source: Peter Asmus - Environmental News Network 2002.1.29

Enron of Houston, Texas, did not generate electricity; it became the world’s
seventh largest revenue-generating corporation by acting as a middleman,
trading the juice that has become the lifeblood of modern society and
squeezing a profit from it.

One of the few energy-related assets Enron maintained was its
wind-turbine-manufacturing subsidiary, Enron Wind Corporation (EWC).
Even though wind power has been the fastest-growing power supply source
over the past decade, Enron had been trying to sell its wind unit for more than
a year. Enron seemed oblivious to the true value of the United States' last
major wind company. Or perhaps it just viewed a company whose revenues
grew from $50 million in 1997 to $750 million in 2001 as a source of cash to
shore up its shaky financial footing.

Enron got lost in a virtual world of online trades and Internet connections
and forgot about fostering real innovations in supplying electricity from actual
hardware that can offer lasting solutions. To its credit, Enron supported
curbing emissions to global climate change. Yet the firm failed to recognize that
the value of one of the few energy-related hard assets it owned — Enron
Wind Corp. — showed tremendous profit potential due to global climate
change concerns.

“We are one of the top three wind turbine manufacturers in each of the top
three world wind power markets: the United States, Germany, and Spain,”
said Adam Umanoff, CEO and president of Enron Wind Corporation. Among
those interested in Enron Wind, which is not part of the bankruptcy
proceeding that has engulfed its ailing corporate parent, is UBS Warburg of
Great Britain. If snatched up by a European firm, the billions of U.S. dollars in
private and public sector capital invested into wind technology will have failed
to sustain even one major domestic wind turbine manufacturer.

Whether Enron Wind remains in the hands of a U.S. company or is sold to
a foreign interest is more a matter of pride and principle, than something that
would have a direct impact on consumers.

Of greater consequence to consumers across the country is how the fall of
Enron affects federal deregulation legislation, particularly the rules governing
transmission investments. These rules will determine whether wind power, a
technology that Enron helped become a commercial technology, can deliver
on the promise of a better world.

The fall of Enron is also casting a long shadow on current debates over
further deregulation of the $200 billion U.S. power industry. Umanoff of Enron
Wind Corp. extols the virtues of deregulation, noting, of course, that
competition in states such as Texas and Pennsylvania have helped open up
new opportunities for wind and other renewable resources.

“California did not get it right, but that is no reason to abandon
deregulation. Both Texas and Pennsylvania protect consumers from the wild
price uncertainty that hit here. The devil is always in the details,” Umanoff said.
“For the first time in history, wind power can compete without subsidy with
the least cost fossil fuel alternatives. This cost parity is the main driver behind
today’s great global expansion of wind power.”

In 2001, the world saw $6.5 billion invested in new wind power facilities.

Lawmakers in February will commence hearings on federal deregulation
bills, which were in trouble before Enron’s nose-dive. As the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) has jurisdiction over these transmission
issues, the wind power industry knows the next few months of testimony and
decisions are critical.

Traffic on the nation’s interstate transmission system increased by more
than 200 percent last year, according to the Edison Electric Institute. Clearly,
policymakers have for too long neglected to retool the nation’s transmission
highways.

America has the best wind resources in the world. These resources just
happen to be located in rural regions such as the Dakotas, Montana and the
rest of the Great Plains, where transmission lines are few and far between.
Anyone concerned about global warming needs to recognize that opening up
the transmission grid to new players willing to bet on wind power is one of
they key solutions to our long-term energy supply.

Although just a footnote in the unfolding drama surrounding Enron, both the
future of wind power in the United States and the tedious details of
transmission policy loom as critical components of our energy future and
efforts to bring our antiquated power system into the 21st century.

Peter Asmus is author of Reaping The Wind: How Mechanical Wizards,
Visionaries and Profiteers Helped Shape Our Energy Future, and Reinventing
Electric Utilities: Competition, Citizen Action and Clean Power , both
published by Island Press.