WIND’S BENEFITS BLOCKED BY D.C. GRIDLOCK

U.S. Wind Energy Could Double, But It’s Deja-vu All Over Again in Congress

Andrew Burger, April 21, 2014 (TriplePundit)

“…By the end of 2013, 46,100 wind turbines on 905 utility-scale wind farms with rated generation capacity of 61,110 megawatts (MW) were online, producing more than 4 percent of U.S. electricity generation…[I]nvestment has been growing at a 19.5 percent annual rate over the past five years, with an average $15 billion per year invested in new projects. With costs dropping 43 percent between 2008 and 2012, wind energy…growth and development has been remarkable…notwithstanding successive boom-bust cycles – the result of the waxing and waning of the wind energy PTC…[W]ind energy has become the lowest cost means of producing electricity in a growing number of U.S. markets, accounting for 31 percent of new U.S. electric generation capacity over the past five years…Driven by ongoing technological advances, declining costs and the Jan. 2, 2013 extension of the wind energy PTC, last year’s results were dramatic. Equally dramatic have been the effects of allowing the federal wind energy PTC to expire…Unfortunately, for the U.S. wind energy participants and society at large, the debate as to whether or not to renew the PTC for wind energy is playing out yet again this year…” click here for more

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