The Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center, NextEnergy, and Shepherd Advisors have collaborated to issue a Market Diversification Opportunity Brief focused on utility-scale wind power systems.
The brief calls wind power a serious opportunity for Michigan manufacturers. The statistics-packed report cites an average annual industry growth rate of 29 percent between 2000-2006 and projects growth in the market of over $5 billion annually from 2008-2015.
The report provides an informative snapshot of domestic demand, subsystems parts and components, key players, issues and contact references.
Funding for the report was provided through a grant to NextEnergy by the 21st Century Jobs Fund and is available for download at www.mmtc.org/download/Wind_Power.aspx.
Wind power is capable of becoming a major contributor to America's electricity supply over the next three decades, according to "20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy's Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply," a study released by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Included in the report is an examination of America's technological and manufacturing capabilities, U.S. wind energy resources and the environmental and economic impacts of wind development. Under the 20 percent wind scenario, installations of new wind power capacity would increase to more than 16,000 MW per year by 2018, and continue at that rate through 2030.
"The report identifies the central constraints to achieving 20 percent -- transmission, siting, manufacturing and technology -- and demonstrates how each can be overcome," says Randall Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Association. "As an inexhaustible domestic resource, wind strengthens our energy security, improves the quality of the air we breathe, slows climate change, and revitalizes rural communities."
The report finds that achieving a 20 percent wind contribution to the U.S. electricity supply would:
* reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation by 25% in 2030;
* reduce natural gas use by 11 percent;
* reduce water consumption associated with electricity generation by 4 trillion gallons by 2030;
* increase annual revenues to local communities to more than $1.5 billion by 2030; and
* support roughly 500,000 jobs in the U.S., with an average of more than 150,000 workers directly employed by the wind industry.
According to Suedeen Kelly, commissioner of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the 20 percent scenario would cost 2 percent more than the cost of the baseline scenario without wind.
For the full report, visit http://20percentwind.org/.
E-Mail Story
Print Story
