New leadership for Governors’ Wind and Solar Energy Coalition

The Governors’ Wind and Solar Energy Coalition has announced new leadership for 2017: Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo will take over as chairwoman, and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback will take over as vice chairman.

Both governors head states at the forefront of wind power’s growth. Gov. Raimondo oversaw construction of the country’s first offshore wind farm, just a few miles from Rhode Island’s coast.

Meanwhile, Gov. Brownback has been a strong wind energy champion for Kansas, one of three states to generate at least 20 percent of their electricity using wind. And Gov. Brownback sees this growth continuing:

“We’ve seen massive investment [in wind] and we want to see that continue to take place and grow even faster,” he has said. “We can generate half of Kansas’s electricity using wind energy. Working with wind developers and developing more transmission, Kansas can grow its renewable energy production even faster.”

Congratulations to Gov. Raimondo and Gov. Brownback, and a word of thanks for Gov. Terry Branstad’s steadfast leadership while chairing the group this year.