North Dakota’s Public Service Commission has shot down a wind farm siting permit requested by NextEra Energy for a project in Burke County (north of Powers Lake). One commissioner described the decision as “historic.” The most important line from my colleague John Hageman’s report on the decision is this (emphasis mine): Public Service Commissioners unanimously…
Wind Energy Companies Shouldn’t Be Dismissive of Their Inability to Produce Power When It’s Frigid Outside
We’ve had some positively arctic temperatures in our region this year. Back in late January, amid a “polar vortex,” Jason Bohrer of the Lignite Energy Council wrote a guest post for SAB pointing out that it was coal keeping the lights on. Definitely not wind power. You would expect the head of a pro-coal group…
Public Service Commission Says North Dakotans Can Be Charged for Green Energy Policies in Other States
The Public Service Commission, in a split decision, recently gave the go-ahead to Xcel Energy to inflate power bills here in North Dakota to recover the cost of building wind energy capacity in compliance with green energy policy in other states. Commissioner Randy Christmann, who voted no, made it clear why this was a terrible…
Audio: Berkeley Scholar Calls Wind Energy Subsidies “Completely Perverse”
Steven Hayward, a Senior Resident Scholar at Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, has produced a report for Minnesota’s Center of the American Experiment which finds that power sources like wind and solar aren’t really accomplishing what their supporters say they are. This despite what Hayward described as “completely perverse” subsidies so massive they sometimes allow renewable…
The Jobs Argument for Wind Power Is Baloney
In a recent editorial the Grand Forks Herald tries to gloss over the very real problems with wind power. Namely that it largely wouldn’t exist without taxpayers picking up pretty much all of the costs of production, and that it’s an intermittent power source which (barring some future technological invention or innovation) will always have…
State Lawmakers Criticize Sen. John Hoeven in Letter, Say Wind Companies “Use North Dakota” to “Mine” Tax Dollars
Wind energy has been a hot topic down in Bismarck this legislative session, and for good reason. As wind energy developers rush to build new developments in order to gobble up massive federal subsidies, and take advantage of a policy allowing them to sell all of their energy into the power grid before anyone else,…
Amendment Would Seek a Moratorium on Approving New Wind Power Projects in North Dakota
In its original form SB2314, introduced by Republican Senator Jessica Unruh of Beulah, would have addressed power companies seeking rate hikes here in North Dakota to pay for compliance with green power mandates in other states. It also would have moved North Dakota’s renewable energy mandate (which has long since been satisfied) from the law and…
Wind Power Is a Sacred Cow Ripe for Slaughter, but a Tax Is the Wrong Way to Do It
There is a lot of very bad public policy surrounding wind power. One example is the massive, market-distorting wind power production credit. An unfortunate amount of wind power’s market share is built on this subsidy. Another example is the preference the wind industry gets when selling their power to the grid. Currently politically popular power sources…
Market-Distorting, Wind-Friendly Public Policy Needs to Go
The closing of the Stanton Station coal plant in central North Dakota has clearly struck a nerve in the state. This despite the fact that the plant was small, old, and not one that was providing base load power for the region. It got the attention of our Public Service Commission, the folks in charge…
Obama Administration Exempts Wind Power From Consequences For Slaughter Of Birds
Back in 2011 Obama-appointed U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon tried to prosecute a group of oil companies operating in North Dakota over 28 dead ducks. The ducks were found after a months-long investigation by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which probably could have found about the same number of dead water fowl along the state’s…