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Spotlight: U.S. wind power industry needs govt support for development

Xinhua, May 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Although the U.S. wind power industry has improved significantly, it may need four to five years to become an "economic issue" instead of a " political issue", said industry experts at the WINDPOWER 2015 Conference and Exhibition, an annual event held by American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

WINDPOWER 2015, held from May 18 to 21, is the largest annual wind energy trade show in the western hemisphere. It has attracted about 400 exhibitors and about 150 industry leaders and experts this year. During the exhibition, several events are held to discuss the outlook of wind power, from technology improvement, economic analysis to policies.

Driven by technology improvement, government policy and mass installation, wind has become the fifth largest resource in the U. S. electricity portfolio, as the cost has fallen dramatically by 58 percent in the last five years. In 2014, it attracted private investment of 23 billion U.S. dollars while adding 23,000 new jobs. The industry expects the cost of wind power could fall another 25 percent in the next few years.

Chris Brown, president of Vestats, the world's largest wind turbine suppler, expressed his confidence in the falling costs. Several industry leaders added that the falling price would come gradually as it also counts on industries such as construction to lower their costs.

"It's not going to happen with one giant drop," said Michael O' Sullivan, senior vice president of development at NextEra Energy Resources.

Jim Murphy, CFO and COO at Invenergy LLC, said the 25 percent reduction cannot come from turbine cost alone, project costs also need to drop.

Mortenson Construction Vice President and General Manager Tim Maag said that while the project construction segment has made much progress, "we still have a long way to go."

The industry hoped the U.S. Congress to extend production tax credit (PTC), a major policy that has driven the quick development of wind power in the United States in the past years. The PTC can be provided to companies in ten years based on their investments in the wind power sector.

Brown said the wind sector needs the PTC to be extended for four to five years before it is phased out. Enditem