U.S., China lead way in tapping wind power

asr note:
- It seems China Wind-energy generation will reach 20 Gigawattt ( 20,000 MW) by 2010
- It seems US may have litttle above 20 GW by 2010

# Texas energy group launch bid to develop "renewable energy superhighway"
# Texas given preliminary approval for a $4.9 billion plan to build new power lines
# Wind energy production in China set to overtake the U.S. experts say

Those new lines, dubbed by Oncor as a "renewable energy superhighway," will accommodate about 18,500 megawatts of wind generation by 2012-- enough energy to power 4 million homes.

It is said to be the largest investment in clean, renewable energy in U.S. history. Texas citizens will have to assist with the plan's construction; paying an extra $3 to $4 per month on their bills for the next few years.

The wind energy industry has benefited from the support of billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens, who is planning to build the world's largest wind farm on about 200,000 acres in the Texas Panhandle.

When completed, his 2,700 turbines will be capable of producing enough electricity to power 1.3 million homes.

But the Chinese energy revolution has been quietly gaining strength, observers say.

Like their American counterparts, Chinese tycoons are increasingly directing their investment into renewable power.

Zhu Yuguo, ranks at 102 on the Forbes China Rich List, with a personal fortune of 5.71 billion Yuan and has invested heavily in the wind power industry.

Steve Sawyer of the Global Wind Energy Council said: "China's wind energy market is unrecognizable from two years ago."

"It is huge, huge, huge. But it is not realized yet in the outside world," Sawyer said in an interview with London's Guardian newspaper.

China's wind generation has increased by more than 100 percent per year since 2005 and 20 per cent of the power supply to the venues of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will come from wind generators, according to the official state agency, Xinhua.

It was initially hoped the country would generate 5 gigawatts of wind by 2010, but that goal was met three years early in 2007. The 2010 goal has now been revised to 10 gigawatts but experts say this could well hit 20 gigawatts.

The Guanting Wind Farm in Beijing has installed capacity of 64.5 megawatts and has supplied 35 million kilowatts of electricity to Beijing so far.

The wind farm is estimated to supply 100 million KWH per year to Beijing, or 300,000 KWH per day, enough to satisfy the consumption of 100,000 households.

However, China still relies heavily on using coal, which supplies 70 per cent of China's energy needs.
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Pickens talks about alternative energy
# T. Boone Pickens on U.S. energy plan: "We have not had a plan in 40 years"
# Oilman calls for more use of wind power, switch to natural gas to power vehicles
# Pickens: 8 million natural gas vehicles worldwide; only 142,000 of them in U.S.
# Pickens: "We're spending $700 billion a year on foreign oil"

The Energy Department now reports that with the current technology that the United States has access to 1,744 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That's a lot. And Americans consume roughly 23 trillion cubic feet each and every year. At that rate, we have enough natural gas to satisfy the demand for the next 75 years. Conceivably, more natural gas could become available with technological advances and discovery.

- Those two resources have to be developed.
a) So when you develop the wind,
b) you can then remove natural gas from power generation and put it into a transportation fuel market.
We can do that; and is it easy? Almost easy. There have to be some things, some hurdles to clear. But when you take that natural gas out of power generation and put it into transportation fuel, that's 22 percent of that 23 trillion. That amount, you put into transportation would reduce our imports by 38 percent.