In what could result in a milestone that bolsters the U.S. wind industry as a vehicle to drive economic growth, Invenergy is developing one of the first wind energy projects that could benefit from President Obama’s stimulus plan. GE Energy is supplying 74 of its 1.5-megawatt (MW) wind turbines to begin the expansion of the Grand Ridge Energy Center, which, when completed, will increase the country’s wind power capacity by over 110 megawatts, enough clean energy for 30,000 U.S. households.
Tall order: At its apex, the rotor of a 1.5 megawatt turbine, such as this one at Invenergy’s Grand Ridge Wind Farm in Illinois, reaches about the same height as a thirty-story building. Imagine taking a football field, putting it almost 90 yards up in the air and then spinning it. That gives you a rough idea of the size of each one of the wind farm turbines.
The federal stimulus package contains a number of provisions to encourage the development of wind projects, including production and investment tax credits, Treasury Department grants and a Department of Energy loan guarantee program. Invenergy, one of the top five independent wind energy developers in North America, could be one of the first to access this type of funding to help finance this and future wind projects.
As USA Today said in a recent cover story, even with government-funded programs in their infancy, the direct impact of stimulus spending is already apparent, as “the early federal stimulus money appears to be hitting its target, paying for new projects and creating jobs.” And the use of stimulus funds in the wind industry has the potential to make an already dramatic jobs story reach new levels. According to the American Wind Energy Association –- which calls the U.S. wind industry “an economic and job creation dynamo” — 85,000 people were employed in the industry at the end of 2008, an increase of 35,000 from the previous year.
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It’s easy to talk about wind power. GE should be doing much more to promote the importance of safe, efficient nuclear power in the U.S.
Even if it offends some of your employees at NBC.
I believe people would be more excited if they read Thomas Friedmans book Hot, Flat & Crowded. There are more than enough opportunities to both, make money and do what’s right for the environment.
Corporate America is embracing green technology because it saves money and does what’s right – now, if we can only get all Americans to understand that.
Stressing the size of the turbine is probably a bad marketing strategy. People worry about the visibility, obtrusiveness, and noise proper to turbines. (I don’t.)
One of my strategies in promoting windpower would be to talk about its history. Wind has been used as power for over a thousand years. Without it, The Netherlands wouldn’t exist. We are starting from scratch with solar power, but wind power is a very old technology. If we allow sails as a token of it, then it goes back thousands of years.
I would also compare it to water turbines.
I respect Mr. Foster’s position, but when’s the last time a windmill leaked radioactive material? We have an older Nuke near us, and it”s really scarey.
California has an ideal spot for wind energy creation. Windy Gap is a low point in the mountains separating the desert area(s) from the Pacific ocean basin. The mountains were recently burned, so I doubt any environmental objections could be raised, especially for such a GREEN project and Los Angeles can certainly use the power generated.
I envision a tunnel full of turbines just below the surface at the gap in Windy Gap, Ca.