Interview with Paul Gipe, Wind Energy Pioneer

Paul Gipe has been involved with wind energy for 30 years. He has authored several books in the field, and was instrumental in the successful campaign for Ontario’s 2006 implementation of Advanced Renewable Tariffs to promote distributed renewable energy supply.

Gipe The challenge I face is defeatism. Environmentalists and renewable advocates here in the States just shake their heads sadly and say, “We’re Americans, it can’t be done here.” That’s baloney. Of course it can be done here. We were the first to do it. We have a track record. There’s 1,500 MW of wind operating in California that was built as a result of an early feed law. And it was built 20 years ago!

Sure, after two decades of getting beat on the head by the Reagan-Clinton-Bush folks it’s hard to stand up and demand what we really want. But that’s what must be done.
[…] How have the Germans, the French, and the Spaniards done it? [Or New Zealanders? – Ed] The answer is very simple – that’s the beauty of it. They pay for it. They’ve made a political decision that renewables are desirable, in fact needed, and they’re needed now.

In market economies, you produce the kind of development you want or the product you want by paying for it. You set a price that will result in the development you want. How do you produce rapid development of massive amounts of renewable energy? You pay more than you would otherwise. If growth is too rapid – I can’t imagine such a problem with renewables since our situation is so dire – you reduce the price and development then slackens.

This is not rocket science. This is econ 101. If you pay for it, “they will come”. The key is the price or “tariff” in dollars per kilowatt-hour.

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