November 26th, 2012

Despite having escaped this summer without rolling blackouts and the kind of heat we experienced last year, Texas is still dealing with the energy crunch issue. Luckily, our state is home to the nation’s largest wind power industry and it contains about a fifth of the country’s wind turbines. The Electric Reliability Grid of Texas (ERCOT), the Texas grid operator, announced that earlier this month wind throughout the state contributed 26 percent of the load on the grid, setting a new record…This is in addition to wind helping Texas avoid blackouts in February of last year, when a cold front proved too much for many traditional power plants.

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April 12th, 2012

The wind is whipping down the plains, challenging the view that renewable energy can play only a small role on the electricity grid, according to figures released today by the American Wind Energy Association.
AWEA’s annual report shows that five states received more than 10 percent of their electricity from wind in 2011:

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January 12th, 2012

In an ominous sign that the world economy is dragging on the wind industry, Denmark-based Vestas Wind announced today that it will lay off more than 2,300 employees as part of a reorganization to keep the company competitive.

The lay off of employees — 1,749 in Europe, 182 in the US and 404 in China and elsewhere — will help the company streamline and reduce its fixed costs by more than 150 million Euro, according to a statement.

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December 13th, 2011

Wind energy leaders are warning Washington that thousands of U.S. jobs in the sector would be lost if Congress fails to renew a key tax credit tied to wind production.
The Production Tax Credit (PTC) also supports solar power and other renewable energy projects by providing tax breaks to the qualifying businesses that build wind farms (and solar and geothermal facilities).

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December 8th, 2010

As Congress and the White House negotiate the details of the tax breaks for the middle class, and the tax breaks for the wealthy, and the payroll tax break, the clean energy lobby appears caught at the door of the party.

Industry leaders are sending up flares to constituents and the media, warning that pulling the plug on clean energy incentives would hurt job growth and the nation’s ability to compete globally in the fast-growing clean energy sector.

Several tax incentives that the wind and solar industries depend upon to spur investment are set to expire, as well as certain rebates for home energy efficiency improvements.

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