Even as New England doubled the amount of electricity it derives from wind energy last week ”“ from General Electric Co. turbines no less ”“ the governor of Massachusetts promised to deliver on 20 times the region”™s wind power by 2020.
Newton, Mass.-based First Wind Holdings L.L.C. set nearly 40 GE-built turbines spinning on Stetson Mountain in Washington County, Maine, the easternmost county in the United States. It is the second significant wind farm in New England, with First Wind also using GE turbines for its Mars Hill, Maine, plant that went into service in 2006.
The Maine wind farms are the closest opportunity yet for Fairfield County residents to benefit from electricity produced by Fairfield-based GE and Ecomagination, GE lingo for its initiatives to minimize the environmental impact of energy and infrastructure equipment it sells.
In October, the company named Steve Fludder to head the initiative, with Fludder having previously led the startup of GE Energy”™s wind turbine business in Asia, and more recently, its water and process technologies unit based in Dubai.
In the third quarter, GE continued to lead all manufacturers in U.S. wind turbine installations with more than 220 turbines capable of producing 330 megawatts of electricity, or nearly 30 percent of the total U.S. wind market according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
That was half as many more turbines as sold by Denmark-based Vestas Wind Systems A/S in the third quarter, which is the global leader in wind turbines with more than 33,000 installations worldwide.
GE”™s success is having the most direct impact on the Albany, N.Y.-area economy, where the company builds turbines for the U.S. market. GE”™s Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin told investment analysts last month that wind orders were up 5 percent in the fourth quarter to $4 billion, with GE selling about 930 turbines compared with 900 in the fourth quarter of 2007.
But the increase in wind business also benefits downwind suppliers such as Hexcel Corp., a Stamford-based maker of reinforced materials for turbine blades.
Noble Environmental Power Corp. has plans to install nearly 170 more GE turbines in New York, but the Essex-based company has tabled several projects in New York, Vermont and New Hampshire since the onset of the recession.
East of the Mississippi as of the third quarter, New York trailed only Illinois for the most generation capacity from wind turbines, with the ability to provide power to more than 500,000 homes according to AWEA. Texas leads the nation, with about nine times New York”™s wind farm capacity.
Hoping to increase wind power”™s benefits to the New York economy and environment, Scarsdale Assemblyman Amy Paulin introduced a bill last month to require that New York towns take special measures to accommodate alternative energy projects in the zoning process.
The U.S. Department of Energy has stated a goal of deriving 20 percent of the nation”™s electricity from wind turbines by the year 2030, but acknowledges that to do so the nation must find a way to expedite the approval process for turbines and transmission lines.
Until last year, developers had shown scant interest in pursuing big wind farms in New England, in part due to the relatively limited wind here and in part to the cost in time and money of overcoming opposition by some residents to such facilities. Most prominently, Cape Wind L.L.C. has spent the decade fighting to build a large wind farm in Nantucket Sound, antagonizing wealthy residents there who fear spoiled vistas from their coastal homes. Cape Wind cleared hurdles last month with key state and federal agencies, however, even as the Obama administration signaled its interest in pushing ahead with environmental initiatives that could produce jobs.
And in mid-January, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick called for the state to install 2,000 megawatts of capacity ”“ sufficient to supply the energy needs of better than one of every two homes in the Bay State.
Separately, Deepwater Wind is pushing ahead with plans for wind farms off Rhode Island and New Jersey; according to a study by Hartford-based Northeast Utilities and the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, several areas off the coast of southern New England offer outstanding potential for wind energy, including a stretch in Block Island Sound southeast of New London County.
Newton, Mass.-based First Wind Holdings L.L.C. set nearly 40 GE-built turbines spinning on Stetson Mountain in Washington County, Maine, the easternmost county in the United States. It is the second significant wind farm in New England, with First Wind also using GE turbines for its Mars Hill, Maine, plant that went into service in 2006.
The Maine wind farms are the closest opportunity yet for Fairfield County residents to benefit from electricity produced by Fairfield-based GE and Ecomagination, GE lingo for its initiatives to minimize the environmental impact of energy and infrastructure equipment it sells.
In October, the company named Steve Fludder to head the initiative, with Fludder having previously led the startup of GE Energy”™s wind turbine business in Asia, and more recently, its water and process technologies unit based in Dubai.
In the third quarter, GE continued to lead all manufacturers in U.S. wind turbine installations with more than 220 turbines capable of producing 330 megawatts of electricity, or nearly 30 percent of the total U.S. wind market according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
That was half as many more turbines as sold by Denmark-based Vestas Wind Systems A/S in the third quarter, which is the global leader in wind turbines with more than 33,000 installations worldwide.
GE”™s success is having the most direct impact on the Albany, N.Y.-area economy, where the company builds turbines for the U.S. market. GE”™s Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin told investment analysts last month that wind orders were up 5 percent in the fourth quarter to $4 billion, with GE selling about 930 turbines compared with 900 in the fourth quarter of 2007.
But the increase in wind business also benefits downwind suppliers such as Hexcel Corp., a Stamford-based maker of reinforced materials for turbine blades.
Noble Environmental Power Corp. has plans to install nearly 170 more GE turbines in New York, but the Essex-based company has tabled several projects in New York, Vermont and New Hampshire since the onset of the recession.
East of the Mississippi as of the third quarter, New York trailed only Illinois for the most generation capacity from wind turbines, with the ability to provide power to more than 500,000 homes according to AWEA. Texas leads the nation, with about nine times New York”™s wind farm capacity.
Hoping to increase wind power”™s benefits to the New York economy and environment, Scarsdale Assemblyman Amy Paulin introduced a bill last month to require that New York towns take special measures to accommodate alternative energy projects in the zoning process.
The U.S. Department of Energy has stated a goal of deriving 20 percent of the nation”™s electricity from wind turbines by the year 2030, but acknowledges that to do so the nation must find a way to expedite the approval process for turbines and transmission lines.
Until last year, developers had shown scant interest in pursuing big wind farms in New England, in part due to the relatively limited wind here and in part to the cost in time and money of overcoming opposition by some residents to such facilities. Most prominently, Cape Wind L.L.C. has spent the decade fighting to build a large wind farm in Nantucket Sound, antagonizing wealthy residents there who fear spoiled vistas from their coastal homes. Cape Wind cleared hurdles last month with key state and federal agencies, however, even as the Obama administration signaled its interest in pushing ahead with environmental initiatives that could produce jobs.
And in mid-January, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick called for the state to install 2,000 megawatts of capacity ”“ sufficient to supply the energy needs of better than one of every two homes in the Bay State.
Separately, Deepwater Wind is pushing ahead with plans for wind farms off Rhode Island and New Jersey; according to a study by Hartford-based Northeast Utilities and the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, several areas off the coast of southern New England offer outstanding potential for wind energy, including a stretch in Block Island Sound southeast of New London County.
