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| 20 Oct 2009 07:20:03 pm |
 Latest statistics show wind industry is still growing |
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Pessimism may be overrated, at least in the case of renewable energy. Despite the recession and other factors, AWEA’s Third Quarter Market Report shows the wind industry is continuing to grow. But new manufacturing facilities are lagging.
“Over 1,600 MW of new wind power capacity was brought online in the third quarter of 2009.” the report said. So far, in 2009 the industry has installed over 5,800 MW of new wind power, which is more than was added in the first three quarters of 2008.
However, it is already clear that the fourth quarter of 2009 will not equal 2008’s 4th quarter boom, when more than 4,000 MW were added, bringing the 2008 total to 8,358 MW.
The report said, “A major driving factor in the higher numbers of wind project development is the federal stimulus bill passed early this year.” The legislation provided grants as a temporary replacement for the production tax credit, which was not attracting investors because of the sagging economy. Other factors cited in the report are “state policies, attractive wind project economics and possibly the expectation of action on climate change.”
AWEA CEO Denise Bode said, “Wind power installations are up, and that is good news for America’s economy, environment, and energy security. But manufacturing, which has the potential to employ many more Americans in good, clean energy jobs, remains uncertain. A firm, long-term national commitment to renewable energy is still needed for the U.S. to become a wind turbine manufacturing powerhouse and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.”
AWEA is working to persuade Congress and the Obama Administration to include a strong renewable electricity standard in any energy package passed this year. |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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| 19 Oct 2009 10:04:19 pm |
| Storage bogeyman reappears in the Wall St. Journal |
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Once again, the Wall Street Journal has repeated the myth that renewable energy will only work if we invent advanced storage capability. So solving our energy needs becomes a pie-in-the-sky proposition that our grandchildren may witness. (The article lists four other advances we supposedly need to make to meet our needs.) The problem with this notion is that wind energy is available now, without storage, and in some parts of the United States is supplying 5% of electricity needs.
According to Michael Goggin of AWEA, Quote : Last year the U.S. Department of Energy completed a major report that concluded no new energy storage would be required if the U.S. is to obtain 20% of its electricity from wind energy. Similarly, recent research in Ireland has concluded that energy storage would not be cost effective until the island obtains at least 50% of its electricity from wind power, and until that point the chief effect of energy storage would be to allow coal plants to operate more and displace more natural gas generation, actually increasing carbon dioxide emissions.
The fact is electricity grid operators already have the capacity to allow for energy sources that vary, such as wind and solar. They use that capacity to keep the system running when supply and demand fluctuate--that is, when traditional power plants go down for maintenance or when electricity use fluctuates.
For more on this topic, see AWEA's fact sheet. |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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| 19 Oct 2009 10:01:15 pm |
| NREL Dedicates New Test Turbine |
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On a bright and windy day, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) and others gathered to flip a switch and symbolically commission a Siemens 2.3-MW (generates enough electricity to serve the equivalent of 700 homes) wind turbine at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo. On hand for the event were Ritter, representatives of DOE and NREL, and AWEA VP for Public Affairs Sarah Howell, who snapped the photo above.
Howell told the crowd of about 75, "Today, we see the fruit of great teamwork between the pubic and private sector, with the National Wind Technology Center joining with Siemens to invest in this 2.3-MW pilot wind turbine. Over the next three years, they will undertake the largest wind turbine test program to ever have been shared between U.S. government and industry. The expected outcome of this program is to lower the cost of wind-generated electricity through improvements in blade aerodynamics.
"The Department of Energy is supporting additional aspects of the wind energy industry as well. In February of this year, when Congress passed and President Obama signed the Recovery Act, the Department of Energy was authorized to develop loan guarantee programs – one of which was $750 million specifically for commercial renewable energy technologies – and a new $2.3 billion investment tax credit program for manufacturers. Both of these programs are open for applications now, and are allowing our members to keep installing new wind farms, adding and expanding manufacturing facilities, and hiring new employees, despite these hard economic times.
"On behalf of the over 2,500 member companies of the American Wind Energy Association, I applaud Siemens and DOE for their investment in this turbine and the overall testing program, and I thank them for their collaboration on wind energy research and development." |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Tom Gray |
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| 19 Oct 2009 08:39:25 pm |
| Scientific study rates wind higher than fossil fuels |
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Last year, Congress asked the National Academy of Sciences to examine energy from a different angle--namely, to assess the external or hidden costs of energy use and production. As NAS explained, it was asked to examine "what economists call external effects caused by various energy sources over their entire life cycle -- for example, not only the pollution generated when gasoline is used to run a car but also the pollution created by extracting and refining oil and transporting fuel to gas stations.”
The report concludes that “potential damages associated with wind turbines are small compared to those associated with coal and natural gas as electricity sources.” In addition, it noted that “Aggregate land-use effects considered over the entire life cycle are not significantly larger at present than those for other generation types, especially if one considers that in some cases former land uses can continue between wind turbines.”
In recent weeks, some critics of renewable energy have warned of “energy sprawl” because of the land-use requirements of wind farms. However, as the NAS report hints, much of the land used for wind farms can continue to be used for agricultural and other uses once construction is complete.
The report also said, “Societal damages associated with the killing of bats by wind turbines are currently small by comparison with the aggregate damages associated with electricity generation by coal, natural gas, and the sum of all other sources.” |
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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| 16 Oct 2009 05:37:08 pm |
| Hot, Dark, and Not Crowded |
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Guest Blog by AWEA Public Affairs Associate, Anyah Dembling
It’s hot.
It’s dark.
And it’s ten stories tall. That’s a climb of anywhere from 200 to 360 rungs or steps. Climbing 80-meter wind towers is not a job for those with a fear of heights.
Wind tower technicians are a necessary part of a wind turbine’s function, responsible for ensuring the efficiency and proper maintenance of all the working parts of its electrical generating equipment.
But who—literally—supports them in their work? One of the key players is Hailo, a German company that has been in the business of supplying ladders, lift assists, platforms, and internal structures to wind turbine manufacturers and developers around the world for almost 20 years. The firm has even developed specially anodized ladders for offshore projects.
The only Hailo manufacturing facility in the United States is located in Holbrook, New York (on Long Island). Worldwide, the company has approximately 500 employees working in the wind energy industry, and wind components account for approximately 1/5 of their business profits.
Hailo’s skilled employees helped manufacture nearly 100,000 ladders in wind towers across the globe and 40,000 in the U.S. in 2008 alone.
The company is a vital link in the wind energy supply chain and hopes to continue to expand in the coming years, alongside the new and exciting growth of wind energy development here in the States.
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Category : AWEA News
| By : Chris Madison |
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