EDP Renovaveis, the Portugal-based wind developer responsible for over 6.2 GW of installation (3rd in the industry), reduced it's forecast for US installations by 500 MW through 2011. If we used a very basic ballpark figure of wind installation costs at around $4 million/MW, that's $2 billion in US-based construction that's not going to happen.
CFO Rui Teixiera cites the unfavourable climate for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) without "[...] a long term and enforceable – and particularly federal – framework in the US". Which, when you think about it, makes a lot of sense. A Power Purchase Agreement between a utility company (power distributor) and a renewable energy project developer/owner (power generator) wherein the price that the utility agrees to pay for the power produced is established, heavily favours the utility when there are no bankable long-term financial incentives that help offset the cost of building the facility.
Some may say that an industry shouldn't need special treatment and incentives if the marketplace needs its product. Saying that renewable energy doesn't make economic sense if it requires subsidy to match the cost of fossil fuels is unfair though, because fossil fuel power generation facilities are built using subsidies as well.
All of the current administration's best intentions won't create lasting solutions for renewable energy unless a long-term, reasonable, and comprehensive energy policy can be established with safeguards against its dismantling. That doesn't seem likely when it requires a supermajority to get anything accomplished in Congress...
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