Wind industry in U.S. expects a record year

WASHINGTON, DC, USA, August 15, 2007. The wind energy industry in the United States expects to add 3,000 MW of turbines to the country’s grid capacity this year, exceeding last year's record of 2,454 MW.

During the second quarter of this year, 935 MW of capacity was completed, says the American Wind Energy Association in its quarterly market report. That brings the total installed during the first half of this year to 1,059 MW.

Each megawatt of wind power generates electricity to serve 250 to 300 homes.

The bullish performance is tempered by supply chain shortages and policy uncertainty, and the two barriers are related, the trade groups warns. Windfarm developers note that availability of turbines is a limiting factor and the increased demand for more wind energy cannot be accommodated because companies cannot build more projects because there aren’t enough new turbines to buy.

In turn, there are not sufficient manufacturing facilities for turbines and turbine parts in the U.S. because the federal government has an intermittent policy toward renewable energies that has discouraged companies from investing in manufacturing facilities.

“We’re seeing many new windfarms come on line and very exciting new investment in wind turbine manufacturing, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg compared to what needs to happen to meet the increasing demand for wind power,” says Randall Swisher of AWEA. “What is critical at this juncture is for the U.S. government to put in place a full-value, long-term extension of the production tax credit and a national renewable energy portfolio standard requiring that utilities generate more electricity from renewable sources.”

“These policies will give the clear, big picture signal of support for renewable energy that this country urgently needs,” he adds.

New windfarms completed in the second quarter include 603 MW in Texas, 198 MW in Illinois, 75 MW in Colorado, 36 MW in Iowa, 20 MW in New York and 3 MW in Minnesota.

One of the new projects is the first to be located on an industrial brownfield; the 20 MW Steel Winds project with eight turbines along the rustbelt waterfront in Lackawanna (NY) along Lake Erie, which were installed at a former steel processing site where industrial wastes accumulated for years. Several windfarms in the eastern U.S. are located on former mine sites or near wastewater treatment plants, but this is the first to operate on a former Superfund site, demonstrating the potential of wind power to revitalise industrial as well as rural communities, notes AWEA.

Texas now has 3,000 MW of turbines installed, strengthening its position as the state with the most wind capacity. The ranking for the top five states remains Texas (3,352 MW), California (2,376 MW), Iowa (967 MW), Minnesota (897 MW) and Washington (818 MW).

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