Wind Energy to Replace Traditional Sources? More Tilting at Windmills

October 2, 2023

Eco-zealots targeting the Last Frontier as their next battleground for transitioning the electric grid away from traditional energy to renewables swept into Anchorage recently, attending the 2023 Alaska Wind Workshop.

And, judging by the agenda, a lot of hot air was expended, with few positives for Alaska coming out of the event.

Presenters spent time hyping up emerging (read: unreliable) technologies and touting wind’s so-called benefits to Alaska, with topics ranging from project financing, technical hurdles such as communications, and the logistics of developing, installing and maintaining wind systems in remote communities. Additionally, panelists delved into energy storage, from considerations for going diesels off to end-of-life issues for batteries including recycling and repurposing.

Here’s the problem with the drive for wind in Alaska: it isn’t necessary.  With hundreds of millions of cubic feet of natural gas on the North Slope, a hundred years or more of coal reserves from the Usibelli Mine in Healy for use in Alaska’s Interior, and the lack of reliability and proven technologies around wind energy, wind doesn’t need to be a substantive percentage of our state’s energy solution for a long time.

But, the eco-left, its partners and the idealogues who fund their efforts will continue to do their best to push misguided ideas like renewable portfolio standards, while shouting doom-and-gloom scenarios around the ‘climate crisis’ and the need to transition off of traditional energy to save the planet.

Talk about tilting at windmills.