November 1, 2006
Economics, Environment, Grid, Kansas, U.S.

Stretching or Ignoring Facts and Making Unwarranted Assumptions When Attempting to Justify Wind Energy

Schleede, Glenn

Attempts in Kansas to justify wind energy illustrate the challenge facing many government officials and illustrate the risks facing taxpayers and electric customers.

Contents include:

• Key reasons why political leaders and regulators are facing problems when attempting to deal with wind energy
• Activities underway in Kansas illustrate the problems associated with attempts to force greater use of wind energy
• Facts about wind energy that are often ignored by federal, state and local officials when considering wind energy policies or facilities
  1. Electricity produced by wind turbines is lower in quality and value than electricity produced from reliable generating units
  2. Building wind turbines will not replace the need for building reliable, dispatchable generating capacity
  3. Published information on the cost of electricity from wind per kWh generally is not valid or reliable
  4. True costs of electricity from wind are much higher than often admitted because important elements of cost are ignored
  5. Local economic benefits of “wind farms” are generally exaggerated
  6. Environmental benefits of wind energy are typically overstated
  7. Wind Energy Advocates try to ignore adverse environmental, ecological, scenic and property value impacts of “wind farms”
• Additional comments on Kansas wind energy evaluation activities
  1. The Governor’s charge to the KCC
  2. Makeup of the KEC may not give adequate protection of taxpayer and electric customer interests
  3. Is wind really a valuable “energy resource” for Kansas?
  4. Do “community wind” projects make sense for electric customers and taxpayers?
  5. Insidious effects of “Renewable Portfolio Standards” (RPS)
• Lessons for all government officials faced with wind energy issues

Download original document: “Stretching or Ignoring Facts and Making Unwarranted Assumptions When Attempting to Justify Wind Energy ^[1]”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/stretching-or-ignoring-facts-and-making-unwarranted-assumptions-when-attempting-to-justify-wind-energy/

URLs in this post:

[1] Stretching or Ignoring Facts and Making Unwarranted Assumptions When Attempting to Justify Wind Energy: https://docs.wind-watch.org/schleede-stretchingignoring.PDF

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