America flies on leading zephyr of global wind power

Commitment to wind power in the U.S. has become a priority in recent years, and federal and state actions are fueling a surge in wind power projects.

In May, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a report, 20 percent Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy's Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply, covering the goals and challenges faced in the U.S. of reaching a 20 percent overall power production target from wind by 2030.

The U.S. wind industry has its roots in 1970s California. By 1986, California had installed more than 1.2 GW of wind power, propelling the state to world market leader status with just shy of 90 percent of all global wind installations at the time. However, growth in the U.S. wind energy industry was brought to an abrupt halt in 1986 after federal investment tax credits for wind energy projects stopped in 1985.

Europe then took the lead in wind energy, pushed forward by renewable energy bills passed between 1974 and 1985. By 2000, America was lagging behind with only 2,500 MW of installed wind power compared to more than 12,000 MW in Europe. Germany had become the new international leader.

After a decade of trailing behind Germany and Spain, the U.S. re-established itself as a top wind energy producer after a campaign of increasingly supportive policies, growing interest in renewable energy, and continued improvements in wind technology and performance. To promote renewable energy systems, many states began to ask electricity suppliers to guarantee a small percentage of their supply would be generated from renewable energy sources.

In its Annual Energy Outlook 2007, the U.S. Energy Information Agency estimated that to meet 20 percent of increasing electricity demands, U.S. wind power capacity would have to reach more than 300 GW or more than 300,000 MW, bringing an increase of more than 290 GW over just 23 years.

American wind plants will supply 48 billion kW-hours of wind energy this year, more than one percent of U.S. electricity supply. A capacity addition of 5,244 MW in 2007 is greater than the more conservative growth pattern laid out in the DOE report of about 4,000 MW/year in 2007 and 2008. The wind industry is on track to grow to a size where 16,000 MW/year are added to the turbine fleet, in line with plans for the latter years set out in the DOE report.

In 2005 and 2006, the United States led the world in new wind installations. By early 2007, global wind power capacity exceeded 74 GW, and U.S. wind power capacity totaled 11.6 GW. Wind power has been installed across 35 states and delivers roughly 0.8 percent of the electricity consumed in the nation. The map above from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) shows the current status of wind power across the country.
 
The Pickens Plan

Oil magnate T. Boone Pickens has became a vocal proponent of wind power. In his 'PickensPlan' (www.pickensplan.com) he asserts that America is being drained by the transfer abroad of U.S. money to meet the country's oil needs; US$700 billion has been spent on imported oil this year. Pickens believes that the cost over the next 10 years will rocket to US$10 trillion. 

Pickens believes that the sensible route around this situation is to provide more energy through renewable resources, and in particular, through wind power. He has branded America as the "Saudi Arabia of wind power", adding that North Dakota alone has the capacity to meet the power needs of more than a quarter of the United States. 

He believes that 20 percent of U.S. electricity could be produced onshore at a cost of US$1 trillion and although the figure is a weighty one, it is a one-off cost in comparison to the US$700 billion spent on oil this year alone.

U.S. Production tax credit extended

Wind power and other forms of renewable energy should get an extra boost from recently renewed U.S. tax credits. The production tax credit for wind and other alternative energy development projects was one of the "sweeteners" offered to members of Congress as part of H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which the Senate passed last week in a 74-25 vote. The bill, the main focus of which was the US$700 billion rescue plan for Wall Street, also was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in a 263-171 vote and signed into law by President Bush.

In addition to the production tax credit extension, the bill also provided for the creation of an eight-year investment tax credit for small wind turbines.

Randall Swisher, executive director of the AWEA, stated, "Our members are very pleased by the Senate's overwhelming vote of support for the renewable energy tax credits. Continuing this economic incentive means wind power companies can continue to supply an increasing percentage of U.S. electricity needs with a clean, cost-effective source of energy.

"We're also gratified to have bipartisan support, which is absolutely essential if we as a nation are to make progress on our energy challenges. We look forward to favorable consideration in the House of Representatives."

East coast states advance wind power agenda

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has put the wheels in motion in their aim of achieving 20 percent renewable energy by 2020 by selecting Garden State Offshore Energy (GSOE) to develop a 350-MW wind farm that will produce more than 1.2 billion kW-hours annually, enough to supply over 110,000 New Jersey households.  The New Jersey Energy Master Plan to have 20 percent of the state's energy coming from renewable sources calls for a major slice of this to come from offshore wind.

GSOE will build a farm of 96 wind turbines arranged in a rectangular grid 16 to 20 miles (25.7 km to 32 km) off the coast of Cape May and Atlantic counties.  At this distance, the wind farm would be barely visible from shore, one of  coastal residents' concerns about wind energy due to the importance of tourism to the area. Energy should come online in 2012 with the entire project operational in 2013. 
 
As long as a site can be found, turbine assembly and port facilities will be set up in New Jersey, creating local "green" jobs.

An artist's conception of GSOE's proposed offshore wind turbine.

The New Jersey project follows swiftly on the heels of one in Rhode Island, where Deepwater Wind was chosen at the end of September to develop an offshore wind farm which will cost more than US$1 billion and provide about 15 percent of the state's electricity. The aim of the farm is to generate about 1.3 million MW-hours a year.

To help seal the deal, Deepwater pledged to make a significant investment in the state of about US$1.5 billion with the construction of a regional manufacturing facility in Quonset and creation of up to 800 direct jobs.

To help pay for the project, the state governor recently called for the state Public Utilities Commission to require the state's power company, National Grid, to enter into long-term energy contracts with renewable generators like Deepwater.

The exact location of the wind project will be determined by the Special Area Management Plan permitting process led by the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council in partnership with the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography. That process is expected to take about two years.

Gridlock?

One of the main obstacles to the spread of wind power in the U.S. is the fragmented structure of the national power grid. However, improvements could cost US$60 billion or more, according to some reports, but the cost could be spread across a number of years. 

However, in some states, officials are worried that new lines would mean that cheap power would be poached by other states and rates would be driven up.

Texas and California have been working on new transmission lines for wind power, but nationally, the network is poor. Without an obvious way of earning back the costs of building a suitable national power transmission backbone, no company has been willing to take the project on thus far.

America's growing wind market is not without its challenges.  However, government commitment to increasing wind power projects, coupled with varying levels of individual state action, is seeing the U.S. take strides forward in achieving its aim of 20 percent wind power by 2030.