Economic Development

Wind Energy Costs Trending Down

Since 2008 wind turbine prices in the U.S. have fallen by nearly one-third on average, according to a new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). "Understanding Trends in Wind Turbine Prices Over the Past Decade" examines how $-per-kW costs have declined in recent years, after having previously doubled over the period from 2002 through 2008. Berkeley Lab analyzed price data on a sampling of U.S. wind turbine transactions totaling 23,850 megawatts from 1997 through early 2011.

Commercial (Large) Scale

The Wind Industry

General News

Rural Summit on Capitol Hill Seeks Sustainable Solutions

“Local ownership through Community Wind development not only provides initial construction jobs, but more importantly it provides long-term economic activity.”

—Dan Juhl, Chairman and CEO, Juhl Wind, Inc.

Washington, D.C., April 28, 2010 - U.S. Senators Harry Reid, Blanche Lincoln, and Debbie Stabenow were joined by former president Bill Clinton and wind energy developer Dan Juhl as they hosted a Rural Summit at the capitol. The event brought together stakeholders from communities around the country to focus on revitalizing rural America through economic development and job creation, and preserving the rural way of life for future generations.

Economic Development

Policy - Federal Level

Benefits of Community Wind

General News

Economic Development Impacts of Community Wind Projects: A Review and Empirical Evaluation

“Economic Development Impacts of Community Wind Projects: A Review and Empirical Evaluation” by E. Lantz and S. Tegen, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in April 2009.

Minnesota Energy Careers

Reasons to consider a career in wind energy in the state of Minnesota:

Topic:

Economic Development

Property Taxation of Wind Generation Assets

"Property Taxation of Wind Generation Assets," North American Windpower, May 2006, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 31-34. This article, written by Warren Ault, summarizes research he did for Windustry in 2005 into the actual and potential local economic benefits of wind power, focusing particularly on a survey of the varieties of approaches throughout the United States to the use of local property taxes. Click on the link below to download a PDF copy of the article.