Perspective
Grid reliability is one giant step in mainstreaming the technology.
Wind power is coming of age in the United States. During the past five years, installations have grown by an average 28 percent yearly. Gleaming, high-tech wind turbines now are interconnected to the bulk power grid in some 30 states.
Generators struggle to plan for the future as they cope with an unstable present.
When the acting administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Marianne Horinko, signed the EPA's "routine replacement" rule on Aug. 27, 2003, she proclaimed that the new approach to Clean Air Act regulation would "provide … power plants with the regulatory certainty they need."
Wind developers face a backlash from citizens.
Wind Power: Poised for Take Off?
A survey of projects and economics.
The amount of electricity generated from wind in the U.S. is expected to surge this year - owing in large part to hydropower shortages out West, natural gas price volatility across the country, and high capacity factors for wind turbines, which help to offset the intermittent nature of wind energy generation.