What Nebraska is doing with wind

Dawson Public Power District buys their power from Nebraska Public Power District and then sells it to you. As a distribution entity in Nebraska, Dawson PPD appreciates NPPDs diligence at their strategic plan for putting wind into the overall power mix. NPPD has a balanced goal that their generation mix will produce 10% of the energy needed in Nebraska from new renewable resources by 2020. This type of balanced adoption ensures that base load generation is never left out of the picture. We didn't know until recently but approximately 70% of Nebraskans view wind as the cheapest form of energy. Wind is a "free" resource but it is not dispatch-able (we can't command or control its input/output nor can we store it).

Technically wind is NOT free because the wind generator has to be sited, transported, constructed, and tied into the transmission system – and then maintained. The cost of the commercial wind turbines vary from $1 to $2 million per MW of nameplate capacity installed. The same turbines 2 MW in size cost roughly $2.8 million installed capacity. These turbines undergo significant economies scale. Smaller farm or residential scale turbines cost less but they are more expensive when per kilowatt of energy producing capacity is applied on the rates.

Taking wind down a notch…
A typical 10 kilowatt HOME wind turbine system will cost $25,000 - $35,000 to install which may or may not include interconnection costs. Depending on the turbine's location and wind availability it may produce around 10,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year. Such a turbine has a blade diameter of about 20-25 feet and needs to sit on a tower about 100 feet tall. Homes sitting on a one-acre parcel could probably accommodate such a turbine, depending on local zoning restrictions.

National Public Radio Energy Education

National Public Radio (NPR) this week is running a 10-part series on energy, the utility industry and smart grid. “In its most basic form, the smart grid adds a computer cable to the electrical wire,” described an NPR announcer, noting the two-way communications capability to deploy data points all along the system and lets computers “manage the grid much faster and more efficiently than humans could.” Segments on the “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” radio programs plus published on the NPR website -- examine the costs, politics and other challenges of upgrading the country's power infrastructure including green generation, utility-scale energy storage and the grid.

Dawson Public Power District may or may not agree with the series points, but we think its important to provide the educational opportunity.

SOURCE: Smart Grid Today (http://www.smartgridtoday.com/)

Interestingly enough, both sides of the cap and trade proposal spout out facts that support their position. One would expect nothing less. So, who are we to believe? I admit I’m conservative, a lot more on the right than the left but I’m also cautious about believing EVERYTHING I read or hear regardless of the side.

Look at global warming. Here’s the only position to take on behalf of my utility: It doesn’t matter what we think, it matters what our customers think. According to a recent Nebraska survey, 30% of Nebraska electric customers think climate change is a very serious issue and 36% think it’s somewhat serious. Sixty-six percent should make utilities sit up and take note.

This is a large issue – and when large issues hit Washington D.C. – we get to see grandstanding. The question one has to ask, regardless of being on the right or the left – who BEST benefits from the cap and trade proposal?

Here’s where the $buck$ starts rolling….polluters (generating stations or other large industries) will be asked to pay fees to purchase permits which allow them to release a set amount of CO2 into the air. The idea is to get those polluters to change work processes to lessen CO2 emissions.

Those permits will be allocated by the federal government; then they will be traded on Wall Street. So our government gets a lot of money (in which they will likely reallocate these funds to other programs), traders and brokers will get millions, and our customers get to foot the bill by paying higher electric bills based on utilities needing to pass on those costs.

Senator Waxman (D-Calif) introduced a 648-page discussion draft on climate change legislation March 31. Surprise, surprise....while it applies to all emissions, regulation begins with utility compliance.

I am particularly fond of those people who believe that reducing CO2 emissions in the United States will have a profound impact on the entire world. It won’t. All it will mean is our customers get to pay higher electric rates without benefit of “SAVING THE PLANET.”

Oh sure, we get to claim “We’ve done our part.” Throw up your hands, walk away, and smell the coffee…it probably came from India and they have decided NOT to change anything per an April 13th article titled “India Rejects Calls for Emission Cuts.” in the Washington Post; N.p. All we will do is accelerate America’s economic decline because companies will relocate to China or India.

For the record, I’m inclined to believe that Nebraska’s legislative leaders do understand our position.

Gwen Kautz, Customer Service Manager

Our History and Our Future - Act Now!

When rural electric utilities began to spread across America 75 years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made the point that electricity in this country was no longer a luxury. It had become, as it is today, a necessity.

In these difficult economic times, a lot of Americans are struggling to make ends meets. As not-for-profit, consumer-owned and controlled rural electric utilities, we want to make certain that each and every citizen in this country can continue to receive affordable electric power. We want to make certain we don’t step back from the commitment that FDR made.

Congress is currently working to address issues related to climate change and debating federal mandates regarding renewable energy development and energy efficiency. Even if Congress doesn’t act, the U.S. Supreme Court has given the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a green light to put new rules curbing emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants in place. As a result of these efforts, there’s little doubt electric bills are going to rise.

The only question is whether higher electric bills will be kept affordable. Please contact your legislative leaders today by joining Our Energy Our Future campaign.

SOURCE: Our Energy Our Future excerpt from their website.

Your Dawson PPD Electric Carbon Footprint

There are a number of definitions for carbon footprint…

“A measure of the amount of carbon dioxide produced by a person, organization or state in a given time.” (Wikipedia)

“Your carbon footprint is the sum of all CO2 emissions that are directly and indirectly associated with your activities over a given time frame (usually a year).” www.carbondescent.org.uk/glossary.php

To calculate YOUR individual (or family) footprint, a number of objects have to be considered.

Those objects are (in no particular order):
· The type of vehicle(s) you drive and the gasoline you consume.
· Other transportation use (air, bus, rail).
· How much electricity do you use annually and how that electricity is generated.
· What amount of plastic is used by you/your family annually.
· Even what food you choose to eat (how it is produced and gets to your table.)
· Natural gas or propane use.

Everything you buy required some type of production cycle that used the above elements.

Dawson Public Power District wants to ensure our customer’s electricity carbon footprint is accurate. We have created a Carbon Footprint calculator based solely on the generation mix provided by Nebraska Public Power District (where we buy our power).

You can obtain your monthly kwh usage by signing up for eBill at http://tinyurl.com/d5cm4t (on dawsonpower.com.) Add up those kilowatt hours and use our Carbon Footprint Calculator.

Dawson Power's Carbon Footprint Calculator can be found online by clicking on this link http://tinyurl.com/cwrdyw. Finding ways to reduce your energy usage can be the first step towards reducing CO2.

Gwen Kautz, Customer Service Manager

Understand Net Metering- Support LB 436

THE CONCEPT IS SIMPLE. First you need a customer-generator that has a generation resource such as a wind generator or solar panels and then you need to have them interconnected to their local electric provider (us).

If electrical generation by an individual customer-generator exceeds that customer’s power use at a residence, this power flows BACKWARDS onto the electrical system, turning the meter backwards. In essence, the utility and the consumer trade kilowatt hours at full retail value.

LINEMAN SAFETY. As required by LB 436, the customer generator will be required to have Underwriters Laboratories (UL) approved equipment that does not allow a system to deliver or backfeed energy into the distribution system if there is no energy flow in the distribution system (the line is dead). Many utilities will require a disconnect switch with viewable lockable features. Utilities will have the right to open and lock out the generator with the disconnect switch.

PURPA’s BEEN AROUND SINCE 1978. Without net metering legislation, or under the federal Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA), if a customer has renewable generation, a utility is REQUIRED to buy energy produced by a qualified customer generator at the utility’s avoided cost. Avoided cost is the cost the utility would pay for power from the utility’s traditional source of generation. Dawson PPD purchases power from Nebraska Public Power District. In 2008, Dawson PPDs avoided cost was 4.28¢ but this cost can be slightly different based on our summer and winter rates.

LB 436 was amended to read that 25 kW mandated capacity would allow a utility to permit larger systems and that the customer generator will pay for the interconnection costs. The customer would be required to pay for interconnection costs and the utility pays for the metering system. A State inspection will be required prior to interconnection and operation.

HOW IT WILL BE CALCULATED: Credit for excess generation is a monetary value based on the value of energy when it was generated (avoided cost of power supply). This credit will carry over month to month through an annual or seasonal period and paid out at the end of that designated period or it may be applied to future electric purchases. It is important to note that it will not be a kilowatt hour credit but will be a dollar amount for the kwh’s purchased by the utility from the customer generator.

Contact your senator and let him or her know you support LB 436 as proposed.

Obama Budget Proposal

In the next few months, federal climate change and energy legislation will be a high priority for passage in Washington D.C. We can get a glimpse of what is on the table by examining the Obama Budget Proposal.

Energy components of the budget proposal includes: Carbon emissions to be 14% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% below 2005 by 2050; Cap- and- trade with 100% auction, no free allocations; EPA to write new rules for CO2 and to develop a Greenhouse Gas emission inventory; $645 billion in carbon credit revenues from a Cap-and-trade program on emissions; Doubling renewable energy capacity; increased research for clean coal and geological storage.

The rural electric systems across the country are asking our politicians to consider the implications of what they are proposing on the daily lives of the people and businesses who need electricity to maintain a modern lifestyle. It is our contention that a Cap-and Trade program as proposed with a 100% auction will take large amounts of money from consumers under a scheme managed by Wall Street with big money speculators and multi-national energy companies as likely highest bidders. As small utilities, this then becomes our competitive environment which could easily double or triple electric rates.

The impacts of the cap-and-trade proposal can best be summed up by the following excerpt from the John Mauldin February 27th Thoughts from the Frontline newsletter:
“This week saw President Obama give us a budget with a projected deficit of $1.75 trillion dollars, and a massive tax increase on the “wealthy.” But hidden in the details was an even larger tax increase on everyone. Obama wants to create a cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions. This is expected to generate $79 billion in 2012, $237 billion by 2014, and grow to $646 billion by 2019. These will be payments by energy (primarily utility) companies to the government. That will cause utilities to have to raise the prices they charge customers for energy. Such a level of taxation is eventually 4-5% of the total US Gross Domestic Product (GDP). That is no small potatoes. And since the wealthy do not use all that much more power than the rest of us, it will affect the lower incomes disproportionately.

It will take money out of consumers’ pockets and transfer it to the government. You can call it a cap-and-trade, but it is a tax. And a huge one. Anything that will take 4% of GDP away from consumer spending is not business friendly. And by driving the cost of energy up, it will drive high-energy-using businesses away from the US to developing countries where energy is cheaper. It will make it even harder for people to save money and drive up costs for the elderly and retired. But it will make the environmental lobby happy.

Robert Heinz, General Manager
Dawson Public Power District

Senator Johanns addresses Cap and Trade Problems

The Senate on Wednesday approved by a wide margin a budget amendment from Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., to prevent the fast-tracking of controversial climate change legislation.

Congress is debating the annual budget resolution this week, with the Senate working its way through a long list of proposed changes. Johanns' amendment passed 67-31, with the support of many Democrats.

The amendment's approval was a blow to other Democrats who have advocated using a fast-track procedure known as "reconciliation" to approve climate change legislation proposed by President Barack Obama. The president's plan would limit emissions of greenhouse gases for manufacturers and allow companies to trade the right to pollute to other firms.

Proponents say it provides financial incentives for reducing greenhouse gases and helps relieve climate change. Opponents say the plan amounts to a heavy tax on industry that will result in higher costs to consumers and jobs sent overseas.

Faced with the prospect of a Republican filibuster, some Democrats have discussed using reconciliation for approving the climate change legislation. Such a move would allow them to approve the legislation quickly, and with only a simple majority vote instead of the 60 votes it usually takes to end a filibuster.

The Johanns amendment rules out reconciliation as an option. He said the vote tally shows just how much resistance to the fast track route exists among Democrats.

CONGRATULATIONS SENATOR JOHANNS for this fine piece of work on our behalf! Click the link in the title of this article to read more about Nebraska's bipartisan effort on Cap and Trade.