SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Rosebud Sioux Tribe's bid to expand its wind farm is being slowed by an inability to find a buyer for its electricity.
The tribe, which built the first tribally owned wind turbine in 2003 near St. Francis, now wants to expand to a commercial wind farm of 30 megawatts, enough electricity to supply about 7,500 homes, said Ken Haukaas, a planner for the tribe.
Even though putting power on the grid is fairly simple, selling it involves a regulatory system that puts small, remote players such as Rosebud at a disadvantage.
The most prohibitive aspect is a set of fees charged every time electricity is shipped from one part of the grid to another. When buyer and seller are separated by a great distance, the fees stack up, a phenomenon known as "pancaking."
Haukaas said Xcel Energy and the Nebraska Public Power District were potential buyers, but pancaking would have made the deals unprofitable. The tribe has a possible buyer to the southwest, but fees threaten that deal as well.
Another tribal organization is trying a different tack. The Rosebud-based Intertribal Council on Utility Policy wants to create a series of 10-megawatt wind farms on eight different Midwest reservations, said Bob Gough.
That plan would be more simple than building a larger wind farm. A smaller amount of power would be easier to transmit and could be sold to tribal customers, generating income for the tribe.
"It gets each of the tribes engaged in the wind industry in a way that meets local needs first," Gough said. Possible participants include the Flandreau, Oglala, Lower Brule, Standing Rock and Cheyenne River tribes.
Gough said regulations block the ability of tribes and other small sellers to tap into that potential.
"It's almost as if at every faucet, we had to work out a deal with every faucet owner who says, 'I want to buy 20 gallons from you every day,' and we have to make sure we have to put 20 gallons in," he said.
To subscribe or visit go to: http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews