by Brad Dolinski, CEO
Good afternoon NIECI,
Fall is here, and thus far the weather has been fantastic.
I had an off weekend recently and took that opportunity to enjoy a few Hwy 38 sales. Picked up a few deals I just couldn’t live without. I’m not a great rummage sale guy, my attention span isn’t up to the task of finding all the great deals. I did enjoy visiting with many of you at the sales though.
After that I went stomping through the woods looking for the elusive partridge. There’s still plenty of cover out there. I heard/saw six birds, got a shot at one of them, now need to get a couple more for a meal. It was a beautiful weekend for walking around in the woods!
I just got back from a meeting with GRE. Monthly I travel down to Maple Grove to hear what is going on with Great River Energy. This month we were able to meet off-site in Tower, Minn. I couldn’t have asked for better weather to share the North with our friends from across Minnesota.
We absorbed several reports and I want to give you a heads up on a couple of them.
We are working with our fellow cooperatives through Great River Energy to apply for grant funding from USDA for the new ERA program. Empowering Rural America is roughly 9.7 billion dollars to invest toward zero-emissions and renewable energy systems. Cooperative principle 6 is cooperation among cooperatives. We are looking to partner with our fellow GRE cooperatives to get the most bang for our buck. This program is a 25% grant with the remaining funding for projects coming in low interest loans. North Itasca Electric may make investments in a solar system.
North Itasca Electric hasn’t had the best luck with solar in the past. Through this partnership we may be able to site our solar investment at a cooperative further south. This will improve the performance of the system and improve the return on investment.
Through our current contract with GRE, we can self-produce 10% of our energy needs. This is a rather small system when you consider economies of scale. Cooperating with other cooperatives, we will be able to join several systems. This will drive the costs of the systems as a whole down.
I do care about the environment; I also care deeply about our bottom line and the bills you pay. I will work to find a balance between these two important issues and discover benefits for all our Member-Owners.
The other report I want to discuss with you deals with wind purchases. As you know we are required in the state of Minnesota to be carbon free by 2040. We are working with GRE to scale this mountain.
I must be a little cautious, many of these discussions are greatly confidential. GRE is negotiating with several companies to site wind in the best interest of our Member-Owners.
Currently GRE and the cooperatives they serve have entered into power purchase agreements, PPA for short. Essentially, we do not own the equipment, we contract with the companies for all or a portion of the output from the towers. Due to pricing increases in PPA, we may need to look at ownership of these resources in the future.
The PPA contracts have increased drastically over the past year, partly due to the supply/demand pressures from legislation and mandates. The cost of equipment and steel needed to build these wind farms have increased greatly. Land agreements and purchases have jumped substantially as well.
I hear often, NIMBY… Not in my back yard. I’m all about each of us having that choice, but if not in your backyard, where? This debate is happening locally, regionally and nationally more and more. We will need to build a vast amount of transmission lines to carry this needed energy from source to load. The challenges are growing as we continue our accent up this mountain. Financial constraints, materials, contracts, land agreements and social considerations all are becoming more impactful.
By your side! Miigwech
Brad
