The AWEA Blog: Into the Wind


Portland Press Herald: 'Congress should extend PTC for clean energy, jobs'

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 Tom Gray, Consultant

The Portland (Me.) Press Herald today joined dozens of newspapers from coast to coast in calling for an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), saying in part, "If we are serious about developing domestic energy, we should look beyond a single source, even if, like gas, the source is plentiful and relatively inexpensive."

 

Added the editorial, "For decades America has had a bipartisan energy policy that promoted domestic energy sources that reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Oil and gas companies take advantage of federal incentives to tap into sources that would otherwise be too expensive. There would be no American nuclear power ...


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Los Angeles Times: Congress 'must renew' wind incentive

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 Tom Gray, Consultant

The Los Angeles Times today endorsed an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), saying the incentive "is creating jobs and helping wean the country off fossil fuels."


The newspaper's editorial noted that the credit has long had bipartisan support, called opposition to it "backward thinking," and said "the lame-duck Congress must renew the [PTC] before it, and its powerful public benefits, are gone with the wind."


The PTC is an incentive that reduces taxes on the operators of wind farms and leaves more of the money they earn from electricity sales in private hands, helping to attract private investment not ...


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Public opinion watch: Danish survey finds neighbours can learn to love wind turbines

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 Tom Gray, Consultant

This article by Tom Rowe is cross-posted from the European Wind Energy Association blog.


A new Danish survey on people living close to wind turbines shows that four out of five people feel there are no downsides to the experience – and 23 % of those surveyed became more positive towards the turbines within one year of installation. In addition, 59% of respondents answered “neither positive nor negative” to the question of whether their attitude changed over one year of living with the turbines in their midst.


The nationwide analysis, carried out by an independent consultancy, was based on interviews with 1,278 people living ...


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Ontario tribunal turns down anti-wind appeal

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 Tom Gray, Consultant

Ontario's Environmental Review Tribunal has rejected an anti-wind appeal against Pattern Energy's South Kent Wind facility, according to a Huffington Post article by environmental attorney Dianne Saxe.

While wind opponents argued that wind farms are a threat to human health, the tribunal found no proof of the allegation, Saxe said.  Interestingly, one appellant contended that since health symptoms appear to result from annoyance, wind farms should not be allowed in locations where they will annoy someone.  Noted Saxe, "After all, how can mere science deny his feelings? ... Fortunately, the Tribunal did not find this science-free argument persuasive ... "

(Because wind turbines ...


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Fact check: Refuting Gramm's wind power myths

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 Tom Gray, Consultant

The appropriately titled "Distortions of Wind Power" by Phil Gramm in a recent Wall Street Journal does exactly that: distorts the facts about wind power and the production tax credit (PTC).
 
The opinion piece recycles many of the anti-wind groups' greatest myths in its assault on wind power. Now more than ever, telling the truth about wind power and the PTC is needed. The following facts allow us to clear the air about wind power.
 
1) The production tax credit is a tax incentive, not a handout. Federal tax incentives similar to the PTC have helped all of our domestic energy industries grow and produce the energy that our economy needs to function and prosper.

2) The PTC reduces taxes on the operators of wind farms and ...


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Latest calls for PTC extension: bipartisan group of lieutenant governors, Energy Sec. Chu

Posted: 24 Dec 2012 Carl Levesque, Consultant

Calls for an immediate extension of the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy continued to reverberate around the nation in recent days, with pro-PTC messages coming from a bipartisan group of lieutenant governors and the U.S. Secretary of Energy.

The coalition of lieutenant governors took action by sending a letter to Congressional leaders in order to let their voices be heard. Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) brought together her peers from Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Rhode Island and Washington to round out the show of support for extending the wind PTC.

“The wind energy industry is not only a source of renewable energy, but it is also ...


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Fact check: Study on turbine lifespan 'just more anti-wind propaganda'

Posted: 24 Dec 2012 Tom Gray, Consultant

This article by Julian Scola is cross-posted from the European Wind Energy Association blog.


The anti-wind energy Renewable Energy Foundation yesterday [December 19] published an “anonymously peer-reviewed” study by wind energy critic Professor Gordon Hughes (author of ‘The myth of green jobs’ and ‘Why wind energy is so expensive’) claiming that the economic life of wind turbines is 10-15 years rather than the 20-25 years stated by the wind industry.


Given that the author and publisher have a history of attacking wind energy and the fact that they do not say who peer-reviewed the study, perhaps one should not ...


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Fact check: CFACT's Driessen wildly off base on bird claims

Posted: 24 Dec 2012 John Anderson, Director of Siting Policy

The Washington Times recently carried a wildly inaccurate column by Paul Driessen of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), a fossil-fuel-funded group, on wind turbines and bird fatalities. Most importantly, Mr. Driessen's numbers for bird deaths were drastically inflated.

 

Wind farms are not a major source of bird mortality. A leading avian biological consulting firm, WEST Inc., recently reanalyzed the bird mortality rate at wind farms on behalf of the American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI) and presented the findings at the


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Fiscal cliff negotiations critical to avoiding sudden wind industry downturn

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 Tom Gray, Consultant

New 'white-board' video explains how Production Tax Credit works

In a news release, AWEA yesterday called on Congress to include an extension of the wind energy Production Tax Credit in any legislation to avoid the "fiscal cliff," or risk the loss of half the jobs in the wind industry if the Production Tax Credit expires Dec. 31.

To make plain what's at stake all across America if this successful policy is not extended, the association released to YouTube a light-hearted video animation, "PTC Explained."

In two-and-a-half minutes of white-board sketching, the video ...


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Fact check: American Tradition Institute’s Taylor and Tanton blowing smoke on wind incentive

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 Michael Goggin, AWEA Manager-Transmission Policy

The Washington Times, which has carried many anti-wind columns over the past year, published another recently, filled with the usual errors, by George Taylor and Tom Tanton of the American Tradition Institute (ATI) concerning a recent report they have authored for ATI.

 

Wind energy’s primary incentive, the production tax credit (PTC), has only been consistently present since 2005, which means it has been available only for a full six years. The success which the wind energy industry has achieved in that short time frame (driving billions of dollars in new investments, significantly reducing costs, establishing a brand new manufacturing industry) has been truly remarkable.


However, what is particularly concerning is Messrs. Taylor and Tanton’s ...


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