In the meeting, Sebelius sketched out her plan -- later made public in her State of the State address -- to have Kansas get 10 percent of its energy from wind by 2010 and 20 percent by 2020, the memo said.A lot of information here indicates that 20% wind power may not make any sense.
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Dec. 21, 2006 -- A confidential memo from James Haines, then chief executive of Westar Energy, says that Sebelius recognized that developing wind energy could increase costs and that, historically, Kansas Corporation Commission policy favors using the cheapest sources of energy. According to the memo, Sebelius indicated the state's policy would change and assured executives that companies that committed to wind power would be fully compensated for any added costs.
I wonder if the people of Kansas remember the details of the rolling blackouts in California a few years ago?
An interesting related story is here, entitled "Debate on coal bill exposes split among Democrats".
Excerpt:
A majority of Democratic legislators also opposed the bill Sebelius vetoed, but one supporter was House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, a Greensburg Democrat who's often a reliable ally of hers.
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2 comments:
Tom - We believe in wind and believe it will play an important role in providing energy for the future of Kansas. Using wind and natural gas peaking plants to offset when the wind doesn't blow will help us prolong the construction of a baseload or intermediate plant. Fortunately, because of our population base, our generation mix and agreements to curtail usage with our largest customers, there is still a possibility of a black out, but it is very low compared to California or New York.
It was frustrating for Sebelius to promise the quote you have in your article and then be denied any incentive and on top have the possibility for penalties if our farms don't perform how we anticipate.
How wind will fit into our generation mix.
Response to Wind Rate Order.
"Belief" in the wind is not an option. There must be practical solutions.
There were rolling blackouts in Texas a few weeks ago because the wind didn't blow enough to meet the demand.
We need to have generation plants built, that will provide the energy necessary for the state. Then the windmills, solar arrays and nuclear power plants can be planned and built.
Beliefs do not generate electricity.
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