Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

ALERT: Tax credit expiration threatens tens of thousands!
SPECIAL ALERT
Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010

Contact: Debra Preitkis-Jones
debra@awea.org, 202-580-6458 direct, 202-870-0270 cell

Tens of thousands of layoffs in American wind energy
seen at stake in tax extender package

In the process of preparing year-end numbers on the industry, the American Wind Energy Association reports that tens of thousands of Americans could lose their jobs or not get called back from layoffs without the 1603 investment tax credit for renewable energy that hangs in the balance as Congress and the White House work to settle a tax package.

“We have people being laid off right now, and we expect to see more without fast action on the tax ...

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by Michael Goggin, AWEA Manager of Transmission Policy

The question of diminishing winds due to climate change has surfaced again (see "Diminishing winds? Not yet"), this time in the form of a study finding lower winds at a number of locations in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

The reassuring consensus of wind resource assessment experts is that wind speeds at the height of modern wind turbines, several hundred feet above the earth's ...

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As the Detroit Free Press put it, "Good news blows into Michigan" today, with Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) scheduled to announce that the Great Lake State has landed its first large wind turbine assembly plant.

Northern Power Systems, a turbine manufacturer based in Barre, Vt., will be using a factory in Saginaw, Mich., to build a next-generation large turbine. The company has already agreed to supply 13 of the 2.2-MW units for a wind farm to be built near Escanaba, Mich., the article said.

Previous articles in this series:

Wind Factory Watch: Four that got away, 12/2/10

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Recently the Tax Foundation, a Washington, DC-based organization, issued a report on U.S. energy subsidies with misleading information on incentives for wind and solar.

The report correctly points out that after more than 90 years, the highly profitable fossil fuel industries continue to receive billions in government support. In 2009, Management Information Services, Inc., found that more than $525 billion of taxpayer dollars have gone to oil, gas and coal since 1950 (MISI, 2008, http://www.misi-net.com/publications/2008energyincentives.pdf)

Taxpayers' money continues to be wasted on dirty energy ...

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by Peter L. Kelley, AWEA Vice President for Public Affairs

New international institutions are being invented to transfer the technology that reduces global warming emissions.

How to do that has emerged as a key issue in the climate talks in Mexico, and leading area in which they could actually produce results later this week.

“It’s a bear of a negotiation, but we think it’s actually very interesting and quite exciting, because for the first time the Framework Convention is starting to tear down some of these walls and provide the technology to reduce emissions,” Drew Nelson, a top U.S. climate negotiator, told business leaders convened by the U.S. Department of Commerce this morning in Cancun.

To start with, Nelson ...

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AWEA will be represented at the Power-Gen International conference next week in Orlando, Fla., with the session below focusing on wind organized by AWEA Business Development Manager Jeff Anthony. This two-hour session will be an excellent chance to get an overview of what's happening in wind and what's next. (And if you're at Power-Gen, be sure to stop by the AWEA booth, #1247. We have a special 20% discount offer on new memberships running through December!)

Session: HOW WIND POWER WORKS FOR AMERICA

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by Peter L. Kelley, AWEA Vice President for Public Affairs

"I don't believe in this carbon dioxide stuff," said my seatmate on the flight to the climate talks in Cancun, Mexico.

His family member said she hadn't heard of it, "but I probably will."

Much of the world remains only dimly aware of the stakes here, although global warming threatens sweeping changes for us all.

"Probably nothing will happen," is heard from many who do follow the negotiations from a distance.

Jonathan Pershing, the lead U.S. negotiator, addressed the cynics in a recent briefing at the Moon Palace near the beach here, where negotiations go on around the clock.

"The problem is enormous. The fact that we don't have a ...

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While attaining an international agreement on climate action appears challenging, wind energy provides the U.S. with a win-win opportunity: a way to reduce carbon emissions while at the same time revitalizing rural communities across the heartland and building a new manufacturing industry that can provide thousands of jobs.

This opportunity is exemplified by the grand opening this past week of a new wind turbine nacelle factory in Hutchinson, Kansas, by Siemens Energy. In the words of Kansas U.S. Senator and Governor-Elect Sam Brownback, "The grand opening of the Siemens wind nacelle manufacturing ...

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Minnesota Public Radio carried a report last week ("Wind power surplus blamed for spike in rural electricity costs") to the effect that wind's variability, and the surpluses that are created for one utility when the wind is high and electricity demand low, are costing ratepayers money. When there is a surplus of wind, the report said, the utility must sell it on the spot power market, at a price lower than it is paying wind farm owners for their production.

While the article leads off with wind energy's variability, it also notes that the expected increase in rates is largely due to $400 million the company spent to upgrade a coal power plant, more than 20 times what the company estimates it has spent on wind due to the temporary conditions in the market. For the article and ...

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Guest article by John Arellano

Since 1927, Mountain Cement Company has been providing the building blocks of a vibrant economic future for Wyoming. Through those 10 decades, we have seen, like many Wyoming companies, many booms and many busts creating unique economic challenges for businesses in our state. We have been involved in many aspects of energy development in this State and have branched out to one of the newest forms of energy developing in Wyoming…wind energy.

We see wind energy as a positive step forward for Wyoming. It allows for our state’s economy to become more diversified and to lessen the impacts of our traditional boom and bust cycles. Wind energy has been very important to our business. In this recent recession, Wyoming wind ...

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