Houston (Platts)--12Mar2010/550 pm EST/2250 GMT

Inconsistencies in renewable energy policies pose the biggest challenges to wind power development in the US, energy executives said Friday at the CERAWeek conference in Houston.

The executives -- speaking in the state with the most wind generation in the US -- said that state-by-state development of renewable portfolio standards is a particularly problematic area, and called for a national standard.

"Wind is a tremendous resource, but there is a limited pool of clean energy dollars society has to spend," said Xcel Energy's Frank Prager, vice president of environmental policy.

A national renewable portfolio standard that sets minimum percentages for renewable power generation is "critical for moving wind forward," he said.

Without a national RPS in place, wind faces an uncertain future as manufacturing outfits take their business elsewhere, leaving behind higher costs for plants in development, another executive said.

Keith Hays, research director of wind for IHS subsidiary Emerging Energy Research, drove home this point when he said that demand for turbines has dropped dramatically during the past year as project financing has become increasingly difficult in the current economic climate.

"We've seen a 10% to 20% price drop [for turbines] in the past six to 10 months. We don't expect prices to come up much soon, and there's greater competition coming into the market," Hays said. "You have more supply in the market without a lot of contracts for turbines."

In an extreme situation, the lack of a national policy could bring to a dramatic halt the now super-charged growth of wind generation in the US.

"I think we'll see more action at the state level if the federal government doesn't get its act together, but it will be a devastating blow if that happens," said Mike Garland, CEO of Babcock & Brown spin-off Pattern Energy, which develops, constructs, owns and operates renewable energy and transmission assets across North America and parts of Latin America.

Hays agreed, saying "The biggest driver for wind is state incentives. That also needs to come from the federal level, that broader demand drive that has to come from RPS."

--Leticia Vasquez, leticia_vasquez@platts.com