Thursday, October 15, 2009

Community electric power growing; utility exec says it will be small but meaningful part of mix

Much of the focus of the renewable-energy movement has been on large energy companies, but an emerging movement called community power is also contributing to renewable energy. Community power, in which consumers and electric distributors install their own renewable power generators and rely less on electricity generated by utilities, is in its infancy but becoming more popular, Peter Slevin of The Washington Post reports.

Willmar Municipal Utilities in Minnesota invested nearly $10 million in a pair of 256-foot wind turbines, Slevin reports. The electric cooperative hopes that the wind power will cost less than the equivalent amount generated at a coal-fired power plant, and after the turbines pay themselves off in about 12 years, the energy they produce will be virtually free. WMU estimates the turbines will provide 3 to 5 percent of the town's power, and hopes to build more in the future.

"This is the biggest investment Willmar Municipal Utilities has ever made," engineer Wes Hompe tells Slevin. "What makes it worthwhile? This is the future." Most analysts agree community power will never completely replace outside sources of energy, but the wind turbines in Rock Port, Minn., have done just that. Sunny states like California and Florida are focused on solar energy to create community power, often from solar panels on homes. Power that isn't used in the home can be sold to the grid.

Dan W. Mohler, a Duke Energy strategist who already has solar panels and a storage battery at his North Carolina home, predicts community power will one day account for a small but meaningful, part of the nation's energy portfolio. "It's really tough to think about thousands and thousands of megawatts," he told Slevin. "It's like thinking about using AAA batteries for your car." Still, the benefits of community power are becoming more attractive to rural electric co-ops. Bruce Gromm of WMU tells Plevin: "The more local we are, the more confident we feel." (Read more)

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