Panelists: |
| |
| Thomas Fair is
the Development Director at RES North America, LLC in Jupiter,
Florida. He is responsible for developing wind energy projects
in various parts of North America. He has previously worked
as Project Director for FPL Energy, LLC, Vice President for
Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, and Director of Environmental
Affairs for Florida Power & Light Company. Thomas received
a BS in Architecture from the University of Cincinnati, a Masters
in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan, and a MBA
from the University of Miami. From 1984-1985 he also held a
White House appointment as Staff Assistant to the Assistant
Secretary for Water & Science in the U.S. Department of
the Interior, where he received a Presidential Commendation. |
| E-mail
address: tom.fair@res-na.com |
| |
| Ralph Gamble is
a Professor in the Department of Economics and Finance at FHSU.
His fields of specialization are monetary and financial theory,
econometric methods, and industrial organization, and his research
interests include the interdependencies of systems, especially
those of ethics, culture, and economics. Ralph has published
papers, articles and reviews in the Kansas Business Review,
Futures, Southern Economic Journal, Quarterly Review of Economics
and Finance, American Banker, Journal of Economic Education,
Oil and Gas Quarterly, and Journal of Economic Finance. He consults
for the Docking Institute and others on issues of industrial
policy and the valuation of economic loss, including the restructuring
of the electric power industry. He received a B.A. in economics
from the University of West Florida (Pensacola) in 1977, and
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from Oklahoma State University
(Stillwater) in 1982 and 1989. Ralph has expertise in the areas
of energy crisis, retail wheeling of electricity, regulation
and deregulation of industry, and the ethics of economic issues. |
| E-mail
address: rgamble@fhsu.edu |
| |
| Sharla Krenzel
is the Director of Wichita County Economic Development, Inc.
and the Wichita County Enterprise Community initiative. She
is actively involved in rural development and serves on the
boards of several organizations, including the western Kansas
Rural Economic Development Alliance (wKREDA), Santa Fe Trail
RC&D, Western Kansas Enterprise Facilitation Consortium,
and Kansas Center for Rural Initiatives at KSU. Sharla and her
husband operate a farm in Wichita County which markets certified
organic grains both nationally and internationally. |
| E-mail
address: wced@wbsnet.org |
| |
| Steve Miller,
a 1990 graduate of Fort Hays State University, is the Senior
Manager for External Affairs at Sunflower Electric Power Corporation
in Hays. He has been with the cooperative for the past 20
years. His responsibilities include state governmental relations,
corporate communications, rural development and the procurement
of Sunflower's property and casualty insurance programs. Previously,
Steve served in management positions at Sunflower responsible
for the data processing, material management and purchasing
departments. He is the founder of the western Kansas Economic
Development Alliance, a group working for the economic gain
in 46 western Kansas counties. He was the 2002 recipient of
the Rural Leadership Award, an honor given annually by the
National Rural Economic Developers Association. |
| E-mail
address: smiller@sunflower.net |
| |
| Vaughn Nelson is
Director of the Alternative Energy Institute and Distinguished
Professor of Physics at West Texas A&M University. He has
been active in wind energy since the early 70's with primary
work on wind resource assessment, education and training, applied
R&D, and rural applications of wind energy with USDA. Vaughn
is the author of two books, has published over 50 articles and
reports and has been the principal investigator on numerous
grants, primarily in wind energy. He has given over 50 workshops
and seminars from the local to international level. |
| E-mail
address: vnelson@mail.wtamu.edu |
| |
| Randy Rodgers is
a wildlife biologist based in Hays who has worked in western
Kansas for 24 years. A native of Kansas, he received his B.S.
in wildlife biology from Kansas State University in 1975. After
completing his M.S. at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
in 1979, he returned to Kansas to work for the Kansas Fish and
Game, now the Department of Wildlife and Parks. Randy has published
14 scientific papers and numerous popular articles on his research.
His main emphasis is in incorporating good soil, water, and
wildlife conservation into socially and economically sound land
use practices on the High Plains. |
| E-mail
address: randyr@wp.state.ks.us |
| |
| Michael Volker
is the Manager of Pricing and Market Research for Midwest Energy
in Hays and is also an Adjunct Professor of Economics at Fort
Hays State University. Michael is on the Board of Directors
of the Kansas Renewable Energy Working Group, Inc. and was also
appointed by former Governor Bill Graves to the State Energy
Resources Coordination Council for a four-year term beginning
last fall. Prior to coming to Kansas in 1999, Michael worked
for the Boston Consulting Group in their Energy & Utilities
Practice in Atlanta, Georgia and for Carolina Power & Light
Company in Raleigh, North Carolina. Michael earned his Masters
degree in Economics from North Carolina State University and
his Bachelors degree in Mineral Economics from Penn State University.
He is originally from Pittsburgh, PA. |
| E-mail
address: mvolker@mwenergy.com |
| |
| Dr. Kyle K. Wetzel
is President of K. Wetzel & Company, Inc., a Lawrence-based
engineering consulting company. He has engineered state-of-the-art
wind energy, aerospace, and defense systems since 1993 in a
variety of capacities, including as a consultant and researcher
through his own companies, as an engineering manager at Zond
Energy Systems (now GE Wind Energy), as Executive Vice President
of Aerotech Engineering & Research Corp., and as a university
researcher. Kyle is the founder and current Chairman of the
Kansas Renewable Energy Working Group, a broad-based coalition
of renewable interests in the state of Kansas. He holds an M.S.
in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois
and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of
Kansas. |
| E-mail
address: kwetzel@kwetzel.com |
| |
| |
Materials presented at the
symposium: |
Wind
Energy Fundamentals, by Vaughn Nelson (PowerPoint) |
| Wind
Energy: A Tale of Two Incentive Mechanisms, by Michael Volker
(PowerPoint) |
Wind
Power Generation: Biological Concerns, by Randy Rodgers (pdf
format) |
Siting
Guidelines for Windpower Projects in Kansas (pdf format) |
Site
Ranking Criteria for Wind Development Projects (pdf format) |
| Sunflower
Electric Power Corporation Outline (pdf format) |
| Wichita
County Economic Development Outline (pdf format) |
| |
| Other materials of interest: |
| True
Cost of Electricity from Wind Power and Windmill "Availability
Factors (pdf format) |
| |
