By Christopher Bjorke, The Bismarck Tribune, N.D.

Jun. 6--The power of the North Dakota's wind is apparent to anyone who has experienced a spring storm here. Exporting that power to new markets could get a boost from a national standard for renewable energy use.

"For North Dakota, it would have a very positive effect, in that we export most of our energy to neighboring states," said Kim Christianson, director of the Great Plains Energy Corridor at Bismarck State College.

The wind energy industry and renewable energy advocates are pushing for Congress to mandate a percentage of the country's energy use to come from renewable resources. Such a requirement would create markets for wind and other resources and could provide a push toward solving the challenge of building the transmission infrastructure to support increased electrical generation in the state.

The House version of energy legislation pending in Congress calls for a goal of 20 percent of electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020. The Senate version does not include such a goal, but calls for investments in renewable energy sources that would increase renewables' share of energy use to 18 percent by 2030, according an a nonpartisan analysis of the bill.

Rob Gramlich, vice president for public policy at the American Wind Energy Association, said that a national standard would create a dependable market for wind and other renewables that would be "a strong and stable signal" encouraging private investment in wind farms and manufacturing of wind components in the United States.

"It will create the demand right now," Gramlich said. "It tells utilities that over time they need to increase their renewable content."

According to AWEA, investment in wind power fell in the first quarter of 2010 due to a lack of market signals that there will be a long-term market for wind energy. Dennis Randall of Schuff Steel, which plans to build a wind tower manufacturing plant in Bismarck in 2011, has said that a lack of certainty in the market has slowed down Schuff's project.

"Utilities are generally not signing contracts" for renewable energy, Gramlich said. "It's like the fish aren't biting."

Establishing permanent markets for renewable energy could push forward another knotty issue for wind power, the transmission infrastructure. If wind is to grow as a major energy export from North Dakota, it needs more capacity to transmit electricity out of state. Investment in new power lines would cost billions of dollars and involves complex questions of who pays for it. It also creates a chicken-and-egg problem for wind development. More development requires transmission investments, which in turn require more power development to justify the costs.

By guaranteeing a level of demand for wind power, a renewable energy standard could push forward new transmission infrastructure, said Christianson and state Commerce Commissioner Shane Goettle.

Goettle said that a renewable standard would increase demand for North Dakota's energy, similar to the way Minnesota's renewable standard led that state to import more renewable power. His concern is that an increase in one form of energy does not displace the state's other energy resources.

"Our policy is that we leave room for all of North Dakota's resources

to be developed," said Goettle, who added that the state was in the position to meet demand for several types of energy. The state's energy plan, Empower North Dakota, supports a target of 25 percent of energy use coming from renewables by 2025.

Public Service Commissioner Brian Kalk also supports a mix of resources, but not mandates for a certain type of energy.

"I'm all about renewable energy goals, but I don't believe standards are the best thing," he said.

AWEA's Gramlich said that while many states already have renewable energy standards, a national standard would put the United States on an even footing with other countries in attracting manufacturing jobs in renewable energy.

"It's already hard to compete internationally for jobs," he said. "Without a renewable energy standard, the U.S. will be in trouble."

(Reach reporter Christopher Bjorke at 250-8261 or chris.bjorke@bismarcktribune.com.)

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