Richardson, a former U.S. Energy secretary, is one of several Western governors talking up the potential of wind power, which now produces less than 1 percent of U.S. electricity generation.

The United States has tremendous wind-energy resources, much of it in the West and Great Plains. California gave birth to the modern wind industry and still leads the nation in installed wind-energy capacity, followed closely by Texas.

Much of the government intervention at the federal and state level is to encourage development of the abundant, pollution-free energy source through tax credits and other means to spur investment.

Richardson has taken a high-profile stand for wind power in the last week, first with a speech to federal regulators and then Tuesday at a news conference in Santa Fe in which he outlined a plan for state legislative action.

In a speech Dec. 1 to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Richardson outlined a seven-point program he said would make wind energy the United States' second-leading source of electrical energy behind coal, which supplies about 50 percent of the nation's needs, followed by nuclear power and natural gas.

Wind doesn't have the price volatility of natural gas and no emissions like fossil fuels, he said. Plus, it promotes local economic development and revenues and lessens the need to import natural gas.

The major challenges are related to the transmission of wind energy, which is produced mostly in remote areas. Until those issues are addressed, Richardson said, investment will not flow into wind-power development.

Richardson urged Congress to pass a 5- or 10-year extension of the wind-production tax credit. Congress last September extended the credit for another 14 months, which is expected on its own to stimulate record development next year.

Conditions are right for next year to be a record-breaking year, said Randall Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Association. We will see what U.S. industry can do at full-speed run for the next 14 months.

The previous record for wind-power capacity installations in one year was 1,696 megawatts in 2001, but most in the industry expect that 2005 will be a better year because of the extension of the tax credit, Swisher said.

California leads the nation in wind-power capacity installations followed by Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington state, Colorado and New Mexico, according to January 2004 figures from the association.

The potential for electricity output from wind in the United States is estimated to be three times the amount currently generated. Although California leads the nation in current capacity, 16 other states have greater wind-power potential, according to the Pacific Northwest Laboratory.

North Dakota leads the nation with the most potential as a wind-power source, but New Mexico, ranked 12th on the list, has more potential than California. Transmission systems, however, are the key to creating a regional network that can deliver the power to states in most need.

Richardson believes in wind power as a future source of reliable, emission-free energy, but he also sees it as a way to boost jobs and revenues in rural areas of his state. The governor also wants to build a regional delivery system to serve other Western states.

It doesn't matter how much wind energy we have in New Mexico if we can't send it to markets that need it - California, Nevada and Arizona, in particular, he told a news conference Tuesday in Santa Fe.

Richardson said the Southwest wind-energy market is growing very rapidly. Colorado voters passed a renewable-energy requirement Nov. 2. California's renewable-energy requirement of 20 percent is being moved up from 2017 to 2010.

Richardson said California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has shown interest in New Mexico wind power for his state. The two governors have worked in the past in the Western Governors Association for clean energy goals in the West.

In New Mexico, Richardson wants the Legislature to fund a new agency that would help with the development and transmission of wind power. The Renewable Energy Transmission Authority would provide financing for projects.

New Mexico has wind-generation farms near Fort Sumner and Texico with plans to add to two more next year for a total of about 400 megawatts of capacity. State officials are talking about upping that capacity to nearly 2,000 megawatts in 10 years.

Ben Luce, policy director of New Mexico's Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy, said there is no doubt that the state has the potential to produce the wind energy, especially in the open, eastern section of the state.

From a resource standpoint we know we can achieve that, but it's not clear what it will take from a transmission standpoint and a market standpoint, he said.

State officials hope the creation of the quasi-state agency will further development of wind power and help finance the infrastructure needed to make the excess power marketable to other states in the West.

Wind has a tremendous economic development potential for rural areas and it occurs very naturally to people to think about developing much more wind power in a given region that that region can absorb so you can export it, he said.

Related Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express