Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

by Liz Salerno, AWEA Director - Industry Data & Analysis

As the national discussion over energy policy begins anew, the topic of subsidies is again being raised by critics of clean, renewable energy sources. A few thoughts from our perspective:

* With the deficit at record levels, hypocrisy has no role in the discussion of eliminating Federal incentives for energy. A level playing field in the energy sector is what the renewable sector is seeking.

* The only energy sources with no sunset on their subsidies and a permanent place in the tax code are fossil fuels. For nearly 100 years, the U.S. government has dumped well over $500 billion into subsidizing fossil fuels, and the subsidies remain permanent. Yet, still unable to stand ...

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While reaction is mixed to the President's challenge during the State of the Union message last week for America to obtain 80% of its electricity from clean energy sources by 2035, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has come out in firm opposition, planning a so-called "Energy Reality Tour." Our take was expressed yesterday in a story appearing in the trade newsletter Greenwire:

"'The Chamber of Commerce seems to be good at telling Americans why they cannot have clean energy,' said Peter Kelley, vice president for public affairs at [the] American Wind Energy Association. 'The wind industry is here to tell Americans that they can have clean energy, and we're building a lot of it.'

"While there are regulatory hurdles and some challenges in locating wind farms, Kelley ...

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by Michael Goggin, AWEA Manager of Transmission Policy

Many parts of the state of Texas experienced rolling blackouts today, coinciding with unusually cold temperatures across many parts of the state. Millions of customers statewide appear to have been affected.

It appears that wind energy was not in any way a cause of this event. In fact, wind energy actually played a major role in keeping the blackouts from becoming more severe: Between 5 and 7 a.m. this morning (the peak of the electricity shortage) wind energy was providing between 3,500 and 4,000 MW, roughly the ...

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Now that the hotly contested Cape Wind project is in the final stages before construction, jobs--American jobs--are on the horizon, writes journalist and author Wendy Williams in an opinion piece for the Providence Journal.

Ms. Williams, who co-authored Cape Wind, a book about the project, looks at the case of Mass Tank, a small business: "Joining forces with a German outfit, EEW Group, this 50-employee locally owned firm will undertake the challenge of fabricating 130 steel monopiles, each of which may be as long as 165 feet and will weigh several hundred tons." A lot of steel, she notes, will ...

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During today’s post mortem on the State of the Union address and the administration’s clean energy initiative, AWEA CEO Denise Bode discussed wind power in a debate format on FOX Business TV, with host Stuart Varney and other guests.

Ms. Bode scored points on how renewable energy needs a level playing field, to compete with the permanent entitlements that fossil fuels have enjoyed for nearly 100 years, and how the U.S. deserves a diverse portfolio of energy sources.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21R8pxVgw0M.

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"Pants on fire!" is the verdict from Politifact Rhode Island, which recently investigated the question of whether shadows from rotating wind turbines can cause seizures.

Among comments from experts Politifact consulted:

- Shadow flicker "can be a nuisance to people living near a wind-energy project," but its frequency "is harmless to humans." (National Academy of Sciences)

- Some patients may experience a brief spasm if they see the sun coming through ...

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I did my civic duty the other night and watched the anti-wind movie Windfall. I'm thankful it was paired with the considerably more balanced movie Wind Uprising, although at about 28 minutes in length, the latter is not enough to overcome the endless Windfall, which is just under three times as long.

It's comforting to know that I'm not alone in thinking Windfall is overlong--Variety reviewer Rob Nelson called it a "gassy documentary" and opined that "Distribution of the pic at its current length seems ...

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Wisconsin's new Governor, saying that the state's economic problems are too serious to wait, called a special session of the legislature that is now underway. Strangely, however, one of his major proposals is a job killer that would shut down the state's emerging wind energy industry.

The proposed bill would require 1,800-foot setbacks from property lines, among other unworkable provisions. As a result, no wind projects proposed or under construction would move forward, resulting in the loss of over 700 MW of projects currently planned in the state, resulting in the loss of $1.8 billion dollars of investment in the state and aggregate construction-related employment impacts of at least 2 million job-hours. Wisconsin employed 2,000-3,000 people in the wind ...

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The science of avian collisions with wind turbines continues to demonstrate, despite the concerns of some conservation groups, that the threat to birds from turbines is modest compared with other human structures and activities.

A recent paper by Kerlinger et al appearing in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology examines the effect of different types of turbine lighting on night-migrating bird collisions. While the paper's ultimate conclusion is that either red or white flashing lights are safer for night migrants than steady-burning lights (which many believe can disorient birds on foggy nights), the paper also includes a number of statements pointing to the relatively small role that turbines play in avian mortality.

While the authors note that "Songbirds often ...

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As the entire Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. wakes up to the prospect of a new, clean offshore energy industry, South Carolina is moving to stake a claim to leadership, according to a recent article in the Myrtle Beach Sun News: "Capitalizing on natural and manmade resources readily available in our own backyard, The Palmetto State may emerge as the big winner as teams of researchers, scientists and engineers from Coastal Carolina University, Clemson University, the South Carolina Energy office and Santee Cooper work collaboratively with industry and environmental leaders and state and ...

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