Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

The fossil-fuel-funded Globalwarming.org blog has its second post in the past few days attacking wind energy's key incentive, the Production Tax Credit (PTC). The following was posted as a comment:

A more honest view of energy subsidies is provided in a recent report, "What Would Jefferson Do?" from DBL Investors, which found that "current renewable energy subsidies do not constitute an over-subsidized outlier when compared to the historical norm for emerging sources of energy. For example: … the federal commitment to [oil and gas] was five times greater than the federal ...

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The fossil-fuel-funded Heritage Foundation has a new blog post urging that wind power's federal tax incentive be allowed to expire. The following was posted as a comment:

Why is the Heritage Foundation, in these difficult economic times, standing staunchly in support of a job-killing targeted tax increase on an emerging, job-creating industry that is a recognized source of new American manufacturing jobs? Does that square with its other positions on taxes? Keeping taxes low on wind power makes sense: past experience tells us that when taxes are low, development increases; when taxes increase, development drops at least ...

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New revenue source helps rancher through cyclical nature of cattle business
 
Wind energy can be as dependable and resilient as a Wyoming cattle rancher. Frame by frame, the bare images tell it all: black-on-white shots of cattle grazing on the wind-whipped landscape, a pickup truck lumbering by wind turbines that are barely visible in spite of being just a few yards away, and a pair of dogs, lingering at the feet of a trio of family ranchers. Accompanying the insightful comments offered by rancher Shaun Sims, a howling Wyoming wind provides the soundtrack throughout the 90-second video.
 
The impact of wind power on Sims’s family ranch in Wyoming is the subject of the latest segment ...

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The Washington, DC, publication Politico carried an opinion article today questioning the cost of wind power. The following was posted as a comment.

This story needs a price check. As far as wind power is concerned, prices are falling quicker than a blue light special on December 26th.

Years of technological innovations and an influx of American-based manufacturing have driven down the cost of wind energy. Including incentives, which all forms of energy get, wind is now close to cost-competitive with all other energy sources.

Two recent examples illustrate this point:

- Alabama Power Co. recently ...

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Guest blogger John Tarantino has a nice piece at Triple Pundit looking at the proposed extension of the wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the recent Navigant Consulting report looking at the consequences of extending the wind incentive or allowing it to expire.

Tarantino summarizes the numbers reported by Navigant: with a four-year extension, 8,000 to 10,000 MW of new wind capacity (enough to power the equivalent of 2 million to 3 million homes) each year through 2016 and an increase in wind-supported jobs to 95,000; without an extension, a possible drop to 2,000 MW in ...

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A bird conservation group recently said it is formally seeking stronger restrictions on wind power from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The effect of wind power on birds is a long-standing issue. Here is our perspective:

The wind power industry has modest impacts on birds compared to other forms of energy generation and should be viewed in context with vastly more significant sources of mortality such as buildings, communication towers, or vehicle collisions.  Further, we do more to study, monitor, and mitigate for the impacts we do have than any other sector.

Currently, we are looking forward to the Fish and Wildlife Service finalizing its wind turbine siting ...

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Cross-posted from National Journal's Energy & Environment Expert Blog.

As a new study released yesterday by Navigant Consulting reveals, one of the things at stake in year-end legislative deliberations, although it would be included in a tax bill, rather than a spending bill, is new American manufacturing jobs in the wind power industry.

Navigant finds that with stable tax policy, the wind industry can create and save 54,000 American jobs in the next four years, including growing the wind manufacturing sector by one third to 46,000 American manufacturing jobs. This will keep the wind sector on track toward ...

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