Even with the Bush administration's dragging it's feet on an obviously very attractive alternative energy source wind power is being embraced by the states, whether the Republican friends of fossil fuel lobby like it or not! Of course we could have gotten here a lot sooner without their opposition.
Among the biggest factors spurring growth are states taking the reins of leadership from the federal government on energy mandates. Eager to cut air pollution, global warming, and rising electric rates, at least 22 states have approved "renewable portfolio standards" — legislation requiring utilities to include renewable sources like wind, solar, hydro, and biomass in their energy mix.
At the rate wind power is being installed on the ridges and plains of North America — US and Canada — wind power will grow by 4,250 megawatts this year, compared with about 2,600 megawatts last year. If Congress renews the tax credit in 2007, the industry could be installing 6,000 megawatts a year by 2010, according to a new study by Mr. Chua.
Undergirding that shift is the fact that with natural-gas prices soaring, zero-fuel-cost wind looks cheap. Advances in wind-turbine technology cut the average cost of wind power to about 4 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour in 2004, from more than 80 cents per kilowatt hour in 1980. Add to that the tax credit, which chops the cost a further 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour, making it competitive with natural gas and even with coal.
"Word is getting around about wind," says Randall Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Association in Washington. "Up and down the Great Plains are states like Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, where there's no special incentives or mandates. But hundreds of megawatts of wind are being developed there because it pays."
That message is getting out. Whole Foods Market Inc., the grocery chain, this month announced it would buy wind power to supply all its energy needs. In Colorado, where typically a mere trickle of consumers sign up for wind power, the falling price of wind power saw Xcel Energy's Windsource program get nearly 3,000 applications in November — more than 15 times the usual volume of consumers. That created a waiting list of more than 1,100.
The gale of wind-power projects has produced a surge of orders for wind turbines that is currently the major constraint on industry development, analysts say. General Electric, the largest US producer of wind turbines with 60 percent of the market by some estimates, is producing all it can make and has an order backlog.
All that interest has new US wind- turbine companies like Gamesa, Suzion, and Clipper Wind Power coming on strong. Last year, Clipper's factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, produced just five turbines. This year, it plans to make 150.
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