First venture sold to Enron: Dehlsen’s first entrepreneurial
venture was Zond Corporation, which was sold to Enron Corp in 1997 and
eventually ended up in the hands of General Electric Co. GE Energy was
now the country’s leading wind power provider.
150 Liberty turbines to be produced in 2006: Clipper Technology
recently opened an assembly plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Dehlsen
expected to produce five of his high-power Liberty wind turbines in
2005 and 150 in 2006.
Each Liberty turbine costs $2.5 million: Those turbines,
designed to operate even when wind is low, cost about $2.5 million each
and could generate enough electricity over a 30-year life span to power
1250 homes.
Wind power far less damaging to environment: Responding to
complaints about the visual blight and noise of wind turbines, Dehlsen
said wind power generation was far less damaging to the environment
than fossil fuels, which produced high levels of greenhouse gases.
Jobs for depressed farming and industrial areas: In addition,
wind power could bring jobs to depressed farming and industrial areas.
Germany, in less than six years, has installed enough wind projects to
generate 14,000 megawatts (MW) of power and employ 75,000 people.
Huge wind energy resource in US: “The US has a huge wind energy
resource,” he said. “There are four states alone … that could supply
all of the electricity needs of the country,” Dehlsen said.
Aim to capture 15 per cent of global market: Dehlsen said he was
negotiating deals in Eastern Europe, Latin America and China, with an
eye on capturing 12-15 per cent of the global market.
Reference: Digest of latest news reported on website of Climate
Change Secretariat of United Nations Framework on Climate Change
Control (UNFCCC). 2 January 2006.. Address: PO Box 260 124, D-53153
Bonn. Germany. Phone: : (49-228) 815-1005, Fax: (49-228) 815-1999.
Email: press@unfccc.int
http://www.unfccc.int
Erisk Net, 9/1/2006