Lack of reliable energy produced by wind

Wind Energy: Cronies Blowing in the Wind

Daniel Simmons, Director of State and Regulatory Affairs for the Institute for Energy Research, appeared on The Diane Rehm Show this morning to discuss the “The Politics and Potential of Wind Power.”

Simmons spoke about the lack of reliable energy produced by wind and explained IER’s position against energy subsidies. Simmons began by saying:

“In 2011, wind produced about 2.9% of all electricity generated. One of the challenges for wind is what everyone understands about wind: it only produces electricity when the wind is blowing. And that is not, unfortunately, when we need electricity. The way we need electricity is as an instant “on” on hot summer days, we have high demand at times wind isn’t blowing. That is the real challenge for wind. That is something the production tax credit really doesn’t help with: developing the technologies so that we can store the wind. Instead, what the production tax credit does is it pays the producers for producing. What matters is we have some electricity all the time and then that electricity can be scaled and increased to meet demand in the middle of the day. For wind, that is a real challenge.”

Click here to listen to the entire show

Daniel Simmons oversees IER’s energy research and outreach at the state level. Before joining IER, Simmons served as the Director of the Natural Resources Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Previously, he served as Legislative Staff for the Committee on Resources in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Institute for Energy Research (IER) is a not-for-profit organization that conducts intensive research and analysis on the functions, operations, and government regulation of global energy markets. IER maintains that freely-functioning energy markets provide the most efficient and effective solutions to today’s global energy and environmental challenges and, as such, are critical to the well-being of individuals and society.