May 11th, 2012

Gamesa, a major producer of wind farms globally, has shelved its plan for an offshore wind farm in Virginia because a difficult financing climate and weaker “regulatory” support in the US.

The company will instead focus on building an offshore prototype off the coast of Spain.

Gamesa had built an offshore turbine at a Research and Development Center in Cape Charles, Virginia, but reported that “prospects for the U.S. offshore market and its regulatory conditions in this segment so far do not justify the next step, the installation of a prototype in

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October 18th, 2010

GLWN, also known as the Great Lakes Wind Network, has teamed up with the BlueGreen Alliance Foundation to help bring more small and medium manufacturers into the developing U.S. wind energy business.

The partnership will help these smaller firms build capacity so they can supply parts for North American wind turbines, and in turn, strengthen growing U.S. wind markets.

Part of the money for this joint project will come from the National Institute of Standards and Technology‘s (NIST) Clean Energy Manufacturing Center, which is trying to help U.S. manufacturers find a place on the production chain for wind power.

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September 10th, 2010

When the boys and girls of Spirit Lake, Iowa, load their backpacks for classes this fall, each child in grades 5 to 12 will be packing a lap top computer provided by the school district.
This bit of good fortune was funded by a special initiative. But it is not the first time Spirit Lake has stepped up to embrace new technology. In 1993 – when “renewable energy” was not widely discussed — it became the first school district in the nation to install a wind turbine, a move that has saved the district some $200,000 in energy costs.
When that pokey Wind World 250 KW turbine, financed by the state and a federal grant, was paid off, Spirit Lake put up another turbine, this one a hefty 750 KW NEGMicon, in 2001.

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July 28th, 2010

Wind, solar, geothermal and other alternative energy industry groups have been lined up in support of a Renewable Electricity Standard or RES in which the U.S. would pledge to get 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2015. The RES, they maintain, would provide an incentive for utilities, providers and cities and states to find ways to increase renewable electricity sources, even in the absence of a carbon cap-and-trade system, which seems to be a non-starter in Congress.

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June 28th, 2010

Clean energy advocates and labor leaders are calling on the U.S. to step up its commitment to wind energy and wind-related manufacturing — or risk losing thousands of jobs to China, Europe and India.

American wind urgently needs strong supports, such as long-term investment tax credits and a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), to show investors and domestic and global companies that it believes in the sector, the leaders said at a Monday news conference. A RES would signal that the U.S. wants to incubate developing firms and build everything it needs — from wind towers and blades to the highly evolved nacelles that keep the turbines turning.

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June 15th, 2010

Well, blow us over, it’s Global Wind Day, a time to celebrate a part of nature that humans have yet to destroy and also the energy potential that rides on the breeze.

This second annual event, begun by the European Wind Energy Association, is being noted in Europe, Asia, Australia and North and South America, where dozens of activities, from workshops to commemorations, are planned.

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May 27th, 2010

Wind industry manufacturer Alstom today joined officials of the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation to begin construction of its 115,000 square foot wind turbine assembly plant in Amarillo, Texas. The facility, which is scheduled to be operational in 2011, is expected to create 275 full time engineering, production, and technical support jobs when the plant is at full capacity.

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May 26th, 2010

It’s clear that America wants wind power. At the WINDPOWER 2010 conference in Dallas this week, industry advocates, governors from three states, energy company executives and even a former president all said it: Bring it on.

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April 9th, 2010

I had been thinking about how this week’s mine accident that claimed 25 lives is just one more way the true cost of coal is being revealed. Coal is only cheap if you fail to factor in the loss of life, the long-term human health effects, the environmental devastation both in the immediate area of coal mining, the regions near coal-fired plants and finally, to the Earth’s atmosphere. Do these costs need to be more far-reaching before we face these facts?

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April 8th, 2010

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Wind energy grew in the U.S. in 2009, despite the economic downturn, adding jobs, turbines and enough new power to run 2.4 million homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association’s annual report released Thursday.

The wind sector installed more than 10,000 Megawatts of new wind power capacity in 2009, experiencing its largest growth and keeping America at the top of the list of wind-generating nations worldwide.

But the U.S. will not remain a leader in the global race to build wind power, several experts warned, unless the federal government passes clear targets for renewable energy that will encourage and support the industry.

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February 2nd, 2010

From Green Right Now Reports

Turbines spin on the Texas Panhandle (Photo: Sandia National Laboratories)

The 9,922 new megawatts (MW) installed in the U.S. last year expanded the nation’s wind plant fleet by 39 percent and brought the total wind power generating capacity in the U.S to over 35,000 MW, according to the American Wind Energy Association. U.S. wind projects now generate enough to power the equivalent of 9.7 million homes.

America’s wind power industry will avoid an estimated 62 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, equivalent to taking 10.5 million cars off the road, and will conserve approximately 20 billion gallons of water annually, which would otherwise be consumed for steam or cooling in conventional power plants.

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January 13th, 2010

From Green Right Now Reports

Who says America can’t take the lead in wind power? Not General Electric. The global corporation based in Schenectady, N.Y., announced today that it has signed contracts to supply 88 wind turbines to HECIC New Energy Co., Ltd., a leading wind energy developer in China.

The turbines are destined for three new projects in the Hebei and Shanxi Provinces in China, which is the world’s 4th largest producer of wind power (after Germany, the U.S. and Spain).

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