Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

On June 3-6, the WINDPOWER 2012 Conference & Exhibition comes to the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, where nearly 12,000 industry professionals will convene for the world’s largest annual wind energy event of the year.

AWEA is proud to bring the annual industry town square that is WINDPOWER to Atlanta for the first time ever. The Southeast continues to expand as a wind energy industry manufacturing hub; moreover, the region presents immense new possibilities for the wind energy industry on various fronts. Nearly 100 manufacturing plants in the Southeast now serve the wind power industry making component parts, and that trend is happening all across America. Wind power is driving economic development ...

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The past few weeks have seen more new wind generation records in Texas and Spain, two areas where the clean energy source is providing a growing share of electricity production.

On March 18, wind topped out at 7,917 megawatts (MW) on the ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) system, which covers the bulk of the Lone Star State. The day was a good one for wind, which averaged between 5,000 and 8,000 MW during each hour of the day, and 7,680 MW, or 21.6 percent, of the system's energy during the hour of peak demand.

That record lasted for less than a month, before being edged out on April 13, when wind generation hit 7,925 MW. During that day's peak hour, wind averaged 6,544 MW, or 15.9 percent of the system's peak load of 41,174 MW.

A few ...

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The Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition today welcomed Iowa Governor Terry Branstad (R) and Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber (D) as the new chairman and vice chairman.

“I look forward to working with Governor Kitzhaber and our Coalition colleagues to help the wind energy industry diversify our nation’s energy portfolio,” said Governor Branstad. “We look forward to working with Congress to extend the wind tax credits so the wind energy industry can continue to produce rewarding careers throughout the nation. We will also support efforts to modernize our nation’s electric transmission system which is vital to economic development in Iowa, Oregon and through out the nation. Transmission development is as critical to economic growth in our states as the interstate highway system or ...

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With business uncertainty spiking in the wind power industry as the year-end expiration of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) draws closer, two planned wind farms in Pennsylvania have been cancelled, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported yesterday.

Wind projects typically have a much shorter construction time than other types of energy projects, but the fact that Congress has not yet acted to extend the PTC is casting a shadow that has already resulted in layoffs at some supplier companies of long-lead-time components and is now affecting decisions on whether to go forward with projects.

The Post-Gazette ...

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This letter to the editor appeared in Monday's edition of the Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer, and is reprinted here with permission of the author.

I have worked in the Ohio wind industry since I helped Pearl Road Auto Parts and Wrecking, a family-owned business in Cleveland, take the bold step of investing in the city's first commercially owned wind turbine. Since then, Ohio has transformed into a wind energy powerhouse, investing in jobs, clean energy and a green future.

Today, more than 50 companies across Ohio are manufacturing parts and supporting homegrown jobs for the wind industry. In fact, Ohio was the fasting growing state for new installations in 2011, ...

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Organization fosters recruitment and development of talent for industry

In recent years wind power emerged as a mainstream energy source, providing 35 percent of all new electric generating capacity during the last five years. In the process, the industry grew hungry for top talent that could help fuel the growth. Adding to the challenge is the reality that the energy sector as a whole historically has been male dominated. Thus, a massive talent pool—i.e., women who have chosen careers in other industries—has been largely left untapped.

One group is out to counter that trend, at least for the wind power industry. Women of Wind Energy (WoWE), the subject of the latest episode of WindTV, ...

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Acciona’s Dempsey Ridge Wind Farm is now providing power to the grid, and it’s doing so with a new name that honors a former employee—and says everything about her.

Now christened the Big Smile Wind Farm at Dempsey Ridge, the 132-MW project is located in Roger Mills and Beckham counties in Oklahoma. The project, situated 15 miles west of Acciona’s 123-MW Red Hills Wind Farm, was named in memory of Jennifer Koop-Krass, a former staff member the company called extremely courageous, particularly during her bout with ovarian cancer, which took her life last year. In her role as director of energy marketing at Acciona Energy North America and as one of the company’s earliest employees upon its entry into the North American market, Koop-Krass played a big role in Acciona’s ...

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This article was submitted to the National Journal's Energy Experts blog in response to a discussion question on whether the renewable energy industries face a 'bust' in the future after the boom of recent years.

Boom-and-bust is extremely disruptive to new, growing industries.  Instead of making strategic business plans and executing them, companies are forced to lay off skilled employees for indefinite periods and then recall them later or hire and train new workers--a colossal waste of money and time and a wrenching economic hardship for workers and their families, particularly at a time when the overall economy is still struggling.

The recent Brookings-WRI-Breakthrough report has many useful and valuable things to say about ...

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A recent anti-wind Wall Street Journal editorial ("Windy Republicans," May 5) overlooked a number of facts about the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the accomplishments of the U.S. wind industry. In response, we provide this point-by-point rebuttal.

WSJ: The GOP swept Congressional elections in 2010 promising to end President Obama's $800 billion stimulus and stop industry bailouts. Too bad nobody told that to Iowa Republican Steve King and his colleague Dave Reichert of Washington.

Response: The federal PTC is an effective tool to allow developers to raise private capital in the marketplace and bring renewable energy projects to completion.The PTC provides an income tax credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour ...

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The West Branch (Iowa) Times Friday joined a steadily growing number of newspapers across the country in endorsing an extension of the federal wind energy production tax credit (PTC), commenting that "... [Wind] companies need to build more turbines and create more profit to be able to afford to expand at a significant rate."

Added the Times, "The House Ways and Means Committee needs to move on HR 3307 [a bill to extend the PTC], get it to the House floor and onward to the Senate and White House, giving alternative energy companies the stability and certainty investors greatly desire ... [T]he PTC, in place since 1992, has been working. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, in 1999, ...

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