Jan 27 - Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, N.D.)

The wind energy industry is blowing across the North Dakota prairie like an Alberta Clipper. And, it's getting stronger.

By the end of 2008, North Dakota could be producing 1,056 megawatts of wind energy, quintupling the state's production in less than 18 months.

Those 1,056 megawatts will produce enough electricity to power about 264,000 average-size homes, or about 85 percent of the houses in all of North Dakota. One megawatt is enough energy to power about 250 average-size homes.

The state currently is producing about 384 megawatts of power from wind energy, with the opening earlier this month of the 159-megawatt Langdon Wind Energy Center. That's more than twice the amount generated just six months ago.

Five more projects totaling 672 megawatts have been proposed in the past few months. Two of those projects -- the 200-megawatt Ashtabula Wind Farm north of Valley City in Barnes County and the 150-megawatt Luverne Wind Farm in Griggs and Steele counties -- will be bigger than any operating in the state.

Additional wind farms, with another 1,700 megawatts of power, reportedly are in planning stages in North Dakota. But, they have not yet filed letters of intent with the state Public Service Commission.

Catch the wind

Whether they are built largely depends on whether developers can find buyers for the electricity, and whether they can get that power to their customers.

Still, wind farm developers are negotiating wind easements with landowners throughout the state. Wind energy can be profitable for landowners, who can make $2,000 to $4,000 a year for each wind tower placed on their land.

"It's like a boom-time land office in lining up wind easements," said Susan Wefald, a PSC member.

Of course, wind energy isn't about to replace coal or other energy sources in the state and region any time soon. Wind energy is just one piece of the state's renewable energy pie, but it's growing fast.

It is likely to continue growing, as long as developers can take advantage of a federal renewable energy production tax credit, which provides a 1.9-cent-per-kilowatt-hour benefit for the first 10 years of a renewable energy facility's operation. Set to expire at the end of 2007, Congress extended the credit for one more year.

Wind energy in the U.S. increased by 2,431 megawatts in 2005, when the production tax credit was reinstated, and again by 2,454 megawatts in 2006, according to the American Wind Energy Association. The organization estimates similar increases in 2007 and 2008.

States set goals

Gov. John Hoeven has set a goal of 10 percent of North Dakota's energy being produced from renewable sources by 2015. He appointed the EmPower North Dakota Commission in 2007 to address the state's renewable energy industry's needs.

"From my perspective, we've gone from less than 1.5 megawatts of wind energy to approaching 1,000 megawatts, with projects that are operating, under development and announced. That's just a tremendous and exciting thing to see, harnessing wind to create energy," said Shane Goettle, North Dakota commerce commissioner and chairman of EmPower North Dakota. "The power companies in North Dakota certainly embrace wind energy."

Minnesota's energy industry is working with CapX2020, a joint initiative of 11 transmission-owning utilities in Minnesota and the surrounding region, to reach a goal of 20 percent of Minnesota's energy being produced from renewable sources by 2020.

So, as the wind energy industry expands in North Dakota and Minnesota, wind farm owners have to find customers outside the state's borders -- in the growing Twin Cities metropolitan area and beyond.

Transmission issues

Utility planners are mapping strategies to transfer this energy to where it's needed, by building new transmission lines to handle new renewable energy being produced throughout the Upper Midwest.

"Transmission needs to be more robust," said Mark Nisbet, North Dakota principal manager for Xcel Energy. Nisbet also is the wind energy representative on EmPower North Dakota. "It isn't an immediate crisis. But there needs to be ongoing planning to deal with it."

Much of the planning is being coordinated by the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO), a not-for-profit corporation of electric transmission owners, covering a 15-state region from the Dakotas to Kentucky. It administers and manages transmission of electricity within its region.

Studies indicate customer demand for electricity in Minnesota alone will increase by 4,000 to 6,000 megawatts by 2020.

To address that need, 11 transmission-owning utilities formed CapX2020, a joint initiative of those Minnesota and the surrounding region to expand the electric transmission grid to handle the state's growing energy transmission needs.

The CapX2020 utilities include cooperatives, investor-owned and municipal utilities. CapX2020 members include Xcel Energy, Minnkota Power Cooperative and Otter Tail Power Co., which operate throughout the Red River Valley.

CapX2020 is proposing four new major transmission lines to be built over the next few years. They include:

-- A 250-mile, 345-kilovolt transmission line between Fargo, Alexandria, St. Cloud and Monticello, Minn. The line is scheduled to be placed into service by 2013 or 2014.

-- A 200-mile, 345-kV transmission line between the Brookings, S.D., area and the southeast Twin Cities area, plus a related 345-kV line between Marshall and Granite Falls, Minn.

-- A 150-mile, 345-kV transmission line between the southeast Twin Cities and Rochester, Minn., and continuing to La Crosse, Wis.

-- A 68-mile, 235-kV transmission line between Bemidji and Grand Rapids in north central Minnesota.

CapX2020 calls for an estimated 12,000 megawatts of wind energy by 2020.

Facing challenges

Regional wind energy projects totaling 39,000 megawatts are interested becoming part of the MISO grid, which currently transmits more than 100,000 megawatts of power through nearly 94,000 miles of interconnected high-voltage power lines.

"Regional utilities have studied the issue to find the weaknesses in the system, what will it take to have a good strong backbone," Nisbet said.

In the end, he said, MISO will study the projects and set priorities, to see which of the proposed projects will fit into its grid and its expansion plans.

"For a while, utilities were reluctant to build transmission lines because of questions of how they would get their return on the investment," Nisbet said. "That's changing.

"There's starting to be a greater recognition of the need for renewable energy, that the country has the opportunity to unlock the assets of the renewable energy, such as wind."

One of the remaining challenges is where to place new high-voltage transmission lines.

CapX2020 is planning a series of public meetings this spring along the proposed routes of new lines, with a goal of starting construction in 2010.

"The question is," Nisbet said, "will people be willing to accept more transmission lines? Will we get past this, NIMBY -- not in my backyard -- issue?"

Promise, progress

So far, North Dakota has been able to avoid that challenge -- finding places to build new high-voltage power lines.

Wefald said developers are finding projects that fit into the state's existing transmission system.

"I think the projects we have seen occurring have been well-planned and thoughtfully done," she said. "They're finding niches, which can accommodate additional transmission. A few years ago, nobody thought we could find 500 megawatts. These folks have found places to put it.

"Is that going to go on forever? No. But it's quite an accomplishment that these projects have been sited in the state without additional transmission. Each one has had to make some upgrades, but we have not yet needed to add a major transmission line. And yet, we've been able to accommodate this wind."

Goettle said North Dakota has other promising wind energy developments, including a research project to produce hydrogen from wind energy.

Under the project, electricity from wind generators would power an electrolyzer, which separates the hydrogen and oxygen elements of water. Hydrogen then is stored and used as a fuel source. The research is being done by the Energy and Environmental Research Center at UND for Basin Electric Cooperative, based in Bismarck, and Xcel Energy.

"We have the best wind energy potential in the country. Wind maps show it," Goettle said. "It's exciting to see the promise, and the progress."

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Copyright (c) 2008, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

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