Dr. Joe Rush is matching Giving Tuesday gifts for new and current members - but time is running out! ⏰ Donate Now!

BP focuses on U.S. wind energy

Stephen Beard Nov 7, 2008
HTML EMBED:
COPY

BP focuses on U.S. wind energy

Stephen Beard Nov 7, 2008
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

Bill Radke: Obama has promised to foster a renewable energy revolution in the U.S., and foreign companies are listening. Stephen Beard reports from London
that British Petroleum is following the winds of change blowing westward over the Atlantic.


Stephen Beard: BP has dropped its plans to build an onshore wind farm in the U.K.. And it will not bid for any of the offshore licences, either. The company will now spend billions of dollars on wind energy in the U.S. By 2010, BP expects to generate enough wind power to run more than a million American homes. Shell has also switched its wind activity away from Britain to America.

It makes perfect business sense, says Mark Nichols of Environment Finance Magazine:

Mark Nichols: You can develop much larger and more profitable wind farms. There are far fewer planning constraints. The subsidy or the tax support system in the U.S. is more attractive. I think there are simply more opportunities that can be exploited more quickly than in the U.K.

And there could be even more opportunities ahead. Barack Obama has promised a 10-year renewable energy plan worth $150 billion.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.