Government Action Needed to Meet US Wind Power Goals
Further government intervention will be required in order to meet the policy goal of supplying 20% of US power needs by 2030, according to a recent analysis by the Congressional Research Service.
Although windpower currently provides only about 1% of U.S. electricity needs, it is growing morerapidly than any other energy source. In 2007, over 5,000 megawatts of new windgenerating capacity were installed in the United States, second only to new naturalgas-fired generating capacity. Wind power has become “mainstream” in many
regions of the country, and is no longer considered an “alternative” energy source.
Federal wind power policy has centered primarily on the production tax credit (PTC), a business incentive to operate wind facilities. The PTC is set to expire on December 31, 2008. Analysts and wind industry representatives argue that the on-again off-again nature of the PTC is inefficient and leads to higher costs for the industry.
While there is often bipartisan support for the PTC in Congress, debate centers more fundamentally on how to offset its revenue losses. A federal renewable portfolio standard — which would mandate wind power levels — was rejected in the Senate in late 2007; its future is uncertain.
Continued expansion of wind power in the United States could be slowed by lack of transmission capacity and expiration of the federal renewable production tax credit.
On the other hand, federal policy on climate change, expected by many in the next
Congress, would likely put a value on carbon dioxide emissions and give wind power
additional advantages compared to coal- and natural gas-based electricity.
The CRS findings are similar to those set out in the annual wind energy report from the Department of the Energy and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).
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