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This is exactly what's been missing: demand. Sure, some European
companies will make a mint as the suppliers race to beef up their
factories and whatnot. In the end, some entrepreneur will arrive who
will provide what's needed here in the US at the appropriate rate and
will have the advantage of a smaller distance to ship components, and
lower shipping costs.<br>
<br>
You'll never get this particular incarnation of government to mandate
green power. The nice thing is that wind power is becoming economical
on it's own. That should mean a great surge in wind power plants in
the coming years. Wind power may be more costly right now on a penny
per kilowatt basis, but you're not going to run out of wind and be left
high and dry like you will someday with coal, even if that's a couple
of hundred years away. Everybody complains about having a wind turbine
in their back yard, but is it so much worse than a polluting coal
plant? As the technology progresses wind power plants will get
quieter, safer, and more efficient. I just read a few days ago about a
proposal to make off-shore wind power generators that float in the
ocean and are tethered to the sea floor. If the equations are working
out well enough to make that kind of thing feasible, then we are well
on our way.<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
<br>
Ted Moffett wrote:
<blockquote
cite="midd03f69e0707092104n49f60552h9135559d257b098d@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div>All-</div>
<div> </div>
<div>In today's Wall Street Journal, front page, an article claims US
demand for wind energy technology is not being met domestically,
resulting in a slow down of implementation, offering an economic
opportunity for European corporations to supply the technology, and own
the US wind farms, that can answer the US demand:
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>From the article:</div>
<div>
<p class="times">"In recent years, improved technology has made it
possible to build bigger, more efficient windmills. That, combined with
surging political support for renewable energy, has driven up demand.
Now, makers can't keep up -- mostly because they can't get the parts
they need fast enough.
</p>
<p class="times">"Numerous wind-power projects from Virginia to
California have been stalled due to the shortage. But for some
renewable-energy companies in Europe, where wind power has been in
vogue for almost two decades, the logjam is a lucrative opportunity.
These firms anticipated a shortage of turbines and locked in orders
with makers. They're now using their considerable buying power to
gobble up smaller utilities in the U.S. that couldn't otherwise get
their hands on turbines."</p>
<p class="times">------</p>
</div>
<div>So in brief, in the richest nation on Earth, the shining example
of the miracle of the marketplace to ensure the latest and best
technology to benefit the public will receive investment and
implementation, "socialist" Europe is ahead of the US in supplying wind
power technology, with European companies making long term investments
in owning US wind energy, that could instead be made by US domestic
businesses. Why?
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>From the article:</div>
<div>
<p class="times">"In the U.S., there's another potential threat to
growth -- erratic government support for wind power. Even though wind
power has made technical strides recently, energy firms still rely on
subsidies because it costs more to generate electricity with wind
turbines than other power plants such as coal, natural gas or nuclear.
Wind power requires intensive capital investment in a short period of
time, and has added costs like upgrading transmission systems.
According to the International Energy Agency in Paris, wind farms cost
between four and 14 cents to generate a kilowatt hour; coal-fired
plants cost between 2.5 and six cents."</p>
<p class="times">"Some 20 states now have price supports for
wind-generated electricity, and there is a federal tax credit to
encourage new wind-park development. But there is no federal
requirement for utilities to buy green energy, as there is in the
United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany. And the tax credit, started in
1992, depends on a biannual congressional approval. An effort to
introduce federal support for wind power was shot down this month in
the Senate."
</p>
<p class="times">"The lack of a stable, long-term regulatory
environment has created a wind-power roller coaster. Developers were
never sure their projects would make economic sense a few years down
the road if the regulatory climate changed. Foreign turbine
manufacturers were reluctant to build factories in the U.S. Vestas
scrapped plans for a U.S. factory three times because of uncertainty.
This spring, it announced it would build a turbine plant in Windsor,
Colo.</p>
<p class="times">-----------</p>
</div>
<div>This link appears to bypass the "subscription required" option
for the whole article:</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118394439319360560.html">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118394439319360560.html</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>If this fails, here is the subscription required link:</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a
href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118394439319360560.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118394439319360560.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Here is discussion of the article from "public radio:"</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a
href="http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/07/09/AM200707094.html">http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/07/09/AM200707094.html</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>---------</div>
<div>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</div>
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