The US Dept. of Energy, the American Wind Energy Association the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and President Bush¹s administration believe that 20% of the nation’s electricity can come from renewable wind energy within the next twenty years. This would result in cumulative wind turbine sales of over $250 billion. In Denmark, wind energy already produces 20% of its national grid. The EWEA has set a target to increase electricity supplies in Europe with wind energy from 3% today to 23% by 2030 and believes that eventually 50% of the European grid can be supplied by wind energy.
the credits MUST be approved for WIND and RENEWABLE
With total installed U.S. wind power capacity now over 16,800 MW, or enough to serve the equivalent of 4.5 million average households, wind was the second largest source of new electrical capacity in the nation, behind only natural gas, for the past three years. AWEA credits the industry’s expansion to the stability over the past three years of the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC), which is now set to expire at the end of 2008. Previous short-term extensions have led to a boom-and-bust cycle in the wind industry, increasing costs along the entire supply chain and preventing businesses from growing to their full potential. Studies indicate that an expiration of the tax credit will place $19 billion in renewable energy investment and 116,000 American jobs at risk.
AWEA’s