CLEAN POWER PLANNCSL Policy Workshop

Kenric Scheevel

Sr. Government Relations Representative

Dairyland Power Cooperative

Member owned cooperative created in 1941

Headquartered in La Crosse, WI with 585 employees

1300 MWs of generation and 3200 miles of transmission lines

235,000 members representing 575,000 people

Our member sales are roughly:

– 2/3 residential

– 1/3 commercial/industrial

Dairyland Service Territory

Wisconsin: 18 member cooperatives10 municipal customers

Minnesota: 3 member cooperatives2 municipal customers

Iowa: 3 member cooperatives5 municipal customers

Illinois: 1 member cooperative

Total 25 member cooperatives17 municipal customers

Dairyland Power Cooperative

Utilities are said to be like an ocean liner…

(photo of a large cruise ship)

Dairyland - 2000

Seven coal-fired units –Alma 1-5, Madgett and Genoa 3

One natural gas plant at Elk Mound

One hydroelectric unit – Flambeau Station

One wind project – Chandler Windfarm

– Only 0.7 MW

And not much in the way ofdistributed generation

Dairyland - 2015

One biomass unit – Stoneman

Two hydroelectric units – Flambeau and Sartell

Three coal-fired generating units – Genoa 3, Madgett and Weston 4

Three landfill units – Central Disposal, Seven Mile and Timber Trail

Three solar units – Minnesota 3, CEC, and USFWS

Nine anaerobic digesters

Ten cooperative community solar programs & two more under development

Twelve wind projects

Twenty five MW Solar RFP in progress

And about 625 distributed generation units – of which over 500 are solar

EPA’s Clean Power Plan

Dairyland, like most utilities, has been moving towarda generation portfolio that emits less CO2

Clean Power Plan (CPP)accelerates that movement

Each utility will be impacteddifferently:– State CO2 reduction target– State Implementation Plan (SIP)– Generation portfolio – Age of power plants– How other utilities respond

Energy Policy

CPP is most transformative energy policy since the development of the electric grid

Grid design was based on large central station (baseload) generators coupled with intermediate generators which enable utilities to

instantaneously balance generation with load

The grid as designed

Energy Policy

CPP designed to reduce dependence on fossil fuel

Replaces baseload (fossil fuel plants) with thousands of intermittent generators dispatchedby “mother nature”

Distributed generation may expand that number to tens of thousands of intermittent generators…

Utilities will still be responsible for instantaneously balancing generation with load

The evolving grid

Impact of CPP

Large C/I loads may have interest in reducing their own carbon footprint

For Dairyland:

– Livestock farms

– Server farms

– Frac sand mining

– Ethanol plants

Opportunities to work together

Livestock Farms

Methane digesters to manage waste streams

– Reduce odor & fly populations

– Enhanced fertilization properties of waste stream

– Generate electricity

Have the open spacefor wind turbines

PV solar is becomingpopular on site

Server Farms

Northern climates provide opportunity to reduce their air conditioning load

Require highly reliable electric service – with backup generation capabilities

Expressing high level of interest in reducing their carbon footprint

Frac Sand Mining

Western WI has ideal geology for sand mining

Rapid expansion of mining fueled by new oil and gas recovery methods

Rapid decline of mining load due to low oil and gas prices

Boom and bust cycle doesnot lend frac sand miningto investment in renewabletechnologies

Ethanol Plants

Source of significant load growth in Dairyland’sservice territory over past 15 years

Producing ethanol is an energy intensive process

Sensitive to electricity cost and reliability

Low carbon fuel standard incentives– Combined heat and power

Biomass

Natural gas

– Wind and/or solar

CPP Challenges

Industrial (and residential) consumers wishing to adopt renewable technologies face challenges

Not all megawatts are equal– Baseload – coal, nuclear, hydro, natural gas

– Intermediate – hydro, natural gas

– Intermittent – wind, solar

Consumers who incorporate renewables rely on their utility to “make it work”

Reducing C/I Carbon Footprint

Energy Efficiency audits and action plans– Most cost effective first step

C/I owned renewable energy generation– Interconnection agreements

– Utility purchase of excess generation

– Utility continues to serve remaining load

Impractical for a C/I load to go “off the grid”

Utilizing Intermittent Resources

Reducing C/I Carbon Footprint

Invest in Clean Power Projects– retain RECs and carbon credits for themselves

– Utility buys the electrons

Participate in community solar projects– Benefits of owning renewables, without the hassle

Third party ownership models– No money down lease or ownership models

Environmental Energy Policy

The grid was designed and built by engineers, and described as the most complex “machine” ever built

The grid’s operation was enhanced by economists

EPA’s Clean Power Plan is environmental policy

– That is poised to redefinefederal energy policy

– That will dramatically alterthe operation of the world’smost complex machine

Comments

and

Questions