A Change In The Wind
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So what’s up with wind power? No matter what your role in the production or delivery of electricity to end users, this is a question we most likely hear more and more often. It’s a discussion that’s moved beyond Popular Science Magazine and is now the subject of water cooler chatter and social dialogue.
For those of us in the energy industry this is a good thing.
Wind power is very much in the news. A quick Google news search will generate over 5,000 news stories addressing the topic of harnessing the wind as an alternative source of generating electricity in any given month. The stories run the spectrum from the routine to the controversial off-shore wind farm that would be in plain view of the Kennedy compound off of Nantucket.
On the federal level there is the revived tax credit for developing wind power that was again signed into law in the last 30 days. At the regional level we are seeing new wind farms being erected and corporations from around the world interested in developing new ones across our region. Developing wind power became a talking point in local and statewide elections. Colorado voters passed a ballot initiative November 2nd mandating that 10 percent of the state’s electricity be produced by renewable resources such as wind. (Sorry there was no moratorium curtailing chronic complaining about the costs of electricity or services.) Midwest farmers are seeing wind farms as an economic development initiative.
So why is this a good thing?
Because for whatever reason the subject of wind power comes u, it ultimately and inherently comes back to the fact that we have to address the basic energy needs of the country and, more importantly, our region and your community. No matter what the source of interest in wind power--economic, environmental, political, popular or populist – in the end it is rooted in the premise that when we flip the switch in our home or business we expect that the light will come on.
H.L. Menken, the philosopher journalist said, “For every complex problem there is a neat, simple solution; and it is wrong.”
Does this mean that we think harnessing wind energy is folly? The answer is absolutely not. What we see is that there are real issues revolving around the production and delivery of energy now and in the future and they are not simple issues that can easily be packaged into a headline, tagline or political slogan.
As you read this there are forums and seminars being planned and conducted in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and North Dakota addressing this hot plate topic. The positive aspects and capabilities of wind power will be discussed, as will the challenges of reliability, transmission and economics. This is a very good thing, because it drives us to remember why we are in this business to begin with.
As energy providers all, we need to keep our eye on the complex problems and opportunities that exist in producing and delivering energy today and in the future. We need to develop the plans now to address the challenges that are becoming more and more complex and we need to seriously address the 9000 MW shortage of power that is forecast for our region in the next 10 years.
Most importantly, we need to make sure that we develop the knowledge and the technologies we have now and nurture the research and technologies we need for tomorrow to meet the need for the simple expectation that when we flip the switch…the light comes on.
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