Anyone who follows the US wind energy industry knows all too well how US Congress has consistently disrupted it. The wind energy production tax credit (PTC) is equivalent to what other energy industries have coded into law. The wind industry, on the other hand, has had it implemented for 1-3 years at a a time and renewal has been left in limbo several years up until the very end of the year. Or, in some cases, the wind industry has been left at the alter as the PTC hasn’t been renewed by the end of the year.
It’s ironic that an industry widely supported by the public, Republicans and Democrats alike, gets messed with so much while fossil fuel industries and the nuclear industry get unquestioned support. Tens of thousands of jobs put on the line time and time again, some of them lost forever to the whims of political positioning and selfishness.
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) recently released the US Wind Industry Second Quarter 2014 Market Report. It is quite concise, so I encourage you to go check it out. 5 charts in particular stood out to me, and a couple of them stimulated that rant above. Here are the charts (along with a little more commentary):
Getting Messed With
Big Texas
Ironically, Texas have a popular saying, “Don’t mess with Texas.” A lot of people in Texas are certainly getting messed with. Ironically, most of them are probably Republicans, getting messed with by Republican congresspeople.
Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao.
Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.