Natalie Shirley believes Oklahoma needs to develop its abundant wind resources.
Shirley, Oklahoma secretary of commerce, spoke at The Wind Energy Forum Friday hosted by Enid Regional Development Alliance about how Oklahoma can add to its energy portfolio.
“I think what you’re doing here in Enid is really without parallel across the state,” Shirley said at a packed lectorium at Autry Technology Center. “What you guys have going on in Enid is really just amazing.”
This is the second year Enid Regional Development Alliance has held the wind forum, which is in conjunction with Kites Over Enid.
Last year, the forum had more speakers from other parts of the country. But this year, there was more of a local focus.
The theme of this year’s wind forum was “Wind: What’s In It For Me?”
Speakers at the forum other than Shirley included Brent Kisling, executive director of Enid Regional Development Alliance; Curt Roggow, government relations for Wind Coalition and the city of Enid; Monty Taylor, P&K Equipment wind energy specialist; Steve Gaw, Southwest Power Pool policy director for Wind Coalition; Mario Hurtado of Clean Line Energy; Joe Arb of TradeWind Energy; and Stan Mannschreck, a Lawton area ag producer who has wind turbines on his land.
TradeWind Energy and RES Americas are two companies working on renting land from farmers to build wind turbines and transmit electricity across Garfield County.
Arb talked about what TradeWind Energy is doing with its land in northern Garfield County, and what a wind farm could look like five to 10 years down the road.
Building wind turbines, Arb said, would create a number of jobs and would provide landowners several millions of dollars in returns.
“The bottom line is, we’ve got a great resource and there’s a lot of development,” he said.
Roggow, meanwhile, talked about the different political issues affecting the landscape of wind energy in Oklahoma.
“There were a lot of wind issues taking place at our state’s Capitol this year,” Roggow said. “(It was) five or six times more than the previous year.”
Going with the local theme, Taylor, of P&K Equipment, talked about the different issues that go into constructing a wind turbine, such as what it would cost and how much energy it would produce.
Taylor acknowledged building a wind turbine is expensive and the return on the investment might not be seen right away. However, he said, there are plenty of tax credits and incentives available where the expense of building the turbine can be written off in a hurry.
Shirley, who was the keynote speaker of sorts at the forum, said the state needs to continue to pursue wind energy.
“We are now, we have been, and we will forever be an energy state,” Shirley said. “Let’s become the nation’s clean energy leaders. Let’s fully develop our abundant resources. Let’s see Oklahoma soar, starting tomorrow with all the kites in the air over Enid.”