An article on knowledge@wharton says that the progress made by electricity generating wind turbine technology in the US is influenced greatly by the know-how brought in by European companies.
This article gives a number of examples to show how European companies are moving in to fill the opportunities created by the United States' increasing interest in alternate energy.
Some of the companies with large projects include Danish firm Vestas Wind Systems, Spanish firms Iberdrola, Acciona and Gamesa and German firms Fuhrlander, Nordek and Siemens.
US policy has so far extended a Production Tax Credit, or PTC, on electricity generation from wind, making it competitive with conventional power such as coal. Technologically advanced wind turbines produce electricity at a cost of about five cents per kilowatt-hour, comparable to a coal plant. But the initial investments required to build the wind-power generating facilities are in millions of dollars, and government encouragement by way of tax credits has not been steady.
Leave a comment