Summer Storms Make Case For Alternative Power Sources

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Summer storms make a case for alternative power sources.

Pat Warren reports Governor Martin O'Malley is promoting green energy while looking for ways to improve the existing power grid.

O'Malley toured Clean Currents, a Silver Spring company dedicated to green energy, while power blackouts are still fresh in mind.

"I'm sure that all people want to know is, is your boot still up the backside of the utilities and will you fix the grid and will you get up there and cut the trees and will you make sure this never happens to me again?" O'Malley said.

As Marylanders continue to recover from the "not a hurricane," the governor described it as a violent windshield wiper that swept across this swath of the country.

O'Malley says the storms were a wakeup call.

"I'm sure nothing has made our people feel more helpless and unempowered than being without power for seven miserable, hot days and throwing out their refrigerator of food," he said.

The administration's goal is to increase renewable energy generation to 20 percent by 2022. But that won't fix today's problems.

"I think what people want to hear us working and doing right now is making our grid much more resilient and much more reliable," O'Malley said.

That may include moving power stations underground to prevent damage from trees, in addition to a bigger, greener picture.

Expect to hear more about wind energy coming up in Annapolis next year.

Clean Currents supplies both national and local wind power through the grid to homes and businesses in the mid-Atlantic.