Renewable Energy Resources from Electric Light & Power Magazine

Welcome to Electric Light & Power and Utility Automation Engineering T&D online. Here, you'll find information on current renewable energy topics, such as renewable sources of energy within current and archived articles from our print issues, Web-exclusive articles, white papers, and Webcasts. For example, in a recent article posted on Electric Light & Power and Utility Automation Engineering T&D online claims the wind energy industry in 2005 broke earlier installed capacity records, installing nearly 2,500 megawatts or over $3 billion worth of new generating equipment in 22 states.

Renewable energy comes from sources that are considered "green" or "clean." Green power and clean power are forms of energy that, when generated, form little to no harmful emissions, such as carbon dioxide (CO2). The renewable energy sources that make green power include wind, sunlight, biofuels, water, and heat.

Perhaps the most well known renewable energy source is wind energy. Wind turbines are placed in open areas that have high wind speeds. They can be situated as stand alone turbines or in wind farms which is a large collection of wind turbines in one area sometimes referred to as a wind power plant. The wind turns the blades of the turbines thus producing electricity that is either sent directly into the electrical grid or stored in batteries. According to a recent article posted on our website, over $3 billion of new wind energy generating equipment has been installed in the United States between 2004 and 2005. (See U.S. wind industry ends most productive year: AWEA). Also, President Bush announced the Advanced Energy Initiative, which calls for a $44 million investment to expand the use of wind energy in the United States. (See Bush announces new energy initiative during State of the Union address).

Another well known renewable energy source is solar power. Photovoltaic cells (PV cells) or solar panels collect sunlight which produces an electrical charge that can be stored in batteries or sent directly into the electrical grid. Some have argued that PV cells are too cumbersome and expensive to be practical. However, some retailers have started to use new designs that allow sections of the roof of a building to be comprised of PV cells and have opted to have a percentage of their power to be provided by the solar panels. (See Evergreen Solar producing power for retail giant BJ's). Also, investment in solar energy may be on the rise due to President Bush's energy initiative and other governmental and environmental pressures. (See Renewable Ventures to fund up to $100 million of solar electric power plants).

Other commonly known forms of renewable energy resources include hydroelectric power or water power, which is generated by flowing water which spins turbines to produce power; and geothermal energy or heat energy, which uses steam produced by heat inside the Earth that is used to spin turbines that connect to generators.

A lesser known form of renewable energy is biofuel. Biofuels can be many things, for example, using corn to produce ethanol, which can be used like gasoline. For the electric utility industry, producers might take cow manure, process it, and burn it for energy much in the same way natural gas is burned for energy.

Finally, a growing area of technological interest that is linked to renewable energy is that of fuel cell technology. Also, the renewable energy market is experiencing increasing investment. (See Renewable energy taking off in power markets: Global Energy).

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