Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

Guest blog by AWEA's Carl Levesque

A recently released study finds that new renewable energy and energy efficiency investments in Utah could yield significant economic benefits for the state by 2020, including the creation of 7,000 net ongoing jobs, nearly $310 million in net annual earnings, and a $300 million net annual increase in gross domestic product by state (GDPS).

The report, “Building the Clean Energy Economy: A Study on Jobs and Economic Development of Clean Energy ...

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Are you planning to come to WINDPOWER 2010 in Dallas in May? You can register on line. Take advantage of early registration discounts until March 29. Into the wind will be there!

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DENVER - In many ways, AWEA’s siting workshop was defined by someone who was not here. Several times during the two-day meeting, speakers began their presentation with a tribute to Andy Linehan, the siting specialist with Iberdrola Renewables who died recently. (They also flashed a picture on the huge screens in the hotel ballroom.)

Rich Rayhill of Ridgeline Energy called Linehan “the Atticus Finch of the wind industry,” referring to the attorney-hero in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Linehan’s principled, straightforward approach to solving siting problems will shape how the industry deals with siting issues for years to come, Rayhill said.

Linehan’s approach was certainly evident in many of the sessions here, as speakers sketched out how the industry ...

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You've saved the date (we hope, heheh) and now it's time to get in on the action, with online registration now open for the WINDPOWER 2010 Conference & Exhibition, scheduled this year for May 23-26 in Dallas, Tex.

WINDPOWER is the world's largest conference and exhibition devoted to the business of wind energy, and well-known for its commercial value as a place to make key business connections.

Last year, WINDPOWER attracted more than 23,000 attendees from a range of companies and organizations guaranteed to warm the heart of anyone in the business--from state economic development offices seeking to lure new factories to companies up and down the supply chain.

The ...

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What are we waiting for? The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released new assessments of state wind resources, and the good news is we have more wind potential than we thought. The bad news is we are not doing everything we can to take advantage of it.

Onshore U.S. wind resources could generate nearly 37,000,000 gigawatt- hours (GWh) annually, more than nine times current total U.S. electricity consumption.

These larger estimates are due to improved wind turbine technology, as today’s taller turbines tap better winds at higher elevations (this study measured winds at 80 meters), and to more refined ...

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What do you get when you put a handful of government officials on a workshop panel? Lots of information.

At AWEA’s Project Siting Workshop held this week here in Denver, more than 350 attendees learned, for example, about the Air Force’s willingness to work with the industry to resolve conflicts over the location of wind projects near Air Force facilities. Col. Ed Chupein, who is chief of ranges and airspace for the Air Force, said the military was caught unawares when the wind energy boom began several years ago. “We weren’t ready for this gold rush.” And despite a reputation for being against all wind projects, he said, “We do say yes,” especially when given advance notice of a proposed project, and time to consider the impacts.

Speakers from the Bureau of ...

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Wyoming has great wind, vast open spaces and a healthy appetite for farm income and non-farm jobs. Sounds perfect for new wind power facilities. But while other states are devising incentives to attract wind power projects, Wyoming’s political leaders are throwing obstacles in the path of beneficial wind development in the state.

The latest example is a wind electricity “excise” tax, proposed by Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) and now being considered by the legislature. In recent committee action, the tax was reduced from a jaw-dropping $3 per megawatt-hour of wind electricity produced to $1 per megawatt-hour. (The tax does not apply to any other form of electricity generation.) Implementation of this wind electricity tax could begin as soon as next year.

Wyoming’s ...

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Ingeteam, a Spanish firm, announced it will build a wind turbine generator manufacturing facility near Milwaukee, creating 270 jobs.

The announcement came just days after reports that Energy Composites is moving forward with a turbine blade manufacturing plant in Wisconsin Rapids that would employ 600 workers.

Under Gov. Jim Doyle, Wisconsin had adopted an aggressive strategy to generate more of its electricity using wind and other renewables. At the same time, the state has been urging wind manufacturers to locate in the state.

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While anti-wind types charge that the Recovery Act is being used to send jobs overseas, Wisconsin is using Recovery Act funds to help finance a new wind turbine blade manufacturing plant in the state.

According to news reports, the Energy Composites Corp. (ECC) is using Recovery Act funds as part of the financing for a new wind blade manufacturing plant in Wisconsin Rapids. The plant will employ more than 600 people.

The financing is drawing on the Recovery Zone Bond program, part of the Recovery Act passed by Congress last year to stimulate the economy.
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The Cape Wind drama continues; no surprise there. This week Interior Secretary Ken Salazar took a tour of the site of the 420-MW offshore wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound. At the same time, the Interior Department's Inspector General reported that some federal agencies felt they were being rushed to meet Salazar's imposed March ...

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