Wind Power Companies Downsizing

Moventas, a major producer of turbines for wind power stations, is cutting staff. The company plans to reduce personnel because of the impact of slow market recovery from the global financial crisis.

At present Moventas employs around 600 people at its plant in Jyväskylä. Its plans call for slashing 150 work/years at the facility. Just two weeks ago, another wind power company, Winwind, dismissed 23 employees in Oulu.

Moventas will keep R&D operations and production of key components in Jyväskylä. However, some assembly and testing will be shifted closer to its major customers in North America and Asia.

The company is one of the world's leading producers of gears for use in wind turbines. Its volume of business last year was around 237 million euros. Worldwide, Moventas employs some 1200 people in eight countries.

Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project in Nepal

Dam site at Lamabagar

Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Limited (UTKHPL) is a subsidiary company of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) for survey, design, construction, operation and management of 456 MW Upper Tamakoshi Hydroelectric Project (UTKHEP) including selling of generated power to the grid operator by utilizing national financial and technical resources. The Company has also aimed to develop other hydropower projects in the country. The Company is registered in Company Registrar Office in March 2007 (2063/11/25 B.S.). Before start of the day-to-day operation of the Company, Upper Tamakoshi Hydroelectric Project was managed by NEA.

Solar boat launch sets Mediterranean conservation campaign

A catamaran powered exclusively by the sun cast off from Spain’s southeastern coast, starting a journey that is completely free of fossil fuels.

The tired and tested catamaran, the 46ft WWF Solar, which set off on July 14, is part of WWF Spain’s new ‘Embárcate’ (Get on Board) campaign to promote the use of the renewable energies and the conservation of marine ecosystems.

Micro-hydro power

Practical Action promotes small-scale hydro schemes that generate up to 500 kilowatts of power. The micro-hydro station, which converts the energy of flowing water into electricity, provides poor communities in rural areas with an affordable, easy to maintain and long-term solution to their energy needs.

Practical Action has developed micro-hydro systems with communities in Peru, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. These systems, which are designed to operate for a minimum of 20 years, are usually 'run-of-the-river' systems. This means they do not require a dam or storage facility to be constructed but simply divert water from the stream or river, channel it in to a valley and 'drop' it in to a turbine via a penstock (pipeline).

WIND ENERGY - THE FACTS

From a European, as well as a global perspective, wind power is undergoing rapid development. Within the past 10 years the global installed capacity of wind power has increased from approximately 2.5 GW in 1992 to a little below 40 GW at the end of 2003, with an annual growth rate of around 30%. However, only at few sites with high wind speeds can wind power compete economically with conventional power production at present.
This section focuses on the cost structures of a wind power plant, including the lifetime of the turbine and operation and maintenance costs. Finally, it analyzes how the costs of wind power have developed in previous years and how they are expected to develop in the near future. Wind power is used in a number of different applications, including both grid-connected and stand-alone electricity production, as well as water pumping. This section analyzes the economics of wind energy primarily in relation to grid-connected turbines which account for the vast bulk of the market value of installed turbines.