Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

Wind power has transformed rural Sherman County, OR, according to a story in today's New York Times by Lee van der Voo:

- County residents receive a payment of $590 a year for each household from the county's tax revenues on its burgeoning wind farms, in a program similar to Alaska's annual rebates on oil pipeline revenues.

- The wind farms have brought in $17.5 million in taxes, fees and assessments over the past nine years to the county, which has only 1,735 residents.  Benefits have flowed to schools and public works, including a new library.

- The wind industry is the county's largest employer.

The ...

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Fresh from actions earlier this year that have caused three proposed wind projects in the state to be deferred or abandoned, Wisconsin legislators are now considering a new bill that would dramatically undercut the effectiveness of the state's renewable energy standard.

The latest move flies in the face of public opinion in the Badger State, as expressed in an April poll which found 77% of the state's residents supporting increasing the use of wind power and 69% favoring installation of wind turbines "located close to where you live."

The new bill, Assembly Bill (AB) 146, added to proposals to ...

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The Global Wind Energy Council called for urgent action to exploit Japan’s tremendous wind power potential for a speedy transition towards renewable energy.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s announcement at the G8 Summit that Japan would move away from nuclear power towards more reliance on renewable sources is a welcome development, but there is a danger that by focusing on the ‘Sunrise Plan’, other important opportunities such as wind power will be neglected.

“We were disappointed to hear that Prime Minister Kan did not make any mention of scaling up Japan’s wind power capacity,” said Steve Sawyer, GWEC’s Secretary General. “Japan cannot afford to miss this opportunity to deploy the rich wind resource at its doorstep.”

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At distances of 1,000 and 1,500 feet, the audible low-frequency sound and infrasound produced by typical wind turbines is below levels that should be of concern, according to a study presented today at the WINDPOWER 2011 Conference & Exhibition in Anaheim, CA.

Robert O'Neal of Epsilon Associates, one of the study's authors, said the work was commissioned by  wind farm operator NextEra Energy because of the frequency with which concerns about low-frequency sound and infrasound are raised during the process of obtaining permits for wind farms.

He said Epsilon Associates conducted a literature search, to determine what work had been done on the specific subject; a field measurement program; and a comparison of the results with standards set by the American ...

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A study of whooping crane and sandhill crane behavior at a wind farm in South Dakota suggests that cranes may avoid wind farms, reducing risk of collision deaths for the iconic endangered whooping crane.  However, more data will be needed on whooping crane behavior and on the degree to which avoidance may cause habitat loss as birds steer away from wind farms.

That was the general substance of a presentation yesterday by Laura Nagy, an avian biologist with environmental consulting firm Tetra Tech, at the WINDPOWER 2011 Conference & Exhibition.

The potential for conflict between whooping cranes, a species that currently numbers 279 individuals, and wind power development appears at first glance to be significant.  The cranes winter at a wildlife refuge on ...

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The WINDPOWER 2011 Conference & Exhibition--the world's largest annual wind energy event--kicked off with a bang (well, actually, the roar of a custom motorcycle) yesterday at the Anaheim, Calif., Convention Center.

Critical info from the day's proceedings, including:

- Brief recap of media mogul Ted Turner's and AWEA CEO Denise Bode's remarks at the conference's opening plenary session.

- Comments from U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-3) and Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT), both of whom called on America to rise to the challenge of transforming our national energy system to tap our vast domestic renewable energy resources.

- A press ...

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When nearly 20,000 wind energy businesses gather in one place to buy and sell goods and services, the question of the U.S. market outlook becomes an important part of the equation.

Rob Gramlich, AWEA Senior Vice President of Public Policy, led a discussion panel at the WINDPOWER 2011 Conference & Exhibition yesterday with a variety of industry sector representatives to discuss long-term prospects and the potential for federal policy to alleviate uncertainty in the U.S. market.

Gramlich kicked off the panel with an update about the status of the current market, the need for an extension of the federal wind energy production tax credit (PTC) and the opportunity for other policy market drivers like renewable energy standards in the states. He observed that ...

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As part of its ongoing efforts to develop an environmentally responsible wind energy project, Power Company of Wyoming, LLC,  (PCW) said last week that it has started an intensive avian monitoring program at its proposed wind project site.

A sophisticated avian radar system was installed in March on the Overland Trail Cattle Co. ranch, with the primary purpose of collecting data and insight into habitat uses and migration patterns of golden eagles. It also will be used to monitor and learn about other large raptors like bald eagles and hawks, as well as other avian and ...

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Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), a frequent critic of wind and booster of nuclear power, was at it again this week, saying in a Congressional hearing that federal incentives for wind should be on the chopping block, but not those available for other electricity generation sources.

What's wrong with this position? It's inconsistent with his support for nuclear energy, and distorts the picture of what this country really needs in its long-term energy policy:

* After nearly a century, our government is still spending five times as much on permanent fossil fuel subsidies than it is for wind, the fuel of ...

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AWEA filed detailed comments with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) today on two sets of proposed avian guidelines for wind power development, calling the draft regulations "unworkable."  The full story is available in the AWEA website pressroom.

On the first proposal, the "Draft Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines," AWEA urged a return to a set of consensus guidelines worked out during a two-and-a-half-year Federal Advisory Committee process by representatives of the wind industry, wildlife conservation groups, and other stakeholders.

Worth noting:

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