February 7, 2005—After a slow 2004, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) is projecting more than 2,000 megawatts of new wind power capacity in 2005, as wind developers rush to complete their projects before the Production Tax Credit expires again at year end. That growth rate will easily beat the records set in 2001 and 2003, when just under 1,700 megawatts of wind power were installed, and 2004, when only 389 megawatts of wind power were installed.
Wind power may grow even more rapidly in the future, thanks to a new rule proposed in late January by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The proposed FERC rules for connecting wind plants to the grid aims to remove barriers to wind-generated electricity while helping to ensure continued reliability of the power grid. To ease concerns about the effect of wind plants on the grid, FERC proposes to require wind plants to demonstrate the ability to continue operating when the grid experiences a low-voltage condition. Wind facilities would also be required to have supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) capability to ensure real-time communication with the operators of the transmission grid. For a copy of the proposed rule, contact FERC.
