Jul 31 2009

The Green Seen

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy caught our attention this week:

A lot of wind news this week: Wind developer Clipper Windpower is mulling building a turbine manufacturing plant adjacent to a proposed 5,000-megawatt wind farm in South Dakota because transporting 2,000 turbines to the site could be an expensive headache. Peter Stricker, a vice president at Clipper, said a "gypsy plant" to make turbine parts could be set up at an  "industrial tent structure" or on a flat-bed. "The industry is paying too much of its overall margin to just getting pieces delivered," Stricker said. 

The controversial Cape Wind project to erect 130 wind power towers five miles offshore the Cape Cod resort area needs one last regulatory approval from the Department of the Interior to become the first U.S. offshore wind farm. Supporters see the 420-megawatt project making Massachusetts a leader in clean energy. Opponents, including Sen. Edward Kennedy who has a home on Cape Cod, say the project would be a risk to navigation and hurt tourism. Wind developers are also eyeing wind farms off Rhode Island, Delaware and New Jersey.

The American Wind Energy Association reports new wind farm additions in the first six months of 2009 installed more than 4,000 megawatts, an increase from more than 2,900 MW added in the same period in 2008. But the industry group cautioned that new orders for turbines and manufacturing activity are slowing down. "The numbers are in, and while they show the industry has been swimming upstream, adding some 4,000 MW over the past six months, the fact is that we should be achieving so much more," says AWEA CEO Denise Bode.

© 2008 Pacific Gas and Electric Company. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms

"PG&E" refers to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation.