Wind Energy in Kansas
Kansas’ Wind Energy Industry Is Great For The Economy:
Wind power projects in Kansas have a significant economic impact on our state. Kansas is home to five wind-related manufacturing facilities and two dozen wind projects, with new development always on the horizon. The facilities and projects mean jobs for hard-working Kansans and revenue for the state.1
Wind is also creating economic development for the state, where major wind turbine manufacturer Siemens currently operates a $50 Million Nacelle Assembly Facility in Hutchinson, Kansas. The effects of this investment will be felt throughout the Kansas supply chain, allowing an ever increasing number of Kansas firms to participate in the wind energy industry. An investment in wind power is an investment in jobs, including jobs in operations and maintenance, construction, manufacturing and many support sectors.2
New Jobs, New Investment, New Revenue:
In 2015 wind energy supported between 5,000 and 6,000 direct and indirect jobs in Kansas, and the total wind energy capital investment was $7 Billion. In addition, wind projects produce lease payments for landowners and increase the tax base of communities.
Kansas landowners collectively receive about $13 Million annually from land lease payments. Wind turbines are located on leased land from private parties, providing income to land owners, typically ranchers and farmers, allowing them to enhance their ways of life and supplementing their income through lease and royalty payments. Payments to counties provide added benefits by funding special projects such as a school gymnasium, county emergency equipment and more, without such payments, these local needs would often go unfunded.
Great For The Environment:
- In 2015, wind energy provided 23.87% of all in-state electricity production, the equivalent of 1 million homes in Kansas are powered by wind energy.
- Generating wind power creates no emissions and uses virtually no water.
- With wind energy in 2014 alone, Kansas’ water consumption savings equaled 2.5 billion gallons, the equivalent of 18.7 billion water bottles.
- With wind energy in 2014 alone, Kansas avoided 4.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide (co2) emissions, the equivalent of 957,000 cars worth of emissions.
Wind Energy In Kansas Is The Future:
Kansas has long been one of America’s wind power leaders; its installed capacity has doubled four times in the last 10 years, and it’s about to double again. In 2015, wind supplied nearly 24 percent of the state’s electricity. According to Gov. Sam Brownback, that number will exceed 30 percent in 2016, and reaching 50 percent may not be far off.
Through 2050, wind could save consumers over $1.6 Billion on their electric bills, on top of nearly $4 Billion in savings resulting from protection against conventional fuel price fluctuations.
1 (“Economic Impact,” Kansans for Wind Energy)
2 (“Kansas Wind Energy,” American Wind Energy Association)
3 (Greg Alvarez, “Gov. Brownback: Wind Power Could Supply 50 Percent Of Kansas Electricity,” American Wind Energy Association’s Into The Wind, 6/28/16)
American Energy Action (AWA), an independent 501(c)(4), is established to advance wind energy policy by designing and deploying aggressive advocacy programs and activities. Specifically, AWA will measurably increase the lobbying and advocacy capacity, as well as the political strength, of the wind energy advocates at the state and federal level by identifying, motivating, and activating supporters of wind energy to contact their elected officials and to educate the public about the officials’ positions on wind energy.
Until now, one wind-energy focused organization, AWEA, a 501(c)(c)6 Trade Association has collaborated on certain projects to educate the public on the benefits of wind energy and to advance the policies that incentivize more such energy. To achieve greater awareness and effective policy and political impact a new independent 501(c)(4), AWA, has been established. The combined impact of these organizations will result in significantly greater delivery of wind energy and the valuable benefits it provides to our country and our future.