Here’s a head-scratcher: Why doesn’t the United States have more wind farms, especially considering all the investing going into alternative energy schemes? Turns out the turbine makers can’t keep up. GE Energy says it is sold out until 2009, and projects are waiting. And that’s after accelerating production fivefold since buying the wind subsidiary of Enron in 2002.
Wind turbines are not that hard to make, but the demand has outstripped supply. Foreign suppliers could kick in here, including Spain’s Iberdrola, Denmark’s Vestas, and Mitsubishi of Japan, as well as Indian alternative energy firm Suzlon Energy. In China, 40 companies are embarking on wind projects, according to the World Wind Energy Association. Problem is, the developing world needs wind power more than the U.S. seems to, so they’re snapping up the turbines as fast as projects can get signed. Unless a U.S. president, current or future, makes energy a security issue, the economics of wind alone won’t make a difference and U.S. projects will have to wait.
So where are we now? Says the WWEA, 75,000 megawatts of global power come from wind farms, more than 1% of global electrical demand.
One Comment
There’s actually quite a bit of opposition to wind farms in many areas. There is nothing ‘farm’-like in a wind farm as they take up valuable productive farmland.I’ve heard the pros and cons of them and I am vehemently opposed to industrial wind farms. (www.concernedcitizens.homestead.com)will give you some more food for thought.
However, homestead systems would be the better way to go, solar even better as they are quiet. Both would give the homeowner power for their residence as opposed to whisking it away to the areas of power need & greed.