Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

You don't need to understand all the details of the Westar case unless you are a utility lawyer or particular fan of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) intricacies. All you need to know is that FERC has given the Kansas utility the green light to charge a wind developer an exorbitant amount of money to connect to the transmission system.

Rob Gramlich, AWEA's senior vice president for public policy, said, "This flawed order, unless corrected on rehearing, sets a precedent that would add significant new costs to renewable energy nationally."

FERC accepted Westar's statement of the cost of integrating wind into the system without giving the wind industry a chance to rebut Westar's proposal.

"We are surprised and disappointed that ...

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At AWEA’s supply chain workshop in Greensboro, N.C., this week, the hotel security folks were on the alert—they had been warned that some anti-wind demonstrators from the western part of the state were going to show up and were bringing fellow protesters from the adjacent state of Virginia.

But no demonstrators showed up. Maybe they realized that wind, which creates jobs and energy without pollution, is hard to be against, especially at a time when many Americans are still hurting economically.

There were about 400 attendees at the workshop and, judging by a show of hands, it appeared that at least half were new to the industry. They were the go-getter types who are trying to figure out how and where they could enter the growing industry. It’s hard to protest ...

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The bipartisan Governors' Wind Energy Coalition today urged Congress to enact a renewable electricity standard (RES) so that the United States can take full advantage of the nation's considerable wind energy resource.

"We offer our assistance in working with Congress and the administration to achieve one of the nation's principal energy goals, energy independence, and increasing the role that wind energy plays in meeting that challenge," wrote the coalition's chairman, Iowa Democratic Gov. Chet Culver, and vice chairman, GOP Gov. Donald Carcieri of Rhode Island, in a letter to Congress. The group also sent a letter to President Obama.

Gov. Carceri noted that “This is the first set of comprehensive wind energy recommendations ever submitted to Congress by a ...

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The Green Economy Post is highlighting the contributions of prominent women in the wind and solar industries, including several closely connected to AWEA: Jan Blittersdorf, CEO and President of NRG Systems; Rachel Shimshak, the Director of the Renewable Northwest Project (RNP); AWEA Board Member Karen Conover, CEO of DNV Global Energy Concepts; and Lisa Daniels, Executive Director of Windustry, a member of AWEA's Community Wind Working Group Steering Committee.

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A continuing challenge facing wind developers is how to coexist with wildlife--and with the laws, regulations and permitting procedures that have been developed to protect it.

Two developments last week suggest different approaches for meeting that challenge. First was the Interior Department’s decision not to place the sage grouse on the endangered species list at this time. The second was the finalization of recommendations from the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Federal Advisory Committee (FAC), a government-industry-environmentalist collaboration that for three years has been drafting guidelines aimed at facilitating wind energy development while still protecting wildlife.

Interior Secretary Salazar’s decision not to list the sage grouse as an endangered ...

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Last Thursday, Portland TV station KATU failed the most elementary principles of journalism by biting hook, line, and sinker and taking a fossil-fuel industry front group’s false and misleading statements about wind energy at face value.

The news story begins by claiming that concerns about wind energy “have been raised by some.” Unfortunately, this “some” appears to only be staffer Todd Wynn at the Cascade Policy Institute.

Before refuting Mr. Wynn’s false claims point-by-point, it is instructive to trace the funding behind his employer. The Cascade Policy Institute is funded by the Cato Institute, the DC-based group founded by oil magnate Charles Koch whose current donors include ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute.

On to the ...

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Here's a quote from a blog on a website hosted by SNL interactive, written by Bill Burson:

Quote :

The main problem is the wind doesn't blow all the time, and the backup generation necessary when the wind stops blowing can generate more pollution than what was saved originally. Public Service Co. of Colorado uses more wind power in its average hourly electric generation mix than any utility in the country, but Denver's air pollution problem has not improved.

Here is our response from AWEA's Michael Goggin:

Quote :

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The U.S. wind industry is descending on Washington, D.C., this week to make the case for jobs, jobs, and more jobs.

John W. Grabner, Executive Director, Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Company, Inc., in Bedford Heights, Ohio, is growing a manufacturing business by fashioning bolts for wind turbines. He says if Congress passes a renewable electricity standard (RES), it will have three outcomes: “Jobs, jobs, jobs.

"We are doubling employment at our company because we are supplying the turbine manufacturers in the United States."

Vic Abate sees the same industry from a different angle. He is Vice President for Renewables for GE Energy, the largest U.S. manufacturer of wind turbines. He has watched the U.S. wind industry grow, and has seen the ...

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OK, so we have been beating the drums for a while about a national Renewable Electricity Standard--talking about how it will save consumers money, create jobs, and help build a clean renewable energy industry in the U.S. Who cares? We're the wind industry, and wind is renewable, so obviously we think it's a good idea.

Now comes the Chair of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PCSW), the regulatory agency that oversees that state's utility industry, and guess what? He thinks the same thing.

Chairman Eric Callisto's

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Texas, which has far outdistanced other states in building wind farms and will likely widen its lead still further over the next few years, set a record Friday (March 5) for instantaneous wind generation, as detailed by Kate Galbraith in the New York Times Green Inc. blog.

The record mark, 6,272 megawatts (MW), is about what five million average American homes use (on average), and it amounted to 19% of the electricity being used at the time in the Lone Star State.

Look for more records in the not-too-distant future, as Texas moves ahead with ambitious plans to build new ...

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