by Brad Dolinski, CEO
Good afternoon NIECI,
It is currently 70 degrees at the end of October as I write this. Bonus summer I figure. Outside of the crazy infestation of Asian beetles I have at home, I’m enjoying the beautiful weather. I got to spend a little time with my daughters in the deer stand this weekend. The youth hunt didn’t produce a deer for the girls, but I got some time together with them, that’s a trophy in my book.
I’m nervously excited about our nuclear energy discussion tomorrow. The panel is lined up, our legislators are booked to join us. I spent some time researching the topic. Todd Christensen, our director from Dixon Lake told me about the documentary, “Nuclear Now.” I found this on my Amazon Prime account. I believe you can get this documentary anywhere you can stream content. I highly recommend watching this. I wasn’t aware of the vast history of nuclear energy in the United States of America. I understand better today the strong feelings people have about nuclear energy. I also understand better today some of the shortcomings of previous facility designs and how technology has changed greatly.
I am not trying to tell you to support nuclear energy. You will have to decide if you wish to support this technology in the future or not. I am here to tell you we need something to generate electricity beyond wind and solar without producing carbon. Unfortunately, solar panels are about 11-15% efficient in Northern Itasca County. Wind resources vary between 30-40% efficient over the course of a year. This means we need much more wind and solar to meet our needs, we would also need batteries to carry us through the times when the wind doesn’t blow, and the sun doesn’t shine. The current technology for batteries is expensive and limited. Lithium-Ion batteries are roughly 90% efficient, we lose a little energy when you charge and discharge a battery. These batteries generally discharge over four hours. The sun is down for more than four hours every day.
Full disclosure, I do believe in nuclear energy. These are my personal beliefs. I don’t know what your thoughts are, I don’t know how the Member-Owners and in turn the Board of Directors feel about nuclear power. This is why we are meeting about this and learning together. In my job, I need to ensure you have power available at all hours of the day. It must be available with or without wind or the sun. Our options are limited and through the research I have done about nuclear energy I believe this will be the technology to bring us to a cleaner brighter future.
I have spent the past couple of months talking about nuclear energy in my article. I better switch subjects and circle back to the budget. This is the time of the year I dust off the crystal ball and take a look at the Farmer’s Almanac. Ok, I don’t have a crystal ball. I do look at weather data from wherever I can get it. Best guess is better than no guess when it comes to the budget. We scour through years of past performance and in turn give our best estimate of how the year will turn out. I’m pleased to say the clouds are not as dark as I even talked about last month. Our expected rate increase looks to be 7.12% from Great River Energy. This is roughly a 3.5% increase to your bill before I work on our “controllable” expenses. We are working very hard to get the preliminary budget prepared by this Thursday. I will have estimates for you next month in my article. It is my job to provide our Board with accurate information to make rate decisions on. I do not set rates, that is solely up to our Board based on information and recommendations I work with my staff to provide.
It’s a crazy and busy time of the year at North Itasca Electric. I was blessed to stop by the Marcell Community Church today to ask for permission to use their parking lot for the meeting tomorrow. One of the first things I was asked, “is there anything we can pray for?” I gave a lot of information in a short conversation. I also offered to come share information with them or any group that would like to hear from North Itasca Electric Cooperative. There is a lot going on right now and sharing the information is very important. Thank you, ladies, for the prayers and the support of NIECI and myself.
By your side! Miigwech
Brad
