EcoLogic Blog

More than 800 people gathered at the FARGODOME to hear billionaire and oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens talk about his energy plan.

Next, the fiery and riveting Department of Energy (DOE) assistant secretary Alexander “Andy” Karsner (who was in the wind power business before going to the DOE) spoke passionately about the PTC:

“Take note all you media people out there. The [Bush] administration supports the extension of the PTC. We believe the PTC should be durable, reliable, improved…unreliable policy does nothing more than stave off growth in job creation…If we’re going to use tax policy, we at least have to make it reliable and durable.

But why would the [U.S. House of Representatives] put the same legislation before the president there or four times if you know it’s going to be vetoed but then bury the PTC in it?… It’s an old trick to use veto bait during an election year. The President just wants a clean bill with the PTC! The Senate did it and was more mature about it. Why can’t the House deliver on the same thing?

We want these things to succeed and out of the basket of politics. It is not the government’s role to select electricity winners. We need neutrality of government that ensures delivery of the attributes that we seek.

That means policy that’s carbon weighted and leans to emissions-free sources.”

He went to talk about the need of natural gas and wind power to be energy partners (using natural gas as a back up to variable wind power). “We are going to need every drop of domestic natural gas and we’re going to need wind.”

He concluded:

“We are facing a new energy reality. We are in a new and unknown era where we need your leadership. Urgency is what matters. All reports say we have 10 – 15 years to cut emissions to the point needed. We’ve got the first 7 percent of the next 10 years in the last days of this administration. Even if people are taking about lame duck, it doesn’t mean government can sit back and not take action [on the PTC].”

The American Wind Energy Association’s WINDPOWER 2008 conference and expo kicked off this morning with an opening session of top-notch wind power people. The languishing production tax credit for wind (PTC) (stuck in legislation that the president promises to veto) was a big topic of discussion. In fact, chairs in the auditorium had a card on it with all members of Congress’ phone numbers.

All the speakers were very good, but one of the most interesting was Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D): She and her state have done great things for renewable energy. She talked about the struggles and successes getting there:

“Five years ago, we decided to change the fact that we were so dependent on coal. But we had a hostile regulatory environment, transmission issues and financial uncertainty. So we had to define ‘cost’ in a broader sense; when taking into account jobs, environmental and health costs, you get a very different answer than coal.

We don’t have a majority of legislators ready to embrace a renewable portfolio standard [RPS]. So I had to work on the regulatory side. We created a voluntary RPS of 10 percent by 2010 and 20 percent by 2020.

By the end of this year we’ll be at 10 percent wind in Kansas already…We’re only one of two states to have achieved this without a legislative mandate.”

Regarding the coal plants Kansas denied based on global warming concerns (a first in the nation):

“There were two new coal plants cited for Kansas. But the power wasn’t for us, it was for another state; we wouldn’t actually need to build a coal plant for a very long time.

If we opened up our doors to become a coal exporter, that would send exactly the wrong signals to developers, regulators and the public looking to Kansas for clean technologies. [Our denial of the plants] produced a firestorm. They threatened legislation mandating that the coal plants be built. But the legislature adjourned last week and all of my vetoes were sustained…We were told that without new coal plants, we wouldn’t get the transmission needed that would also help wind. A week after I vetoed, a major transmission line was announced by Warren Buffet’s company in Kansas. This myth was debunked. We’re turning a corner in the heartland.”

Some say Governor Sebelius is a vice presidential contender.

I’m in hot-hot-hot Houston, Texas for the 2008 WINDPOWER Conference and Expo (after temperature highs in the 70s in Minnesota, this 97 degree stuff is going to melt me). WINDPOWER is sponsored by the American Wind Energy Association and is the largest wind power gathering in the world - and it’s on the grow. One of the conference organizers told me last year’s Los Angeles event saw about 7,000 attendees and this year they’re expecting 12,000. Wow.

Wind power companies, developers, manufactures and others are here from all over the world: Germany, Spain and China are a few I’ve seen so far. But attendees don’t have to pour through the long list of exhibitors trying to find a relevant company: there are kiosks set up in the exhibit hall where you can enter in keywords of the type of business you’re looking for (e.g. “turbine blade manufacturer”) and the computer will give you a list of companies that fit that description and their booth number. So no wandering the aisles. Technology is great!

Tonight was the opening reception and tomorrow begins the conference learning sessions and exhibits. I’ll be liveblogging and Twittering throughout the day, and I’m scheduled to interview a few renewable energy policy movers and shakers, so stay tuned.

And if you or your company are out here, I’d love to stop by your booth - just leave a comment and let me know.