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AMERICAN WIND
INDUSTRY CLOSES LARGEST-EVER CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION
Attendance and Exhibit
Hall Growth Highlights Increasing Corporate Involvement and Expansion of
Industry; Texas Success Story Cited
Austin, Texas - The American
wind energy industry today concluded its largest, and most successful,
conference and exhibition in history, hosting more than 3,400 attendees at
the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. Texas is the nation’s
second largest wind power production market with more than 1,095 megawatts
of wind supplying power for the equivalent of more than 300,000 Texas
homes.
Highlights
of this year’s conference include:
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Fifty
percent growth in conference attendance: 2002 attendance totaled 2,300
delegates. 2003 attendance totaled 3,451 delegates. This rapid growth
underlines the interest in wind energy from a broad spectrum of the
national energy industry. The conference has tripled in size in the last
two years. In addition, the exhibit hall was the largest in the
industry's history, with 166 exhibitors in 2003, up from 90 in
2002.
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Release of
the first-ever national study on wind development and property values:
the study, conducted by the Renewable Energy Policy Project with a grant
from the U.S. Department of Energy, examined wind development nationally
and found that large-scale wind facilities do not harm property values.
For more information, view the property values release issued on May 20
at www.awea.org/newsroom.
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Strong
support for extension of the wind energy production tax credit (PTC):
the nation’s largest utility, American Electric Power of Columbus, Ohio,
announced its strong support for long-term extension of the PTC to
ensure stability and continued growth of the wind industry, echoing
continued strong backing from the many of the world’s largest wind
turbine manufacturers, including Vestas, NEG Micon, and LM
Glasfiber.
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New product
lines introduced and wind projects announced: GE Wind Energy, NEG Micon,
and Vestas unveiled new wind turbine product lines before and during the
conference. NEG Micon also announced that it will supply turbines to a
new $62 million facility in Oklahoma that will be the largest wind farm
in the state. The facility will be developed by Zilkha Renewable Energy
of Houston, Texas.
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Wind
industry awards granted to noted political, legislative, regulatory and
business leaders: recipients included Federal Energy Regulatory
Commissioners Nora Mead Brownell and William Massey; U.S. Senator Dick
Durbin; New York State Governor George Pataki; green power marketer
Community Energy; and utilities Public Service Company of New Mexico and
Hull Municipal Light Company. For more information, view the press
release issued on May 20 at www.awea.org/newsroom.
WINDPOWER is
the annual conference and exhibition of the American wind energy industry.
In 2004, Chicago will host GLOBAL WINDPOWER 2004, expected to be the
largest-ever global gathering of the international wind industry. For more
information, visit the AWEA Web site at www.awea.org/global04.html .
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AWEA,
formed in 1974, is the national trade association of the U.S. wind energy
industry. The association’s membership includes turbine manufacturers,
wind project developers, utilities, academicians, and interested
individuals. More information on wind energy is available at the AWEA web
site: http://www.awea.org/ |
