Wind Energy Becoming a Part of the Nation's Power Portfolio

Whether there is global warming is debatable, but the excessive heat wave of 2006 and the thousands of families left without power for as many as eight days left many Americans wondering if the current structures for generating electricity -- coal, natural gas and nuclear power -- are enough to meet the demands of the growing number of homes and businesses in need of power.

Future homeowners and corporate America -- not to mention savvy entrepreneurs and environmentalist -- likely will be looking toward innovative renewable energy sources to assume a greater portion of power production

There’s good news on the horizon. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) recently announced that U.S. wind energy installations now exceed 10,000 megawatts (MW) in generating capacity, and produce enough electricity on a typical day to power the equivalent of over 2.5 million homes. With a megawatt of wind power generating enough to serve 250 to 300 average homes, is America ready to embrace this environmentally-friendly source of energy?

“Wind energy is providing new electricity supplies that work for our country’s economy, environment, and energy security,” said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher. “With its current performance, wind energy is demonstrating that it could rapidly become an important part of the nation’s power portfolio.”

The record growth in wind power is driven by demand for the popular energy source and concerns over fuel price volatility and supply. It was also made possible by a timely renewal of the production tax credit (PTC), a federal incentive extended in the Energy Policy Act signed a year ago by President Bush. Previously, the credit had been allowed to expire three times in seven years, and this uncertainty discouraged investment in wind turbine manufacturing in the country. AWEA is calling for a long-term extension of the PTC before its scheduled expiration at the end of 2007 to avoid further “on-again-off-again” cycles and encourage long-term investment.

In addition to tax credits, consumers interested in renewable energy are now able to recover the cost of installing renewable energy systems by selling back to utilities power they do not use themselves. They are able to do this via new technology called “net metering,” a technology that spins electricity meters in reverse to measure the amount of unused renewable electricity. According to the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) some 40 states and Washington, D.C., have net metering programs sponsored either by the state or by local utilities. DSIRE has a list of links to other renewable energy resources at dsireusa.org/links.

The renewable energy industry is gaining momentum as it grows. The first commercial wind farms, for example, were constructed in California in the early 1980s, and after reaching 1,000 MW in 1985, it took more than a decade for wind to reach the 2,000-MW mark, in 1999. Since then, however, installed capacity has grown fivefold. Today, the industry is installing more wind power in a single year (3,000 MW expected in 2006) than the amount operating in the entire country in 2000 (2,500 MW).

While the environmental benefits are obvious, such as less global warming pollution and better air quality, the economic benefits are equally impressive. As a supplier of electricity, wind was the second-largest source of new power generation in the country in 2005 after natural gas, and is likely be so again in 2006, according to the Energy Information Administration. As a result, more wind turbine manufacturing facilities are opening up, such as those in Iowa (Clipper Windpower), Minnesota (Suzlon), and Pennsylvania (Gamesa), and new jobs are being created. In fact, President Bush said earlier this year that wind could meet 20 percent of the country’s electricity supply (the share that nuclear power provides today).

Published: September 1, 2006