Wind power's success story is truly remarkable and like many Hollywood stars, "overnight success" was really the result of years of hard work. In 2008, the U.S. wind energy industry brought more than 8,500 MW of new wind power capacity online, increasing the U.S. cumulative total by 50 percent to more than 25,300 MW, according to the American Wind Energy Association's (AWEA) annual wind industry report for year ending 2008. That's quite a jump from the 2006 yearly total of 2,400 MW.

In its role as a force in the energy industry, wind power's concerns now move from breaking-in to growth strategies. At the Windpower 2009 conference in Chicago, five main issues emerged that could support or thwart that goal: federal support, transmission constraints, utility system integration, wind farm maintenance and turbine design.

Wanted: Government Support

The year's largest gathering of wind power enthusiasts began like a political convention. The rallying cry at Windpower 2009, "Yes to RES," was led by Denise Bode, AWEA's CEO, who urged the authence to support a strong national renewable electricity standard (RES).

AWEA is calling for a national RES of 25 percent by 2025. The wind industry trade association says a national RES will provide the certainty businesses need to invest in wind power by opening new factories and training new workers. But percentage numbers being discussed for federal climate and energy legislation are beginning to drop.

In May, the House Energy and Commerce Committee's RES was 20 percent by 2020 and included a provision that allowed states to meet up to 8 percent of the standard through energy efficiency improvements. (Final numbers are still a work in progress. As this is being written, comprehensive legislation goes to the full House for debate.) For AWEA, this was a disappointment.

In a May 22 statement, Bode wrote "such a low level - less than one-half the level originally proposed by President Obama and in Chairman Markey's original discussion draft - could severely blunt the signal to the private sector to invest billions of dollars and expand production, manufacturing and job creation."

Regardless of the final outcome of a national RES, wind power enjoys strong support at the federal level. Speaking at tne conference keynote session, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said Interior is a "friend of wind" and President Barack Obama its partner. Interior is investing $41 million to facilitate largescale production of renewables on public lands.

"For the first time in the 160 -year history of the Department of the Interior, you have a friend," he said. "We will open our doors to wise renewable energy on our lands and oceans."

Salazar said wind could generate 20 percent of U.S. power by 2030. According to Interior's calculations, there are 1,000 GW of offshore wind power on the Atlantic and 206 GW of potential wind on public lands in the West. Slowing things down is the backlog of wind power project applications. Salazar said there are 25 projects waiting in line in the Western states alone and even more site- testing applications.

Smart Grid, Strong Grid

While an RES is something wind power advocates want, transmission is something wind power needs. Here, too, support from the federal government is strong. Salazar said work is being done on transmission corridors and several new transmission lines may be ready for construction by 2010 to start the "new national super grid."

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff told conference attendees that "wind power is the future and promise of America" but that the transmission grid will have to be upgraded.