The ND Interim Energy Development and Transmission Committee held its first interim hearing this month. Chairman Rich Wardner (R-Dickinson) opened the hearing noting that the committee does not have any assigned interim studies, but that they will review the required annual reports and consider many energy policy ideas that could be good for North Dakota. He developed a list of energy issues for the committee and implored the members to be visionary in their approach for the future.
Senator Wardner created a list of issues that will each contain a completed report for the committee to review. The list included 30 energy topics which include many that are of interest to the lignite industry, including: mitigation, pore space, enhanced oil recovery, carbon dioxide storage, electrical transmission issues for wind, coal and gas, new clean coal technologies, state primacy on environmental concerns, and mineral royalties. The full agenda covered a presentation from the Legislative Council regarding oil and gas tax revenue allocations; a presentation from the ND Pipeline Authority regarding oil and gas updates; a presentation from ND Transmission Authority Director John Weeda on the Power Forecast 2019; a presentation from the CEO of SkySkopes on drone technology for power utility and oil and gas industries; a presentation from Commissioner Smith, Department of Trust Lands, regarding background information and status update on litigation related to underpaid mineral royalties.
North Dakota Transmission Authority Director John Weeda told the committee that a recent study commissioned by the authority estimates demand for electricity in the Williston Basin will grow by 71 percent over the next 20 years. “That kind of growth rate is basically unheard of in most of the country,” Weeda said.
He also discussed the large need for more electric power generation throughout the state. He said the expected demand is located primarily in the west due to the expansion of the oil and gas industry and in the east due to population growth including homes and businesses.
Weeda sees building more direct current transmission lines as one way to meet the growing demand. Two currently exist in the state, with alternating current lines making up the rest of the transmission grid. A positive feature of direct current lines is that they can transport energy over long distances with less electricity loss, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Weeda mentioned that he recently spoke with a company that is interested in building a direct current transmission line out of North Dakota that would interconnect with the existing grid that serves the western United States. He believed that this proposal could help new wind projects serve markets in California where customers want to purchase renewable energy. By sending the renewable power to a market outside of the MISO grid territory, this would in turn help the lignite power plants in North Dakota be more competitive in the future by keeping more baseload generation in operation. This idea could better manage energy generation in the state so it would not harm lignite power plant production due to increasing amounts of wind energy sent into the MISO markets.
Weeda shared with the committee that the Transmission Authority is performing a new study, which should be done before the end of the year, to gather complete information on the capacity of the state’s transmission system under the current levels of power generation. This study will help policymakers and industry better prepare for the future of energy production in North Dakota.