LOW-PRICED WIND ENERGY ATTRACTS UTILITIES

DOE promotes wind power in reports

Timothy Cama, August 18, 2014 (The Hill)

“…[A] series of reports released [by the Department of Energy (DOE)] found that the United States ranks second to China in wind energy installation and wind power provides 4.5 percent of the country’s electricity, among other conclusions…DOE used the reports to advocate for reinstatement of the wind energy [production tax credit (PTC), a tax break for wind energy production that expired last year…A Senate panel voted earlier this year to renew the credit, but the proposal did not move forward. The tax break has proven extremely controversial in Congress…One [report] focuses on the market for wind energy technology and the other is about distributed wind energy, which is installed at homes, businesses or other sites that are not utility-scale generation facilities…Utility-scale wind power is in 39 states and territories, and spurs $500 million in exports annually…Wind power is at an all-time low price, and utilities are buying it to save money…Distributed wind power accounts for more than 80 percent of all wind turbines in the United States…” click here for more

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