Wind Me Up
The Energying Information Administration ("EIA") recently released the 2005 edition of their report named Renewable Energy Annual. What exactly does this report cover you ask?
The Renewable Energy Annual 2005 is the eleventh in a series of annual publications on renewable energy by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The 2005 edition presents four reports, accompanied with data tables and graphics covering various aspects of the renewable energy marketplace.The renewable energy sources included are biomass (wood, wood waste, municipal solid waste, landfill gas, ethanol and other biomass); geothermal; wind; solar (solar thermal and photovoltaic); and conventional hydropower.
Hydroelectric pumped storage facilities are excluded, because they usually use non-renewable energy sources for their operation. Since the EIA collects data only on terrestrial (land-based) solar energy systems, satellite and some military applications are also excluded.
The big news coming out of this report is the increase in American wind energy consumption. Total renewable energy consumption in 2005 was 6.588 quadrillion Btu, up 2.4% from 6.433 in 2004. However, wind energy consumption grew 25.6% over the same period. Granted, the total amount of wind energy consumed is not much (at 0.178 in 2005), but the growth is the story.
Wind is taking off and has a lot of headroom to grow. While wind is growing like a weed, conventional hydroelectric, solar energy, and geothermal energy are all in the growth doldrums.
The difference between wind energy and all other renewable sources becomes even more pronounced when you compare growth since 2001. From 2001 to 2005, wind energy consumption has grown 156%. None of the other sources has grown more than 21% during the same time ... although hydroelectric is a much more mature source of renewable energy, with most of the available power already harnessed for years.
Still, it's clear that the market believes wind power is where the action is going to be going forward. News that Shell is going to build a 3,000 megawatt wind farm in Texas - four times bigger than any other existing wind farm - shows that the turn to wind is at the head of a long tail.
