Wednesday, November 4, 2009

State and federal officials say that Kansas has great potential for developing wind energy but it lacks enough transmission lines.

They say current transmission lines are near capacity, making it difficult to move wind energy generated in the western areas of Kansas to larger centers of population in the east.

At a High Plains Regional Transmission Summit in Lawrence Tuesday, Gov. Mark Parkinson said the federal government can help by offering more guidance on renewable energy development and help getting transmission lines built.

A federal energy official says authorities need more power to decide where and how to build transmission lines across state borders, much like it does with natural gas pipelines.