EETD Communications

For the third consecutive year, the U.S. was home to the fastest-growing wind power market in the world in 2007, according to a report released today by the U.S. Department of Energy and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Specifically, U.S. wind power capacity increased by 46 percent in 2007, representing a $9 billion investment in new wind projects. At this pace, wind is on a path to becoming a significant contributor to the U.S. power mix: wind projects accounted for 35% of all new electric generating capacity added in the U.S. in 2007, and more than 200 GW of wind are in various stages of development throughout the country.

The 2007 edition of the Annual Report on U.S. Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends provides a comprehensive overview of developments in the rapidly evolving U.S. wind power market. The need for such a report has become apparent in the past few years, as the wind power industry has entered an era of unprecedented growth, both globally and in the United States. “With the market evolving at such a rapid pace, keeping up with trends in the marketplace has become increasingly difficult,” notes report author Ryan Wiser, of Berkeley Lab. “Yet, the need for timely, objective information on the industry and its progress has never been greater…this report seeks to fill this need.”

Drawing from a variety of sources, this report – the second in an ongoing annual series – analyzes trends in wind power capacity growth, turbine size, turbine prices, installed project costs, project performance, wind power prices, and how wind prices compare to the price of conventional generation. It also describes developer consolidation trends, current ownership and financing structures, and trends among major wind power purchasers. Finally, the report examines other factors impacting the domestic wind power market, including grid integration costs, transmission issues, and policy drivers.

“By consolidating this information into a single, publicly available document, the DOE and Berkeley Lab hope to provide a valuable resource to industry participants, energy regulators, and state and local policymakers,” notes Berkeley Lab co-author Mark Bolinger. Indeed, the inaugural 2006 edition released last year has quickly become a key benchmark by which the wind industry judges its progress, and by which regulators and policymakers evaluate the merits of wind power.

Some of the key findings from the just-released 2007 edition include:

• The U.S. is the fastest-growing wind market worldwide. The U.S. has led the world in new wind capacity for three straight years, and 1.2% of the nation’s electricity supply could be met with the wind capacity on line at the end of 2007.
• Growth is distributed across much of the U.S. States as diverse as Texas, Colorado, Illinois, and Oregon led the U.S. in annual wind capacity growth in 2007. Sixteen states had more than 100 MW of wind capacity installed by the end of 2007, with six topping 1,000 MW.
• Market growth is spurring manufacturing investments in the U.S. Several major foreign wind turbine manufacturers either opened or announced new U.S. wind turbine manufacturing plants in 2007. Likewise, new and existing U.S.-based manufacturers either initiated or scaled-up production. All told, the new turbine and component manufacturing facilities opened or announced in 2007 alone could create more than 4,700 new jobs in the U.S.
• Wind turbine prices and installed project costs have risen since 2002. Turbine price increases have been driven by weakness in the dollar, higher prices for materials and energy inputs, and shortages in certain turbine components – all factors that are impacting many different types of generating technologies.
• Wind project performance has improved in recent years. This improvement in project performance has been driven in part by taller towers and larger rotors, enhanced project siting, and technological advancements.
• Wind power is competitive and has provided good value in wholesale power markets. Despite rising project costs, in recent years, wind power has consistently been priced at or below the average price of conventional electricity, as reflected in wholesale power prices.

Berkeley Lab’s contributions to this report were funded by the Wind & Hydropower Technologies Program, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California. Visit our website at http://www.lbl.gov.

Additional Information:
• The report – Annual Report on U.S. Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends: 2007 – can be downloaded from http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/re-pubs.html
• A PowerPoint presentation summarizing key findings from the report can be found at: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/emp-ppt.html

• The Department of Energy’s press release is available at: http://energy.gov/news/6286.htm

The following information comes from the Research Director of the Demand Response Research Center, Mary Ann Piette,

“The Website for the Draft “Open Automated Demand Response Communication Standards” (Open Auto-DR or OpenADR) is now live for its first public review and comment process — http://drrc.lbl.gov/openadr/

“This document is a draft of the Open Automated Demand Response Communication Standards. The research that led to this standard was funded by the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) Public Interest Energy Research Program (PIER). The work has been carried out by the Demand Response Research Center (DRRC) which is managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The initial goal of the research was to explore the feasibility of developing a low cost communications infrastructure to improve the reliability, repeatability, robustness, and cost-effectiveness of demand response (DR) in commercial buildings. One key research question was: Could today’s technology be used to automate the response of commercial buildings to standardized electricity price signals? Over six years of research, development, and demonstration have led to this standard. The standard outlines communications standards using Web Services to send DR signals to end-use customer systems.

“This technology has been in use for several years and the purpose of this formal standard is to reduce cost, promote interoperability among DR technologies, and allow wide spread price or emergency response in commercial and industrial facilities.

“The OpenADR draft is being officially released in conjunction with Connectivity Week on Monday, May 19 in Santa Clara, CA. The OpenADR Communication Standards and supporting documents along with the review process are posted on the above Website. Please encourage all the stakeholders to visit and send comments.

“Thank you,
Mary Ann Piette
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory”