Welcome to Wind-Works
An on-line archive of articles and commentary on wind and solar energy, community power, Feed-in Tariffs, and Advanced Renewable Tariffs.
Join the Alliance for Renewable Energy and support a grass roots movement that's bringing feed laws and feed-in tariffs back home to North America.
Sign Up, if you would like to be added to my email distribution list on feed-in tariff developments worldwide.--Paul Gipe
August 23, 2010
What's New on Feed-in Tariffs
- It's Official: Ontario Third in North American 2009 Solar PV Capacity--Now in a Race for Second with New Jersey . . .The Canadian province pushed aside Florida with an installation of 46 MW of solar PV and was only behind New Jersey, 57 MW, and California with 212 MW according to a report by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). . .
- Japan's METI Proposes Feed-in Tariffs--Recently, the International Renewable Energy Agency's Mika Ohbayashi summarized Japan's proposal for a system of feed-in tariffs. . .
- Ontario Splits MicroFIT Tariff into Two Tranches--The Ontario Power Authority (OPA) revised the microFIT tariff in the province's groundbreaking feed-in tariff program on August 13, 2010, splitting the tariff into two tranches. . . CanSIA Expects Record Year . . .
- Italy 2011 Solar PV Tariffs--Table of Proposed 2011 Italian solar PV tariffs. . .
- US Ambassador to Finland Supports Feed-in Tariff--Finland is on the verge of implementing a “feed-in” tariff to help accelerate the expansion of renewable wind power within its borders. In my opinion this is a great idea . . .
- Telegraph: Renewable energy is the cash crop of the future for British farmers--Visitors are stalking Britain's rural communities in unsuitable footwear, offering farmers the deal of a lifetime. They're not pushing a wonder fertilizer or trying to side-step their local farmers' market in the hunt for a new superfood, but offering help to cash in on the new gold rush - solar power. . .
- Germany's Renewable Energy Agency Current Facts and Figures--a short compendium of official statistics on German renewables . . .
- Malaysia's 2011 Proposed Solar, Biomass, Biogas, & Hydro Tariffs--In a presentation on July 29th, 2010, Ahmad Hadri Haris, the chief technical advisor to Malaysia's Minister of Energy, announced proposed feed-in tariffs for solar photovoltaics (PV), biomass, biogas, and minihydro. . .
- CAP on New York Times Story on Portugal's Renewables Success--Yesterday’s New York Times article (“Portugal Gives Itself a Clean Energy Makeover”) on Portugal’s transition to a clean energy economy should be welcome news for renewable energy advocates. . . Portuguese officials didn’t mess around with low-level incentives and meaningless goals. Instead, they implemented the most successful renewable electricity incentive in the world: a feed-in tariff. . .
- Times Argus: Vermont Legislative Council casts doubt that FERC's ruling on California FITs will have an impact--"It also appears that Vermont’s feed-in tariff is much different than the program in California," says Aaron Adler, an attorney with the Legislative Council
- NREL Issues Massive Feed-in Tariff Design Guide for US--"Feed-in tariffs (FITs) are the most widely used renewable energy policy in the world" says a massive report by a team of researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). . .
- Michigan Governor Calls for Feed-in Tariffs Cites Ontario's Success--In an address to a progressive think tank, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm called for feed-in tariffs to develop the American renewable energy industry and the attendant jobs this would create. . .
What's New on Community Power
What's New on Solar Energy
What's New on Wind Energy
What Can Be Found on This Site
This site contains information about my books, an archive of my articles, and descriptions of my workshops on wind energy and Advanced Renewable Tariffs. This site also contains an extensive collection of articles and technical reports on electricity feed laws or renewable energy tariffs. I've been an outspoken proponent of feed laws since the late 1990s when I urged the American Wind Energy Association to call for them nationally.
Photography
My photos are stocked by Still Pictures in London. For more on my photography and for photo tours of several wind farms as well as a sampling of wind energy icons, see the photos section of this site.
Small Turbine Testing
Beginning in 1997 I've measured the performance and noise emissions of small wind turbines at the Wulf Test Field in the Tehachapi Pass. For more information on this work, visit Wulf Test Field.
Previous Web Sites
My web pages have previously been hosted on the Chelsea Green web site and by the Workgroup Wind Turbines at TU-Berlin. My thanks to Michael and Sienna Potts, and to Klaus Kaiser, for their help posting my pages in the past.
Origin of Wind-Works
Since 1981, following a trip to Denmark, I've stressed the theme that wind energy does indeed work, makes economic and environmental sense, and is here to stay. Even then Denmark was a model of how successful wind energy could become--when given the opportunity. In North America at the time, there were few wind turbines and only a few of those operated well. Most simply didn't work. My slogan was as much a statement of what could be as it was a statement of fact. Today, wind turbines are commonplace throughout the world and "wind works", once a bold statement, now elicits a "What? Of course it does. Everyone knows that." And that's the way it should be.--Paul Gipe
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