“While the industry saw the all-too-real impacts of having no long-term US policies toward renewable energy, the industry nevertheless made significant advances in 2010,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, the wind industry’s national trade group, in a statement released New Year’s Eve.
“Wind power supply chain manufacturers continued to announce new US plants despite an uncertain economic climate,” Bode continued. “The industry reached over 50 percent domestic content for turbines installed in the US. In addition, advances were made in regional transmission plans, the market for smaller turbines grew 15 percent, and offshore wind took major steps on the path to the first US installations.”
But the group warned that new policies to support the industry are desperately needed — the third quarter of this year was the worst since 2007 for the wind industry, according to the AWEA Web site.
Bode also attacked opponents of incentives for renewable energy, singling out the Wall Street Journal editorial page, which “has been running a series of one-sided challenges to renewable energy, while overlooking all the negative effects of conventional sources, including their enormous costs to taxpayers.”
In an interview with The Hill, a newspaper that covers the US Congress, AWEA spokeswoman Sarah Howell, said the group will be pushing for inclusion in energy legislation of a renewable electricity standard, which would require that a certain percentage of the country’s electricity come from renewable sources like wind and solar power.
But The Hill said, Howell said the group is not advocating for a specific percentage.
“Right now, we just want to keep it in the vocabulary,” she said.
For additional information:
American Wind Energy Association
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