Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

Without a turn toward long-term policy stability and predictability, the U.S. wind energy market is likely to settle out at somewhere between 4 to 8 gigawatts (GW) from 2017 on, according to presentations at today's Market Update session at the WINDPOWER 2013 Conference & Exhibition in Chicago.

The speakers included Andy Lubershane of IHS EER, Justin Wu of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and Dan Shreve of MAKE Consulting. Among the highlights of their discussion:

- According to Mr. Lubershane, wind power with the existing Production Tax Credit (PTC) incentive is very inexpensive and competitive in high-wind regions: "At least 500 megawatts is reflected in a series of recent utility requests for proposal (RFPs) on the basis of low cost" rather than state ...

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Over the past few weeks AWEA has been running a video contest for folks to demonstrate 'Why I Like Wind Power.' In total, members of the public submitted 47 wonderful videos. After agonizing debate, we picked 13 finalists and over the past week, with the help of the public, AWEA has chosen the winners of the competion. To view all 13 finalists, check out AWEA's YouTube page and the 'Why I Like Wind Power' video playlist. Listed below are the winners of the competition and links to their videos on AWEA's YouTube channel.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the competition. All the submissions were creative and interesting, and we hope more members of the public ...

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CHICAGO--At this afternoon’s WINDPOWER 2013 Conference "Power Session," high-level representatives of AWEA, the National Wildlife Federation, the American Wind Wildlife Institute, and the National Audubon Society joined Jose Zayas, director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind and Water Power Technologies Office, to launch discussion of a new vision for the wind energy's future.

Mr. Zayas introduced the new effort, saying it will succeed the 20 Percent by 2030 Technical Report produced by DOE in 2008 and will seek to take into account changes in wind technology, the energy markets, and other factors in the intervening years. "My job," he added, "is to make sure wind energy is at the table and has a key part to play in the energy mix of the future."

The ...

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The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the utility system operator serving most of the Lone Star State, has recorded two new wind energy records in the past few weeks, one for maximum generation and another for penetration (wind generation as a percentage of total supply).

The penetration record was established April 21, with wind farms at one point providing 35.05 percent, or more than a third, of the system's power.

On May 2, the peak wind generation record fell, with a new high of 9,674 MW being reached at 4:30 p.m., easily eclipsing the previous maximum of 9,481 MW set February 9.

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The Colorado General Assembly has approved a bill to expand and improve the state’s Renewable Energy Standard (RES) statute to drive clean energy investment, jobs, and project development in rural Colorado. The bill now goes to Governor John Hickenlooper’s desk for consideration.

Senate Bill (SB) 252, cosponsored by Senate President John Morse and House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, protects energy consumers while increasing the RES to 20% by 2020 for the state’s largest cooperative electric associations. While the low cost and stable rates of Colorado renewable energy are expected to save consumers money over time, the consumer protection provision limits any near-term rate impacts to a maximum of 2% per year with no cap on rate decreases. The bill also would expand ...

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The Hawaiian Electric Companies (Hawaiian Electric, Hawaiian Electric Light, and Maui Electric) reached a record 13.9 percent of electricity needs from renewable generation in 2012, according to a Hawaiian Electric news release--well on the way to passing Hawaii's next clean energy requirement of 15 percent in 2015, which is part of the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).

Added rooftop and utility-scale solar photovoltaic facilities on all islands, more wind energy on Oahu and Maui, and increased geothermal energy production on Hawaii island all contributed to this progress, the release said.

The 13.9 percent achievement was an improvement over the 12 percent reported for 2011. The information is contained in the annual RPS report the companies recently ...

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