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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Low Prices, Technology Could Mean New Gust of NW Wind Power

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Monday, August 17, 2015   

PORTLAND, Ore. – Wind energy prices have hit an all-time low and the cost of installing turbines has fallen 20 to 40 percent in the last five years, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Its new report says last year's wind-power price contracts with utilities averaged under 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, down from 7 cents in 2009.

In the Northwest, that could mean a resurgence of interest and investment in wind farms.

Cliff Gilmore, communications director for the coalition Renewable Northwest, says wind has a special advantage over power generation from fossil fuels.

"When you're talking about wind, you don't need to worry about that fuel cost – the fuel is the wind,” he points out. “So, the advantage if you have a renewable resource – whether it's wind or solar, or whatever – if the price of putting that in goes down, then that means the price of that energy goes down."

The report also says wind turbine sizes are changing, allowing them to produce more power at lower wind speeds.

The American Wind Energy Association says Oregon has more than 1,800 turbines, and 10 manufacturing facilities for wind equipment and supplies.

Oregon ranks sixth among states for its installed wind capacity, but much of the power isn't used here.

Gilmore says it's important to think of clean-power generation as regional, which means for investors, the market isn't limited.

"About 50 percent of the wind generated in the Northwest here is sold down into California,” he explains. “Quite a bit of the solar generated in California is sold up here. And the idea there is that it's sold when needed."

The Energy Department says one-third of the new generating capacity added in the U.S. since 2007 has been wind power, but in total it meets just under 5 percent of the nation's electricity demand.



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