Fuhrlaender Wind Turbine, photo courtesy of Lorax Energy Systems, LLC
Currently, the U.S. is behind Germany and close to Spain in terms of total installed capacity. theWatt, Energy News and Discussion, notes that the United States is very low on the list when it comes to per capita installations of wind turbines for the generation of electricity.
As recently noted, wind power is a component of distributed generation and with concerns about oil supplies there is greater emphasis on micro generation that uses renewable energey resources. For instance, USDA Rural Development grant assistance for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in 32 States amounts to almost $21 million. Other federal policy includes a production tax credit for the construction of new wind farms, which can be brought on line within one to two years, a very appealing feature when other generator construction can have much longer lead times. Wind power will be critical to the federal governement meeting a goal set by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that requires the government to obtain 7.5 percent of its electrical power from renewable sources of energy by 2013. And, such development is critical to energy security. By the end of the year when additional wind power generation comes on line, it will alleviate the need for power generation with natural gas by four to five percent.
Fan Trio B&W
Flickr fote originally uploaded by Stepleader.
By 2006, the American Wind Energy Association estimates that an installed capacity of 9,200 MW of wind power will save over half a billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, alleviating a portion of the supply pressure that is now facing the natural gas industry and is driving prices upward. The U.S. currently burns about 13 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day for electricity generation.
James Fraser notes the main argument opponents raise against against this non-polluting, renewable energy source is that wind power is intermittent; the wind doesn't blow all the time; and, even though ongoing improvements in turbine design are resulting in the ability to make use of wind of less force (~ 13mph), the wind still doesn't blow at a high enough speed all the time. Such intermittency means that “on average a wind power generator is only available 25-35% of the time.” A less well-known criticism is maintenance costs. For instance, Kirby Mountain relays a report from Windpower Monthly about gearbox failure in large-scale wind turbines. The other environmental concern is the number of bats and birds killed by wind turbines.
For more information on wind power, refer to Free Energy Directory and Solar Navigator: Wind Turbines.
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[...] As previously stated, if the U.S. government is to meet the 2005 Energy Policy Act target of 7.5 percent power from renewable sources of electricity by 2013, then it will most likely need to make use of more wind power (or some very creative “pencil-whipping”). Since wind energy is becoming a more significant part of distributed generation in the U.S., how well does it satisfy two criteria: [...]
[...] The Energy Blog relays a Reuters story about how federal energy legislation that was passed this summer and extended a production tax credit for two more years is stimulating growth in American wind energy business. John Krenicki, president and CEO of GE Energy, a $17 billion unit of GE, told Reuters that they forecast revenue from wind energy to grow by 50% in 2006 to $3 billion, $4 billion in 2007 and more than 10% a year through the end of the decade. [...]