OBAMA'S ENERGY PLAN - WHAT WIND WANTS, WHAT THE NATION NEEDS

At a press conference Friday, representatives of the American Wind Energy Association presented the wind industry's New Wind Agenda, a set of key policies that will allow the wind to do what last spring the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) affirmed it is capable of doing, providing 20% of U.S. electricity within a quarter century.

The exciting thing: What wind wants is not only what the nation needs but much of it is what President-elect Barack Obama has indicated in campaign and transition-period statements he intends to take take up as his New Energy for America agenda.

The legitimacy of the plan, as presented both by Obama and wind, is substantiated not only by the DOE study but by studies from numerous other agencies, think tanks and independent organizations. (See the International Energy Agency (IEA), the University of California, GE Financial Services, the Apollo Alliance, the U.S. Mayors Conference and the Center for American Progress)

Need jobs? Wind and New Energy create domestic employment. (click to enlarge)

NewEnergyNews has commented before on how important it is to keep repeating the new status of New Energy – wind capable of providing 20% of U.S. power by 2030, solar capable of providing 10% of U.S. power by 2025, geothermal capable of providing 20-to-40% of U.S. power with development, hydrokinetic energy price aimed at grid parity – until the steady and responsible but slow-to-change people who bear the burden of keeping the world’s lights turned on understand the significance.

At long last, it would seem New Energy finally has a President who understands its potential and sees the path to realizing it.

President-elect Barack Obama: “A green, renewable energy economy isn’t some pie-in-the-sky, far-off future – it is now. It is creating jobs – now. It is providing cheap alternatives to…oil – now. And it can create millions of additional jobs, an entire new industry, if we act – now.”

With the incoming administration, the New Energy industries and the need for investments in the nation lining up, a real New Energy economy may be on the near horizon. It may not be too long before even the tide in the fight against global climate change starts turning.

The 6 items on wind’s agenda:
(1) National Renewable Electricity Standard;
(2) a minimum 5-year New Energy Production Tax Credit (PTC);
(3) New Interstate Transmission Highways for New Energy;
(4) National Climate Change Legislation;
(5) Federal Agency Support for Siting Wind Power Projects and Transmission Lines;
(6) Federal Research & Development and Programs Funding.

The broad outlines of the wind industry’s agenda are below. More details are at New Wind Agenda.

Need cost benefits? Wind and New Energy make more money than they cost. (click to enlarge)

Wind Energy For A New Era; An agenda for the new President and Congress
November 2008 (American Wind Energy Association)

WHO
The remarkable men and women of the U.S. wind power industry and the American Wind Energy Association, their trade association; U.S. Department of Energy (DOE); President-elect Barack Obama

WHAT
The New Wind Agenda presents a set of key policies that will allow the wind industry to achieve its goal of providing the U.S. with 20% of its electricity within a quarter century.

Exactly what the nation needs. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- The National Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) proposal calls for the U.S. to obtain 10% of its power from New Energy sources by 2012 and 25% by 2025.
- The cap-and-trade system should aim to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (GhGs) 15-to-20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.
- The increased R&D and program funding should come over the next 3-to-5 years.
- The DOE report validating the wind industry’s goal to provide 20% of U.S. power by 2030 was published in May 2008.
- 2007: Wind provided more than 1/3 of new U.S. power supply.

WHERE
A new, 765 kilovolt (kV) transmission superhighway would span the U.S. and be capable of delivering New Energy-generated electricity (from where it is produced” (1) wind from the Great Plains, Great Lakes and offshore Atlantic, (2) solar from the Desert Southwest, (3) geothermal from the Southeast and West, and hydrokinetics from rivers, lakes and oceans) to population centers where there is rising demand and compromised supply.

WHY
- The 6 items on wind’s agenda:
(1) National Renewable Electricity Standard (as called for in the Obama campaign platform);
(2) a minimum 5-year New Energy Production Tax Credit (as promised by Obama during his campaign);
(3) New Interstate Transmission Highways for New Energy (through legislation and initiatives);
(4) National Climate Change Legislation (a cap-and-trade system aimed at cutting U.S. emissions and using the revenues to fund New Energy and Energy Efficiency initiatives);
(5) Federal Agency Support for Siting Wind Power Projects and Transmission Lines (prioritized CREZs, streamlined review processes and development on federal lands);
(6) Federal Research & Development and Programs Funding (to $217 million)
- The DOE 20% wind report is the driver of wind’s agenda.
- Benefits of 20% wind: (1) Reduced GhGs; (2) Reduced electricity costs with long-term price stability; (3) increased energy security; (4) a New Energy economy with millions of new jobs and revenues.
- 20% wind would create a half million new jobs and save $128 billion in ratepayer costs.
- Since 2007, more than 50 new wind industry manufacturing facilities have opened, expanded or been announced.
- The proposed PTC would be 2.1 cents/kilowatt-hour and adjusted to include a refundability provision for the current financial circumstances. Extending it for 5 years would create a stability that would facilitate long-term growth.
- The cost of new transmission is expected to be offset by savings in electricity costs.
- The DOE R&D program for wind is $50 million/year. R&D for nuclear is $960 million. R&D for coal is $500 million.

The New Energies are worth far more R&D than they get. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- President-elect Barack Obama, August 4, 2008, Lansing, Mich: “I will also extend the Production Tax Credit for five years to encourage the production of renewable energy like wind power…It was because of this credit that wind power grew 45% last year, the largest growth in history.”
- New Wind Agenda: “With the right policies in place, wind power can make a major contribution to the effort to protect the planet’s climate, while spurring tens of billions of dollars in economic investment, supporting hundreds of thousands of new American jobs, making America more independent and secure and saving consumers more than $100 billion.”