Uncertain Financing May Slow Wind Industry’s Growth

The recent credit crunch could slow the wind industry's string of record growth years, the director of the American Wind Energy Association (AWAE) said yesterday.

Generation capacity grew by 1,400 megawatts in the third quarter of this year. AWEA is projecting 2008 will mark wind's fourth consecutive best-ever year, exceeding the 45 percent growth recorded in 2007.  Even so, the wind energy industry's growth could slow in 2009.

Companies are finding capital for new construction more expensive and credit harder to obtain, said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher. "The crisis could further the consolidation of the industry as new entrants have difficult getting access to capital," he said.

Congress' long delay in extending the wind production tax credit, which lawmakers eventually approved as part of the economic bailout legislation, did not help as new wind projects could not secure financing until the credits passed.   By then, then the economy had slowed.  Active wind investors, including Wachovia Corp., American International Group, Inc., and Lehman Brothers, Inc., were not in a position to take advantage of the renewed incentives, he said.

The turnover in the White House and U.S. Congress may present the best opportunity in decades for the industry to advance its legislative agenda, which includes a national renewable energy standard and a long-term extension of tax credits.

The persistent uncertainty of the credits, which have expired three times in the last decade, destabilizes industry growth. Swisher said the most important step will be to make expanding electric transmission capacity a national priority. Without more dramatic intervention, wind projects coming online may never even make it onto the grid.

Contact Deidra Ciriello.

Agency Would Welcome Oversight of Carbon Markets

The chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said he would welcome new authority for overseeing carbon markets, as proposed in a draft climate bill released earlier this month by U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders.

A “discussion draft” of the bill released October 7 by Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-Va.) would authorize a new Office of Carbon Market Oversight within FERC.   As proposed, the director of the oversight office would be appointed by the FERC to guard against fraud and manipulation in carbon trading.

Dingell and Boucher's proposal to give FERC oversight of the carbon markets is a departure from other recent legislative proposals, including a Senate measure (S. 3036) that was defeated in a procedural vote in June.

The Dingell-Boucher bill would authorize a new FERC carbon market board, which would regulate brokers and others who trade emissions allowances in the carbon market. The bill would give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency authority over offsets (cost-effective projects that industries could use to help meet their emissions-reduction targets) and would set industry-specific emissions standards for sources that emit less than 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

It is unclear whether the U.S. House or Senate will move first on climate legislation after the 111th Congress convenes in early 2009. Boucher, who chairs the House energy panel's Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, said recently he and Dingell plan to take the lead on the issue next year

Contact Deidra Ciriello.

Japan Adopts Rules for Voluntary Program

The Japanese government Tuesday adopted final rules for voluntary domestic emissions trading of greenhouse gases and began courting businesses to participate in the program.

Japan hopes the experimental program may eventually serve as a model for other countries to adopt as part of a new international accord to succeed the Kyoto Protocol when that agreement's emissions-reduction provisions expire at the end of 2012.

The document released by the Global Warming Prevention Policy Headquarters said the pilot program will incorporate two frameworks:

The government will conduct an interim review of the program between January and March 2009.   The time frame would allow participants to establish voluntary targets and other necessary procedures to commence emissions trading.

The Japanese program, based on voluntary industry reduction efforts, differs from the European Union's Emission Trading Scheme, a mandatory program that sets emissions limits for certain sectors.

Japan remains reluctant to set emissions-reduction targets for the medium-term, around 2020.   The fear is committing to a mandatory method like the European Union could affect the flexibility of Japanese businesses and put them at a competitive disadvantage.

Contact Deidra Ciriello.

Chamber  Releases New Anti-Card Check Ad

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently complemented its national advertising campaign against the so-called Employee Free Choice Act by releasing a new television commercial.

The Employee Free Choice Act is a misleadingly titled piece of legislation being pushed by labor unions. The measure would replace the federally supervised, private ballot election system that workers typically use when deciding whether or not to join a union.   It would allow unions to organize if a majority of workers simply sign a card, hence the name “Card Check.”

The commercial aims to highlight tactics used by labor unions to get workers to vote in favor of unionizing a workplace by showing a skirmish between an unknown videographer and Bill Londrigan, President of the Kentucky AFL-CIO.

In the commercial, the narrator voices over the altercation and labor leader’s threat, describing the dangers of Card Check and urging viewers to “Tell Congress you don’t want to meet Bill.” 

Click here to view the commercial on the Chamber’s website.

Contact Tom Carter, Kevin Walgenbach, or Kerri Leininger.

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