Oct. / Nov. / Dec. 2009 - Nebraska Public Power District

4
ENERGY INSIGHT • OCTOBER / NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2009
Wind
from the
PRESIDENT & CEO
RON ASCHE
If you follow the news on a regular basis, you are
aware of the increasing interest in wind generation in
Nebraska. There are some who say the central U.S.
is the “Saudi Arabia” of wind, and that Nebraska is
behind in capitalizing on this “free” natural resource.
You may have seen headlines stating that public power
is stalling wind development in Nebraska. There
are others who are more reserved regarding windpowered
generation, and would like to see NPPD go
slower in building wind facilities or in purchasing
wind energy from other entities. I would like to
explain NPPD’s position on wind development, both
for use in Nebraska and for export to other states.
By now, I hope you are aware of the NPPD
Board’s strategic goal to achieve 10 percent
of our energy supply from new renewable
resources by 2020. To meet that goal, NPPD is
following a process of adding around 80 megawatts
of renewable generation every other year, until
we achieve approximately 500-550 megawatts of
renewable generation on our system. Thus far, we
own or have contracted for a total of 112 megawatts
of wind generation, which includes NPPD’s 32
megawatt share of our own 60-megawatt Ainsworth
Wind Energy Facility, NPPD’s 40 MW share of
the privately-owned 80-MW Elkhorn Ridge Wind
Farm near Bloomfield, and the planned privatelyowned
40-MW Crofton Hills Wind Farm. We are
Prudence
and patience
needed in...
GENERATION
DEVELOPMENT
under negotiations to purchase energy from another
privately-owned 80-MW facility to be built near
Petersburg, in which we hope to share 20 to 40 MW
with other Nebraska utilities. We are also looking for
participants in a potential 80-MW wind facility which
may be privately developed near Broken Bow. Since
comparable federal and state financial incentives
are not available to NPPD, we are purchasing from
private developers rather than developing more
NPPD-owned wind farms.
Is NPPD moving fast enough?
As indicated above, it depends upon whom you
talk to. The majority of NPPD’s wholesale customers
believe we are. Other proponents believe there should
be even greater investment in renewables in Nebraska.
They believe the state could see tremendous benefit by
selling wind energy to customers either in Nebraska
or for export to other states. While this may someday
be the case, I don’t see it happening on a large scale
in the near future. There are many transmission
and market issues that have to be addressed to
accommodate large amounts of “wind for export”
projects.
With many businesses reeling from the recent
recession, coupled with a relatively cool and wet
summer, electric loads are down in our region. Many
utilities have surplus generation, are not finding
adequate markets to sell the generation they already
have, and are selling excesses at sharply lower prices