The biggest wind energy purchaser in the country may sever ties with the industry’s largest trade group in the wake of a bitter fight to sustain subsidies for wind energy producers that, the company says, benefit producers at the expense of utilities and electricity consumers. Xcel Energy, which had the …
Michael Goggin, manager of transmission policy at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), posted a second response to my report “Wind Intermittency and the Production Tax Credit: A High Cost Subsidy for Low Value Power.” As before, Goggin does not respond to my analysis, leaving my main point unanswered. In …
A politically connected renewable energy company has received the go-ahead from the Interior Department to produce wind energy off the coast of Delaware, despite doubts that the project in question will actually materialize. Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with NRG Bluewater …
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar touted President Obama’s record on reducing oil dependence in a speech delivered in Charlotte, NC, this week. Salazar pointed to a decrease in oil imports and an increase in oil production — especially on federal lands — as evidence of the efficacy of Obama’s policies. But, contrary to …
The production tax credit (PTC) for wind energy is set to expire at the end of this year, but its supporters are arguing for an everlasting extension using twisted logic. For a while, the argument was that businesses need certainty. The law as it currently stands provides certainty—eligibility for the …
Real men wear pink. Real women wear fur. And real market-based policy doesn’t include special interest subsidies. Sadly, lots of legislation fails the real free market test. So it is with one of Washington’s favorite energy sources du jour: energy production tax credits (PTC). Sadly, anti-market policies like the expansion …
President Obama will make a push for wind energy subsidies on Thursday at the Iowa production facilities of a politically connected wind turbine manufacturer with ties to his administration. The appearance could serve to reinforce perceptions of cronyism in the administration’s “green jobs” push. At the manufacturing facilities of TPI …
