It's a Breeze: European Firms Bring Years of Experience to U.S. Wind Power Market - Knowledge@Wharton
European wind-power firms see an opportunity in the United States' increasing interest in alternative energy. Indeed, the inroads that electricity-generating wind turbine technology has made in the U.S. are due in large part to the efforts of companies based in Europe. <...> "Wind at present becomes viable as a result of its subsidies," says Matthew White, a business and public policy professor at Wharton. Barring a sudden technological leap, "wind would not be competitive with coal" absent incentives such as the Production Tax Credit. So, with the PTC's inconsistent history, why are so many European firms jumping into the U.S. wind energy arena? And for that matter, why are wind "farms" a much more common sight throughout Europe than in the United States? "In Europe, there's more of a willingness to move forward on environmental protection," White said. "Europe has been a whole lot more willing to pay the short term price. That price can include the higher upfront costs of enacting more aggressive regulation. And it can also encompass subjective costs -- such as aesthetic concerns about the siting of wind turbines." <...> While European nations have leapt ahead of the curve in wind power development, a number of organizations see the makings of a brand new U.S. economy based on sustainable technology and practices. The Center for American Progress report also called for a two-year, $100 billion federal stimulus package to encourage six "green" infrastructure areas, including wind. The report's authors say the program could be paid for in full through a "cap-and-trade" carbon auction in which companies would pay for the right to pollute above a pre-set standard. The report also claimed that such a program would create two million jobs, as people would be needed to retrofit buildings for energy efficiency, expand mass transit, build and maintain "smart grid" electrical transmission systems, and develop wind and solar power, along with renewable biofuels, to ease demand for foreign oil.
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"Wind at present becomes viable as a result of its subsidies," says Matthew White, a business and public policy professor at Wharton. Barring a sudden technological leap, "wind would not be competitive with coal" absent incentives such as the Production Tax Credit. So, with the PTC's inconsistent history, why are so many European firms jumping into the U.S. wind energy arena? And for that matter, why are wind "farms" a much more common sight throughout Europe than in the United States?
"In Europe, there's more of a willingness to move forward on environmental protection," White said. "Europe has been a whole lot more willing to pay the short term price. That price can include the higher upfront costs of enacting more aggressive regulation. And it can also encompass subjective costs -- such as aesthetic concerns about the siting of wind turbines."
While European nations have leapt ahead of the curve in wind power development, a number of organizations see the makings of a brand new U.S. economy based on sustainable technology and practices. The Center for American Progress report also called for a two-year, $100 billion federal stimulus package to encourage six "green" infrastructure areas, including wind. The report's authors say the program could be paid for in full through a "cap-and-trade" carbon auction in which companies would pay for the right to pollute above a pre-set standard. The report also claimed that such a program would create two million jobs, as people would be needed to retrofit buildings for energy efficiency, expand mass transit, build and maintain "smart grid" electrical transmission systems, and develop wind and solar power, along with renewable biofuels, to ease demand for foreign oil.
Just like nuclear, wind was originally mainly developed in the US which then abandoned the tech and left it to Europe, who are now redeploying it in the US.
Just consider that the ArevaSiemens EPR comes from the French family of PWRs which originally is based on a US Navy submarine reactor design. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
