U.S. wind energy industry statement on Western Governors' Association

Ron Lehr, Western Representative of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), today issued the following comment on the report by the Western Governors' Association (WGA)'s Clean and Diversified Energy Advisory Committee (CDEAC) www.westgov.org/wga/meetings.pdf

"The American wind energy industry welcomes and applauds the Western Governors' CDEAC report. Many of its recommendations, if fully implemented, will remove roadblocks to wind power development and thereby help strengthen the nation's economy, environment, and energy security.

The Western Governors' Association's clean and diversified energy effort has been years in the making. Renewable energy advocates paved the way with reports documenting the supply of efficiency and renewables available in the West. The WGA adopted a resolution in 2005 calling for 30,000 MW of clean energy and for a collaborative report to realize this future. Today, WGA approval of the CDEAC report endorses this vision.

In these recommendations, work is required by both the states and the federal government. In particular, the WGA recognizes that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has provided a number of tools in its May 19, 2006 proposed reforms of the 888 Tariff on interconnection and transmission. AWEA welcomes the WGA's call to cooperation with the FERC Commissioners described in the CDEAC report, and looks forward to working with all parties to ensure fair market access for new technologies like wind."

AWEA also commends the following provisions in the resolution www.westgov.org.pdf

--Provide for a long-term (10-year) extension of the production tax credit for all renewable energy technologies, with complementary polic[ies] for consumer-owned utilities and tribes;

-- Raise the cap on the residential investment tax credit to $10,000 for renewable energy or distributed generation systems;

--Encourage proactive, transparent, stakeholder-driven regional transmission expansion planning, defer to existing regional and sub-regional processes that meet such standards, and reform imbalance penalties to allow for greater use of the existing transmission system.

--Western Governors support reforms in the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Open Access Transmission Tariff to implement the recommendations of the CDEAC that promote (a) regional transmission planning expansion and (b) expanded use of the existing transmission grid by reforming imbalance penalties.

AWEA, formed in 1974, is the national trade association of the U.S. wind energy industry. The association's membership includes turbine manufacturers, wind project developers, utilities, academicians, and interested individuals. More information on wind energy is available at the AWEA web site: www.awea.org .