Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

The following letter to the editor appeared in the Jamestown (R.I.) Press and is reprinted here with permission of the author.

As a member for three years of the Wind Energy Committee--which was responsible for the feasibility study and site selection analysis for the wind turbine under consideration in Jamestown--I have followed with interest the debates on this issue.

First there were letters in the Press that opposed the turbine based on speculative predictions of economic viability. Then the wind turbine was attacked on aesthetic grounds, which is ironic since one of the iconic symbols of Jamestown is a windmill. And now we have moved on to the famous “wind turbine syndrome.”

In his May 17 letter (“There is evidence ...

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The Daily Review, a newspaper based in Towanda, Pa., this week became the latest in a steadily growing number of newspapers endorsing an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC).

Said the Daily Review in an editorial, "[F]ederal lawmakers should renew the production tax credit for wind power, which otherwise would expire at the end of this year. It has helped to drive down the cost of wind power and to preserve and expand jobs in the industry."  The editorial generally spoke approvingly of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, and noted their increasing contribution to regional electricity supplies.

The PTC ...

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Rock Island Clean Line, LLC, has received an OK from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin negotiating transmission service agreements with potential customers of the company’s 500-mile transmission project that would carry wind energy from northwest Iowa to the Chicago area.

The latest-technology, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line would deliver 3,500 MW of wind energy resources in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota to power-hungry load centers to the east, specifically in Illinois and other states. Customers using the Rock Island Clean Line, therefore, would likely be load-serving entities (distribution utilities) or wind developers. With transmission development being a marathon process by nature, Clean Line Energy is eyeing ...

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A recent analysis has generated some press interest for its conclusion that adding current levels of wind energy to the grid yields even greater reductions in emissions of harmful pollutants than expected, but that at levels of wind energy several times higher than are on the grid today, the incremental pollution savings of adding wind energy to the grid are somewhat smaller than they are at lower levels of wind. Unfortunately, this study’s findings have been misreported in the press, so we’d like to set the record straight:

- Much of the press coverage of this study is incorrectly reporting that the study finds that wind energy does not reduce pollution, or that the pollution savings are always ...

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Speeches, press availabilities to feature bipartisan group
including Govs. Brownback and Beebe, and Karl Rove and Robert Gibbs

As the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) finalizes preparations for the largest annual gathering of the global wind industry, WINDPOWER 2012, June 3-6 in Atlanta, Ga., AWEA is proud to announce that Heather Zichal, President Obama's chief advisor on energy and environmental policy issues, will address attendees on Monday, June 4.

Her attendance reflects mounting bipartisan support for extending the critical Production Tax Credit that has allowed U.S. wind power to install 35% of all new U.S. ...

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This article by Zoë Casey is cross-posted from the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) blog.

A new study, published by the Bavarian Environment Agency in Germany, has found that wind turbines do not generate infrasound at a level that would damage human health, backing up previous studies with similar conclusions.

Wind energy structures generate infrasound which is far below normal human hearing and ...

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In a press conference call last Friday, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D) called on Congress to extend the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC). According to an Associated Press story, the two said that uncertainty created by the credit's impending expiration at year's end is keeping businesses from planning investments and creating jobs.

The story quoted Mr. Schweitzer as saying that some 50 potential wind projects in Montana could be affected by Congressional action on the PTC. As of the end of 2011, the state had 386 megawatts (MW) of wind ...

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The Manhattan Institute's Robert Bryce had another column in yesterday's Wall Street Journal attacking wind power. The following was posted as a comment.

The idea that wind power requires immense tracts of land to produce clean, low-cost electricity is simply ludicrous. Mr. Bryce is paid by fossil fuel interests to attack wind under the guise of “expert opinion” and it’s no surprise that he is pushing this misinformation about land use. Here are the facts:

Only 2-5 percent of the land area of a typical wind plant is actually taken up by wind turbines and other equipment, while the remaining 95-98 ...

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A community wind farm in the towns of Milton and Georgia, Vt., that features local ownership, local financing, local jobs, and local power for the nearby community will be operational by December, the project developer said yesterday.

The 10 MW Georgia Mountain Community Wind (GMCW) project consists of four 2.5-megawatt (MW) turbines and will produce an estimated 27 million kilowatt-hours annually, enough to power the equivalent of more than 4,200 average Vermont homes.  The facility is being developed by the Harrison family, a family of local business leaders, and David Blittersdorf, a local and national leader in renewable energy business.

GMCW is sited on the Harrison family’s maple sugar operation lands.  Electricity from the project will go to Burlington ...

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Home to wind power supply chain, Peachtree State hosting WINDPOWER 2012

WASHINGTON, DC, May 25, 2012 – The Gainesville, Ga., factory rings of 20th-Century manufacturing muscle, if only for the materials with which it works: gears and steel. Yet when you glimpse the inside of the plant in the latest episode of WindTV, what you see is all 21st Century: a plant floor so pristine it shines, clusters of workers using high-tech machinery to assemble components, and team members collaborating to produce the end product.

At the ZF Wind Power plant, workers produce custom-built gearboxes for the wind power industry. The opening of the Gainesville plant represents a $98 million investment in the company’s ...

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