Wind Power News

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1. EU Should Scrap Energy Subsidies to Fight Warming, Poland Says
   The European Union should scrap fossil fuel and renewable energy subsidies and set a target to cut oil imports to remain the leader in the fight against global warming, according to Poland's environment minister.
2. No Easy Fix for Broken Wind Turbine at US High School
   It's status quo for the Portsmouth High School wind turbine. On Monday night, town planner Gary Crosby informed the Town Council that negotiations ceased with two possible developers interested in fixing or replacing the 336-foot-high turbine, which has been broken since June 2012.
3. Brazil Auction Rules May Boost Price of Wind Power 15%
   Prices for wind energy in Brazil, currently the lowest in the world, may rise at least 15 percent due to government policies designed to make the nation's power grid more reliable.
4. Breakdown: Penetration of Renewable Energy in Selected Markets
   The penetration of renewable energy into the electricity supply mix has been much in the news recently. During the first quarter, Portugal generated three-quarters of its electricity with renewable energy. Meanwhile, in Germany, one-fifth of all electricity was generated with renewables, most of that from new sources of renewable energy, such as wind and solar. And recently, at a conference in San Francisco, attendees heard calls for generating not just 100 percent of electricity supply with renewable energy, but far more — 200 percent to 300 percent of generation — in order to meet the need for heating, cooling, and transportation as well.
5. Moniz Unanimously Confirmed As New DOE Chief
   Ernie Moniz has been unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the next Secretary of Energy, in a 97-0 vote (with three nonvoters). He succeeds Stephen Chu who held the position for four years.
6. Ireland Keen to Hit 2030 Renewable Targets, Says EU Ambassador
   Irish Ambassador to the European Union Tom Hanney is in the throes of a six month stint at the heart of decision making in Brussels, as Ireland currently holds the EU Presidency. The Deputy Permanent Representative says holding the Presidency is "a marathon, from January to June."
7. The Economic Case for Divesting from Fossil Fuels
   Securities of fossil fuels firms, as an economic sector, may soon be on the decline.
8. Suzlon Energy No Longer Top Indian Wind Turbine Supplier
   Suzlon Energy Ltd. ceded its position as India's top wind-turbine supplier in the year ended March 31 for the first time in at least a decade, according to figures from an industry group.
9. Connecticut Seeks to Literally Water Down its RPS, Could it Happen in Your Region?
   Since I live in New Hampshire and write about the global renewable energy industry, once in a while small local news that might appear to be of minor importance to my neighbors leaps out at me as something that could end up having a huge impact on the renewable energy industry.
10. Two Conversations the Wind Energy Industry Must Own, And Soon
    One of the strongest messages that came out of this week's AWEA Windpower event in Chicago was the urgent need for more unity in the wind industry's message, delivered to and embracing everyone from legislators to the finance community to the general public. And two key parts of that unified front, agreed multiple speakers, must be underscoring the wind industry's true "clean" position vs. other energy sources, and mending fences and reestablishing ties between the wind and environmental communities.
11. With More Wind Energy, PJM Could Save Customers $7 Billion per Year
    The PJM Interconnection could save its customers $6.9 billion if it more than doubled the amount of wind energy it currently plans to build. This is according to a study by Americans for a Clean Energy Grid and Synapse Energy Economics.
12. Europe Sinks Its Flagship Carbon Trading Scheme
    All German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to do was pick up the phone and dial her people in Brussels. Had she done so before the European Parliament's (EP) key vote last month on April 19, her party's representatives could easily have saved the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), Europe's flagship mechanism for reducing carbon emissions. But the woman once hailed as "the climate chancellor," didn't make the call, a consequence of differences of opinion on the ETS within her ruling center-right coalition, she said. The impotent ETS is now withering on the vine, where it may remain until it is dead altogether.
13. Buffett's MidAmerican Plans $1.9 Billion of Wind Farms in Iowa
    A unit of Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. plans to invest $1.9 billion to build additional wind farms in Iowa that would increase its wind generating capacity in the state by about half.
14. German Scientists Use Offshore Wind Farms to Replenish Lobsters
    German scientists are betting that offshore wind farms can help replenish the North Sea's fledgling lobster population.
15. Beyond the PTC – Wind Energy's Future
    At Wind Power 2013, the big question on many minds in the wind industry is what will the market look like if and when the production tax credit expires? Wind power experts tried to answer that question at the event held in Chicago this week.
16. Microgrids: Coming or No?
    You know that experience, when you buy a new car, and suddenly you see the model everywhere? Since Superstorm Sandy I’ve had the equivalent experience with the term ‘microgrid.’ Policymakers and thought leaders in the U.S. Northeast started talking microgrid in earnest shortly after the October 2012 storm leveled swaths of their region. Lately, the
17. Russian Renewable Energy Law Could Significantly Boost Clean Energy But Obstacles Remain
    Hopes for Renewable Energy Source Development Measures (RESDM) in Russia's renewable power sector are high: if adopted and properly implemented, it will boost the renewable sector that is plagued with underfunding, often differing regional and federal legislation, other short-comings or simple ineffectiveness.
18. Brazil May Favor Gas Over Wind to Fulfill World Cup Energy Demand
    Brazil, the second-biggest producer of hydroelectricity, is seeking to increase the use of fossil fuels after the worst drought in 50 years depleted reservoirs, underscoring a limit to renewable energy.
19. New AWEA Leadership Urges Strategy, Unity for US Wind Industry
    Kicking off the AWEA Windpower 2013 event in Chicago, the new leadership of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) took to the stage and underscored a five-point plan to build a viable and sustainable industry centered around developing a unified message backed by personal contributions.
20. Fforde on Feed-in Tariffs: Literary Use of "Feed-in Tariffs" Comes of Age
    Feed-in tariffs, the terminology at least, has come of age. The term can now be found in a prolific English novelist's most recent book. Jasper Fforde's use of the words in fiction is an open acknowledgment that the term and the idea it conveys have become mainstream in the English language.