Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

With a comprehensive economic development package signed into law March 25, the South Dakota legislature sent a strong message to the wind energy industry that it values wind development, according to a news release from the South Dakota Wind Energy Association (SDWEA). The new legislation, the group said, "combines an enhanced business environment with South Dakota’s premier wind regime, low taxes, quality work force and wind project 'buildability.'"

“Building South Dakota” is the name of the "historic, bipartisan package," SDWEA said, adding that it took effect April 1 to position the industry to take advantage of the construction season and the extension of the Production Tax Credit.

The broad-based package of economic and community development tools is ...

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 A new study adds to the large body of studies and real-world grid operating experience showing that large amounts of renewable energy can be reliably integrated into utility systems, while also producing significant benefits for consumers and the environment. The report, entitled “Meeting Load with a Resource Mix Beyond Business as Usual” and prepared by Synapse Energy Economics for the Civil Society Institute, builds on work done by those groups two years ago that indicated that the transition to clean energy would reduce consumer energy costs by $83 billion, in addition to greatly reducing air pollution and water use.
 
The new report used wind and solar output datasets developed as part of the National ...

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The Institute for Energy Research (IER), a group that represents the interests of fossil fuel energy sources, has a recent blog post that purports to be a “fact check.” Embarrassingly, its fact check not only failed to find a single thing that was incorrect in AWEA’s statements, but also made its own factually incorrect attacks on wind energy. Below, we fact check the fact checkers:

FACT 1: No single wind power project benefited from more than one of: The production tax credit (PTC), the investment tax credit (ITC) and the Section 1603 program.

That’s because projects receiving the PTC, the per MWh credit referenced by IER, were prohibited by law from also taking a grant in lieu of the investment tax credit under 1603. Projects are also are ...

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Attempting to fact check an opponent when the facts are not on your side is a difficult endeavor. The fossil fuel industry-funded Institute for Energy Research found that out recently when it rushed out an embarrassing attempt at a fact check that not only failed to find a single thing that was incorrect in AWEA’s statements, but also made its own factually incorrect attacks on wind energy.

Time and time again, wind power has proven to be good for American consumers. Multiple studies have shown adding wind energy reduces electricity prices, helps reduce the impact of future fuel price shocks, and makes the energy market more competitive.

However, in light of Tuesday’s U.S. House ...

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The Georgia Mountain Community Wind farm (GMCW) in Milton, Vt., on which construction was completed December 31, 2012, produced more than 1 million kWh in a single week, according to a news release from the project developer.

During the first week in April, the community wind farm operated at a 63.7 percent capacity factor, producing enough energy to meet 17 percent of the City of Burlington's entire electricity needs.

GMCW will produce an estimated 27 million kWh annually.

The project is owned by two local business leaders and life-long Vermonters: renewable energy manufacturer and developer David Blittersdorf and Georgia Mountain Maples operator Jim Harrison/the Harrison Family.

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House Bill Would Harm State's Economy, Pull Rug Out from Under Burgeoning Renewable Energy

Rolling back North Carolina's highly successful Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS) will hurt the economy, hurt consumers and hurt job growth in the state, business owners and advocates said in a press conference call Monday.

As early as this week, lawmakers in North Carolina are expected to consider taking the next step toward repealing the REPS under House Bill 298. Ironically, attempts to repeal the renewable standard come just as the state is trumpeting its renewable energy growth at the 10th annual Sustainable Energy Conference in Raleigh, sponsored by the N.C. Department of Commerce.

Betsy McCorkle, ...

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