Promoting Clean Energy
The Midwest needs a strategic clean energy development plan that implements smart policies and practices to capture readily achievable environmental, public health and economic development benefits. This sustainable development strategy is good for the environment and the economy.
The Clean Energy Development Plan proposes policies to implement underutilized energy efficiency technologies and to aggressively develop renewable energy resources. By diversifying a power supply that has relied on old, highly-polluting coal and nuclear plants, the Midwest will reduce pollution, improve electricity reliability, create new “green” manufacturing and installation jobs, and provide renewable energy “cash crops” for farmers. The Clean Energy Development Plan provides the strategies to achieve these goals. Please visit Repowering the Midwest to learn more.
Implementing the Repowering the Midwest Clean Energy Development Plan would create more than 200,000 new jobs across the 10-state Midwest region by 2020, up to $5.5 billion in additional worker income, and up to $20 billion in increased economic activity. Read the report, Job Jolt: The Economic Impacts of Repowering the Midwest for more information.
Wind Power Development in South Dakota
Wind energy is the fastest growing source of electricity generation in the United States. According to a recent ELPC report, South Dakota’s available wind resources are among the best in the country. South Dakota officials have expressed strong interest in promoting wind energy, but, thus far, little of this potential has been realized. As of January 2008, there are about 4,000 megawatts of wind power under development in South Dakota, but only 188 megawatts of wind energy have been installed. ELPC’s report explains that South Dakota can become a renewable energy powerhouse and identifies important policy drivers that can help to more fully tap these clean energy resources. Download the report here [large pdf file].
Interconnection Standards
ELPC is working on many fronts to increase the use of less-polluting, energy efficient, and renewable electricity generation. One goal is to reduce reliance on old, dirty, centralized power plants and advance “distributed generation” – literally shifting some generation of electricity to wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, combined heat & power (CHP) systems, and other clean and efficient resources that are distributed across the electric grid and are often sited at a customer’s home or small business.
In order to accomplish this structural shift, state policies must be reformed. Statewide interconnection standards streamline the process of connecting distributed resources to the utility grid. The fees, delays, and seemingly arbitrary requirements that often predominate in the absence of standardized rules are one of the most serious barriers to widespread investment in clean energy. Net metering is a special metering and billing agreement between utilities and their customers which allows customers to sell excess electricity back to the grid and gives customers a financial incentive to invest in renewable sources of energy.
Read more about our interconnection standards initiatives here.
