by Brad Dolinski, CEO
Good evening, North Itasca!
We’re finally getting a few of those April showers that bring the May flowers. From the sounds of it we need quite a bit of rain. Several of us are dreaming of being out on the water in boats. Unfortunately, many of our lakes are down significantly.
Mother Nature always finds a way to cycle back it seems. I was raised in Lake of the Woods, we are often afraid to wish for rain, sometimes it doesn’t know when to quit.
I want to wish Jerry Loney the best in retirement, again. Jerry was kind enough to stick around for several months after his first announcement. He has been working with Andrew, getting him up to speed before he transitions to relaxing days on the water.
Jerry’s dedication to North Itasca is something I admire. Jerry cares, I see that deeply in his work here. I look forward to seeing Jer around the neighborhood in his retirement. I want to hear the stories I’ll be missing out on weekly, I’m sure there will be some great ones! Thank you, Jerry, for your years of service to the Member-Owners of North Itasca Electric.
As Jerry points his compass to a more relaxing lifestyle, we have been working hard on a couple of grants here at North Itasca Electric. The grant I am the most excited and hopeful to receive deals directly with our overhead single-phase lines.
If we are lucky enough to be awarded this grant, we will work with the University of Minnesota to compare storm data to our system map. Based on the outcome of the study, we will have an additional roughly $2,600,000 to bury some of the most troublesome lines on the system. This will help to address system hardening; when the wind blows our system will be more prepared to withstand Mother Nature. This would also help with the potential impacts of wildfires in our territory.
The second grant is related to solar and our off-peak system. Solar energy is more complex than simply putting panels up when it comes to utility scale solar. Economies of scale need to be considered before I can recommend utility scale solar systems to our Board of Directors. Can we build a system for less than we can purchase power from GRE for? If we can’t, it’s a very difficult sell. The system must operate at efficiency levels better than the roughly 13% we are seeing with our current solar array. The last and most difficult hurdle is that we cannot build a system bigger than the lowest demand on the substation we want to place the energy on. I cannot place energy back onto the transmission system owned by GRE without expensive detailed studies. If we are forced into placing multiple arrays across our system, the economics get very difficult to justify. We will be purchasing more green energy from GRE yearly, often this is the best financial case for green energy rather than owning the system personally at North Itasca Electric.
I know this didn’t paint the best picture for ownership of utility scale solar. We are working to partner with other cooperatives in this venture. If we could place solar or purchase the output for an array from a fellow cooperative the economics could be better. Our system is different from our friends’ further south. Solar arrays are more efficient further south, also they have capacity to install the array without overloading a substation. We will continue to explore options to team with a neighbor on this opportunity.
By the next time I write my article, I plan on having some fishing stories to share. This is the time of the year I get together with my family and friends to head to Canada. I’m looking forward to the warm breeze off the lake and tight lines. I look forward to my daughters bantering over who caught the biggest fish that day. Most of all I appreciate how blessed we are to live in this beautiful area.
By your side! Miigwech
Brad
