05 Jan 2011 01:01:11

US wind industry forged ahead in 2010

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the national trade association of America's wind industry, emphasises that the wind power industry combated challenges in 2010 and laid the foundations for a strong return in 2011.

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 association.

Bode highlighted that wind power supply chain manufacturers continued to announce new US plants despite an uncertain economic climate. The industry reached over 50% domestic content for turbines installed in the US. In addition, advances were made in regional transmission plans, the market for smaller turbines grew 15%, and offshore wind took major steps on the path to the first US installations, said Bode.

The year 2010 closed out with Congress extending by one more year the Section 1603 Investment Tax Credit for renewable energy, a policy that helped the industry emerge as a bright spot in the US economy and keep 85,000 Americans working even at the depth of the recession, Bode said.

The numbers posted by the US wind industry in the third quarter of 2010 made for its slowest quarter since 2007. According to AWEA, once the year's final numbers are tallied, they are expected to show that China installed approximately three times as much wind-powered electricity as the US in 2010, and Europe twice as much, as US installations fell to just over half of 2009.

Factors in the US decline included an absence of long-term US energy policies (such as a Renewable Electricity Standard), resulting in an unstable business environment, and utilities being less eager to enter wind energy power purchase agreements.