A Spanish Blowout: The Iberian Giants of US Wind Energy

Because they enacted strict emissions limits early and their business models adapted, two countries have a head start in developing alternative energy from wind – Portugal and Spain. As a result of that head start and a global credit crisis, major wind-energy companies from Spain and Portugal are aggressively pursuing wind projects overseas, including the US. Small wind-farm firms in the US find it difficult to compete with the two giants. “Analysts now expect Iberdrola and EDP to start snapping up some of the cash-strapped independent companies that account for roughly 40 percent of the U.S. wind-energy business,” reports Mark Scott, on the two firms, for Spiegel Online. Because the US long delayed action on alternative energy development, its energy dependence may have to shift from the Middle East to Iberia before achieving real independence. – YaleGlobal