Climate and energy

by Nancy Jackson

Thousands of Kansans have told CEP – at our energy forums, in our poll and focus groups, at the State Fair: We want more wind energy. It just makes sense.

The Department of Energy agrees. Last week, I and about 100 others were invited to Washington DC by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) for a workshop. Our charge: Create a roadmap to reach 20% wind energy by 2030. This is DOE’s commitment and our opportunity.

We can repower, refuel, and rebuild our country, bringing real economic recovery to Main Street. Kansas can lead the United States back to being a nation of producers rather than a nation of consumers.

By harnessing our abundant native wind, we can:

• Power our homes and businesses (and those of many neighboring states!),
• Keep bills low over time by hedging against volatile and climbing fossil fuel prices,
• Increase our energy independence, while keeping more energy dollars in Kansas,
• Rebuild our economy to produce power from an inexhaustible fuel, for generations to come.

Kansas already leads in wind development. By the end of 2008, we will be just the seventh state to install 1,000 megawatts of wind energy. That is an accomplishment to celebrate! And it is only the beginning.

As the third windiest state, DOE challenges Kansas to reach 7,000 megawatts by 2030 and we could provide much more. Today, the decision is ours.

Meeting the 7,000 megawatt challenge would create over 1,500 family-supporting long-term jobs in engineering, manufacturing, operations and maintenance, workforce development, as well as marketing, accounting, and legal. That’s in addition to over 10,000 construction jobs.

7,000 megawatts would pay $20 million each year to rural Kansas landowners, plus another $20 million to Kansas counties for roads and schools.

The DOE report – created by partners including the national labs, American Electric Power, and our own Black & Veatch – concluded that 20% Wind is “doable and desirable” – technically achievable and economically affordable.

How do we get there? We need:

• Transmission: We must invest to modernize our grid with carefully planned and meticulously executed high-voltage transmission, accurate forecasting, and smart distribution.
• Technology: We must continue to research, develop, and deploy ever better turbines – including offshore turbines – to take advantage of our winds while protecting birds and wildlife and reducing wind farms’ footprint.
• Smart Siting: We must conduct top notch research to identify environmental and radar challenges and spur creative responses to improve and ease siting.

What spurs all of the above? Strong state policies in renewable energy and infrastructure.

Tune in tomorrow for Part II – The Policies.