Michael Giberson
Earth, Wind & Fire may be a funky soul powerhouse band of the late 60s and early 70s, but in the Pacific Northwest the element that really gets them juiced is water. The region gets about 2/3rds of its electric power from hydroelectric dams. But as the region seeks to increase its electric power generation capability, perhaps they were inspired by these lines from EW&F:
Do you need a guide
To make you feel satisfied
Head to the sky
Will tell you why
Wind power may have many fine attributes as a power source, but steady predictability is not one of them. Water power, on the other hand, is often highly controllable. Proponents of wind in the Northwest say it is a match made in heaven.
(Lyrics from the EW&F song, which is itself titled "Earth, Wind & Fire" found here via Google, from EW&F's Spirit album.)
Wind power is more expensive than hydro power, so the first result of this "marriage made in heaven" will be an increase in power prices in the northwest. Also, there are limits to the flexibility of the operation of the dams, because of stream flow requirements and agricultural and community water supply contracts. Wind power is "source of opportunity" power. Hydro power is partially "reliable power" and partially "source of opportunity" power. The fraction of hydro power which is reliable was re-evaluated after the CA energy "fiasco", when drought reduced the quantities of water a available for release for power production. The "availability" of wind power must similarly be re-evaluated after last summer's long, hot, still period.
Hydro's flexibility could be somewhat increased by construction "holding ponds" below the dams to permit "pumped storage" operation; however, this is also a costly approach from both an investment and an operating cost perspective.