Wall Street appears poised to embrace in a big way new wind energy projects. The genesis of the renewed spirit in wind projects, which seemed to ebb away during the financial crisis, is a new federal program that offers significant grants associated with investing in renewable energy, according to The Wall Street Journal ("Wind Farms Set Wall Street Aflutter," Aug. 31, 2009).
Pursuant to the new program, investors in wind projects will receive a 30 percent cash rebate based on the building costs associated with projects. The program also reduces taxes by providing for accelerated depreciation, the Journal reported.
The program runs through the end of 2010 and is not constrained by any funding cap.
The graduate program offers a course called "Renewable Energy Project Finance," taught by John Herrick, one of the nation's leading experts on the subject.
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ReplyDeleteJohn Herrick’s course is indeed one that contributes to making the Environment and Natural Resources Law Program of this great citadel of learning, stand out clearly as the best above the rest.
ReplyDeleteWind energy simply is energy derived from wind. In actual fact, “wind” in itself is a converted form of solar energy. It results from the sun’s radiation on different parts of the earth’s surface at different rates (from the low heat of the twilight, to the high heat at midday) and the absorption and reflection of this heat at different rates. These actions cause the atmosphere to warm differently. The warmth rises reducing the atmospheric pressure at the earth’s surface causing cooler air to be drawn in to replace it resulting in “wind”. When this air mass called wind is in motion, the energy generated therefrom is called kinetic energy. It is the conversion of this kinetic energy to various other useful forms, like electricity, that is known as wind power or wind energy.
The advantages of this wind power cannot be overemphasized – primarily amongst which are that wind energy is renewable, generates no pollution, and is ample; since it will exist as long as the sun exist, approximately 4 billion years; contrast with oil which at the moment, the world uses at a rate of about 26,000,000,000 barrels (26billion/b) every year translating into only enough oil on this planet for at least another 40 years based on the oil fields presently discovered and consumption at its present rate.
It is upon this premise that I am extremely delighted with the federal program that offers significant grants associated with investing in renewable energy. This is really the first gigantic leap by the government in the wind energy direction. But be that as it may, I am of the view that the end limit of the year 2010 is not sufficient time for investors to properly harness the benefit of the program. An individual(s) or corporation(s) pondering upon the idea of wind energy would require a great deal of time – from time needed in sourcing for finance, to the time needed to consider available markets and business profitability. This aside, extending the time will provide a general environment that would further encourage investments in wind energy; resulting ultimately in technological growth and development in the wind energy industry.
While I praise the administration for taking the positive steps in initiating the federal program that offers significant grants associated with investing in renewable energy, the 2010 time span would however not be very motivating to those who are not very familiar with wind energy transactions – and this class of people constitutes the majority of the populace. A more permanent tax rebate and/or more incentives would therefore, go a very long way; perhaps, 4 billion years of energy long.