President Obama's Energy Plan Could Benefit Wind Energy
Our 44th U.S. President, Barack Obama, has laid out an ambitious clean energy plan. In his inaugural address, he highlighted energy as one of the major challenges facing the nation.
“Each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet,” he said. “We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and our factories.
Iowa Governor Chet Culver is in strong support of President Obama’s detailed energy plan that calls for further investment in wind energy. According to recent statistics, Iowa has once again moved up to be third in the nation in wind energy production.
As of November 2008, Iowa has nearly 1,400 wind turbines installed that produce over 1,300 megawatts of clean energy.
“President Obama has a record of supporting Iowa’s wind energy industry, and he has a plan to strengthen it and create quality green-collar jobs throughout Iowa and the nation.”
The wind energy sector alone accounts for 2,300 jobs around Iowa.
Many people in the renewable energy industry are expecting the clean technology industry to get a major boost by its new commander in chief. Many are unsure of exactly what he will be able to achieve during his first term in office and feel the goals he has set forth will be challenging to meet.
However, many say his plan is exactly what the wind energy industry needs to prepare for the future.
Some of the proposed legislation in President Obama’s plan that will help the wind industry include:
- Extend the federal Wind Production Tax Credit for 5 years.
- Invest in a Smart Grid. Obama’s administration said it will pursue a “major investment” in the national utility grid using smart metering, distributed storage and other advanced technologies.
- Establish a federal Renewable Portfolio Standard that requires 10% of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2012, and 25% by 2025.
- Double Farm Bill funding for wind programs. Demand for the Rural Energy for America Program exceeds available funding by about a three to one margin. To close that gap, President Obama proposes doubling this program to increase incentives for locally-owned wind power.
