Wind energy demand keeps Freeport, TX port busy

[peejay 327]

Business blowing in

Port of Freeport has plenty of work unloading turbines as the use of wind energy grows

By RICHARD STEWART

2008 Houston Chronicle

Nov. 2, 2008, 10:55PM

FREEPORT — The wind energy boom has blown good times into the Port of Freeport.

Even though the closest wind farms are hundreds of miles away in West Texas, the Brazoria County port is doing good business unloading ships loaded with wind turbines made in India, Brazil, Spain, China, Denmark and other countries.

The giant generators, 144-foot-long blades, tower tubes and other parts are stacked over a 60-acre area of the port. Freeport began bringing in ships loaded with turbines two years ago and expects that business to double next year.

Suzlon Wind Energy Corp., which originated in India and now operates in 20 countries, has become the largest importer of wind generators at Freeport.

Clipper Windpower and Vestas Wind Systems also use the port.

This year Suzlon shipped about 100 wind turbines from India through Freeport and expects to bring about 300 through next year, said Suzlon logistics coordinator Brian Evans.

"We wanted a place that had a lot of room," he said. Also, Suzlon, the world's fifth-largest maker of wind turbines, wanted a smaller port where the company could be one of the largest importers.

In photographs of wind energy farms the generators look like pinwheels sitting atop soda straws, lazily turning in the wind.

In reality, they are huge. The base of the "soda straw" tower is more than 13 feet across, and the nacelle, where the generator sits on top, is almost 290 feet in the air.

Perhaps most impressive are the three blades. Each has to be carried by an individual oversized truck, since each is almost three times the length of an average 18-wheeler trailer.

Drivers in the Houston area often see the big blades coming through the city on trucks, almost always in convoys of three. That's because the three blades of each turbine are manufactured as a set and are balanced for a particular turbine.

The nacelle is the heaviest at 80,000 pounds, Evans said, and must be carried on a truck with 13 axles.

Expecting increases

In all, it takes 10 trucks to transport a single wind turbine. The tower itself comes in four parts.

On one recent morning, truck and escort drivers were awaiting the arrival of permits from three different states to take a set of blades to a site near Nashville, Kan., more than 700 miles away.

Some go much farther. Suzlon has sent turbines from Freeport to upper New York state, and others have gone as far as Oregon.

Most wind farms are being built in West Texas, the Panhandle and midwestern states from Oklahoma to North Dakota and Montana.

Those places have some of the most consistent high winds in the country.

Texas leads the nation in wind energy. The American Wind Energy Association reports the state had 5,604 megawatts of wind generating power at the end of June — more than twice any other state.

The Suzlon units are typical of the industry and each produces about 2.1 megawatts of electricity — enough to power more than 2,000 average homes.

But Texas gets only 3.3 percent of its energy from the wind, far below the U.S. Department of Energy's national goal of 20 percent. Although some federal subsidies for wind energy are set to expire, both political parties have endorsed fostering development of wind energy to reduce harmful air emissions and the import of petroleum.

"We expect the wind turbine business to increase every year for about the next five years," said Michael Wilson, director of trade development at Port of Freeport.

Other business

Turbines aren't Freeport's only business, of course. It's one of the country's busiest crude oil ports.

Freeport got its name in 1912 from the Freeport Sulphur Co., which took millions of tons of sulphur from nearby Bryan Mound.

Now millions of barrels of crude oil go through the port to the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve at Bryan Mound.

Millions of tons of rice from farms in Texas, Arkansas and other states go out through Freeport. Each week 6.5 million bananas flow through Freeport, Wilson said.

The port ranks 25th in the country for total tonnage and 14th in foreign tonnage. Port officials won't say how much of the port's $9.03 billion annual economic impact comes from wind generators, but turbines are a large and growing part of the business.

Although the Texas coastal prairies aren't considered good sites for wind farms, the waters off the coast are.

"The next generation of turbines may be even larger and will be put offshore in farms so far out we won't be able to see them," Wilson said.

And the generation of turbines after that won't use wind at all, he said.

"They will be beneath the water, harnessing energy from the tides and currents."

That prediction may seem far-fetched, but many Texans remember when a windmill meant a drink of water for a rangy cow, not power to faraway cities.

Top 5 states in wind power production potential, in billions of kilowatt hours. An average home uses about 1,000 kilowatt hours per month:

• North Dakota: 1,210

• Texas: 1,190

• Kansas: 1,070

• South Dakota: 1,030

• Montana: 1,020

Source: American Wind Energy Association

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6091436.html

[Ban Hammer 14,269]

kansas is #3

how come cali isn't on this list?

[natty bumppo 297]

kansas is #3

how come cali isn't on this list?

spotted owls ... condors ... politicians .... may get hurt on the blades

Edited November 3, 2008 by Natty Bumppo

[Ban Hammer 14,269]

kansas is #3

how come cali isn't on this list?

spotted owls ... condors ... politicians .... may get hurt on the blades

i'm just waiting for srvt to find this thread.

[rocks 494]

why isn't illinois, home to "the windy city", on there?

[natty bumppo 297]

why isn't illinois, home to "the windy city", on there?

the wind in chicago ... has nowhere near the abundance of "natural resources" as CA ...

[HAL 9000 96]

why isn't illinois, home to "the windy city", on there?

the wind in chicago ... has nowhere near the abundance of "natural resources" as CA ...

Actually, Boston boasts much stronger winds than Chicago. The Windy City's reputation comes from turn of the century (20th) politicians being boastful about the world's firsts skyscrapers.

The kind of technology being imported is beneficial to foreign investments. I wish most people would realize the boom that could be exporting our own alternative energy industries to places like China.

[rocks 494]

why isn't illinois, home to "the windy city", on there?

the wind in chicago ... has nowhere near the abundance of "natural resources" as CA ...

i'm sure that is true, i was just being ironic.

i really don't see why it is unfortunate that the turbines weren't made in america though? somewhere else does something better and cheaper than america (this is the same for many if not all developed nations), trade with other countries is a good thing not a bad thing...

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

kansas is #3

how come cali isn't on this list?

Wind turbines lowers their property values. They'll pass. That's limousine liberals for ya.

[Ban Hammer 14,269]

why isn't illinois, home to "the windy city", on there?

the wind in chicago ... has nowhere near the abundance of "natural resources" as CA ...

Actually, Boston boasts much stronger winds than Chicago. The Windy City's reputation comes from turn of the century (20th) politicians being boastful about the world's firsts skyscrapers.

The kind of technology being imported is beneficial to foreign investments. I wish most people would realize the boom that could be exporting our own alternative energy industries to places like China.

yet boston still isn't at the top of the heap.

Q: What is the windiest city in the USA?

A: According to the National Climatic Data Center's list of annual average wind speeds, the windiest U.S. city is Dodge City, Kansas, with an average speed of 13.9 mph.

link

[HAL 9000 96]

kansas is #3

how come cali isn't on this list?

Wind turbines lowers their property values. They'll pass. That's limousine liberals for ya.

Funny how not too long ago it was those limo liberals seeking more turbine installation. Now they're against it? Yeah... uh huh.

[Ban Hammer 14,269]

kansas is #3

how come cali isn't on this list?

Wind turbines lowers their property values. They'll pass. That's limousine liberals for ya.

kinda like our friend kennedy and mass.