The AWEA Blog: Into the Wind


Consistent policy is key to competing with other countries

Posted: 24 Oct 2011 Denise Bode, AWEA CEO

The following post replies to a question from National Journal to its "energy experts" list.  The question was as follows:


Is America Losing the Clean Energy Race?

Is the United States losing to countries like China in the global race to develop clean-energy technologies?

One top House Republican, Cliff Stearns of Florida, suggested that America has already lost. He told NPR earlier this month, “We can’t compete with China to make solar panels and wind turbines.” Last week, a coalition of U.S.-based ...


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Fact check: Bryce again misinforms on wind costs/benefits

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 Jon Goldstein, AWEA Director of Public Affairs

Robert Bryce, of the fossil-fuel-funded Manhattan Institute, is at it again. His latest piece of misinformation comes in the form of a new "study" which purports to give the true costs of wind energy in the often-cited 20%-by-2030 scenario (which found that wind could provide 20% of U.S. electric demand less than 20 years from now). Bryce's new study attempts to undermine the landmark 2008 study of the feasibility of large-scale wind development conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy under the George W. Bush Administration.

It is laughable to consider a couple of pages from Mr. Bryce as if they are as important as a 200-page report that the DOE spent several years researching and compiling.
...


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Fact check: Chesser misinforms on wind incentives

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 Tom Gray

Relying on a mentor with a checkered past (Robert Bryce, whose misstatement and errors we have often commented on here), Paul Chesser of the National Law and Policy Center yesterday attacked Duke Energy CEO James Rogers for investing in renewable energy projects that receive federal incentives.

The answer is simple. As we have stated here repeatedly, recent studies show that renewable sources of electricity actually receive far LESS federal support than did “conventional” sources during similar periods in their development. As one particularly informative study by DBL Investors states: “Current renewable energy subsidies do not constitute an over-subsidized outlier when compared ...


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More wind power and utility integration: A question already being resolved

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 Michael Goggin, AWEA Manager-Transmission Policy

A recent Bloomberg Businessweek editorial opined that large-scale energy storage "makes all the difference" for a renewable energy source like wind power.  The following comment from AWEA Manager of Transmission Policy Michael Goggin was posted in response.

In this opinion piece, the Bloomberg editors correctly note the many benefits of renewable energy deployment, such as the massive supply of domestic wind and solar energy resources in the U.S., the fact that renewable resources do not cause pollution, as well as the continuing cost reductions for renewable resources (in fact, the cost news is even better than they claim; ...


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Public Opinion Watch: Wind farms poll best in survey of attitudes toward energy projects

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 Tom Gray

Wind farms racked up the most support among a series of energy projects in a recent survey of public attitudes toward local land development, according to a New York Times blog article by Felicity Barringer.


The survey results compared support for the following types of local projects near one's home: a power plant, a nuclear power plant, a natural gas pipeline, oil drilling, a wind farm, natural gas drilling, and a ...


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Wind farms make 1st appearance in Ohio, 'churning up cash'

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 Tom Gray

"A transformation of the economic landscape ... economic impact ... as massive as the 480-foot-tall turbines with their 150-foot blades ... "  Those are some of the words used by Toledo Blade reporter Larry P. Vellequette to describe what is happening, as utility-scale wind farms make their first appearance in the Buckeye State.

Eight new wind projects planned for northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan will add up to $2.8 billion in investment and generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of some 400,000 homes.

Adds Vellequette, "Farmers ...


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Fact check: Bryce errs on incentives, wind's popularity

Posted: 13 Oct 2011 Jon Goldstein, AWEA Director of Public Affairs

Robert Bryce of the Manhattan Institute recently authored a misleading National Review article on wind.  The following response from Jon Goldstein, AWEA Director of Public Affairs, was posted as a comment.

 

It is not surprising that a fossil fuel funded energy “expert” would try to tear down wind energy. The wind sector has enjoyed tremendous growth, adding more than a third of all new generation in the U.S. since 2007 while adding jobs in rural America and revitalizing our homegrown American manufacturing base. This growth can be seen as a positive force of American innovation, or to some, as a threat to the status quo. But you should at least expect Robert Bryce to get his facts ...


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Alaska agency gives go-ahead for 17.6-MW Fire Island Wind Project

Posted: 13 Oct 2011 Tom Gray

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) has signed off on the proposed 17.6-MW Fire Island Wind Project, which will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 6,000 Alaskan homes.

According to Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI), the project developer, the 11-turbine wind farm will generate 51,000 MWh of electricity annually.  The electricity will be sold to Chugach Electric Association and will provide about four percent of that utility's power. The power purchase agreement with Chugach provides for a 25-year, flat net price of 9.7 cents/kWh.

In a news release hailing the RCA decision, Kate McKeown, Clean Energy Coordinator with the Alaska Conservation Alliance (ACA), noted, “By offsetting natural gas, Southcentral Alaska is moving toward reducing our ...


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Public Opinion Watch: Marylanders back offshore wind

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 tgray

As AWEA's Offshore WINDPOWER 2011 Conference & Exhibition is underway in Baltimore, the results of two new public opinion polls have been released.  Both find strong majorities of Maryland residents favoring offshore wind development in the state.


In the first poll, those surveyed were asked if they would be willing to pay a slightly higher electric bill if their power were generated by “clean, local offshore wind farms, instead of coming from ...


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Fact check: Hayward misleads on wind and utility systems

Posted: 07 Oct 2011 Michael Goggin, AWEA Manager-Transmission Policy

Stephen F. Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute authored a misleading blog article on wind yesterday.  The following response from Michael Goggin, AWEA Manager of Transmission Policy, was posted as a comment.


It is unfortunate to see blatantly false claims being masqueraded as a “fact of the week” in Mr. Hayward’s post on the American Enterprise Institute’s blog. While I understand that an organization that receives a significant amount of funding from the fossil fuel industry would like to delay the transition to a clean energy economy, that is no excuse to degrade the quality of public discourse by making false statements. The most egregious false and misleading claims in Mr. Hayward’s post include:

 

- “Last January, ...


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