Spring has arrived and the U.S. March/April issue is close by!

To give you a little taster of the March/April issue of Renewable Energy Focus U.S., I'm posting my editorial to wet your appetites. If you have not already done so, sign up for your free copy here!

Here in the office, spring has finally arrived – the sun is shining, the pollen is spreading, and I’m sitting here inside in front of the screen trying to gather my thoughts about renewable energy. The head feels like a little solar panel buzzing with energy as soon as the sun pops out, but unlike the electrons in a solar panel, my thoughts do not follow the conductors in a relatively orderly manner.

So much is happening from day to day in the renewable energy sector that it is hard – if not impossible – to keep on top of it all, but the big talkie at the moment seems to be the efforts to bring down the cost of energy across all technologies.

Joyce Laird continues her investigations into the Department of Energy’s (DoE) dollar-per-watt efforts to bring down the cost of solar energy to US$1 per installed Watt. Since Part 1 was written for the Jan/Feb issue, DoE has launched its SunShot program channeling more funding into solar research across the whole board from R&D to supply chain and installations. As always, Laird gives a thorough overview over outcomes, plans and the industry’s thoughts on p20.

Many of you will attend Windpower 2011 in Anaheim, CA, in May, and we thought you would be interested in seeing one wind turbine manufacturer’s reasoning behind setting up an offshore wind centre in Virginia. Gamesa, headquartered in Spain, says on p26 that although offshore wind has not yet been developed in the States, the industry is getting ready to set sail.

We have also taken a dive into Elsevier’s Science Direct this issue, finding an article for you mapping wind power from 200 BC (your eyes are not deceiving you – I did write 200 BC!) to the present. An academic journal article would be too long for Renewable Energy Focus U.S., but with the kind permission of Renewable Energy’s commercial director, we have summarized the main points. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do – sometimes it is good to pause and look back at how far we’ve come. Your chance to do so can be found on p28.

In our State Overview section (p18), we turn our attention to Maine, which is setting massive goals for offshore renewables – especially wind. You can also get a flavor for what’s happening in the Californian renewable energy market on p14.

Finally, we’ve included an interview with bioenergy expert Professor Ralph Sims, IPCC Lead Author. He argues that people don’t really get biomass and its potential to contribute to the renewable energy mix. As a little teaser for May/June, I can tell you that we’re summarizing an article he has co-written on bioenergy in that issue. So if you like what you see on p8, you know what you can look forward to.

As always, I hope you enjoy the issue, and spring, whether it has already arrived or is still around the corner.

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