BP to Concentrate All Wind Energy Plans in America

London-based oil giant BP has announced that it has scrapped all plans to build wind farms and other renewable energy projects in Britain to concentrate on the US market instead. Said BP Spokesman Robert Wine, via Earth2Tech:

It’s a big place and it’s got a lot of wind.

Right. But that's not exactly news. America has long-boasted some of the world's best wind resources and greatest market potential.

The real spark for BP's latest investment switch?

In early October, the US Congress finally passed a one-year extension of the expiring investment and production tax credits for wind power. Then came the long-sought signal that longer-term stability would be achieved in the US cleantech sector: Barack Obama, who has pledged to spend $150 billion over 10 years on renewables and pass a federal Renewable Portfolio Standard, was elected the nation's 44th president.

Said Mr. Wine, via The Guardian:

The best place to get a strong rate of return for wind is the US.

BP is now slated to spend $1.5 billion next year on US wind projects and another $6.5 billion through 2015. Mr. Wine's prediction:

By the end of this year, we should have about 1 GW of wind farms installed capacity, and three times that within a couple of years.

Interestingly, Royal Dutch Shell has just sold off its stake in the London Array project off Kent, which is being touted as the world's largest offshore wind farm. Why? Same reason as BP gave, writes the Guardian, "that the economics of UK wind were poor compared to those onshore across the Atlantic."

The WSJ Environmental Capital reports that

Ditlev Engel, the chief executive of Vestas, the big turbine maker, is also rubbing his hands at the prospect of long-term support for renewable energy in the U.S.

As Mr. Engel told Dow Jones Newswires:

People tend to forget that the U.S. has some of the best wind resources in the world and the technology is already there -- it would be relatively straightforward to get a much higher percentage than the 1% that’s being generated now.

Barack Obama has been president-elect for a handful of days, and it seems he's already stimulating the US clean energy market on the back of strong promises.

Just imagine what's possible if those campaign trail pledges become federal law.

• ‹ previous
• up
• next ›