In the wake of the dissolution of the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) from the energy bill currently wheezing through the Congress, came a report that wind power installations in the U.S to date this year have dropped by 71% from last year’s level.

According to the latest quarterly report issued by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), 700 MW of wind turbines were added in the second quarter of 2010, down 57% from comparable 2008 levels and down 71% from 2009. Manufacturing investment also continued to lag below 2008 and 2009 levels. As the largest producer of renewable energy, the wind power industry, and those who support it, must find these figures troubling indeed.

After a promising start by the Obama administration to address climate change, the foul winds of American politics have once again managed to cloud the skies over Washington. How did this happen? With a new and dynamic president in the White House the political will to take on climate change as a policy priority seemed finally in place. After years of bickering with the Bush administration over extending the production tax credit (PTC) for renewable energy, windpower merchants – and their counterparts in solar, geothermal, and biomass production – finally achieved meaningful government support when Mr. Obama agreed to include the PTC and investment tax credits (ITC) as part of last year’s stimulus package.

These tax incentive measures have proven themselves to be critical for initial and ongoing investment in renewable energy technologies. The PTC for wind energy had been allowed to expire three times under the Bush administration. In each case, new investment in wind dropped by more than 70 percent.

The RES would commit utilities to obtain a percentage of their power from renewable sources by a designated date. The loss of the RES language from the proposed Senate energy bill came a few weeks after Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that he was giving up on trying to get a provision into the legislation that would cap carbon emissions. With the abandonment of the RES came a clear message that Democratic leadership had all but abandoned comprehensive climate legislation.

Why was the RES so important to the sustenance of the wind energy industry? Tom Udall of New Mexico spelled it out in a letter that he drafted to leader Reid: “A strong RES will give certainty to clean energy companies that are looking to invest billions of dollars in the U.S. to manufacture wind turbines, solar panels and other renewable energy components.”

If the Democrats were looking for certainty all they had to do, as usual, was look across the aisle where they could be certain of no support. “We don’t have a single Republican to work with us,” was the way Senator Reid put it at a news conference. “We don’t have the votes.”

Indeed, by the end of the discussion in the Democratic caucus, Senate Dems announced they had given up on passing a comprehensive energy bill this summer and would instead pursue more limited legislation focused on the gulf oil spill and on energy efficiency standards. Americans who seemed to have reason to hope that the United States would finally demonstrate global leadership in addressing climate change, woke up to find their hopes being whittled away just as they did one year ago when substantive healthcare reform dissolved in the bitterness of Washington political gridlock.

Across the pond, however, things were looking quite different. Energy data released by the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) indicated that wind power generation increased 31 percent in 2009 and now represents 2.5 percent of all UK electricity production. Wind is now generating power to more than two million homes in the United Kingdom.

British advocacy groups hailed the news, and called for even faster growth in renewables. Unlike the United States, European countries have RES structures in place. The United Kingdom’s RES mandates electricity generation from renewable sources at 15 percent by 2020. The European Union as a whole has set a combined RES target of obtaining 20 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2020. The UK holds wind generation from offshore installations in particularly high esteem. It plans to power the majority of the country with offshore turbines and expects to become a wind energy exporter by 2050.

Earlier this year, a report issued by the European Wind Energy Association indicated that most of Europe is on track to meet or exceed its RES targets.

As summer begins to wind down, Americans who thought the nation’s climate policy was heading in the right direction should not underestimate the gravity of these developments. With the likelihood of Democratic losses in mid-term Congressional elections on the horizon, the vision of bold U.S. leadership on climate change is quickly vanishing like a mirage on the beach.

Related posts:

• Home-Grown Wind Power Takes Root
• Wind Power Industry Launches Wildlife Campaign
• Deepwater Wind Farm to Use New Design
• Will the Japanese Wind Tower Be the Future of Wind Power?
• U.S. Offshore Wind Could Provide 20 Percent of Electricity by 2030

In his new book “Investing in Renewable Energy: Making Money on Green Chip Stocks” (→read book discussion) Jeff Siegel explains how to position portfolios in order to achieve long-term investment success in the renewable energy field. CleanTechies has talked to the author about his book, his suggestions to investors and his personal career and investment experiences.

Jeff Siegel, author

CleanTechies: Jeff, how do you define the target audience of your book? Do you want to appeal to institutional or individual investors?

Jeff Siegel: The book primarily addresses individual investors as most of the information found in it is information any institutional investor should already know. Though I have found that a lot of folks who are simply renewable energy advocates have been buying the book too. I think it provides a great resource for those who simply want to learn more about why the large-scale integration of renewable energy is inevitable.

CleanTechies: What do you suggest individual investors then – to invest in private companies, in publicly traded companies or in funds?

Jeff Siegel: The type of investment depends on how much risk the investor wants to take on. For those who are not aggressive investors and prefer to take the safer route, exchange-traded funds, income funds or mutual funds are great ways to get a taste of the market. For those who don’t mind taking on a little more risk, then there are dozens of quality renewable energy stocks that could pay off quite well over the long term. Especially now that so many are becoming undervalued due to market conditions and general panic in the marketplace.

CleanTechies: When and how did you initially become interested in renewable energies as a business sector?

Jeff Siegel: I’ve been working in the financial publishing industry since 1994, writing both copy and editorial. But to be honest, it was always just a job. I am been pretty good at stock analysis, so it was just one of those things I fell into. But the truth is, it was never really satisfying. The money was good, but that was about it. So I decided that if I was going to stay in the business, it had to be on my terms. And that meant no more analysis and no more coverage for companies I didn’t believe in. Having long been an environmentalist, I decided that I just wanted to cover “green” companies. And that’s when I started my own, independent investment research service, Green Chip Stocks.

CleanTechies: How have you invested in the past?

Jeff Siegel: I’ve always tried to invest responsibly. Today, I really only invest in renewable energy and organic and natural food companies. Given the potential of both sectors, I’m generally in it for the long haul. That doesn’t mean there’s not money to be made elsewhere. But I prefer to back companies that I believe are contributing to a very necessary transition of our energy infrastructure, or companies that support the expansion of responsible, organic and natural food production.

CleanTechies: Your book was published at a time of worldwide recession. Would you revise any of the assessments you have made in your book given the recent economic downturn?

Jeff Siegel: Not at all. The book basically makes the case for renewable energy based on both the environmental and economic advantages. Those advantages have not disappeared. In fact, with every drop of oil and every watt we consume, those advantages become greater and greater. And bottom line: Recessions don’t last forever. There will be a recovery. But the depletion of fossil fuels is not something that will be stopped, and it cannot be reversed.

CleanTechies: Thank you for this interview, Jeff.

The Book
Jeff Siegel et al, “Investing in Renewable Energy: Making Money on Green Chip Stocks” (Angel Series) (Hardcover); Wiley (October 6, 2008). You can buy the book on Amazon.

Also read the CleanTechies Book Discussion on “Investing In Renewable Energy”

Related posts:

• Book Discussion: “Investing in Renewable Energy”
• Podcast: Vote Solar’s Adam Browning & PG&E’s Proposal
• California Governor Jerry Brown Urges Action on Clean Energy
• Cheaper ethanol = business opportunities
• Sustainability: Progress in Packaging