Wind Turbine Industry

The Future of Energy?

History of Wind Turbines People have been using wind power to mill their grain

and pump water for thousands of years In 1888 the first electrical wind turbine was created in

Cleveland Ohio Widely used in inaccessible areas in the 1920s and

1930s in the Midwest. Until the government extended the power grid into area while creating jobs during the Great Depression.

Oil crisis in the 1970s caused large building efforts of wind turbines around the world.

Worries over green houses gasses in the 1990s spurred on support for wind turbines.

Wind Energy Now There are now several power grids operating at over 5% of

their energy using wind power. (2009) Denmark 19% Spain and Portugal 11% Germany and Ireland 6%

USA produces about 2% of its power using wind energy Current U.S. wind farms

can generate 35.6 gigawatts of electricity. Texas, Iowa and California have the most installed capacity.

Total world production of Wind Power.

Cost to the Consumer As of 2006 the cost of Energy in the US per megawatt hour

averaged: Wind $55.80 (5 cents-7 cents kwh) Coal $53.10 Natural Gas $52.50

Although the cost of wind power is slightly more then other sources, it is a fifth of the cost it was in the 1980s (30 cents kwh). This downward trend is expected to continue with the implementation of larger and more numerous turbines.

Cost breakdown: Relatively high construction costs Borrowed Funds and Investments Return to the Investors Maintenance

Government Policy About a dozen wind projects have been proposed off the eastern

United States but none have been built, largely due to the complicated process of securing regulatory approval and connecting wind power to the grid.

Matt Guyette, global strategy leader for renewable energy at General Electric Co: "Certainly, transmission is one of the major challenges for offshore,

but in the long term a bigger challenge is long-term stable policy" "The one thing that will grow investment the most is a long-term

renewable energy standard." There are regulations in place that require utilities to buy a

certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar installations. Several eastern states have them but there is no national standard.

Countries such as Canada and Germany have assured grid access for wind power.

Subsidies 30% subsidy on land in the form of a grant. Up to 2.1 cents per kilowatt hour subsidy. There is a federal tax credit on wind energy for

manufacturers. Many states have no property taxes on windmills.

Wind Power in Massachusetts

Town Wind Turbine: Hull Cape Wind:

Nantucket Sound

Wind Power in MassachusettsHull Wind turbine erected in Hull was backed

with 95% support amongst town residence. Turbine creates 1.5 Megawatts, enough to

power the street lights (10% of the towns power).

Plans are in the works to build 4 larger turbines in town waters off the coast to supply 15 megawatts of power, enough to power the whole town.

Wind Power in MassachusettsCape Wind Legal process began in 2001. Became the first offshore wind farm lease in U.S. waters,

signed on October 6th, 2010. 130 turbines creating 454 megawatts of power 2.5 billion dollars Less than two years to build National Grid would begin purchasing power from Cape

Wind in 2013 at 20.7 cents/KWh and the price would increase 3.5% per year over 15 years.

National Grid estimates that the agreement would add $1.59 per month to its average customers electricity bill.

Create around one thousand jobs

Cape Wind

The Atlantic Wind Connection 350-mile underwater electric cable project from Virginia to

New Jersey, led by transmission-line developer Trans-Elect. Would enable offshore wind turbines to transmit their

electricity to the coast. Serve as a backup for the onshore transmission grid. Google has donated to the 5 billion dollar project along with

Japan's Marubeni Corp and New York investment firm Good Energies.

The project would help developers of offshore wind farms surmount a major cost challenge -- connecting their turbines to the grid.

It could help grid operators avoid or more quickly recover after power outages.

The East Coast has few turbines, because of a lack of open space. Offshore installations could generate electricity close to major population centers. The sea floor off the West Coast drops away too quickly to make offshore turbines practical on that side of the country.

The Atlantic Wind Connection

The cable would meet the power needs of some 1.9 million households.

Transmission lines at least 15 miles offshore would be barely visible from shore which was one of the objections that people had to things like Cape Wind.

Offshore wind on the East Coast could generate about 127 gigawatts of power, enough to meet half of those states' current electric demand, according to a recent study by ocean conservation group Oceana.

The grid would save developers who build installations near it the cost and complexity of building their own transmission lines that reach all the way to shore.

Future of Wind Large Turbines in

buildings Small turbines on

buildings in cities Vertical wind

turbines

Theoretically, the potential for wind power on land and near shore is 5 times the worlds current energy usage.

Stock Vestas http://

finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=VWSYF.PK#chart6:symbol=vwsyf.pk;range=5y;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined

GEhttp://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GE+Interactive#chart1:symbol=ge;range=5y;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined

Gamesa http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GCTAF.PK+Interactive#chart1:symbol=gctaf.pk;range=5y;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined

Google http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GOOG+Interactive#chart1:symbol=goog;range=5y;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined

Some investors have raised concerns that Google will misspend its hefty reserves as it expands beyond its core businesses.

Conclusion Wind is not a finite resource; its continued development

will yield increased benefits to people in the future such as… Offsetting greenhouse gasses Offsetting dependence on foreign sources of energy Protection against future increases in the cost of fossil fuels

as they become more scarce Investments in recent years are only making it easier to

implement this technology. Increasing rate of development means garneted jobs to

come. Cost of wind power is coming down, and will be even

lower once infrastructure is developed more extensively. Private sector is leading movement.