What the Elections Mean for Wind Power in the US

[jpak]

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/11/what-the-elections-mean-for-wind-power-in-the-us

According to Denise Bode, President and Elizabeth Salerno, Director Industry Data & Analysis at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the new congressional outlook is in fact quite favorable for the wind industry overall and if the correct policies are put in place -- and both believe they will be – the wind industry will charge out of the gate as it has many times in the past.

Denise Bode pointed out that all 50 states in the U.S. exhibit each year at the wind industry’s largest gathering of professionals, Windpower. She said that all the states exhibit in order to try to attract manufactures to set up facilities in their states. Many of the incoming congressional freshman, she pointed out, who have been working in their states may be familiar with the impact that wind energy has had on jobs in the U.S.

Bode pointed out -- multiple times -- that wind power manufacturing is the fastest growing manufacturing sector in the U.S.

On the flip side, Elizabeth Salerno went over the most recent AWEA quarterly report, which shows that wind experienced the slowest growth since 2007 in Q3 2010, installing just 395 MW of capacity. She said year over year, industry installations are down 72% in 2010 as compared to 2009. Right now the U.S. is installing about ½ as much wind power as is Europe and about 1/3 as much as China.

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