Despite Political Headwinds, Wind Power Keeps Insisting Upon Itself

Wind power is expanding in Pennsylvania even as federal policy has grown less friendly to the industry. The developer Exus Renewables North America has closed $365 million in construction financing for two projects in Cambria County: the new 61.6-megawatt Cambria Wind Farm, expected online later this year, and the 75-megawatt Highland North Wind Farm, a "repowering" project that replaces old turbines with new ones on an existing site. Once both are running, Exus alone will operate close to 307 megawatts of wind power in the state. A separate repowering effort, led by Texas-based Leeward Renewable Energy at its Allegheny Ridge Wind site in Cambria and Blair counties, will upgrade 40 turbines dating to 2007 and is expected to be finished next year.

None of this is a program homeowners can sign up for, but it points to more wind-generated electricity flowing into Pennsylvania's grid over the next year or two. Pennsylvania has lagged badly in renewable energy growth compared with other states, so these projects are notable locally even if the state's overall share of wind and solar power remains small.

The bigger story is political: gas industry-backed groups are actively working to slow renewable energy adoption by courting political figures in both parties, while private investment keeps flowing into wind projects anyway. For homeowners, the takeaway is simply that wind power's growth (or stagnation) in any given state depends heavily on local politics and investment climate, not just federal policy, which is worth keeping in mind when following energy news in your own state.