Kansas leaders hope electricity transmission summit fuels energy efforts
Journal-World, Lawrence, Kan. --Aug. 25
Aug. 25--The federal government's top energy regulator will be in Lawrence next month for a conference that will focus on ways to lower electricity bills and increase wind energy production.
It will mark the second time in the past two years Wood -- whose agency
regulates the country's network of pipelines and power grids that carry
electricity, natural gas and oil -- has been in Lawrence. He attended the first
Kansas Electric Transmission Summit in June 2003.
"He's returning because Kansas is like a poster child to him," said
Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, who organized both conferences. "When he was
out here a year ago, he said there was no state working harder to solve its
electric problems."
State legislators, regional utility executives and Kansas Corporation
Commission members are expected to attend the event and discuss ways the
electric industry can better produce and distribute power.
Sloan said the summit would focus on how new electric transmission lines
could connect eastern and western Kansas. He said western Kansas residents were
experiencing high electricity costs, largely because most of the area's
electricity is produced by power plants fueled by increasingly pricey natural
gas.
Eastern Kansas has several coal-powered plants and one nuclear-powered plant
that could provide cheaper electricity if the transmission lines to carry the
power were in place.
Donna Johnson, president of Lawrence-based Pinnacle Technology, said the lack
of transmission lines was a "huge hurdle" for the wind energy
industry.
"In western Kansas there is so much wind and the landowners and the
counties are basically welcoming the developers," Johnson said. "The
problem is, what do you do with the power?"
If new transmission systems were built, it could create economic development
opportunities for the state.
"For years, Kansas was a net exporter of energy. We actually made money
from the sale of energy," Johnson said. "Now we import more of it than
we produce. It is now costing the state money, but we can change that."
Sloan said the state of Wyoming has set aside $10 billion to improve its
transmission system. Sloan wants the effort to be funded by private industry in
Kansas.
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