December 02, 2010

The United States has a ton of wind potential and especially offshore. But its inability to develop a reliable energy policy is not just hurting the wind sector, it's also working to benefit the coal industry. That's the view from one manufacturer, which also says that the recession has taken its toll.

Tough times have dented economic production and thus affected energy consumption. But coal has proved itself to be among the most durable fuel. If wind is prioritized, the industry says that it could surpass the expectations. That would entail the new Congress extending the favorable tax breaks that are now given to developers as well as enacting a renewable portfolio standard that mandates more green energy.

November 29, 2010

Several decisions go into a utility's decision to acquire solar energy, including the operations and maintenance costs of ownership. The Electric Power Research Institute has considered the issue with a recent report on the industry's best practices.

Utility scale solar photovoltaic (PV) sites have a cost, unrelated to those associated with energy.

Sure, a utility could rely on a third party power purchase agreement (PPA) as it formerly did. But as they contemplate ownership of both central and distributed solar-based generation, they now must consider system performance, reliability, and asset management priorities.

November 24, 2010

It's that time of year when pundits forecast trends. Pike Research appears to be first out of the gate, so we'll pass them the crystal ball today. Of course, they work pretty hard to quantify market directions, so this isn't a séance but the synthesis of key findings from their 2010 output.

Security threats become tangible.

"People have paid lip service to it, now they're going to worry more about it," said Bob Gohn, a Pike Research senior analyst. "You do security to pass the audit, not necessarily to be secure."

November 23, 2010

The wind industry is putting on a brave face. It says that the results midterm election translate into support for renewable energy. At the federal level, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) is pushing for an extension of tax incentives.

Denise Bode, CEO of AWEA, is still hopeful the industry can maintain policies that are in place and even expand on its legislative priority, a national standard for the procurement and sale of clean electricity.

November 19, 2010

The prolonged economic downturn has slowed progress on development of a new generation of nuclear power plants in the United States, according to an executive with Exelon, which operates the largest nuclear fleet in the United States and the third largest in the world.

Others, however, say that nuclear developments are proceeding at a healthy pace, with the federal government now actively reviewing 13 combined license applications.