The American Wind Energy Association issued a press statement earlier this week to refute claims by Robert Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, which AWEA says is funded by Exxon-Mobil (a quick look at their website reveals it is pro-fracking).
The organization said Bryce’s claims were founded on a report written by Bentek, a natural gas consulting firm whose president and CEO “happens to be the chairman and Director of the Natural Gas Committee of the fossil fuel lobby group the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, as well as a member of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association”.
“Bentek report is directly contradicted by a large body of government data and numerous studies by independent grid operators conclusively showing that the emissions savings of adding wind energy to the grid are substantially larger than had been expected”, said AWEA.
The organization added the report did not credit wind power for emissions reductions achieved in California and Pacific Northwest. Another example of the report’s methodological flaw was to give wind energy credit for only one hour of emissions savings when it forces a coal power plant to turn off for a much longer period of time.
Besides it gave no credit to wind energy when it allows the grid operator to store additional water behind a hydroelectric dam that is used to displace fossil generation later on, both of which are common events.
Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.
