QUICK NEWS, September 19: THE PROGRESS OF OFFSHORE WIND; LOAN GUARANTEE ACT PASSES HOUSE, DIES; ALMOST 1,100 JOBS FROM THE AVERAGE WIND PROJECT

THE PROGRESS OF OFFSHORE WIND Wind power study touts value of offshore power generation

September 14, 2012 (Power Engineering)

“…[The Turning Point for Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy from the National Wildlife Federation] notes that the United States generates no power from offshore wind at present, but that…actions by the federal government, along with bipartisan leadership from coastal state officials, have put critical building blocks in place…to finally tapping this massive domestic energy source…

“…[The report recommends elevating, 1] the Department of Energy's scenario for achieving 54 gigawatts of cost-effective offshore wind energy by 2030…[2, codifying] goals for renewable energy generation…[3, extending] tax incentives including the federal Investment Tax Credit for offshore wind, the Production Tax Credit and Advanced Energy Project Credit…[4, taking] direct action to secure [offtakers]…[5, increasing] funding to…support research and deployment…[6, enacting] strict pollution reduction policies…and [7,] coordinating offshore wind energy development decisions with federal, state, tribal and regional coastal and marine spatial planning efforts…”

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“The effort to generate power from wind in the Gulf of Maine continues to focus [at the University of Maine] on floating turbines…After initial research [to get the cost of the energy to be competitive], development and installation costs, floating wind turbines will eventually produce wind energy at a lower cost than the fixed units used in offshore European sites and land-based wind energy farms…

“…[T]he federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management [also] continues to accept comments on an application by Statoil North America to move ahead with plans to construct a floating wind farm off the coast of Maine. The federal agency set an Oct. 9 deadline for potential competitors for the Statoil project to express interest in any of the 22 square miles that Statoil proposes to lease for offshore wind energy production in federal waters off Maine…”

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LOAN GUARANTEE ACT PASSES HOUSE, DIES Wind power study touts value of offshore power generation

September 14, 2012 (Power Engineering)

“…[The Turning Point for Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy from the National Wildlife Federation] notes that the United States generates no power from offshore wind at present, but that…actions by the federal government, along with bipartisan leadership from coastal state officials, have put critical building blocks in place…to finally tapping this massive domestic energy source…

“…[The report recommends elevating, 1] the Department of Energy's scenario for achieving 54 gigawatts of cost-effective offshore wind energy by 2030…[2, codifying] goals for renewable energy generation…[3, extending] tax incentives including the federal Investment Tax Credit for offshore wind, the Production Tax Credit and Advanced Energy Project Credit…[4, taking] direct action to secure [offtakers]…[5, increasing] funding to…support research and deployment…[6, enacting] strict pollution reduction policies…and [7,] coordinating offshore wind energy development decisions with federal, state, tribal and regional coastal and marine spatial planning efforts…”

click to enlarge

“The effort to generate power from wind in the Gulf of Maine continues to focus [at the University of Maine] on floating turbines…After initial research [to get the cost of the energy to be competitive], development and installation costs, floating wind turbines will eventually produce wind energy at a lower cost than the fixed units used in offshore European sites and land-based wind energy farms…

“…[T]he federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management [also] continues to accept comments on an application by Statoil North America to move ahead with plans to construct a floating wind farm off the coast of Maine. The federal agency set an Oct. 9 deadline for potential competitors for the Statoil project to express interest in any of the 22 square miles that Statoil proposes to lease for offshore wind energy production in federal waters off Maine…”

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ALMOST 1,100 JOBS FROM THE AVERAGE WIND PROJECT Average U.S. Wind Farm Creates 1,079 Jobs, Report Finds

Ehren Goossens, September 11, 2012 (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

“…A 250-megawatt project generates 522 construction jobs, 432 positions in manufacturing, 80 for planning and development, 18 sales slots and 27 for operations, [according to a report from the Natural Resources Defense Council]…

“If Congress fails to extend the production tax credit, a federal incentive that’s scheduled to expire Dec. 31, that job creation will be threatened…The wind industry currently employs about 75,000 U.S. workers…”

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“…New wind-farm development has slowed in the U.S. ahead of the expiration date…Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS), the world’s biggest maker of wind turbines, expects shipments to decline next year and said Aug. 22 it’s cutting 1,400 jobs worldwide. That’s in addition to the 2,335 positions it eliminated in January. The company is considering firing 1,600 U.S. workers, a decision it says hinges largely on whether the PTC is extended.

“President Barack Obama supports extending the incentive, which gives producers a tax credit of 2.2 cents a kilowatt-hour. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, opposes it.”

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