Wind Force 12 is an informative report sponsored by the European Wind Energy Association and Green Peace on the global status of wind power(Read more). Published in May 2004, it is the5th edition of a study initially commissioned by the Danish Forum for Energy and Development. A section devoted to the United States recognizes that the US has an “enormous wind resource” whose commercial realization has been hindered by the fact that Congress allowed the federal wind energy production tax credit to expire at the end of 2003 for the third time in less than five years.
Still, even without a stable national policy the industry installed 1,687MW in 2003. Fourteen states now have set minimum renewable energy requirements for their utilities’ generation mix.
As the report notes: “Unlike some other ‘solutions’ to clean energy and climate protection, wind power does not need to be invented, not is there a need to wait for any magical ‘breakthrough’; it is ready for global implementation now. Modern wind farms provide bulk power equivalent to conventional power stations.”
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