Topeka — Gov. Mark Parkinson on Wednesday signed an executive order setting up an interagency group to promote wind energy.
“We’ve made a lot of progress,” in developing wind energy, Parkinson said at a meeting of the Kansas Wind Working Group.
But Parkinson conceded the progress has sometimes seemed slow to advocates of wind power.
Four years ago, Kansas produced about 300 megawatts of wind-generated electricity. Now the figure is 1,000 megawatts.
Parkinson said the recent approval of new transmission lines in the state will pave the way for more wind projects by providing the capacity to move wind power for sale elsewhere.
“The sky is the limit,” he said. Studies have shown Kansas has one of the top potentials for wind energy.
The executive order establishes the Kansas Interagency Working Group for Wind Energy, which includes leaders from state agencies including Commerce, Wildlife and Parks, Transportation, Agriculture, Labor, the Kansas Corporation Commission, Energy Office, Board of Regents, the governor’s Military Council and Adjutant General’s Office.
Lt. Gov. Troy Findley, who chaired the governor’s energy policy subcabinet team, said the group is designed to be a “one-stop shop” in state government to help in wind energy planning.
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jhawks360 (anonymous) says…
Nice work, Governor Parkinson / Lt. Governor Findley. You'll both be sorely missed come January.
QuiviraTrail (anonymous) says…
I hope Gov. Sam "Wash your Feet" Brownback doesn't repeal the moratorium on siting wind farms in the central Flint Hills. The Nature Conservancy has a data base which shows where critical habitat is in Kansas. It can be used to plan around these areas.
ksjayhawk74 (anonymous) says…
Please angry commenters, tell us what makes wind power dirty & evil... especially when compared to just about any other form of energy production (coal, oil, nuclear).
I'll give you a head start: That dirty Reid, Pelosi, Obama stimulus money gets wasted on building these worthless turbines...
farva (anonymous) replies…
1. It ruins pristine open lands. They are rarely if ever built in altered ecosystems (corn fields), instead they are typically built in more pristine ecological locations (flint hills for one)
2. Tremendous amount of infrastructure and transmission lines needed for inconsistent power production.
3. Tremendous habitat fragmentation. Good bye prairie chickens. Go look up some research of how many migratory birds and mammals die from collisions. The blades are large enough that they produce an intense pressure area that actually causes bat brains to more or less implode.
4. People hate living next to them and have gone mental due to the constant low pitch hum they create
5. They are racing to install them before standards are developed and enforced, the red hills development is a great example of that.
Nuclear power is by far the most efficient and productive source...small impact area with a high output to low waste creation. Wind is not a viable, reliable, reasonable source of energy...unless everyone wants to put a little miniature turbine on their own house or put them in the cities where everything is already ecologically destroyed.
The_Big_B (anonymous) says…
Wind power isn't dirty and evil, but it is inefficient and unreliable. It has potential as a supplemental source of energy, but not as a base load source. The only sensible path is to follow the French model for clean, safe and reliable nuclear power plants.
devobrun (anonymous) says…
All the usual energy proponents have now arrived:
1) Wind is good
2) Politicians who support it are good.
3) Those who oppose are bad, read angry.
4) Inefficient and wasteful and non-productive should give way to nuclear.
Here's my take:
1) Savings are always worth considering. But when the mitigation techniques diminish in return to the point of negative return....stop. 12 inches of attic insulation is good.....48 inches is not.
2) Evaluate all energy distribution schemes on the basis of joules. Energy (measured in joules) out divided by energy in. It is a simple calculation really. But it is not around because the sleaze-bags from all sides don't want a proper figure-of-merit.
3) Don't engage in politics, sales, marketing, persuasion, or hot air of any kind. Well, that won't happen. Then wake up the electorate to the manipulation they are subjected to. Well, that won't happen either.
Never mend. People believe religion, government manipulated and subsidized science, TV programs and everything they read on the World Wide InterWeb....... What a bunch of rubes.
Go ahead Mark, take more of my money and fund a bad idea.
LesBlevins (anonymous) says…
Wind power is backed or at least not opposed by the monopoly power utilities because they know that with wind being very unreliable their generation stations must be kept online and ready to back up the wind. And the utilities are afraid the towns and cities will opt to become self generators using wind, solar and biomass with municipal trash as a fuel tossed in. I'm working to empower that through development of such innovation. Power to the people I say.
blue73harley (anonymous) says…
There is a lot of wind available in the Topeka Capital building. Most of it is a waste.