by Brad Dolinski, CEO
Good morning NIECI,
2023 is starting off with a bang! I recently spent the day down at the Capitol talking with our legislators about bills that have been introduced.
Folks, I do not want to start a shouting match between neighbors and friends. I am going to do my best to give you the facts of what is being proposed in legislation this year and you will make your own determinations.
I had a good conversation with my uncle in Baudette this past week. He told me about an episode of Energy Switch that was on PBS, “Will Solar and Wind Power Our Future?” I would encourage you to go to PBS’s website and look for this discussion. They did an outstanding job discussing both sides of the argument.
Let’s get started with the MN House and Senate bills, HF7 and SF4. These bills are calling out 100 percent carbon free by 2040. There are also interim goals of 80 percent by 2030, 90 percent in 2035 and increase to the renewable energy standard of 55 percent by 2035. The current renewable energy standard is 25 percent by 2025, the additional step is being proposed in the new bills.
Why does this matter to NIECI?
Cost and reliability are my main concerns.
Let me be very clear, I support efforts to green the grid. None of us wants to harm the Earth or the neighborhoods we live in.
There are real concerns and challenges with the availability of current technologies when we try to eliminate thermal generation (coal, natural gas, fuel oils). We do not have access to new nuclear power plants in Minnesota. The debates can be sharp when nuclear is brought up; nuclear is carbon free and would be allowed in a carbon free future (just not in Minnesota).
So, what are we left with? Wind, solar, and hydro power sources would be the big three that come to mind.
When we are relying on wind, solar, and hydro these would be considered variable resources. When the wind isn’t blowing, there isn’t any power being produced. When the sun isn’t shining or your panels are covered in snow, power is not being produced from solar. There are five hydroelectric dams producing power in Minnesota, these vary by water flow and can be influenced by seasonal constraints.
Using variable resources along with thermal resources is a great mixture. This is how we have had success greening our resources mix. Done properly, we can also get attractive contracts to help offset rising energy costs.
The costs rise sharply when we have to rely solely on variable resources. Great River Energy (GRE) enters contracts for wind and solar resources on our behalf to meet our load needs. In an 100 percent carbon free environment we would have to overbuild these resources immensely. If the wind is not blowing in a particular geographic area, we would need resources in another area to cover our load needs.
We have a requirement for you, when you flip the switch on your wall the power needs to come on. We have a requirement to MISO; we must have 107 percent of our load covered by resources to be a MISO member. This overbuilding of resources would cost an enormous amount of money, additionally we would need to overbuild transmission lines to get this power to our Member-Owners.
As recently as December 22, MISO had a max generation event. All members of MISO had to generate as much power as they had capacity to generate. We had a very close call on the grid; we were very close to rolling blackouts.
The success of GRE and others to use their peaking plants to prevent catastrophe in the region was something to be celebrated. Rather, today the legislators are telling us we need to close these units because they emit carbon. These units run rarely; I would say a couple days a year during extreme weather events. Our peaking fleet is here to provide reliability to the region and will continue to be necessary in Minnesota.
I need your help. I need you to investigate these bills and decide where you stand. Unfortunately, there is a sharp line between 100 percent carbon free and extreme increases in your electric bills.
Governor Walz has made 100 percent carbon free a priority for Minnesota. I need you to decide where you stand and then let your legislators know. One very simple way to do this is to go to the website https://www.mrea.org/advocacy/take-action from here you simply enter your zip and information and a letter will be sent to your legislators. Thank you for being the educated and involved Members-Owners you are!
By your side! Miigwech
Brad
