Tremendous Economic Advantages to Using Wind

Delaware’s PSC trimmed high hopes for a 600 MW wind farm off Delaware’s coast, by recommending a 200-300 MW one instead. This was to be backed up by a gas turbine which would fire whenever wind stopped blowing…..

Though disappointed, I understand their point. One, afraid of rushing into a new area of development, they are putting their toes in the water first, before jumping in. Two, dealing with a recalcitrant power utility, they are trying to minimize the taste of the medicine, by using half the dose. And adding a ton of sugar. (Hey Honey, come out in the garage and check out my new gas turbine….)

We understand,………. but we have to realize what we are dealing with. That is, simply put, the economic future of Delaware.

So what is at stake. Every new wind turbine creates a new job. 600 turbines, as opposed to 200 turbines means 400 less jobs or at 100,000 apiece, 40,000,000 pumped into our states economy. At a low 4% tax rate, this is 1.6 million that could be in our treasury but isn’t.

The jobs would land on both ends of the state. Assembly of the turbines at dockside in Wilmington, benefiting the hard strung Port of Wilmington, and off Lewes where boats would ship out to fix the foundations. Now is not the time to laugh off 40,000,000 dollars pumped into our states economy.
Assemblage of wind turbines is a BIG job

We recently had a bill in the General Assembly that offered a tax rebate to any company bringing in a hundred jobs over 100,000. And we are passing up 400 of those jobs to please Delmarva?

There is fear and trepidation among General Assembly members about crossing Delmarva Power. Their money is nice during election time. But it is countered with the fear and loathing individual voters have for their personification of evil in this small state of ours: the electric utility company………and those voters are needed to stay elected.

Therefore pressure can be maintained by all citizens who wish to pay less, not more for their electricity. They can call on each individual legislator over the break. If every member of General Assembly heard from just 5 constituents, who voiced their anger at 600 MW not moving forward at full power, the next General Assembly would be held in a changed environment. The new owners (the voters) would be in charge………(it’s an election year, you know.)

As has been mentioned before, 600 MW of wind power will drop costs of providing power from 5.6 cents per kilowatt hour, down to 2.3 cents. As everyone else knows, coal with carbon attachments, may soon cost over 15 cents per kilowatt hour. Any company worth its corporate stock would want to manufacture in a state where energy costs were cheapest. One has only to look to the Buffalo-Albany corridor to see what cheap electricity from the Niagra River Power Plant did for jobs in that state………

Delaware has the chance to do so. Waiting until other states have built their wind-farms, and stolen the manufacturers who would have come to us, is an option Delaware can ill afford.
wind farm capacity by state

Building a full capacity wind farm would give our state’s economy a huge boost. It would fill the coffers of the State treasury without costing any lost revenues, as other such incentives have been known to do.

To sum up, Big Wind will bring cheap power to Delawareans currently paying more than Pennsylvanians and Marylanders for their electricity. It will bring high paying jobs specifically to Delaware to build the turbines and foundations. It will bring employers who are pulling out their hair to meet margins on current high utility costs. Imagine Chrysler saying ‘No” to 2.3 cents per kilowatt hour? And move somewhere else and pay up to 25 cents later? They would have to be nuts……………..

We cannot go half assed. We need to go forward.

Every time I stuck my toes in the water, it was always too cold. I never went in. But every time I said “what the hell” and dived right in,…. after 45 seconds, the water was fine……………………………