The USA gets a solid “B” for its 2008 progress toward reaching 20% of electricity supply from wind energy by 2030, but could be “at the high-water mark” for wind without a strong and immediate national policy commitment to renewable energy, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said.
AWEA’s “20% Wind Report Card” follows up on the release of the 20% Wind by 2030 Technical Report by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in May 2008. Prepared by an in-house team of experts, some of whom worked on the DOE report, the report card examines progress in four key areas--Technology Development, Manufacturing, Siting, and Transmission & Integration. The AWEA Report Card gave a C- to the nation’s efforts on Transmission, with the other indicator areas graded as follows: Technology Development A-, Manufacturing B+, and Siting B. (The report card does not grade progress on national policies to advance wind power, as those were not examined in the DOE report.) According to AWEA, key policy ingredients needed to put the U.S. back on track to reach 20% wind by 2030 include:
- A strong Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) with aggressive near-term targets in energy legislation now pending in Congress.
- Energy legislation that addresses top transmission issues—planning, paying for, and siting new power lines.
