility) who coordinated the San Juanico
project about wind energy to decide if we should go wind or solar on our home. They sent us 2 years worth of daily wind records and turns out it
really isn't windy enough to invest primarily in wind turbines.
We asked why the US companies hauled all this equipment down here and donated it to a Mexican town and the reply was "too much red tape doing research
in the US. It was cheaper and more valuable to our research to set up down there and then give the equipment away."
The San Juanico plant started up in 1999 and is a "Hybrid" of wind and solar which is meant to supplement the primary source of power which is the
diesel generator- the hybrid system wasn't meant to supply the town's power needs. Sandia /Arizona dept of Energy/Mohawk showed CFE and some local
guys how to maintain the equipment and handed it over.
For the first few years the power was only on for a few hours in the evening and the wind and solar was able to keep up and you didn't hear the big
generator very often. Later they increased the power to 8 hrs/day. A few years back they switched to 24 hr power. There have been no additions to the
"renewable" sources of energy during that time but everybody has TVs, refers, etc now.
The diesel engine is the primary source of power and the lifeline for electricity in the town. The husband of Nomad CP is the town hero whether locals
know it or not! He's spent countless hours working on the generator recently after the power was off for a week. The CFE jefes from La Paz go directly
to CP's house and grab her esposo when they come to town or have questions. And the "CP family" thought they had retired and moved to a sleepy Mexican
village!
So when you passed thru Shari, there had been problems with the diesel gen recently and the power had been off but it wasn't related to the wind/solar
system. Just like anywhere, folks get used to just flipping a switch and having the lights come on and don't always know what it takes to get the
juice there.
(CP please correct if I got any "facts" wrong) |
That sounds about right - but wind is a good "addition" to your solar system if you have regular wind like we do. How many of you on solar wish you
had some kind of trickle charge feeding your batteries when the sun was down?
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Juan del Rio
Senior Nomad
Posts: 560
Registered: 6-8-2004
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Thanks for the background Oladulce. Cp's husband is the unsung hero of "keeping the lights on" in SJ for sure!
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