CalWEA & Wind Industry Articles

News, CalWEA in the Media, and reports of interest to our members

 

News from CalWEA

Coalition Says Interior's Desert Plan Reverses Course on Clean Energy Development

Desert wind energy project

After eight years of work, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) will effectively foreclose development of renewable energy resources on millions of acres of federally managed lands in Southern California, said a coalition of renewable energy and labor groups in response to the federal government’s release of the plan. The plan abandons the initial promise to balance renewable development with preservation of desert land.

News from Politico Pro

Renewable developers warn BLM leasing rule may undercut lofty green ambitions

Politico reports that Hillary Clinton's promise of a huge buildout of new solar panels and wind turbines on federally owned deserts and scrublands may be impossible under the land-use strategy that the Obama administration is pursuing, including the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.

News from North American Windpower Magazine

The California Wind Market: Fraught with Promise

Largely credited with launching the industry in the 1980s, wind energy in California is poised for a resurgence. This article by CalWEA's Nancy Rader and Dariush Shirmohammadi discusses the challenges that must be addressed for wind energy to succeed in California's market for renewable energy.

News from Office of Senator Hertzberg

Legislation Protecting Renewable Energy Facilities Clears First Senate Committee

PRESS RELEASE: SACRAMENTO – Contracts for California’s first wave of renewable energy facilities, built and producing power before the state first adopted its renewable energy targets in 2002, are expiring, and many facilities are in danger of shutting down because they are locked into low prices.

News from AWEA Blog

New federal rules for Calif. desert put too many prime wind energy sites off-limits

Wind in the Desert

A new plan released by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) puts approximately three million acres that had been available for solar and wind development off-limits. This will make it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve the plan’s stated planning goal of 20,000 MW of renewable energy and presents a challenge to the greenhouse-gas-reduction goals laid out by President Obama and Governor Jerry Brown.