A new energy economy is finally emerging in the United States, due to the rising price of fossil fuels, oil insecurity and concerns about climate change, according to a new report.
"The old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, is being replaced by one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The transition is moving at a pace and on a scale that we could not have imagined even a year ago," Lester R. Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute, in a recent release, "New Energy Economy Emerging in the United States."
Long the leading oil-producing state, Texas is also the leading generator of electricity from wind, having overtaken California. Texas has nearly 6,000 megawatts (MW) of wind-generating capacity online and a staggering 39,000 MW in the construction and planning stages. When all this is completed, Texas will more than satisfy the residential needs of the state’s 24 million people, enabling Texas to feed electricity to nearby states.
Other states are emerging as wind superpowers. Clipper Windpower and BP are teaming up to build the 5,050-MW Titan wind farm, the world’s largest, in eastern South Dakota. Titan will generate five times as much electricity as the state’s 780,000 residents currently use. This project includes building a transmission line along an abandoned rail line across Iowa, feeding electricity into Illinois and the country’s industrial heartland.
In the east, Maine is planning to develop 3,000 MW of wind-generating capacity, far more than the state’s 1.3 million residents need. Further south, Delaware is planning an offshore wind farm of up to 600 MW, which could satisfy half of the state’s residential electricity needs. New York State, which has 700 MW of wind-generating capacity, plans to add another 8,000 MW. Soon Oregon will nearly double its wind generating capacity with a 900-MW wind farm in the wind-rich Columbia River Gorge.
Solar power is also expanding at a breakneck pace. The nation’s wealth of solar energy is being harnessed by using both photovoltaic cells and solar thermal power plants to convert sunlight into electricity. The largest U.S. solar cell installation today is a 14-MW array at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, but photovoltaic electricity at the commercial level is about to go big time. PG&E has entered into two solar cell power contracts with a combined capacity of 800 MW. Together, these plants will have a peak output comparable to that of a large coal-fired power plant.
Solar thermal plants that use mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a vessel containing a fluid have suddenly become an enormously attractive technology. There are now 10 large solar thermal power plants under construction or in development in the United States, ranging in size from 180 MW to 550 MW. Within the next three years, the United States will likely go from 420 MW of solar thermal generating capacity to close to 3,500 MW.
Geothermal energy is also developing at an explosive rate. As of 2008 the United States has nearly 3,000 MW of geothermal generating capacity. Suddenly this too is changing. Some 96 geothermal power plants now under development are expected to double U.S. geothermal generating capacity. With California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah leading the way, the stage is set for the massive future development of geothermal energy. (See additional data.)
To ensure that this shift continues at a rapid rate, national leadership is needed in one key area-building a strong national grid. Although private investors are investing in long-distance high-voltage transmission lines, these need to be incorporated into a carefully planned national grid in order to unleash the full potential of renewable energy wealth, according to the report, which is available at www.earthpolicy.org.
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The U.S. wind energy industry installed 1,389 MW in 3Q04, bringing to 4,204 MW the total of wind power projects completed in what is expected to be another record year, according to an announcement by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
With even more reported under construction, the industry is on track to surpass the banner year of 2007, when 5,249 MW were installed, with a total of about 7,500 MW this year (7,500 MW would generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of about 2.2 million homes).
AWEA’s report tallies the opening of eight new wind turbine component manufacturing facilities this year; the expansion of nine facilities; and the announcement of an additional 19 facilities. As a result of recent manufacturing investment, AWEA estimates, the share of domestically made components in wind turbines has risen from about 30% in 2005 to 50% today. The new facilities will create an estimated 9,000 wind jobs.
“The convenient truth here is that wind power provides a stimulus for our economy, as well as a climate change and energy security solution,” said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher. “The market, in spite of all its turmoil, clearly points to wind power as one of the most attractive energy options available today. But if we are to keep this momentum going, the new President and Congress will need to put in place what the majority of the American people support but the country still lacks: a long-term renewable energy policy.”
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