U.S. wind energy industry finishes
2010 with half the installations of 2009, activity
up in 2011, now cost-competitive with natural gas
Feb 16, 2011 - AWEA - energycentral.com
America's wind industry built 5,115 megawatts
of wind power last year, barely half of 2009's
record pace, but entered 2011 with over 5,600 megawatts
currently under construction - and with wind cost-competitive
with natural gas for new electric generation, utilities
are moving to lock in favorable rates.
“Wind power is a great deal right now in
many areas of the country,” said Denise Bode,
CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). “However,
our industry continues to endure a boom-bust cycle
because of the lack of long-term, predictable federal
policies, in contrast to the permanent entitlements
that fossil fuels have enjoyed for 90 years or
more.
“Now that we’re competing with natural
gas on cost, we need consistent federal policies
to ensure we have a diverse portfolio of energy
sources in this country, and don’t become
over-reliant on one source or another.”
AWEA reported today that 3,195 megawatts (MW)
of wind-powered electric generating capacity came
online in the fourth quarter of 2010. That performance
was below the 4,113 MW installed in the same period
in 2009, but a leap from the third quarter of 2010,
when only 670 MW were installed. The U.S. finished
the year with a total of 5,115 MW of new wind power.
Buoyed by a one-year extension of the 1603 Investment
Tax Credit for renewable energy in the final days
of the 111th Congress, the industry entered the
new year with over 5,600 MW of electric power currently
under construction, well above the same time a
year earlier. Further projects are expected to
start up in time to meet the new construction deadline
for the tax credit, now set to expire at the end
of 2011. The industry is likely to finish 2011
ahead of 2010 numbers, according to Elizabeth Salerno,
AWEA Director of Industry Data & Analysis.
“Wind’s costs have dropped over the
past two years, with power purchase agreements
being signed in the range of 5 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour
recently.” Salerno said. “With uncertainty
around natural gas and power prices as the economy
recovers, wind’s long-term price stability
is even more valued. We expect that utilities will
move to lock in more wind contracts, given the
cost-competitive nature of wind in today’s
market.”
Total U.S. wind capacity now stands at 40,180
MW, an increase in capacity of 15% over the start
of 2010, AWEA reported today. For the first time,
U.S. capacity fell second to China’s; China
now has 41,800 MW in operation, an increase of
62% in capacity over a year ago, according to a
Jan. 13 report from the Chinese Renewable Energy
Industries Association.
With uncertainty over national policies still
holding back the U.S. industry, state targets for
renewable energy continue to drive wind installations
in many areas of the country. “We’ll
continue to work for a strong federal energy policy
that drives the deployment of renewable energy
technologies in the 112th Congress,” Bode
said, “but we’ll also be defending
and improving on state renewable targets, as well
as promoting other sources of demand – such
as more distributed and community wind projects,
and corporate purchasing under the new WindMade
trustmark.”
The top five states for cumulative wind energy
capacity at the close of 2010 all have such state
targets:
Texas 10,085 MW
Iowa 3,675 MW
California 3,177 MW
Minnesota 2,192 MW
Washington 2,105 MW
Texas, the leading wind power state in America
for several years running, achieved a major milestone
by surging past the 10,000-megawatt mark for total
installations, a quarter of all wind capacity in
the U.S., with the addition of 680 MW in 2010.
Known as the hub of the oil-and-gas industry, Texas
achieved the mark thanks to aggressive pursuit
of renewable energy and a renewable electricity
standard passed in 1999 and strengthened in 2005.
On average, wind now generates 7.8% of the electricity
in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
which covers most of the state, peaking as high
as 25%.
Other states active in pursuing targets for renewable
energy last year were Illinois (498 MW added),
California (455 MW), South Dakota (396), and Minnesota
(396 MW). Five more states, which generally began
tapping their inexhaustible wind resources more
recently than the leaders, showed growth rates
above 100%. The list starts with Delaware and Maryland,
which added their first utility-scale wind turbines
in 2010:
Delaware & Maryland: First utility-scale installation
Idaho: +140%
South Dakota: +126%
Arizona: +103%
With the addition of Delaware and Maryland, 38
states now have utility-scale wind projects, and
14 of those have now installed more than 1,000
MW of wind power.
AWEA’s Fourth Quarter Market Report for
2010 is available at http://www.awea.org/la_pubs_reports.cfm.
Print media are invited to contact Ellen Carey
of AWEA Public Affairs at 202-249-7357, or ecarey@awea.org.
Broadcast interviews may be scheduled with Debra
Preitkis-Jones at 202-580-6458, or debra@awea.org.
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) is
the national trade association of America’s
wind industry, with more than 2,500 member companies,
including global leaders in wind power and energy
development, wind turbine manufacturing, component
and service suppliers, and the world’s largest
wind power trade show. AWEA is the voice of wind
energy in the U.S., promoting renewable energy
to power a cleaner, stronger America. Look up information
on wind energy at AWEA’s website: http://www.awea.org/
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