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Farmers Union wants Renewable Electricty Standard Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Agri News staff writer
WILLMAR, Minn. -- The Minnesota Farmers Union is backing legislation for a 20 percent Renewable Electricity Standard by 2020 with wind as the source, said MFU President Doug Peterson at a meeting promoting the effort in Willmar last week.
Peterson, a former Minnesota state legislator, remembers the first wind energy legislation. A mandate for renewable energy was created so electric companies could store spent nuclear energy at the Prairie Island facility, he said.
He'd like a mandate outside of that agreement for people in rural areas to develop more wind power.
Minnesota imports the most energy of any state, said Ken Bradley of Minnesotans for an Energy Efficient Economy.
The state is losing its lead in renewable electricity and wind energy development, Bradley said. Minnesota installed more wind turbines than any state in the 1990s except for California. In 2001, Texas surpassed Minnesota in installed wind turbines. Since 2003, six states have added more wind power than Minnesota.
Western Minnesota has the greatest potential with its elevation and wind currents.
"We need to have a legislative commitment," Peterson said. "If we don't go to the people who own the resource, the farmers, then we aren't doing our job in the state. My greatest fear is that some big company is going to come in and own the resource and we will be sitting there, holding the bag."
Carl Nelson, The Green Institute community energy program director working on a wind energy project in Pope County, and Andrew Falk, working on a project in Swift County, described the challenges they face to make rural wind projects a reality.
It's hard to finance the projects, especially on the federal side of the producer tax credit, "unless you are a big corporation," Nelson said.
Falk described challenges to get on the electrical grid and how large projects could bump off smaller projects once the larger ones come online.
"We need to make sure they have room on the grid for those projects," he said. "We need to find the capacity and to not shy away. Sometimes you have to work with the corporations." |
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