LEC now voting member of SPP Markets and Policy Committee | ND Legislative primaries set | Electric Vehicle study moves forward
The Lignite Energy Council participated for the first time as a voting member at last week’s Southern Power Pool (SPP) Markets and Operations Policy Committee (MOPC) Meeting. The two-day event included a variety of presentations and stakeholder discussions on current issues including market pricing, reliability studies and future planning of the transmission grid. The most significant vote cast by the Lignite Council at the meeting was in favor of a reliability-only assessment for the 2022 Integrated Transmission Plan. The Lignite Council’s voting membership in SPP, similar to our membership in MISO, provides both a voice and a vote in favor of coal in the stakeholder process.
The candidate filing period has closed for the June 14th Primary Election with the North Dakota Secretary of State last week Monday. As a result, there are more than 25 contested legislative races this cycle including eight statewide offices and 98 seats in the legislature on the ballot due to redistricting. Overall, Republicans have 123 legislative candidates and Democrats have 45.
The most intriguing primary battles are found in the Bismarck area where District 7 (Northeast Bismarck) has three candidates for the House, District 8 (Lincoln and rural areas East of Bismarck) have two Senate candidates and four House candidates, District 35 (Central Bismarck) has three Senate candidates and four House candidates and District 47 (Northwest Bismarck) has four House candidates. Also, District 33 (Beulah/Hazen) is a hotly contested primary in Coal Country where there are two Senate candidates and five House candidates on the ballot.
A study commissioned under the Lignite Research Program to forecast the impact of electric vehicles on North Dakota’s electric industry was previewed by researchers at the Energy and Environmental Research Center to members of the Lignite Research Program and Lignite Energy Council. The study aims to provide policymakers and industry personnel with data to inform state policies and practices that will influence the uptake and utilization of electric vehicles over the next decade. Although electric vehicles are currently rare in North Dakota, it is estimated that their growth over the next 10 years could result in more than 200 megawatts to the statewide peak demand for electricity.
The average home in North Dakota uses approximately 1000 kWh per month of electricity, which means that fully charging a Tesla Model X uses as much electricity as the average North Dakota house uses in 3 days.
Photo from power plant worker earlier this week loading coal as normal in some intense winter weather.
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