Wind

Coalition Urges Clean Energy Goals for New Administration

By


As presidential candidates prepare positions on energy policy, a coalition of U.S. citizen groups is calling for the phase-out of natural gas, coal and nuclear power in favor of a more aggressive adoption of renewable-energy sources.

Thirty-six local organizations who say they represent 1.1 million members reject President Obama’s “all of the above” approach to energy policy, saying it perpetuates the dominance of fossil fuels while avoiding what they call the “real solutions” of clean energy. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 5, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Offshore Wind Energy Developers Focus on Northeast US Shores

By


Offshore wind power has become a significant component of several European countries’ electricity generation portfolios and now the US is looking to expand the power generating capacity of wind beyond its coastline.

The economics can be complex – particularly if the production tax credit expires at the end of 2012 – but offshore wind has the potential to become an affordable source of electricity for some of the largest US markets. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 2, 2012 at 1:30 PM

A Tale of Two Renewable Energy Project Finance Worlds

By


It is the best of times for renewable energy project developers and it is the worst of times for renewable energy project developers, and the difference lies in a single contract.

The existence of a signed power purchase agreement (PPA) between the developer of a renewable energy generation project and an established utility marks the divide between a premium-valuation market for renewable assets and a deeply discounted valuation in an overcrowded market. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 22, 2012 at 11:30 AM

If Renewables Can Meet 80% of Our Electricity Needs, What are we Waiting For?

By

Calling it the most comprehensive analysis of high-penetration renewable electricity in the continental U.S. to date, a new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) says

 /  Published June 21, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Five Ways to Avert the Looming US Renewable Energy Crisis

By


There is a looming renewable energy crisis, but it’s probably not the one you think. While national headlines over the past few months have focused on controversial federal loan guarantees, or the approaching expiration of key tax credits, the threat to renewable energy is much deeper than just these two areas.

Through Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), 29 states and the District of Columbia require electric utilities that supply power to their residents to obtain a specified percentage of their electricity from renewable energy sources by a specified date. For the last decade, RPS has been a resounding bipartisan success story, popular in both “red” and “blue” states alike. Today, they are the linchpin of our country’s investment in renewables, setting the requirement that a host of other public subsidies, including tax credits, are intended to support. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 21, 2012 at 10:30 AM

The Maturing of Wind Energy

By


The Federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) was introduced in the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to spark investments in wind and has been renewed many times, most recently in 2009. It provides investors with a tax credit equivalent to 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) produced – or roughly 20-30% of the cost of a wind farm. It is now a budget reduction target for Congress, set to expire on December 31, 2012.

The debate about its extension begs the question: “Can the wind industry survive if the PTC expires?” My answer is: “Yes,” but only if we first get rid of far greater amounts of taxpayer support for more mature energy sectors such as oil, gas and coal. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 19, 2012 at 2:30 PM

Boston High-Rises Could Be Turbine Towers

By


Chicago is known as the Windy City, but in truth, Boston is breezier. Beantown has the highest average wind speed of any major city in the United States, at 12.4 mph.

Does it make you wonder how much energy might be generated if wind turbines were placed atop some of its tall buildings? It makes the folks at Eastern Wind Power wonder. A maker of vertical-axis wind turbines, EWP has embarked on a project to gather wind data from 10 high-rises in Boston. It hopes to show that its turbines could be significant power producers for big-city buildings. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 14, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Needed Now: $36 Trillion for a Clean Energy Future

By


The world needs to invest an extra $36 trillion in clean-energy technologies between now and 2050 in order to have a shot at limiting long-term global temperature rise to 2 degrees C, the International Energy Agency said on Monday.

In its annual Energy Technology Perspectives report, the Paris-based organization said that although the global adoption of clean-energy technologies is lagging behind its goals, there is still time to achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that would limit climate change by the middle of the century. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 12, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Seeking a Bridge to the Renewable Energy Finance Future

By


There simply couldn’t be a better time to talk about how renewable energy is financed, and how changes in financing are affecting the entirety of a market that has matured at a rapid pace.

As bankers, project developers, analysts and regulators gather for another year at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum – Wall Street, they will be standing before that overused but apt metaphor: A crossroads. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 11, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Wind: Kansas’ Other Energy Boom

By


It’s not just oil that’s turning Kansas’ rural communities into America’s latest boomtowns.
Wind turbines are being built right next to oil rigs, bringing an additional rush of jobs and revenue to the small towns along the southern border of the state — as well as big paychecks to local landowners. BP Wind Energy is currently building the biggest wind farm in the state, and it plans to begin production by the end of this year. The project has already brought 500 jobs to the three counties its wind turbines span: Harper, Barber and Kingman, according to BP. These same counties are also filling up with hundreds of oil workers, as big fracking and exploration companies seek to tap the billions of barrels of oil that are estimated to be in the Mississippian limestone formation.

 /  Published June 11, 2012 at 10:30 AM
Page 20 of 391...161718192021222324...39