I returned to Oklahoma recently to spread the good word about wind energy and to suggest how the Sooner State’s tremendous wind resource could help bring it jobs and investment.
The event was Kites over Enid, and we did pay homage to the wind by, yes, flying kites. It was an attempt to break the Guinness Book of Records for the number of kites in the air at once.
Before we sent up our kites, the local officials sponsored a session to highlight Oklahoma’s wind potential and the economic development opportunities it brings.
I told my Sooner friends that the state has the potential to develop 80,000 megawatts of wind energy; to date, it has developed just 708 megawatts. Developing just a fraction of Oklahoma’s potential would provide more than enough power to meet the state’s electricity demands, allowing it to become a major net exporter of wind power. It would also mean jobs.
Developing just 15,000 megawatts, for example, would mean 1,500 permanent operations and maintenance jobs and 900 construction jobs annually. Developing those wind resources would also create a magnet for wind component manufacturers to locate in the state, which would mean more manufacturing jobs.
The way to make all of this happen is for Oklahoma, and for Congress, to adopt a strong renewable electricity standard. You can see the results in the 29 states and the 39 countries that have passed their own commitment to renewables as part of their energy portfolio through a standard.
Iowa, for example, already has installed 3,000 megawatts of wind energy and has since attracted three turbine manufacturers and top suppliers, accounting for more than 2,600 jobs as well as other opportunities for manufacturers throughout the state. Just north of us in Kansas, within months this year of the state passing a renewable electricity standard, Siemens announced a new manufacturing facility in Hutchinson, employing 800.
Some say no to this idea. They argue that a standard that sets a requirement that regulated utilities have a portion of their generation come from renewable generation is a mandate. As a former state regulator of utilities, let me set the record straight. It is the appropriate role of government, whether it be the regulatory agency or the legislative body, to determine what is in the public interest when a monopoly franchise over territory served and rate of return guaranteed from ratepayers is granted to an electric utility.
There is a whole body of law on this over 100 years, where government determines what generation (fossil, nuclear or renewable) is included in the rate base to be charged to you. It is entirely appropriate and consistent for the state and the federal government to determine that including renewable electricity in a regulated utilities portfolio is in the public interest through legislation.
It’s one thing to use the wind to fly a kite. It’s even more exciting to use that resource to boost a whole economy.
Bode is CEO of the American Wind Energy Association.