Wind Energy Today

Here is the latest summary on wind energy from:

The current information is mixed and not particularly pretty ("click on any bulleted headline to read the details--even if it is not blue nor underlined"):

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WEAK AND UNCLEAR POLICY THREATENING UK OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY, SAYS THINK-TANK

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WIND ENERGY IN BRAZIL: THE COUNTRY OF THE FUTURE?

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AFDB EXPECTS AFRICAN WIND POWER CAPACITY TO INCREASE 10-FOLD

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U.S. FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND PILOT PROJECT PUT ON HOLD

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BRITISH PRIME MINISTER OPENS WORLD'S LARGEST OFFSHORE WIND FARM

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INDIA'S REC MARKET CRASHES

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FINAVERA WIND ENERGY'S PATH TO CASH AND FROM FORBES: WHY HAS FINAVERA'S WIND ENERGY STOCK CRASHED?

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GOOGLE SIGNS WIND PPA IN FINLAND

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CAN EUROPE MEET ITS 2020 OFFSHORE WIND TARGETS?

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NORDEX ANNOUNCES CLOSURE OF US WIND POWER MANUFACTURING PLANT

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WIND CASE COULD BECOME A LIGHTNING ROD FOR ESCALATING US-CHINA TRADE TENSIONS

"The renewables seem to be mostly retrogressing throughout much of the world. Could be growing pains awaiting 150/barrel oil. For reasons that mostly elude me, Big Wind (wind farms)" is experiencing an international backlash, especially in Hawaii. There is nothing much on the lands of Lanai, but opponents seem to have an anti-technology and a not in my backyard attitude, legally throwing up historic site and endangered species roadblocks. However, maybe there is a historic link to these complaints:

"Yet, some good news. The American Wind Energy Association reports that there are now 13.1 gigawatts (equal to 13 nuclear facilities") of wind capacity, and 42% of all new electricity capacity came from wind power.

Part of the problem, though, is this capacity factor, which is the energy produced divided by the maximum possible for that device. For a typical nuclear power plant, this can be 90%. Wind machines operate between 20-40% and solar PV between 10-20%. Thus, that 42% can be divided by three for wind and six for PV in terms of electricity generated. Therefore, energy storage can become crucial in expanding intermittent renewable sources, my blog on Friday. Tomorrow, solar PV.

None of these articles even mentioned government subsidies. In the USA, the U.S. Congress, again, at the last possible moment, as an add on to the fiscal cliff agreement, kept alive the 2.2 cents/kWh subsidy. The 2012 record installations were mostly spurred by the prospects for a discontinuance of the Production Tax Credit. After all, that ethanol boondoggle the year before incredibly was allowed to suffer a quiet death. This wind credit is only for one year, so in 2013 we will have yet another melodrama to pump up the installations. How much will this tax credit be worth this year? In 2012: 12 billion. The bottom line is that WIND ENERGY IS NOT YET COMPETITIVE! The end of the Production Tax Credit will not be fatal, but reasonably disastrous for the field.

So is American doing great in wind energy? Not exactly, for we remain a net importer of wind equipment. Compared to 1990, the wind machines today have eight times the capacity and 17 times the power capability.

"Here is a closing fact that will surprise you. Iowa is the leading wind power per person state, generating 39% of its electricity using their winds. Iowa, by far, also produces the most ethanol. I knew Senator Chuck Grassley (left") when he was in the House, and closely interacted with the staff of Senator Tom Harkin ("right")...in 1980 when I worked in the U.S. Senate...and they are still in office. They were both very progressive in those early days regarding these renewables. IT TOOK A THIRD OF A CENTURY!

(Just as I finished this article, in came the latest Wind Energy News.)-