The AWEA Blog: Into the Wind


Riding the wind: electric cars, smart charging could expand wind opportunity

Posted: 20 Sep 2011 Tom Gray

In a new report, researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) find that electric vehicles — increasingly available to consumers in today's marketplace — could help operators more seamlessly add more renewable energy sources like wind into the Pacific Northwest's energy grid.  The Northwest increasingly is looking to add more wind power to meet growing energy demands and policy requirements to tap more renewable energy sources.

 

According to the report, the future Northwest power system would be able to better utilize ...


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Kansas Gov. Brownback backs key wind incentive

Posted: 20 Sep 2011 Tom Gray

In an opinion article titled "Wind offers clean path to growth" in a recent issue of The Wichita Eagle as well as Bloomberg Government, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) endorsed extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), a key policy that has underpinned the wind power industry's strong growth over the past decade.

According to Gov. Brownback, "Experience has taught us that investment in the renewable-energy economy is creating jobs across all employment sectors, including construction, engineering, operations, technology and professional services, in both rural and ...


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Can wind generate electricity at $0.04 per kilowatt-hour?

Posted: 19 Sep 2011 Tom Gray

Guest article, cross posted from Greentech Media.  Minor proofing and style edits.


By Herman Trabish


Is an environmentally friendly rare earth metal mined in California the key to making wind power cheaper than coal?

Can Wind Generate Electricity at $0.04 per ...<br/> <p align=
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For stable development, offshore (and land-based) wind needs stable policy

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 Tom Gray

William Pentland of the Pace Energy and Climate Center has an article at Forbes.com, remarking on press accounts that General Electric, the largest U.S. manufacturer of wind turbines, is rethinking its strategy on offshore wind due to current lack of demand for its offshore product offering.  The news, Mr. Pentland says, may augur no or slow growth in the offshore wind market.

Time will tell whether this is so.  With roughly 3,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity already in European offshore waters, and thousands more on the way, it's clear that there is ...


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Wind Factory Watch: Global Blade Technology: Indiana

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 Tom Gray

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) joined executives from GBT USA, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of wind turbine blades, recently to announce the company’s plans to open a facility in Evansville, Ind., and create up to 400 new jobs by 2014.


The clean technology company, a subsidiary of Global Blade Technology, will lease and equip 45,000 square feet of space. The new office and manufacturing facility will house the company’s engineering design and consultancy offices and the production lines of wind blades, molds and tooling. In 2013, the company plans to build an additional facility in southern Indiana to manufacture ...


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Iowa Gov. Branstad cites wind jobs, current and future

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 Tom Gray

Speaking at an AWEA Supply Chain Workshop in Des Moines Tuesday, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) said up to 5,000 jobs are currently supported by his state's wind power manufacturing and development industries.

Wind companies operate in 56 of Iowa's 99 counties, according to Branstad, who hopes for further growth in the state's wind power industry as he aims to boost the Iowa economy.  Iowa already ranks second among the 50 states in installed wind generating capacity. Added Branstad, "We cannot overlook the impact of the wind industry on economic development and jobs in Iowa."

According to the


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Fact check: Fred Udo's bogus numbers on wind and emissions savings

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 Tom Gray

A new report (calling it a "study" would be giving it too much credence) on wind power and emissions is circulating in the anti-windosphere. Authored by Fred Udo, it makes the seemingly--and actually--goofy claim that emission reductions from wind, a zero-emissions energy source, are small.

How does Mr. Udo achieve this result? By looking at statistics for Ireland's energy use thatconfuse emissions from direct heating (using fossil fuels) with emissions from electricity generation.  This leads to erroneous results, but hey, as long as they make wind look bad, that's the important thing.

Here's more from AWEA Manager of Transmission Policy Michael Goggin:

There's a large, well-established body of empirical evidence showing that as states like ...


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Hurricane Irene and its impact on wind farms

Posted: 08 Sep 2011 Tom Gray

[This article by Simon Mahan was cross-posted from Footprints on the Path to Clean Energy, the blog of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.]

new-england-installed-wind

This is the final blog in a three part series examining how natural disasters like hurricanes impact our energy ...


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Citing lower costs, Mich. utility slashes renewable energy surcharge

Posted: 08 Sep 2011 Tom Gray

Jackson, Mich.-based investor-owned utility Consumers Energy said it will reduce its surcharge to customers for renewable energy from $2.50 to 65 cents a month, a cut of nearly 75 percent.

According to detnews.com, the Detroit News website, "The savings stems from the utility updating its renewable energy plan, a plan that lowers costs because of changing economic conditions, wind turbine technology improvements and other factors."

 

The reduction, which has been approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission, will ...


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Fact check: Driessen flails at wind

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 Tom Gray

Columnist Paul Driessen took a poorly researched swipe at wind power on TownHall.com recently.  Contrary to Mr. Driessen's assertions:

Land use: While the boundaries of wind farms may be large, wind turbines actually use very little land. A 2008 study by the Department of Energy under the Bush Administration found that if wind power provided 20 percent of America's electricity, the actual space occupied by wind turbines, related equipment such as substations, and service roads would be less than half the size of the city of Anchorage, Alaska. That is because 95 to 98 percent of the land within a wind farm's boundaries remains available for ranching, farming, ...


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