Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

In a recent editorial, the Pueblo (Colo.) Chieftain newspaper repeated its support for an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) and praised Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who has launched a campaign of speeches on the floor of the U.S. Senate urging extension of the incentive. (See Sen. Udall's appeal to Coloradans on the issue here.)

Commented the Chieftain, "The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on the wind credit in April and its supporters--Democrats and Republicans--were told that House Republicans probably will move on the credit later this year, after the ...

Read more

Long-time wind industry leader Dan Juhl recently was honored with Windustry’s 2012 Distinguished Service in Community Wind Award.

The award, given via nominations and selections from the Community Wind Peer Group, goes annually to a person who has made an exceptionally significant contribution to the establishment and growth of community wind as a uniquely valuable form of clean, renewable energy. The award was presented in Atlanta during the recent WINDPOWER 2012 Conference & Exhibition.

Windustry said Juhl, currently chairman and CEO of community wind-focused developer Juhl Wind, was chosen for his years of pioneering work in the field, his creative vision and bold leadership, his sharing of practical information, and his drive and passion in working to ...

Read more

Speaking at an energy policy forum in Washington, D.C., yesterday, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said the federal wind energy production tax credit (PTC) should be extended.

According to an E&E News story by John McArdle, McCarthy said of the credit extension, "I think we should do it." The story also quoted Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio), who chairs the House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, as saying that he and members of the subcommittee have been meeting with wind industry representatives on the PTC.

White House energy advisor Heather Zichal also supported the credit at the energy forum, saying, "You have the Chamber of Commerce, you have all the environmental community, you have Karl Rove, you have my boss supporting ...

Read more

The consensus forecast at the recent WINDPOWER 2012 Large Turbine Vendors' Forum will come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the wind industry's battle to win an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC): a blowout 2012, followed by a difficult 2013.  While that much is obvious, given that the PTC expires at year's end and has not yet been renewed by Congress, turbine manufacturers unanimously said they are in the U.S. for the long haul and generally were optimistic about the longer term.

As attorney Adam Umanoff, the session moderator, noted in opening, the industry is currently bucking some strong headwinds.  In addition to the impending PTC expiration, which is creating uncertainty in the U.S. market, the global economy remains weak, ...

Read more

ERCOT, the corporation that manages the utility system covering most of the state of Texas, notched yet another wind production record Tuesday, with a high of 8,368 (megawatts) MW generated from wind at 7:25 p.m. A graphic showing total wind capacity installed and hour-by-hour total load and wind generation is available here.  It shows:

- Wind generation from the state's wind farms remained above 6,000 MW for the entire day.

- During the hour of peak demand (4-5 p.m.), wind averaged 7,790 MW, or just under 15 percent of total peak load of 52,423 MW.

The new mark easily topped ERCOT's

Read more

Renewable energy sources such as wind power, and the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), contribute to national security, Iraq war veteran Mario Rivas writes in a recent Huffington Post opinion article.

Comments Rivas, "As a combat veteran, I am trained to also consider the security risks of not embracing a new and more effective way forward. Where our energy sources are concerned, those risks are higher than you might think.

"During my time serving in Iraq, I experienced first-hand how troops are forced to expose themselves to danger in order to replenish their fuel supply. And recent statistics show that for every 24 convoys that set ...

Read more

This article is cross-posted from the Australian blog REneweconomy, with permission of the author, Mike Barnard.

How many ways can you misinform, distort and spin in a single radio interview? On 9 May, 2011, Max Rheese, executive director of the organisation with the grossly misleading name

Read more

This article has been cross-posted from Fresh Energy with the permission of the author, Michael Noble.

In 1999, when the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission required Xcel Energy to double its renewable energy commitment to one gigawatt, it was a pretty big deal. Minnesota’s market for renewable power—and the couple billion dollars in associated capital costs—was big news nationwide, even if the increase was spread out over a decade. How wrong we were to think that a $2 billion renewable energy investment would be ambitious. Today, the region supports more than $20 billion.

But we weren’t the only ones being timid in our ...

Read more

The CEO of a major construction company and the director of Sierra Club Maine joined recently in an op-ed in the Bangor (Me.) Daily News calling for an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) beyond its scheduled expiration at year's end.

Jack Parker, who heads the construction firm Reed & Reed, Inc., and Sierra Club Maine's Glen Brand pointed to the ways in which the wind power industry has benefited Maine:

"During the last decade, Maine’s wind power sector has created thousands of jobs, with more than $1 billion of investment in the state. According to the American Wind Energy Association, in 2010 Maine’s wind industry boosted ...

Read more

The following is an updated version of an earlier post, with added information on birds and on BP Wind Energy.

A recent column in the Denver Post by retired energy executive Mike Bond (who also happens to be an outspoken opponent of a wind farm near his home on the Hawaiian island of Molokai) takes aim at wind power, but the facts are the only casualties.

Many if not all of the numbers in Mr. Bond's piece appear to have been pulled out of thin air, as they are far above or below actual values (in each case to wind's disadvantage).  Some specific factual issues follow:

T. Boone Pickens quote appears fabricated.  Mr. Bond quotes billionaire T. Boone Pickens as saying, "The only thing green about wind power ...

Read more