Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Yes, once again, I am speaking about local events here in Springfield, Missouri, where I live. We are the third largest city in our state and the largest of all the Springfields in the U.S. If you think I am incorrect, check the last census. I’m not like the President; you can check your facts to prove me right or wrong.

A company seeking to provide battery storage for our utility company may be denied access to property near my home. There are infrastructure and groundwater contamination problems that their proposal does not address. This company does not have a lot of experience here in our country.

C.U. still needs a cost-effective solution for expanding its services as our area grows even more. I would like to make a suggestion. Would it help to eliminate about twenty percent of your consumers from your grid? Not just drop them as customers, but change them to suppliers of energy.

Some areas allow or even encourage users to install solar and wind generators on their property. These can be businesses or homes. They can invest in the equipment to produce and store energy, and electric companies purchase the surplus that they generate. If five percent of your local users become suppliers, that might be a large part of solving this future problem.

There is a house down the street from us where a previous owner had a turbine and solar panels. Unlike some homes, his panels were raised on a frame that would allow him to point them at the sun as it traveled through the sky. I always wanted to stop and ask him about these devices and never took the time.

Both technologies have improved over the years to a point where they are more efficient than they once were. Remember, I am speaking from sixty years of experience. I am a novice in my knowledge of how it works, not in the fact that it is useful.

On a recent trip, Cindy and I saw wind turbines in a hay field, and at other times we have seen the arrays of solar panels. I have also observed businesses and homes installing these devices on their buildings and properties to supply their electrical needs. I watch commercials about storage units that can be attached to maintain independence from electrical grids in power outages.

Let me mention factories that I called on, which had waste materials that they used to power generators to supply the requirements of not just the plants, but the neighborhoods around them. I’ve been at Evangel University’s and School of the Ozarks power stations and seen how these operate.

One of my customers in the 1990s made loads of money designing and building generators for those who wanted to be prepared in case the dire predictions associated with computers at the turn of this century came true. I spoke with him shortly before he retired to a farm where his family was ready to survive no matter what happened after December 1999.

I am making these statements to spark interest by our utility suppliers in encouraging individual investments as a way of increasing their power supply. Long-term contracts and government assistance might be used to reduce the costs for everyone involved.

Do a little research and explore the feasibility of these options. I failed to mention the methane plant I saw where a sawmill had dumped sawdust and woodchips for decades. This plant had been powering electricity for one community for over a year when it was pointed out to me late in the last century.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger