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Winds are caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the irregularities of the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. Wind flow patterns are modified by the earth's terrain, bodies of water, and vegetative cover. This wind flow, or motion energy, when "harvested" by modern wind turbines, can be used to generate electricity. 2. Rising prices Even though the cost of wind power has decreased dramatically in the past 10 years, the technology requires a higher initial investment than fossil-fueled generators. Roughly 80% of the cost is the machinery, with the balance being site preparation and installation. If wind generating systems are compared with fossil-fueled systems on a "life-cycle" cost basis (counting fuel and operating expenses for the life of the generator), however, wind costs are much more competitive with other generating technologies because there is no fuel to purchase and minimal operating expenses.
3. Environmental Concerns Although wind power plants have relatively little impact on the environment compared to fossil fuel power plants, there is some concern over the noise produced by the rotor blades, aesthetic (visual) impacts, and birds and bats having been killed (avian/bat mortality) by flying into the rotors. Most of these problems have been resolved or greatly reduced through technological development or by properly siting wind plants.
4. Technological constraints
Like many of our competitors, we possess extensive technical knowledge about our products. Our knowhow is a significant independent asset, which may not be protected by intellectual property rights such as patents, but is protected only by keeping it secret. As a result, we cannot be certain that our know-how will remain confidential in the long run. Employment contracts with certain of our employees who have special technical knowledge about our products or our business contain a general obligation to keep all such knowledge confidential and such obligation extends for a period of two years after the termination of employment. In addition to the confidentiality provisions, these employment agreements typically contain non-competition clauses. If either the confidentiality provisions or the non-competition clauses are unenforceable, we may not be able to maintain the confidentiality of our know-how. 5. Lack of Skilled Professional If we fail to hire and retain sufficient numbers of qualified personnel for functions such as finance, marketing and
sales, engineering, research and development and operations and maintenance services, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected. The success of our business will depend on our ability to identify, attract, hire, train, retain and motivate skilled personnel. Competition for qualified professional personnel is intense as these personnel are in limited supply, particularly as the wind power industry continues to grow and mature. We might not be able to hire and retain sufficient numbers of such personnel to grow our business. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully attract, assimilate or retain sufficiently qualified personnel.