Texas added most wind in the second quarter. Missouri posted
the fastest growth.
(AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
Wind might be one of the brightest stars in the U.S economy but a national renewable energy standard, transmission legislation, and carbon regulation are needed for U.S to keep its worldwide lead.
“Renewable energy standard (RES) is a critical policy”, said Kathy Belyeu of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) in a web-cast today.
Still, despite the economic crisis the U.S wind energy industry installed 1,210 megawatts (MW) of new power generating capacity in the second quarter bringing the total added capacity to just over 4,000 MW - an amount larger than during the same period in 2008.
“The numbers are in, and while they show the industry has been swimming upstream, adding some 4,000 MW over the past six months, the fact is that we could be delivering so much more”, said AWEA CEO Denise Bode.
According to the AWEA the tax credits extended under the stimulus act do not give suppliers enough security, and there are no long term market signals even though most of the financing for the new wind projects were put together with the expectation of stimulus money.
“The stimulus bill has had effect on wind projects”, said Ms.Belyeu adding that the U.S, much like China and EU, also needs to make a national commitment to renewable energy.
Texas, which ranks sixth in the world in wind-energy capacity, introduced renewable energy standards in 1999, and earlier this year the Public Utility Commission assigned seven utilities to build a $5 billion transmission line that will bring wind power from West Texas to North Texas and Houston.
“Texas has the building blocks for a business friendly environment in place”, said Christopher Lockwood, U.S Editor of The Economist, to members of the DFW World Affairs Council. “Good reforms and policy changes has made Texas attractive”.
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Nice article! I'm new here and wanted to say hello to my fellow Dallas based writers!
As the United States takes its first steps toward mandating that power companies generate more electricity from renewable sources, China already has a similar requirement and is investing billions to remake itself into a green energy superpower.
Through a combination of carrots and sticks, Beijing is starting to change how this country generates energy. Although coal remains the biggest energy source and is almost certain to stay that way, the rise of renewable energy, especially wind power, is helping to slow China’s steep growth in emissions of global warming gases.
While the House of Representatives approved a requirement that American utilities generate more of their power from renewable sources of energy, China imposed such a requirement almost two years ago.
This year China is on track to pass the United States as the world’s largest market for wind turbines — after doubling wind power capacity in each of the last four years.
We could learn something...
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