PITTSBURGH (AP) - High equipment costs, inconsistent policies and a lack of infrastructure are hampering the growth of U.S. wind power, but the outlook for investors remains strong, industry representatives said Monday.
The comments came at a meeting in Pittsburgh of more than 4,500 executives, manufacturers and government officials called Windpower 2006, the country's largest-ever wind energy conference and exhibition.
Energy-producing turbines began appearing in California in the 1980s, but have become more widespread in recent years. Wind farms have since been built in the Midwest and other sections of the country.
A record number of turbines were installed last year, with more than $3 billion in power-generating equipment installed in 22 states, according to the American Wind Energy Association. About 30 states now have wind farms.
''We are no longer a boutique industry, a small niche,'' said Randal Swisher, executive director of the group, which organized the conference. ''This industry has graduated to the next level.''
He said industry players were discussing how to promote wind energy so that it can ''go head-to-head with natural gas, coal and nuclear as a significant component of power supply for the future.''
Alexander Karsner, an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy, cited President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative, which the president unveiled in a State of the Union address in February.
He cited Bush's comments about the potential for wind power to supply up to 20 percent of energy markets in parts of the country.
''And in doing so he raised the bar and the possibility in our imagination of what might be technically feasible and economically viable,'' Karsner said at a news conference.
But investors and energy company executives say stumbling blocks remain.
The rising cost of turbines is ''something that hurts all of us, both the manufacturers, the customers and the investors like us,'' said Michael O'Sullivan of FPL Energy Inc., which will have invested more than $5 billion in the industry by the end of 2007.
''At some point, cost increases will cause demand destruction,'' he said, adding that power transmission facilities must be expanded and upgraded if the U.S. industry is to remain healthy in the face of global competition.
Michael Polsky, president of the Chicago-based wind energy company Invenergy, said the industry needs a national wind power policy rather than state guidelines.
Swisher, of the AWEA, said earlier that the wind power industry has faced uncertainty because of federal subsidies, including tax credits that are extended for short periods by Congress.
That has made equipment makers reluctant to produce the machinery for the industry to grow, he said.
As of December, California had the country's greatest wind power capacity, followed by Texas, Iowa, Minnesota and Oklahoma. In Europe, where the industry is larger, Denmark derives 20 percent of its electricity from wind.
Some critics say wind farms ruin skylines, endanger wildlife and encroach on property. U.S.-based activist groups such as Friends of the Allegheny Front have fought plans to build commercial wind energy facilities.
Wind energy represents a tiny fraction of overall U.S. electrical supply, but last year became the second-largest source of new power after natural gas, according to the AWEA.