$93 Million for Wind Energy
- Image by thinkpanama via Flickr
Good news for purveyors of wind power.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu just announced plans to provide $93 million in stimulus money to support development of wind energy. That includes $43 million for wind turbine drivetrain systems, $14 million for technology development, $24 million for wind power research and development, and $10 million for upgrading the government’s National Wind Technology Center.
For companies already in the wind business–and those who believe in its effectiveness–this announcement comes at an opportune time. Thanks to the global downturn and credit crisis, the wind-power industry has been struggling recently. According to a Business Week article, citing a study by Emerging Energy Research, new installed wind capacity worldwide is projected to increase by only 14% in 2009. That’s not even half the growth rate of the past ten years.
Also, with this new infusion of cash, I’m betting on an amplifier effect. Encouraged by all that government funding, investors will start putting more money into wind-power businesses. It’s a pattern we’ll see in other areas, not just in wind. For example, I’ve written about how advanced-battery and fuel-cell startups raised $126 million in the first three months of this year compared to $34 million raised in the fourth quarter, at a time when most cleantech investments have tanked. That success is largely due to the $2 billion in stimulus money going to batteries, plus $25 billion in direct loans for advanced vehicles.
Bottom line: Green sectors getting stimulus money will also attract more private investment. Two for the price of one.
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$93M is a drop in the bucket. We’re still looking at this as a subsidy (as with public health) instead of a national security issue. Swapping gas cars for electric cars powered by burning coal hardly solves the trade balance issue, much less the environmental problems from carbon.
We have dire needs in transforming the workforce from flipping burgers, stocks, and houses to a nation of engineers, technicians, and designers, and energy / infrastructure is ultimately engineering.
I agree with everything you said. And also I think that the whole carbon offset approach is simply a bandaid, it doesn’t do anything about really curbing the use of energy. And we can’t just say okay, now we’ll just drive electric cars instead of gas cars and take care of the problem. The point is we have to consume less, drive fewer cars, develop more mass transit. It seems hopeless.
Not hopeless- but the alternative is going to involve massive amounts of information technology in everyday life to a degree we’re not used to. I’m writing my dissertation about it right at this very moment (or at least I’d be finishing faster if it weren’t for that damn true/slant blog site wasting my time.)
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