PR – Iberdrola provided the wind-turbine technology that Community Energy was lacking (and ended up buying the company outright), and today the utility provides enough power from the wind to light up about 6,500 homes. Iberdrola is also on the prowl in other parts of the U.S.; buying out two other wind farm developers last year in Iowa and Virginia. Just last month, Iberdrola offered to purchase Maine’s Energy East Corp., a large utility based in Portland for $4.6 billion. Part of the attraction here is U.S. government tax credits offered for alternative energy investment in wind power.
This is only the tip of the iceberg for wind power going mainstream.
Europe has already committed to a plan that calls for 20% of its energy needs to come from renewable sources by 2020, up from just 6% today, and wind power is expected to play a leading role.
U.S. Playing Catch-up in Wind Energy
The U.S. is working hard at playing catch-up. Last year alone, 2,454 megawatts of wind power was installed in the U.S. – more than the combined power output of two nuclear reactors.
But even though more new wind farms were constructed here last year than anywhere else on the planet, the U.S. sill only gets about 1% of its power needs from wind. But that’s about to change, “20 states now have price supports for wind-generated electricity, and there is a federal tax credit to encourage new wind-park development.”
The big question now is: who’s going to earn the biggest windfall in wind energy riches: European, or U.S. firms?
So far, European firms like Iberdrola seem to have the upper hand in terms of installed wind energy capacity, and it’s not alone.
