wind power in antartica are we next

Despite the fact that we are only now coming up for air in the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression, there are some bright spots on the horizon. Industrial use of one of the most classic forms of renewable energy, wind power, continues to grow, and despite some small setbacks in certain regions of the United States, energy experts are predicting that up to 3 million people could be employed within the industry by 2050 (Guardian.co.uk).

The creation of even 30 percent of these jobs would have remarkable benefits, both for the modern work force and the repositioning of the world’s economy to be more dependent on renewable sources of energy, instead of fossil fuels. Although the industry is experiencing growth, many countries have yet to conquer one of the biggest hurdles to wide scale adoption of wind power: the not-so-smart grid.

Many of the best places to harvest wind are also the most remote, like the windswept plains of Wyoming, or the open ranch lands of Northern Texas. But getting power from the wind farms and into the urban grids where they are so badly needed is proving more difficult than one would think.

From the NY Times:

“The basic problem is that many transmission lines, and the connections between them, are simply too small for the amount of power companies would like to squeeze through them. The difficulty is most acute for long-distance transmission, but shows up at times even over distances of a few hundred miles.”

This is less of a problem, of course, when both the wind farm and the people who need it are, well, very remote. Although wind power won’t become an energy solution for crowded cities until the necessary infrastructure is in place, it is already providing a cheap, renewable alternative for those who don’t have the option of conventional power: like researchers in Antarctica, home of one of the world’s newest 1 MW wind farms.

The Ross Island Wind Farm, the latest project of New Zealand wind farm developer, Meridian Energy, cost about $7.4 million dollars to complete, and is located on Crater Hill, Ross Island, Antarctica. The three 333 kW Enercon turbines installed will supply power to researchers at New Zealand's Scott Base and its neighbor, America’s McMurdo Station. To say that a project of this magnitude, in such an unforgiving climate, presented some unique construction challenges would be an understatement, and those who want to know more about how it unfolded are invited to read a personal account from project manager Scott Bennett on his blog, “Building a Wind Farm on the Ice.”

Using locally produced, renewable wind energy reduces the need to transport fossil fuels to power generators at the bases, which saves hundreds of thousands of dollars as well as reducing their carbon footprints. Now that the turbines are operating at full capacity, they will provide up to 11 percent of the power needed by the bases, which will reduce diesel use by 120,000 gallons and reduce carbon dioxide output by 1,370 tons annually (Inhabitat.com).


If you want to know whether the wind blowing around your backyard is as ideal for wind power as the gusts at the South Pole- there’s an app for that! Designed for every citizen scientists that’s ever wondered how fast the wind was blowing, the Windspire Me! app allows you to measure wind speed and then provides information on how much CO2 a turbine could have prevented from entering the atmosphere with those average winds