Bloomberg Businessweek tells us how difficult things are for US wind turbine operators since the shale gas boom took hold.
Wind power in the U.S. is on a respirator.
The $14 billion industry, the world’s second-largest buyer of wind turbines, is reeling from a double blow -- cheap natural gas unleashed by the hydraulic fracturing revolution and the death last year of federal subsidies that made wind the most competitive of all renewable energy sources in the U.S.
Without restoration of subsidies, worth $23 per megawatt hour to turbine owners, the industry may not recover, and the U.S. may lose ground in its race to reduce dependence on the fossil fuels driving global warming, say wind-power advocates.
Consider that gas averaged $8.90 a million British thermal units in 2008 and plunged to $3.73 last year, making the fuel a cheaper source of electricity for utilities. Congress allowed the wind Production Tax Credit to expire last year, and wind farm construction plunged 92 percent.
While here in the UK we have PPE graduate Ed Davey keeping a benign eye on our energy policies. What could possibly go wrong?
2 comments:
This is a comment I’ve ‘loaned’ from elsewhere, relating to another Minister. Oh, ex Minister. “Somebody said Ed Davey could be a pot-plant if he were a little brighter.”
Mac - yes, some pot-plants would give Ed a tough time. Bill and Ben would run rings round him.
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