Industry Articles

• States Remain Renewables Policy Laboratory

  

  Bill Opalka, Editor-in-Chief, Topic Centers, Energy Central

  04.30.08 - A national Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) once again failed in the U.S. Congress late last year when it was removed from a comprehensive energy bill that passed at the end of the session. The House of Representatives had passed its version of the energy bill that included a requirement for most U.S. utilities to acquire 15% of their energy from sources like wind and solar energy.
  

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• Why the Recent Texas Reliability Event Raises No Concerns About Much Higher Wind Penetration

  

  Rob Gramlich, Policy Director, American Wind Energy Association

  04.02.08 - On February 26, 2008, a drop in frequency on Texas's transmission grid caused the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to put in place an Emergency Electric Curtailment Plan. The event was reported in some media outlets as having been caused by a sudden drop in output from wind projects.
  

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• Lassoing Panhandle Wind - Oilman Plans Huge Complex

  Gary Stern

  03.05.08 - T. Boone Pickens is nobody's fool. Pickens, who has a net worth of $2.5 billion and is ranked as the 131st wealthiest person in the United States by Forbes, is not prone to invest in pipe dreams. Then why is Pickens, who runs BP Capital Management, a private equity firm, and Mesa Power, building a 4,000-megawatt wind energy facility in Pampa, Texas, in the Panhandle section about 70 miles from Amarillo, which could cost as much as $10 billon?
  

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• Cape Wind Passes Agency Test

  

  Bill Opalka, Editor-in-Chief, Topic Centers, Energy Central

  01.30.08 - The first proposed offshore wind energy facility in the United States passed a significant test with the mid-January release of a federal review as it starts what is expected to be its final year of permitting.
  

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