Much Goes into Deciding Future Power Needs

Oct 04 - Bismarck Tribune

Planning for future electricity generation isn't as simple as it used to be.

Wayne Backman, Basin Electric Power Cooperative's senior vice president for generation, said a lot goes into determining power needs now than in the 1970s and 1980s because of government regulations, transmission of power and determining need.

"It isn't as simple as saying, 'I think I want to build a power plant,'" Backman said.

Backman was the moderator of a panel discussion Thursday on the future of electricity generation at the 46th annual meeting of the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives in Bismarck.

Much of the panel discussion focused on the need for a new power plant to be built to meet the growing needs of consumers.

David Loer, CEO of Minnkota Power Cooperative, said by 2015 another plant will be needed to keep up with usage.

Minnkota Power Cooperative, which serves customers in eastern North Dakota and Minnesota, has an estimated growth in usage of 2.2 percent from 2003 to 2012.

Minnkota is part of a coalition of industry leaders that is exploring sites in the Dakotas and Iowa to build a 600-megawatt coal- based facility and potentially 100 megawatts of wind energy.

The future of coal and renewable energy was a key topic in the panel discussion.

Ron Harper, Basin Electric CEO, said coal is the next generation resource because technology has allowed it to be more environmentally friendly.

"We believe very strongly that coal is the right thing to do," Harper said.

Harper said 95 percent of Basin's electricity comes from coal.

Brad Crabtree, who advocates renewable energy, said environmental concerns over coal and other fossil fuels should be seen as opportunity rather than a burden.

Crabtree is the director of Powering the Plains Project, a public- private initiative to craft a positive energy future for the northern plains.

Crabtree challenges rural electric cooperatives to make the majority of new energy from renewable sources.

"It may seem radical, but that is what is happening in other countries and it is working," Crabtree said.

Crabtree used Europe as an example where great strides have been made in renewable energy.

He said Denmark has half of the world's wind turbine market, Germany employs 40,000 people in the wind turbine industry and Iceland, which has a population of about half of North Dakota's, gets 97 percent of electricity and heat from renewable energy.

The annual meeting continues today in the Ramkota Hotel.

(Reach reporter Tom Rafferty at 250-8264 or tom.rafferty@bismarcktribune.com.)