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| 05 Feb 2010 04:40:39 pm |
 Cape Wind gets Washington Post support |
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| The Cape Wind drama continues; no surprise there. This week Interior Secretary Ken Salazar took a tour of the site of the 420-MW offshore wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound. At the same time, the Interior Department's Inspector General reported that some federal agencies felt they were being rushed to meet Salazar's imposed March 1 deadline for a final review. Today the Washington Post carried an editorial suggesting that, because the project has been under review for nine years, "Mr. Salazar should move Cape Wind along. " That's Sound advice. |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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| 04 Feb 2010 07:57:01 pm |
| New study shows RES will create 274,000 jobs |
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Guest blog by AWEA's Carl Levesque
This has turned out to be the week that the need for a national renewable electricity standard (RES) became impossible to ignore. And the drumbeat keeps getting louder.
The latest such message: according to a study on jobs and a renewable electricity standard released today from the independent firm Navigant Consulting, Inc., a 25%-by-2025 RES would result in 274,000 more jobs supported by the renewables industry. Moreover, without a national RES, many states will actually lose jobs already supported by renewable energy, according to the study, which was commissioned by the RES Alliance for Jobs.
Many of the jobs created would be in parts of the country generally not assumed to benefit from renewable standards. Biomass jobs, for example, would double as a result of a 25% RES, with most of the increase concentrated in Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Kentucky.
Echoing what wind advocates have been saying, the study also found that near- and mid-term targets—such as 12% by 2014 and 20% by 2020—are critical to ensure the U.S.’s competitiveness in the global wind industry.
The competitiveness issue was underlined earlier this week when the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) announced that China installed the most wind power capacity in 2009, deploying 13,000 MW last year compared to the nearly 10,000 MW that the U.S. installed.
“We invented this industry, and we’re giving it away because we haven’t had a national policy supporting renewables,” said AWEA Board President Don Furman of Iberdrola Renewables, speaking at the news conference called to roll out the Navigant study. China, he said, “is killing us.”
But it’s not too late. Said AWEA CEO Denise Bode regarding the latest GWEC numbers, “It is time to act now on a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) so that America can immediately create manufacturing jobs and be the world wind power leader. The economy can’t wait, job creation can’t wait, and America can’t wait.”
Message received, loud and clear--we hope. |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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| 04 Feb 2010 03:51:17 pm |
| Wildlife Advisory Committee gets closer to the finish line |
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What would happen if the wind industry, the regulators, and the conservationists got together to see if they could agree on guidelines for siting wind farms in a way that avoids or minimizes the impact on wildlife? We may be about to find out.
Since 2007, a Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee, representing industry, government and wildlife groups, has been meeting to draft recommended guidelines for the Interior Secretary to consider in making decisions about siting wind projects on Federal lands (not offshore). The group has its final meeting in March, when the draft is expected to be approved.
Reaching consensus on this is a singular accomplishment in an area where litigation is more typically the preferred option. And although the guidelines are only recommendations, they will carry weight with the Secretary and could serve as a basis for decisions by state and local jurisdictions grappling with the same question. (A consensus is a terrible thing to waste.)
Three members of the advisory committee will be discussing the FAC process, and how the guidelines may be implemented, at an AWEA Wind Power Project Siting Workshop Feb. 17-18 in Denver.
“At the workshop, the siting practitioner can expect nuts and bolts instruction on how to apply the recommended guidelines and how the guidelines interact with the Endangered Species Act and Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act,” said Rich Rayhill, a wind developer with Ridgeline Energy. Rayhill will be addressing the session along with fellow FAC members Dave Stout, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Steve Quarles, attorney with Crowell & Moring. Rayhill said the panel will also discuss how the guidelines will be disseminated and applied at the field office, state, and county levels. |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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| 03 Feb 2010 04:45:15 pm |
| Global wind up 31% in 2009; U.S., China in footrace to be #1 |
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There is good news today in the just-released global wind energy numbers: the world’s wind energy capacity grew by 31% in 2009, despite the global recession, and the United States remains the global leader in total wind installed, with more than 35,000 MW.
But the numbers are also a warning to the United States that it needs a more aggressive policy if it is going to stay in the race with China for wind energy and particularly for wind manufacturing. For 2009, China installed about 13,000 MW, compared with the U.S. total of just under 10,000 MW. While U.S. lost some manufacturing jobs last year because of a fall off in orders, China's wind manufacturing sector was booming, especially since most of its wind turbines are domestically produced.
“China is hard on our heels,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. “If this isn’t the ‘case-closed’ evidence that America must have stable renewable energy policy and hard targets in order to create jobs and revitalize our economy, I don’t know what is. China gets it, 37 other nations get it, and we still don’t. It is time to act now on a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) so that America can immediately create manufacturing jobs and be the world wind power leader. The economy can’t wait, job creation can’t wait, and America can’t wait.” |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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| 02 Feb 2010 11:08:00 pm |
| Community wind project gets go-ahead in Wisconsin |
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E Wind LLC has received approval from the Town of Randolph to construct a 30 MW, 18 turbine community wind farm in Columbia County, about 40 miles north of Madison, Wisconsin. The project is unusual because it is locally owned and hopes to sell the electricity to local utilities. The owners must secure a buyer for the electricity, enough to power about 7,200 homes, before beginning construction.
One of the owners, Bob Lange, farmed in Columbia County for 25 years before getting involved with E Wind. |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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