Kansas tops states in current wind energy projects, report says / LJWorld.com

Topeka — Kansas has more wind energy projects under construction than any other state, according to a wind industry report released Thursday.

The state has more than $2 billion worth of wind projects under construction at the moment, the American Wind Energy Association reported.

AWEA also said Kansas has become a wind turbine manufacturing hub with the new Siemens facility in Hutchinson and some 3,000 wind-related jobs throughout the state.

In addition to ranking first with 1,189 megawatts of wind projects under construction, Kansas ranked seventh for wind energy as a percentage of total energy portfolio at 8.3 percent. South Dakota ranked first at 22.3 percent.

The industry group said wind power enjoyed a strong year of double-digit growth in the United States, but needed Congress to extend the Production Tax Credit to keep up the momentum.

“In hard economic times we’re creating jobs and delivering clean, affordable electricity,” AWEA Chief Executive Officer Denise Bode stressed. “But we will lose all these consumer benefits and a brand-new, growing manufacturing sector if Congress allows the Production Tax Credit to expire. Businesses need certainty. That is why it is urgent that Congress extend the PTC now or risk losing a bright new manufacturing sector,” Bode said.

Gov. Sam Brownback has also been a supporter of extending the tax credit. In February, he and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad urged key members of Congress to approve it, saying without the credit, wind development would grind to a halt.

“The wind energy sector is an American success story that is helping us build our manufacturing base, create jobs, lower energy costs and strengthen our energy security,” the governors said.

tolawdjk 1 year, 1 month ago

Governor's office has to be wondering how the heck that happend.

larrytowngirl 1 year, 1 month ago

lol

snap_pop_no_crackle 1 year, 1 month ago

In other news: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/04/11/t-boone-pickens-ive-lost-my-wind-power-jobs-are-oil-and-gas-industry

Cappy 1 year, 1 month ago

Sounds like Pickens is advocating for continued subsidies of green energy. That's how you get it to grow, just like we subsidized the oil industry for so long. Time to move tax credits from oil to alternatives.

none2 1 year, 1 month ago

Shouldn't Brownback put a halt to this? We all know that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were strictly coal and oil types. Alternative energy is part of the Satan's workshop of unnatural sources of energy.

collective82 1 year, 1 month ago

Ok, first I hope your being sarcastic. Second if your aren't yes Jesus, Mary, and Joesph did have forms of fossil fuels to be used IE coal. However how is using wind given to us in God's created world Satan's unnatural source of energy?

I think you can rest assured that the sarcasm toggle was on.

vertigo 1 year, 1 month ago

Sarcasm detector inop.

sweatybutcher 1 year, 1 month ago

peak wind

MapMadeMind 1 year, 1 month ago

rvjayhawk 1 year, 1 month ago

Thus far so called wind energy has proven extremely costly. And it doesn't appear to be getting any cheaper. Just a bad idea. And it kills more birds than does smokestacks.

I'd like to see your evidence on that unless your talking the actual structure not the stuff they put out. Also with wind energy you have one major cost then upkeep, with coal you have building, maintenance, fuel, getting the fuel, and delivery of the fuel. Coal is long term way more costly. Plus wind is doing nothing but getting more efficient where as coals almost as good as its going to get.

MarcoPogo 1 year, 1 month ago

The robins will return after the death of Frank Booth...and they will fill this world with love!!!

Dead birds everywhere...

I know every time I drove by Spearville and Montezuma I had to use my windshield wipers to clear off the falling dead birds. It reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds".

There are bright sides to all this bird carnage. I never have to spend money on flowers on my great great grandparents that are buried not more than 1/4 mile from the Montezuma wind farm. I just make arrangements out of feathers. (Of course the cemetery smells rather fowl as a result.) It is also great employment for the locals. They have hundreds employed to pick up dead birds. Plus there is a booming taxidermy business in western Kansas. Make sure to support Kansas businesses by buying Kansas made, Kansas mounted birds!

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 1 year, 1 month ago

Yes, wind turbines are responsible for a relatively small number of bird deaths. But it's a tiny fraction of the deaths caused by all human-made structures, modes of transportation, industry and agriculture. If your point is that we shouldn't employ wind power because it kills a few birds, the logical extension of that is that all humans should just go ahead and kill ourselves right now, because everything else we do kills way more birds than wind turbines do. (And we should kill all those feral cats that we've spread around the world while we're at it.)

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-turbine-kill-birds.htm

Centerville 1 year, 1 month ago

Wind turbines are just yard art for natural-gas-fueled generating plants. Anyone with a stake in the natural gas business is all for Wind Power (wink! wink!).

tbaker 1 year, 1 month ago

If it were not for the federal tax subsidies, you wouldn’t see a single wind generator. No utility company would build these on their own because like ethanol, wind is not a viable energy source (right now) and is wasting tax money. If it were a sensible economic investment, it would not need the lavish federal and state subsidies. Don’t believe me? Study “cost per kilowatt hour” and see what it takes to make electricity using conventional means and compare it to wind power. (be sure to add the cost of the subsidies to the equation) Also study the power generation term called “capacity value” and see how it relates to wind.

So why does Big Oil need all the tax credits and subsidies it gets? Wouldn't we be better served moving those over to something more long term sustainable?

Except that the cost of wind steadily drops as its used. Coal continues to cost as you have to pay for the continued fuel source. Winds more expensive at first but drops over the lifetime. This is why Europe is developing such huge megawatt turbines.

Also I did do a paper on the costs last year and can tell you that wind is taxed harder than coal the more energy they make. Let's say coal pays 5% on costs to make power, well wind under 2 megawatts pays about 3% however if they make more than 2 megawatts they pay up to 12%. These numbers are arbitrary but it is how the tax system works which is why it costs more.

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Archive for Thursday, April 12, 2012

Kansas tops states in current wind energy projects, report says