May 13, 2008 9:52 am US/Central
In The Know: Outsourcing Wind Power Technology
(WCCO)
The federal government says that 20 percent of all our electricity may come from wind-power in the next twenty years. Today we get only 1 percent from wind. Don said, that's good news. But, right now, we'd have to buy all those machines from other countries.
This part of the country is called the Saudi Arabia of wind power. The big wind states may see an additional 75,000 new wind turbines.
But, outside of General Electric, the big wind machine manufacturers are in Germany, Spain, Denmark and India. So, if Minnesota becomes a bigger wind producer than it is, we will continue to send our dollars overseas to buy the technology.
The next generation solutions to our energy problems are being created somewhere else, and there is a growing fear that we are going to be left behind. China is producing more wind machines than the United States. Will they develop the next transportation fuel?
When Minnesota passed the 25 percent renewable mandate by the year 2025, we virtually guaranteed a market. Why isn't Minnesota brimming with homegrown wind turbine and blade manufacturers?
A guaranteed market, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed growth and guaranteed money that would stay home. We've been on the forefront of renewable energy, but when it comes to salesmanship, we're being left behind.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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