Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

A recently released report from Australia’s Senate Committee on Environment and Communications helps to set the record straight on wind energy and sound.

Senators John Madigan and Nick Xenophon introduced a bill called the ‘Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment – (Excessive Noise from Wind Farms) Bill 2012′ intended to limit wind energy development because of claims of health effects from wind turbines. However, the Senate committee that considered it ultimately rejected it.

Why?   Because ...

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The Heritage Foundation’s blog recently carried a post concerning so-called wind myths. Unfortunately, as might be expected from a bitterly anti-wind (and, of course, fossil-fuel-funded) group, the result was more myths and falsehoods.

With the Production Tax Credit (PTC) set to expire at the end of the month unless renewed by Congress, it is important to be clear on how the PTC has encouraged wind power development and why the job isn’t done yet.

The following facts illustrate just a few of the reasons why the PTC is still needed.

Fact #1: Wind energy has been one of the fastest developing energy sources in America.

Wind added 35% of all new U.S. electric generating capacity between 2007 and 2010, neck and neck with ...

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The federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) has proven to be an effective tool to encourage development of American renewable energy projects and foster economic development in all 50 states. Essentially, the PTC is the result of smart bipartisan energy policy that has allowed for a new energy industry to grow.

Recently, however, a number of special-interest groups, funded by other energy industries, have attacked the PTC.  Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Michael Hiltzik recently wrote an expose on these efforts (Blown away by the attacks on wind-power subsidy).  As noted previously on the AWEA blog (Opinion: Attacks ...

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Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) appears in a new YouTube video calling on Congress to extend the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC).

Mr. Grassley, a senior member and former Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee (which has jurisdiction over tax legislation), was the original author of the PTC, a provision that has been extraordinarily successful in encouraging the growth of a domestic U.S. wind power manufacturing industry.

In the video, he comments, "This production tax credit for wind energy is working, and should be part of the effort in Washington here to get more Americans working as well.

"As much energy as possible, both traditional and renewable, should be produced here ...

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Two more newspapers, the Canon City (Colo.) Daily Record and the Scranton (Pa.) Times-Tribune, have joined the chorus of those editorializing in favor of an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC).

Commented the Daily Record recently, "Wind energy holds the promise of helping the country move away from fossil fuels toward more sustainable means of energy production. Some forms of green energy are theoretical projects that are in practice implausible, but not wind energy. Wind farms in Colorado and throughout the county are established and growing ...

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The nation’s leading scientists on wind energy and wildlife convened last week in Denver, Colo., for the ninth biennial Wind Wildlife Research Meeting to share their latest findings and evaluate progress in understanding and addressing wind energy’s potential impacts on wildlife and wildlife habitat.

The meeting was co-hosted by the American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI) and the National Wind Coordinating Collaborative (NWCC). With over 40 speakers, 70 poster presentations, and 350 attendees, it is the largest ever of its kind.

AWWI, whose members include conservation and wind energy industry partners, uses collaboration and science to facilitate timely and responsible development of wind energy while protecting wildlife and wildlife habitat. Even with its ...

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Alabama Power took honors from AWEA for "Outstanding Commercial Achievement" recently as a result of its work with TradeWind Energy in helping to bring cost-effective wind power to the Southeast. The utility is purchasing wind power from Kansas-based TradeWind.

AWEA presented the award before over 400 leaders of the U.S. wind energy industry at its annual Fall Symposium, in Chandler, Ariz.

Alabama Power, a subsidiary of Southern Co., made its first wind power purchase last year. In signing off on the contract, the state Public Service Commission noted at the time that the “price of energy from the wind facility is expected to be lower than the cost the company would incur to produce that energy from its own resource…with the resulting energy savings flowing ...

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The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) garnered AWEA’s "Utility of the Year" award recently for its leadership in bringing wind-generated electricity to its customers in the Southeast, as well as its long-term commitment to low-cost, cleaner energy.

TVA has signed nine contracts with eight different wind farms since 2008, bringing in wind power from states as far away as Illinois, Kansas, and Iowa. It also installed its own utility-scale wind turbines, the first in the Southeast. TVA is purchasing 1,340 MW of wind that is operating today and expects another 200 MW on its system by the end of the year.  TVA has set the goal of being one of the nation's leading providers of low-cost, cleaner energy by 2020.

AWEA’s Utility of the Year award is given to the U.S. ...

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Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), and 40 veterans--many of whom have found post-military careers in the wind energy industry--joined Wednesday for a Capitol Hill news conference to urge that an extension of the production tax credit for wind energy (PTC) be included in year-end legislation to continue as many as 60 expiring tax provisions.  The lawmakers and veterans came together around one message to Congress: Stop delaying the extension of the wind PTC and secure American jobs and energy security now.

"The production tax credit for wind is working and should be part of the effort in Washington to help get more Americans – and more veterans – working,” Mr. Grassley said. “Certainty about tax ...

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Economist Jonathan Lesser, who authored a recent report on wind power for Exelon Corp. as part of its campaign against the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), made a number of misstatements about wind at a Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by Exelon and the Heritage Foundation.

As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  Here are some facts of which Mr. Lesser seems unaware:

Variable electric generation from wind farms can be integrated readily into utility systems with virtually zero increase in the need for fast-acting reserves or "backup" generators. Utility system operators already deal regularly with massive swings in electricity demand and in the ...

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