Clean-tech investor declares candidacy for Blaine County Commissioner
By Eric Valentine
Clean technology has always been a hot-button issue for longtime Idaho resident Kiki Tidwell. But when Idaho Power recently requested to install a transmission line in a scenic part of the Wood River Valley corridor, the issue became an impetus to run for one of the Blaine County Commissioner seats opening up after the Nov. 3, 2020, election.
“I look forward to the next year of campaigning to share more details about that vision, but the first step is not to spend $35 million of all of our money, as Idaho ratepayers, on a transmission-line-to-nowhere,” Tidwell said. “If Jacob Greenberg votes ‘yes’ on this transmission line May 6, he should know that voters will remember it come election day.”
Tidwell is a recognized clean-tech advocate nationally and says she “knows that there is a better way to spend $35 million in our community,” pointing to entities that finance microgrids, backup batteries, and distributed energy generation, including solar. But, moreover, it was Tidwell’s sense that the county commissioners lacked political expertise in this area that turned her from critic to candidate.
“Blaine County Planning and Zoning was under the incorrect assumption that they had to agree to Idaho Power’s request to site a major transmission line in our scenic corridor; this is not true,” Tidwell said. “The Idaho Public Utilities Commission (IPUC) agreed that Idaho Power could have a second line in Blaine County, but did not dictate siting of the line, nor agree that it had to be above ground. The IPUC specifically noted that the payment for the line was not a done deal.”
Tidwell believes the county needs someone well educated in energy technology and in what she called “this new era of extreme weather.”
“A friend has shared with me that he believes the county commissioner race is a popularity contest,” Tidwell said. “I believe that my vision of a county changing to renewable energy and (having a) resilient-from-extreme-weather-events future is a popular idea with county residents.”
Tidwell is an active angel investor and completed a two-year Kauffman Fellows venture capital training program in July 2012. She has a portfolio of angel investments, mostly clean tech, and has served on portfolio company boards and advisory boards. Kiki has a portfolio of venture funds, some with sole or partial clean-tech themes:
Nth Power Fund IV
CalCEF Angel Fund
TrueBridge KFP Capital Fund II, III, and V
SJF Ventures
DBL Investors
Aligned Partners
Element8 Fund
Portfolia
Ulu Ventures
Genoa Ventures
More information on Tidwell can be found online at kikitidwell.com.
