Governors Group Makes Recommendations To Administration for Bolstering U.S. Wind Industry Development

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Caleb Holmes

From Todd Sumner of GT Tallahassee:

The Governors' Wind Energy Coalition (GWC) submitted a GWC Letter to President Obama (July 2011) which set forth a punch list of action items that the Administration should pursue in order to facilitate further development of the U.S. wind industry including the newly emerging offshore wind sector. The GWC, comprised of 24 governors (Democrats, Republicans, Independents), from diverse regions of the U.S., called for the Administration to extend for at least 7 years the production tax credit and the investment tax credit in order "to have a consistency in policy to support the continued development of and wind manufacturing in the United States."  The GWC also emphasized other steps that should be taken by the Administration including :

- establish a combined intergovernmental state-federal task force on wind energy development;

- restore collaboration on wind deployment and expand technology development;

- improve siting collaboration;

- expedite the Deployment of Offshore Wind;

- identify transmission priorities for Power Marketing Administrations; and

- release completed DOE analytical information.

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Department of Energy, Google Announce Wind Farm Projects

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Caleb Holmes
 
In recent weeks, the Department of Energy (DOE) and Google have announced new projects that are intended to spur the development of a United States offshore wind industry.  DOE first announced a new initiative program, the Offshore Wind Innovation and Demonstration Initiative (OSWInD Initiative), to secure the establishment of an offshore wind industry for the United States.  In its draft strategic work plan, "Creating an Offshore Wind Industry in the United States: A Strategic Work Plan for the United States Department of Energy, Fiscal Years 2011-2015" ("Strategic Work Plan"), the DOE sets target goals for 54 gigawatts of deployed offshore wind capacity by 2030 at a cost of 7 to 9 cents per kilowatt hour and an interim target goal of 10 gigawatts at 13 cents per kilowatt hour by 2020.  In order to reduce the costs and timing for the deployment of offshore wind projects, the Strategic Work Plan sets forth three Focus Areas, including Technology Development, Market Barrier Removal and Advanced Technology Demonstration Projects. The Strategic Work Plan further identifies seven major activities to be administered within the Focus Areas including innovative turbines, innovative balance of system, computational tools and test data, resource planning, siting and permitting, complementary infrastructure and advanced technology demonstration projects.  The DOE has requested comments on the Strategic Work Plan by October 29, 2010.
 
On October 6, 2010, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Cape Wind Associates, LLC officially signed our country's first commercial lease for offshore wind energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
 
On October 12, 2010, Google announced on its blog that it was going to be investing (along with other investors) in an offshore wind transmission project referred to as the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC). The AWC project would span approximately 350 miles between New Jersey and Virginia and could connect up to 6,000MW of offshore wind turbines for delivery to land based transmission systems and could ultimately serve 1.9 million households.
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Holy ESA Permit, Batman! Do Greens Aim To Kill Green Energy?

Posted on January 17, 2010 by Reed Rubinstein

Do "environmental groups" aim to kill green energy?  A distressing pattern of litigious conduct suggests at least some "greens" oppose any energy project supporting the supposedly "unsustainable" Western lifestyle.   So, they sue.

Thanks to Robert Lamkin for the following post.

Judge Roger W. Titus of the U.S. District Court of Maryland has “reluctantly” enjoined construction of a West Virginia wind farm under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to protect the Indiana bat. In Animal Welfare Institute v. Beech Ridge Energy LLC, Judge Titus ordered construction cease and operations suspended except when the bat hibernates. 

It is not clear whether this decision - the first from a federal court holding a wind power project violates ESA - means the Indiana bat is the green energy northern spotted owl, but it very well might.  The Judge assumed the developers could have obtained the FWS permit, but, as anyone with FWS experience can tell you, this is quite an assumption. The Indiana bat's habitat spans approximately twenty states in the mid-western and eastern U.S.   Thus, the Beech Ridge decision means wind power projects in a huge part of the US now may need to factor FWS permits into development financing and cost estimates, creating yet another barrier to green energy deployment.

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