Six years ago, the nation wasn’t ready to believe wind power could supply 20 percent of the nation’s energy by 2030.
So, the Department of Energy went back to the drawing board and developed a new more rigorous analysis.
Get ready doubters.
When the Wind Vision report is released late this year, it is expected to show that not only is 20 percent obtainable by 2030, 35 percent is a conservative target by 2050. Today, wind supplies only 4.5 percent of the nation’s energy.
Two DOE officials — David Danielson, assistant secretary, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, and Jose Zayas, program manager for that office’s Wind & Water Power Program — gave the Wind Power ’14 conference an early peek at the findings during the recent American Wind Energy Association’s convention in Las Vegas.
Back in 2007-2008, DOE and the wind industry teamed up on a study that showed wind could be producing 20 percent of the nation’s power by 2030. But that report was widely criticized as industry propaganda that lacked intellectual rigor.
This time around, the DOE and the industry are determined the methodology will be bulletproof. DOE officials also had to dial back conclusions that indicated wind could handle 40 percent of power needs by 2050. Such is the price of credibility.
The draft report also projects a sharp increase in the number of jobs tied to wind energy. By 2020, 139,000 jobs would be directly tied to producing wind energy, and there would be another 106,000 indirect jobs. By 2050, those figures climb to 400,000 direct jobs and 295,000 indirect jobs. No projections were available on how many of those might be in Connecticut.
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