Wind Today - Q3 2008 - (Page 50)

Interview Jim Walker President of the Board, AWEA Vice Chairman of the Board, enXco Jim Walker took office as president of the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) Board of Directors in June. He is vice chairman of the Board of enXco, Inc., Escondido, CA, a subsidiary of EdF Energies Nouvelles that owns and operates wind projects. Wind Today spoke with Walker over the phone in August. Wind Industry Involvement Industry Involv olvement In 1973, during the first oil crisis, I worked in the Office of Management and Budgets in Washington, DC and later at the California Energy Commission. That was a formative period for the world in terms of renewables, leading to the first California wind networks. Following two appointments to the California Energy Commission by then-Gov. Jerry Brown, I became an active developer in the wind industry. The renewables market in California was not very active then—Americans were concentrating more on gas-fired power plants in the 1990s— but new legislation regarding renewables in the European Union made wind energy development there attractive. My wife, who was born in Athens, and I lived in Greece for 10 years (1992-2002) where I developed two projects on Crete, as well as a pipeline that was eventually turned over to GE Wind. Those were some of the first wind energy projects in Greece. I also developed a project in Turkey that is now nearing the start of construction, and helped bring EdF Energies Nouvelles into a project in Oaxaca, Mexico. My partner in the Turkish wind project, the founder of EdF Energies Nouvelle, acquired enXco in July 2002. He asked me to return to the states as the transitional CEO at enXco to convert the wind energy maintenance and asset management firm into a development company. I held that role for two-and-a-half years, and have served as vice chairman since 2002. Wind Notable About Wind Energy When I left state government in 1982, California produced 90% of the world’s wind and solar power. Now, the state produces much lower percentages of those renewables. In the 1980s, the world wind energy market was established in California on a utility scale. In the 1990s, U.S. wind industry development dropped off until 1999 when state programs in Iowa and Minnesota, and then in Texas, started reviving the market. Following that renaissance, we experienced the boom and bust phenomena created when production tax credits (PTCs) were allowed to expire every other year. In 2004, the last time tax credits were allowed to expire, we installed only 370 MW in the United States. Last year, we installed more than 5,200 MW, and this year we’re on track to install more than 7,500 MW. The PTCs are an essential part of the economics of any wind project today. At 2.1 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) the PTC levels the playing field for wind with regard to fossil fuel technologies that don’t have to pay the full cost of their air emissions or their water use. The PTC is a federal policy that works. When you turn it on, you’ve got a $2 billion industry, and when you turn it off, you have a one-half billion dollar industry. When you turn it on for three years, you get a $9, $10 or $12 billion industry. uture Prospects for U.S. Wind Future Prospects for U.S. Wind Energy The future couldn’t be brighter for the wind industry, assuming there is some stable long-term federal policy. In 50 WIND TODA Y Third Quarter 2008 Born: 1944| Education: BA, Physics, Princeton University; Ph.D., Harvard Business School | Career: Vice Chairman of the Board, enXco, Inc.; enXco CEO, Oct. 2002-Mar. 2005; 30 years experience in energy at MCR Geothermal, Edison Mission Energy, and QED Research; co-founded Princeton Development Corporation; pioneered wind project development in Greece, Turkey, and Mexico; Executive Director, Commissioner, and Vice Chairman, California Energy Commission in Gov. Jerry Brown administration; served at Office of Management and Budget, Nixon and Ford administrations | Associations: AWEA board member since 2005; member, steering committee, AWEA/DOE National Wind Action Plan; member of the board, Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT) and California Independent Energy Producers Association (IEP).

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Wind Today - Q3 2008

Wind Today - Q3 2008 Contents 24th Annual CanWEA Conference and Trade Show Vancouver, BC, Conference Host City CanWEA Banquet/Awards WINDPOWER 2008 Review WINDPOWER 2008 Awards AWEA Fall Symposium 2008 Solano Wind Project Large Wind Turbine Manufacturers Forum Manufacturers of Wind Turbines Installed in the United States Wind Turbine Manufacturers Installed Capacity Prince Wind Energy Project Education and Training for A New Wind Frontier Joyce McLean Jim Walker Supply Chain Challenges and Solutions . . . from the Turbine OEM Perspective . . . from the Component OEM Perspective . . . from the Base Industry Perspective . . . from the Investor Perspective U.S. Wind Industry Installations Exceed 20,000 MW 20% by 2030 Summary Analysis Global Wind Turbine Procurement: Strategies and Contract Structures Wind Turbine Acquisition WT News: Association News WT News: Government WT News: Canada WT News: United States WT News: International MMS Close to Issuing Leases for Offshore Testing of Renewable Resources Expert Says Turbine Related Deaths May Cause Significant Impact to Bat Population Windpower Turbines Spinning Again on Prince Edward Island Map: Wind Turbine, Tower, and Blade Manufacturers in the United States A Look at Regional Entities U.S. Installed Wind Capacity State Wind Resource Rankings Wind Resource Maps (Wisconsin and Maine) Bruce Bailey, AWS Truewind John Keating, Canadian Hydro Composotech Crane Service Inc. GPCo Inc. Morgan AM&T 3M Bennett International Group Wind Farms Completed in the United States Wind Farms Under Construction in the United States Glossary Product Surveys Calendar Ad Index

Wind Today - Q3 2008

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