WESCO SELLS A TURBINE!

Our first solo turbine! This turbine is going to be located in Defiance, Ohio along US-24. The company buying the turbine is an FM radio station WOOO 95.5 FM. This turbine will be used to power the radio station and to set a good example for wind energy and WESCO. This is a perfect location of our first turbine to be established at, hopefully other companies and businesses.


THANK YOU

BP to invest $1 billion plus in alt energy this year

LAGUNA NIGUEL, California (Reuters) - Oil major BP Plc plans to invest more than $1 billion this year on alternative energy development, the head of BP's alternative energy unit said on Tuesday.

The company launched its alternative energy division in 2005 and has said it would spend $8 billion in the sector over 10 years to 2015.
Investments are moving forward faster than the company had anticipated and BP expects to pour "a billion plus" into the alternative space this year, said BP Alternative Energy Chief Executive Katrina Landis.
"We have some really attractive investment opportunities which we are pursing," she told Reuters at the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference in Laguna Niguel, California.
She declined to talk about specific deals.
Landis said BP spent $1.3 billion in the alternative energy sector last year, which represented some 6 percent of the company's overall investment.
In response to whether she thought BP would grow the percentage of investment directed toward alternative energy in the future, she said the decision would depend year-to-year on the opportunities available.
"Strategically, we're committed to bringing as many kinds of energies to the market as we can," said Landis.
She also dismissed the possibility of BP's alternative energy division, and units within it, spinning out or moving ahead with an initial public offering -- an idea that was considered by the company a few years ago.
London-based BP is principally involved in four types of alternative technologies: wind power, solar power, carbon capture and storage and biofuels.
"We're absolutely holding these as core businesses," said Landis. "All four of those technology areas have the opportunity to be very sizable."

BP to invest $1 billion plus in alt energy this year

LAGUNA NIGUEL, California (Reuters) - Oil major BP Plc plans to invest more than $1 billion this year on alternative energy development, the head of BP's alternative energy unit said on Tuesday.

The company launched its alternative energy division in 2005 and has said it would spend $8 billion in the sector over 10 years to 2015.
Investments are moving forward faster than the company had anticipated and BP expects to pour "a billion plus" into the alternative space this year, said BP Alternative Energy Chief Executive Katrina Landis.
"We have some really attractive investment opportunities which we are pursing," she told Reuters at the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference in Laguna Niguel, California.
She declined to talk about specific deals.
Landis said BP spent $1.3 billion in the alternative energy sector last year, which represented some 6 percent of the company's overall investment.
In response to whether she thought BP would grow the percentage of investment directed toward alternative energy in the future, she said the decision would depend year-to-year on the opportunities available.
"Strategically, we're committed to bringing as many kinds of energies to the market as we can," said Landis.
She also dismissed the possibility of BP's alternative energy division, and units within it, spinning out or moving ahead with an initial public offering -- an idea that was considered by the company a few years ago.
London-based BP is principally involved in four types of alternative technologies: wind power, solar power, carbon capture and storage and biofuels.
"We're absolutely holding these as core businesses," said Landis. "All four of those technology areas have the opportunity to be very sizable."

Iowa, Texas Top in Wind Power Efforts

Iowa and Texas lead the nation in wind energy efforts, according to the annual report released Thursday from the American Wind Energy Association.

Iowa claims the title for the state with the largest percentage of electricity from wind energy. As of the end of 2009, over 14 percent of Iowa's power was from wind energy.

And while the large state of Texas may still only get a modest percentage of its power from wind energy, it actually has the most wind power capacity of any U.S. state. Texas is also home to the largest wind farm in the U.S.

AWEA, the national trade organization for the wind industry, said that as of the end of 2009 the U.S. installed over 10,000 megawatts worth of wind turbines, enough wind power capacity to provide 2.4 million homes with electricity. (Interestingly, AWEA notes alongside that statistic that three large nuclear power plants could generate the same amount of electricity.)

The increased wind capacity brings the U.S. total to 35,000 megawatts. While that may sound like a lot, it's only enough to power 9.7 million homes annually.

There were 36 U.S. states with utility-scale wind projects installed at the close of 2009. And not surprisingly, General Electric seems to have been a large supplier to those states. The AWEA report said that GE, which has been heavily investing in its wind turbine business in both Europe and the U.S., was the No. 1 seller of wind turbines in the U.S. in 2009.

A modest number of U.S. homeowners and small businesses also showed interest in personal wind energy. Small wind, which the AWEA categorizes as those turbines with a maximum capacity of 100kW, grew 15 percent in 2009 with about 20 megawatts of generating capacity installed in the U.S.

But despite increased interest in wind on land, the U.S. still has no major offshore wind capacity to speak of, according to AWEA. The organization noted that there are seven potential projects in permitting and planning stages awaiting approval from federal and state authorities, as well as regulators. 

US adds record amount of wind power in 2009 -AWEA

* More than 10,000 MW of wind turbines installed in U.S.

* Total capacity hit 35,000 MW, about 1.8 pct of power mix

NEW YORK, April 8 (Reuters) - Installations of wind turbine power hit a record in the United States last year despite the financial crisis that choked off funding for half the year, wind power advocates said on Thursday.

More than 10,000 megawatts of wind power capacity, or 5,700 turbines, were installed in 2009, the American Wind Energy Association said in its annual report, bringing the total capacity in the United States to 35,000 MW.

That kept the United States in the top spot globally for wind power, ahead of China and Germany, which each had about 25.8 MW of capacity. One megawatt is enough power for about 800 U.S. households.

The U.S. wind industry has grown 39 percent on average each of the last five years, and now employs about 85,000 people, many of them in states that have seen other industries close up factories in recent years, AWEA said.

"We really are one of the only bright spots out there in terms of growing the manufacturing centers," AWEA Chief Executive Denise Bode told a press conference.

Turbine makers such as Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS.CO) Suzlon (SUZL.BO) laid off employees in the first half of 2009 as orders slowed to a halt, but activity quickly rebounded after the federal government set rules that allowed companies to use U.S. stimulus funds to help support the industry.

"It was a critical part of the success in 2009," said Don Furman, senior vice president for development at wind energy company Iberdrola Renewables, the second largest wind owner in the country behind FPL Group's (FPL.N) NextEra Energy Resources.

The federal funds were issued through a grant system that replaced a tax credit program, allowing developers who had already built projects to be reimbursed for 30 percent of their construction costs. That helped offset funds that banks pulled out of the market when the credit crisis prompted them to halt lending.

Even with the steady industry growth, wind power generation reached only 1.8 percent of the country's total, up from 1.3 percent at the end of 2008, AWEA said. Although, AWEA said it would cross the 2 percent threshhold this year.

Leading the nation in installed capacity is Texas, with 9,405 MW, followed by Iowa, with 3,679 MW, and California with 2,723 MW.

Even as fast as the U.S. market was growing, China was catching up quickly, according to Steve Sawyer, secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council, and the Asian country's energy appetite made it the largest new wind market in 2009.

Improbable Senate Alliance Could Create an American Waste Biomass Energy Industry

Freshman Democratic Senators Mark Begich (D-AK) and Jean Shaheen (D-NH) have been joined by Republican Senators Mike Crapo(D-ID) and Lisa Murkowski (D-K) in announcing breakthrough bipartisan support for a little-utilized form of renewable energy, with major implications for greenhouse gas reductions in the US in the American Renewable Biomass Heating Act. Their legislation would expand the use of waste biomass in high-efficiency heating systems in commercial and industrial buildings, Brighter Energy reports, by expansion of 30% tax credits to exceed the $1,500 limit, and to extend past the current expiration date of 2013.
Previously both Republicans had joined the now routine minority filibuster to prevent  extending expiring renewable energy tax credits, not once but twice, both voted no on ensuring that when fuel is defined as renewable that it not hurt the environment, and both filibustered against tax credits for renewable biomass, in particular.

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As currently passed, the limited, filibuster-hurdling smaller tax credit only really helps homeowners to install a small pellet stove in a home, because the 30% tax credit maxes out at $1,500 and even that only for just the next three years.
Expanding the low incentive and the limited time-frame would have a major impact because large commercial users require larger capital investment and longer planning times. This would create a US market for innovation in commercial-scale biomass heating systems, and reduce climate-changing greenhouse gas production.
Very innovative large-scale biomass thermal technology is already widely deployed in Europe and contributing to the low EU carbon footprint, jump-started by post-Kyoto cap and trade  incentives. Currently, the UK is eyeing our vast resources of renewable waste biomass.
To qualify for the proposed tax credit, waste biomass boilers and furnaces would have to operate at a 75% efficiency level or greater while providing space heating, air conditioning, domestic hot water or industrial process heat.
Just how incredible is this unlikely alliance?  Senator Murkowski (R-AK)  is the Senator filing a suit against the EPA for limiting greenhouse gas by polluters.  Senator Shaheen (D-NH) was shortlisted as VP by Al Gore during his run for president.
But yesterday Senator Crapo (R-ID) noted correctly that “prioritizing renewable wood fuels would help reduce US dependence on foreign oil” and would “help the timber industry and rural communities” and that “a third of building energy consumption is to generate heat.”
What are the implications for climate legislation? Only two more minority votes are needed to allow the majority to pass good renewable energy legislation in spite of the unprecedented and unethical recent misuse of the filibuster. Collins and Snowe of Maine have consistently sided with Democrats on environmental legislation, but unfortunately, the two other Republican YEA voters were voted out in 2008.
This alliance replaces those two lost votes, on at least one form of renewable energy.
Sadly, waste biomass is becoming an especially abundant resource across many states because our pine forests are dying, because the pine bark beetle now survives each decade’s warmer winter, as just one result of ecosystem destabilization, due to climate change.

Pennsylvania Ranks In Top 20 In Nation In Wind Energy

In many communities across the Alleghenies, coal was once king. But, in recent years, the area has seen the rapid expansion of a different kind of energy: wind.

Now, according to a new study, Pennsylvania ranks among the top 20 when it comes to the wind energy industry -- and it's growing.

Recently, North Allegheny Wind officials said they plan to build a new administrative office building in Gallitzin Township, Cambria County. Energy officials said that building -- coupled with wind farmprojects and a manufacturing facility -- is good for being a power player, but also for jobs.

When it comes to people employed by the wind industry, the Gamesa Plant in Ebensburg alone employs about 250. While some of those positions had to be saved this year with federal stimulus money, the American Wind Industry called that an investment.

On the state level, energy officials said they have good reason to grow in Pennsylvania.

"I talk every day to companies who want to match-make and move their headquarters to the U.S., and Pennsylvania is one of the main places they look because of the policies you put in place in state government there that encourage them to come there first," said Denise Bode, chief executive officer of the American Wind Energy Association.

They said the jobs are here to stay, not just building but also maintaining those turbines. But, some local residents have asked whether the region is really benefiting from wind energy.

Bode said, "Your power right now is being interchanged between all the states. This puts free energy on the grid with avoiding the cost of fossil fuels."