We are delighted that politicians, bankers, and industry users look favorably upon our stranded wind relocalization plans. Ours are large scale industrial plants and thusly they get much assistance from all quarters. We'd like to see that same easy path available for those developing smaller projects.
This is not the case today, as wind regulations here are as broken as our miserable health care system is. Paul Gipe, founder of Wind Works, has almost thirty years of advocacy in the field, is helping at the state level in many places, and we feel that now is the time for change in this area, so his is the first of our interviews this week.
An introduction to Paul Gipe:
We recently interviewed Paul Gipe (like pipe) about his thoughts on wind energy policy. Mr. Gipe has published six books in the field of wind energy, some of which have been translated in French, Spanish, and Italian. He has written many articles on wind energy and other topics including one near and dear to every Kossack's heart; the need for prompt impeachment of George W. Bush.
Gipe's primary policy concern are what are known as ARTs, short for Advanced Renewable Tariffs.
The concept is simple. Right now fossil fuel production has many "externalities" associated with production. Things like our soldiers dying in Iraq. Things like the total failure of summer arctic sea ice in the next few years. Things like no bid contracts for Halliburton.
Wind turbines have no such support within the government, despite the great volume of hot air which flows from inside the Beltway. The sun rises and sets, air warms and cools, and the wind blows.
Gipe's plan is simple: if renewable energy is valuable, treat it as such:
Please not that we are not advocating subsidies. Subsidies are defined as funds which flow from the government to the receiver of the subsidy and thusly in this day and age such things are never more than three martinis, two bong hits, and one underage prostitute away from assault by this or that dirty politician. Electing Progressives, while a worthwhile pursuit, is no defense against these sorts of things. Good, well written policy is.
What has worked and worked well in Europe are tariffs. The Wikipedia definition we reference is not sufficient to explain the situation, as the ones Gipe suggests are of the type used in the telecom industry, which are a clear statement of a cost for a given service, rather than a method of taxation as the Wikipedia article indicates.
Gipe is working with people in California, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, Wisconsin,
and Oregon on the creation of these tariffs which are also known as feed laws.
The key components to a functional tariff are these:
There must be a priority for connection. No more obstacles placed by large electric utilities. Dirty pool is the rule in the negotiating of power purchase agreements these days.
There must be a priority for purchase. All renewable energy must be paid for, as opposed to the current situation where coal, gas, or nuclear produce a baseload and variable renewables are the last player called from the bench.
The tariff must cover depreciation, operating expenses, and provide a profit for the operator over a significant period of time, generally at least a decade.
The tariff must be indexed to inflation. If there were a tag that would make this paragraph leap off the page and flick you on the nose to be sure you pay attention here we would use it. The dollar has dropped 30% in the last year, what required forty hours of work to pay for last year requires fifty seven hours as we write this, and this trend will continue as the dollar collapses due to peak oil and the unwinding of the adjustable rate mortgage scam. A tariff without an inflation provision is worse than useless, as it will draw people in who are not aware of this dollar dynamic, and then sink them.
A need for more "boots on the ground"
Compare the above list of states with activity regarding tariffs to the national wind energy map.
We would like to see a state level lobbyist for each state with wind potential helping to push these tariffs along. Iowa is now covered by one of our members, Nebraska will likely be next, but there are many states with great potential and no advocate assuring that things are progressing.
Energize America 2020, Stranded Wind, and Mr. Gipe himself all have federal level contacts who are willing to help, so we feel like there is some momentum there, but many state legislatures are already moving, as we've seen with $100,000,000 initiative from the Iowa Office of Energy Independence.
When we interview someone we have them fact check our writings before they are displayed. Mr. Gipe came back with the following comment:
You could help me a lot by noting my endorsment page.
Upon further investigation we learned that the growing mass of endorsements Mr. Gipe has received for his efforts provide him with a significant amount of "mojo" in certain policy circles. Tip us if you must, but if you approve of this please examine the Wind Works web site, locate Mr. Gipe's email address and send him your personal or organizational endorsement for these planned renewable energy tariffs.
We admit that our knowledge of these matters is incomplete and Mr. Gipe has stated as much himself. There is a great deal of attention on renewable energy now and we've likely missed important new initiatives. If you are aware of one we would appreciate if you would add a comment with a link to the effort's web site.
(UPDATE #1
Rescued again! We thanks you, we thanks you! Commentors have suggested the ARTs policy is regressive, yet it has worked well in Germany. We're in favor of people who are better off paying more and this area could use some exploration ... but we must act swiftly in our pursuit of renewable energy.)