Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has received an order from China Guangdong Nuclear Wind Power Company for the delivery of 116 of its 850kW V52 wind turbines, bringing the total capacity of V52 wind turbines sold to the company to 500MW.

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Suppliers to this Sector

• Funke Huster Fernsig GmbH

The new wind projects completed in 2008 account for about 42% of the entire new power-producing capacity added nationally last year, according to initial estimates, and will avoid nearly 44 million tons of carbon emissions, the equivalent of taking over 7 million cars off of the road.    

The amount that the industry brought online in the 4th quarter alone – 4,112 MW – exceeds annual additions for every year except 2007.  In all, wind energy generating capacity in the U.S. now stands at 25,170 MW, producing enough electricity to power the equivalent of close to 7 million households and strengthening our national energy supply with a clean, inexhaustible, homegrown source of energy.  

Iowa, with 2,790 MW installed, surpassed California (2,517 MW) in wind power generating capacity. The top five states in terms of capacity installed are now: 

-Texas, with 7,116 MW
-Iowa, with 2,790 MW
-California, with 2,517 MW
-Minnesota, with 1,752 MW
-Washington, with 1,375 MW

Oregon moved into the club of states with more than 1,000 MW installed, which now counts seven states:  Texas, Iowa, California, Minnesota, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon.

Why China???  Answer is in the 100,000MW’s of potential wind power just in China which is the equivalent of the entire world presently……….

Vestas turns to Inner Mongolia to drive Chinese expansion plans

World’s largest turbine manufacturer confirms it will press ahead with Chinese plans despite global downturn

James Murray, BusinessGreen, 27 Jan 2009

If the economic world wide crisis continues, wind power could take a direct tornado to future growth…….

“The financial downturn has begun to take a serious toll on new wind development,” said Denise Bode, the group’s top executive, in releasing statistics on the industry’s dramatic growth during 2008.

Last year, the U.S. industry gained 13,000 direct jobs in wind turbine and component manufacturing as a growing percentage — now about half — of wind turbines and components are now made domestically.

Overall wind-produced electricity still totals just under 2 percent of all electricity generated. But new wind turbines accounted for 42 percent of electricity growth in 2008, almost as big a share as new natural gas plants, said the association.

“Our numbers are both exciting and sobering,” said Bode. She said the growth in wind energy production shows the industry is “ready to deliver” on Obama’s call to double renewable energy production in three years.

But the industry is not escaping the tough economic times, largely because of the credit crunch that has delayed projects. “We are already seeing layoffs in the area where wind promise is greatest for our economy — the wind power manufacturing sector,” said Bode.

The industry’s bittersweet scorecard comes as it argues on Capitol Hill for a chunk of the $825 billion economic recovery package that includes tax breaks for renewable energy investment and production.

“Quick action on the stimulus bill is vital to restore the industry’s momentum,” Bode contended.

Congress already has provided tax breaks for wind energy, but the industry maintains those credits aren’t worth much if there is no taxable income.

Lawmakers in the House are considering, instead, government grants to cover 30 percent of upfront costs of wind energy investments. A draft Senate version has no such provision, although it would provide a 30 percent investment tax credit for renewable energy, including wind power.

Despite the robust growth in 2008, the wind association cited the following recent announcements of layoffs in turbine manufacturing because of the credit crunch and a slowdown in projects:

—Clipper Windpower, a turbine maker, announced it was furloughing 90 of its 830 workers mainly at a manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa;

—LM Glasfiber, a maker of turbine blades, is laying off 150 workers at one of two plants in Little Rock, Ark.;

—DMI Industries, which makes wind turbine towers at facilities in North Dakota, Oklahoma and Ontario, Canada, is cutting its work force by 20 percent.

—Aerisyn, also a tower manufacturer, announced in November a layoff of 54 workers at its plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.

—Trinity Structural Towers, a subsidiary of Trinity Industries of Texas, also in November announced the layoff of 131 workers at its plant in Tulsa, Okla.