(Reprinted with permission of the American
Wind Energy Association)
Wind projects provide real energy, economic
and environmental benefits
Wind energy makes a Real Contribution to Our Energy Needs
Total installed U.S. wind power plants already serve more than 1.6
million average households with 4.3 million people, topping 6,740
megawatts (MW) in 2004. In 2005, that number will jump to more than
9,000 MW, serving over 2.3 million households with 6 million people.
The wind industry is capable of supplying about 6% of our nation’s
electricity (as much as hydropower generates today) by 2020.
Wind energy contributes to our energy security: an inexhaustible,
domestic resource, it helps reduce our dependence on imports of
natural gas (for electricity generation and residential use), oil
and other fuels, often from unstable countries like Nigeria and
Russia. AWEA estimates that the wind farms already in place are
saving over 0.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas per day.
Although wind energy is variable, PacifiCorp, a major electric
utility in the Northwest, recently assigned its wind projects a
20% capacity credit¹. That means than 20% of the total wind
energy on PacifiCorp’s system can be considered base load,
like traditional fossil-fuel plants, and that it helps to improve
overall utility system reliability.
Modern wind turbines are equipped with high-tech computers and
power electronics that process over 200 types of data, from wind
speeds and oil temperature to voltage dips on the grid. “Smart”
wind turbines can help make the electricity transmission system
more reliable.
Once approved, wind farms can be built relatively quickly to respond
to electricity demand.
Wind energy delivers Real Economic Benefits
• Texas saw 1,000 MW of wind projects added to the state
in 2001, providing $11.6 million in property tax payments to local
schools, $2.5 million in landowner royalty income and 2,500 wind-related
jobs.
• One large (108-turbine, 162-MW) project in rural Prowers
County, Colorado, increase the county’s tax base by 29%,
adding annual payments of about $917,000 to the general school
fund, $203,000 to the school bond fund, $189,000 to a county medical
center, and $764,000 in new county revenues, as well as 15-20
permanent and well-paying full-time jobs at the wind farm².
• As many as 215,000 new jobs would be created by adding
50,000 MW of new wind installations in the U.S. – a $50
billion investment that could provide electricity for as many
as 15 million homes with 39 million people. Many of these new
positions would be in the manufacturing sector, brining 150,000
new jobs back to a hard-hit sector of our economy³.
• An analysis from the Union of Concerned Scientists finds
switching 105 of our electricity to clean energy sources by 2020
could save consumers as much as $13 million over 20 years, due
to lower natural gas prices and higher renewable electricity consumption?.
Wind energy offers Real Environmental Benefits
Wind power offsets other, more polluting sources of energy. That
is important because electricity generation is the largest industrial
source of air pollution in the U.S. When when power projects generate
electricity, fuel at other power plants is not consumed.
• Wind energy requires no mining, drilling or transportation
of fuel, and does not generate radioactive or other hazardous
or polluting waste.
• To generate the same amount of electricity as does the
current fleet of U.S. wind turbines would require burning 9 million
tons of coal (a line of 10-ton trucks stretching 3,400 miles,
from Seattle to Miami) each year.
• A recent New York study found that is wind energy supplied
10% (3,300 MW) of the state’s peak electricity demand, 65%
of the energy it displaced would come from natural gas, 15% from
coal, 10% from oil and 10% from electricity imports?.
• Emissions from the manufacture and installation of wind
turbines are negligible. The “energy payback time”
(a measure of how long a power plant must operate to generate
the amount of electricity required for its manufacture and construction)
of a wind farm is 3 to 8 months, depending on the wind speed at
the site – one of the shortest of any energy technology.
1. Integrated Resource Plan 2004, PacifiCorp (Jan 2005) http://www.pacificopr.com/File/File47422.pdf
2. From Snack Bars to Rebar, (Mar 2004) http://www.state.co.us/oemc/events/cwade/2004/presentations/cox.pdf
3. Wind Turbine Development: Location of Manufacturing Activity,
Renewable Energy Policy Project (Sept 2004) http://www.repp.org/articles/static/1/binaries/WindLocator.pdf
4. EIA Studies Show a National Renewable Electricity Standard Can
Save Consumers and Business Money, Union of Concerned Scientists
(Jun 2003) http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/renewable_energy/page.cfm?pageID=1222
5. The Effects of Integrating Wind Power on Transmission System
Planning, Reliability, And Operations:Report on Phase 2:System Performance
Evaluation, New York State Energy Research & Development Authority
(Mar 2005) http://www.nyserda.org/publications/wind_integration_report.pdf
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