JouleBlog

The wind energy industry in the U.S. had a record-breaking year in 2009, installing 10,000 megawatts of new generating power, enough to serve 2.4 million homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association in its fourth quarter report released today. Yet the industry is still plagued by a lack of manufacturing investment, and job creation still lags. Here is a PDF of the report.

The AWEA credits the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act as the impetus for the growth. During the last quarter the wind added 4000 megawatts of new capacity, together with new construction, operations and management jobs. Texas, the top wind-producing state, added 2292 megawatts in new wind capacity, more than twice that of Indiana, which ranked No. 2, with 905 megawatts added. Arizona opened its first utility scale wind project in 2009.

Yet wind power’s prospects for long-term growth are far from a sure bet. Total investment in manufacturing actually dropped compared to 2008; there were one-third fewer wind power manufacturing facilities in 2009 compared to the year before. This resulted in a net loss of manufacturing jobs, which was compounded by low orders and high inventory.

The weak manufacturing outlook caused AWEA CEO Denise Bode to sound a warning: “U.S. wind turbine manufacturing – the canary in the mine — is down compared to last year’s levels, and needs long-term policy certainty and market pull in order to grow.  We need to set hard targets, in the form of a national Renewable Electricity Standard, in order to provide the necessary stability for manufacturers to expand their U.S. operations and to seize the historic opportunity we have today to build up a thriving renewable energy industry.”

In another development, Detroit Edison and Michigan-based Heritage Sustainable Energy have started commercial operation of a wind farm that will supply the utility’s customers with enough electricity to power about 2,000 homes. The wind farm is the first constructed and operated in Michigan under the state’s energy reform law that will have 10 percent of the utility’s power  generation come from renewable sources such as wind and solar by 2015. The wind farm was built after the utility signed a 20-year agreement to purchase wind power and renewable energy credits from Heritage.

President Obama today announced the award of $2.3 billion in new clean manufacturing projects across the United States. The award comes on the heels of a dismal jobs report that 85,000 jobs vanished in December. Employment in manufacturing declined by 27,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since the beginning of the recession manufacturing employment has fallen by 2.1 million.

Today’s announcement may only put a small dent in those massive losses, but at least it is a step to build domestic manufacturing capacity for renewable energy technology. The funds will come in the form of Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits, which will support 183 projects in 43 states. The investment tax credits are worth up to 30% of each planned project. It’s estimated that the tax credits will leverage private capital for a total investment of $7.7 billion in high-tech manufacturing in the U.S.

The projects include:

• Itron, Inc., which manufactures a smart meter for the residential market.
• W.L. Gore & Associates,, Inc., which produces a membrane for fuel cells for buildings and vehicles.
• PPG Industries, Inc., which produces a double anti-reflective coating for glass to make solar sells more efficient.
• TPI Composites, Inc., which is building a new manufacturing facility in Nebraska to produce composite wind turbine blades.

The projects selected for the tax credit will be in service by 2014; about a third of the projects will be completed this year. The 183 projects selected today will produce solar, wind and geothermal energy equipment; fuel cells, microturbines and batteries; electric cars; electric grids to support renewable energy; energy conservation technologies; and equipment that captures and sequesters carbon dioxide or reduces greenhouse gas emissions. A full list of the selected projects is here.

“This opening represents a critical breakthrough for the photovoltaic industry and China and a tremendous benefit to our customers,” said Mike Splinter, chairman and CEO of Applied Materials. “Establishing this center in China is an integral part of Applied’s global strategy and an important step toward the industrialization of the global solar industry.”

Applied Materials  broke ground in Xi’an in 2006 and the total investment in the multi-phase project is more than $250 million dollars. The completed facility includes a solar technology center for R&D, engineering, product demonstration, testing and training for crystalline silicon and thin film solar module manufacturing equipment and processes. Employees in the center will work closely with local suppliers to test and qualify new materials and tools and evaluate potential new cost saving technologies. The center has the largest solar array in Xi’an, a 56 kilowatt array on a parking lot structure.

According to a recent report released by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,the installed cost of PV power systems in the U.S. has declined by more than 30 % from 1998 to 2008. Within the last year of this period, costs fell by more than 4%. according to the report, the most recent decline in costs is primarily the result of a decrease in PV module costs.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the latest in a string of stimulus funding awards–this time directed at industrial facilities. The Department of Energy is awarding $155 million for 41 energy efficiency projects across the country. The industrial sector uses more than 30 percent of U.S. energy and is responsible for nearly 30 percent of U.S. carbon emissions.

Nine projects announced today will promote the use of combined heat and power, district energy systems, waste energy recovery systems, and energy efficiency initiatives in hospitals, utilities, and industrial sites.  Combined Heat and Power and District Energy Systems generate both the heat and power needed for industrial processes on-site, instead of using electricity from the grid, and can be nearly twice as efficient as conventional heat and power production, according to the announcement. The remaining 32 awards will provide local technical support for the industrial sector through university-based Industrial Assessment Centers, state agencies, regional partnerships, and a national technical assistance provider.

Is the Obama administration going far enough in calling the nation to action on energy? Bob Herbert asks that question in his column in today’s New York Times. Herbert lamented that President Obama’s speech on the smart grid last week, in which Obama touted $3.4 billion in energy funding, had fallen flat with the public. So had Vice President Biden’s announcement the same day that federal funds would help re-open an idled former GM plant in Wilmington, Del. to manufacture plug-in hybrid vehicles. As noted by Herbert, more important that the size of the grants was Obama’s call to action for anew direction on energy that will bring much-needed jobs and a more secure future.

I agree. There is a disconnect between President Obama’s eloquent message and its reception. On the other hand, it’s understandable that a public facing unemployment. Stimulus funds are a good thing, and there needs to be more of it. But there also needs to be a much bigger focus on job creation and training. It will take workers to make President Obama’s vision a reality.

What are your thoughts? Can the smart grid be a engine for job growth?

Source: Cielo Wind Power

At a time of tight lending by U.S. banks, commercial banks in China have stepped in to put up $1.5 billion for a giant wind farm in West Texas. The project is a joint venture between Austin, Texas-based Cielo Wind Power LP, private equity firm U.S. Renewable Energy Group, and China’s Shenyang Power Group, which will receive the funding through the commercial banks in China. The Associated Press quotes Cappy McGarr, managing director of the U.S. Renewable Group, as saying  the project will also tap into U.S. stimulus funding for renewable energy.

The JV partners say the project is the largest-ever joint U.S.-China investment in renewable energy in America. The 36,000-acre wind farm will have the power to provide electricity to 180,000 homes. A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd., will supply 240 units of the 2.4 megawatt wind turbines, which will be manufactured at A-Power’s facilities in Shenyang, China. A-Power is a shareholder in Shenyang Power Group. A-Power will begin manufacturing the turbines next March and will deliver all 240 turbines by March 2011.

The joint venture says a lot about the positive role of much-needed for stimulus spending and the damage that tight credit continues to have on this economy. Manufacturing has rebounded in China, where it has benefitted from a massive stimulus package. In July T. Boone Pickens’ company, Mesa Power,  dropped its plans for a 4,000 megawatt wind farm in Texas, pinning the decision on tight credit and low natural gas prices. The American Wind Energy Association said last week that in its third quarter the U.S. wind energy industry installed 1,649 megawatts of generating power, an increase compared to the previous quarter. But manufacturing still lagged below 2008 levels.

The U.S. wind industry installed 1,649 megawatts of power generating power during the third quarter, according to the third quarter market report of the American Wind Energy Association. The wind industry so far has added 5,800 megawatts of total capacity. The amount of added capacity during the third quarter is higher than the second quarter of 2009 or the third quarter of 2008.

Yet the AWEA says that wind turbine manufacturing lags behind 2008 levels, both in production and in new announcements–not surprising during this recession but still disappointing.

Wind power installations are up, and that is good news for America’s economy, environment, and energy security,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. “But manufacturing, which has the potential to employ many more Americans in good, clean energy jobs, remains uncertain. A firm, long-term national commitment to renewable energy is still needed for the U.S. to become a wind turbine manufacturing powerhouse and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Furthermore, AWEA doesn’t expect the fourth quarter of this year to be as strong as the fourth quarter of 2008 since the 5,000 megawatts now under construction is nearly 38% lower than the over 8,000 megawatts under construction at this time last year.

Arizona, which just installed its first utility-scale project, posted the highest wind power growth rate in the third quarter. Texas far outstripped any other state, both in additions of new wind power capacity during the third quarter and total wind operating capacity.

Two renewable energy companies, Clairvoyant Energy of Santa Barbara, Calif. and Xtreme Power, based in Austin, Texas, have signed an agreement with Ford Motor Co. to begin redevelopment of Ford’s idled Wixom, Mich. plant as a renewable energy manufacturing park. Both companies plan an initial investment of $725 million to develop the 320-acre site.

Xtreme Power, which manufactures power management and storage systems, will renovate 1 million square feet of the Wixom site to manufacture large-scale power systems to store renewable energy such as solar and wind power. Clairvoyant will redevelop a portion of the site to manufacture solar panels. It will use thin-film manufacturing equipment supplied by Oerlikon Solar, a Swiss company, which will open a regional office in Wixom.

Clairvoyant and Xtreme will occupy about half of the available manufacturing space and will attempt to lure additional green-manufacturing companies to lease the remaining space. Manufacturing is scheduled to begin at the site by late 2011. Ford opened the Wixom plant in 1957 and produced the Lincoln Continental, Town Car, and Thunderbird there before idling the plant in 2007.

The companies say the redeveloped site will create 4,000 jobs. That’s a tiny dent in Michigan’s massive unemployment, which is over 15%. But the state has had some success in converting some of its manufacturing base from automotive to renewable energy. Last month General Motors opened a $43 million plant in Brownstown, about 20 miles outside of Detroit, to manufacture lithium-ion batteries for the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle.