Climate and energy

Wondering what Nebraska is up to?  Declaring itself “open for business” to wind development.  The article below, which ran Dec. 21 in the Omaha World Herald outlines Nebraska’s strategy for attracting wind development.

Omaha World Herald: Changes needed for wind projects

By Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

LINCOLN — Nebraska needs more changes in state law if it truly wants to put out the welcome mat for large-scale wind-energy developments, a state panel was told Thursday.

A key state senator responded by pledging that he’ll make wind a top priority in the Legislature’s 2010 session, which begins in three weeks.

“We will deal with it,” said State Sen. Chris Langemeier of Schuyler, chairman of the panel that deals with energy issues, the Natural Resources Committee.

At least three changes in state law would help bring more wind projects to the state, proponents said.

Nebraska, the nation’s only public power state, has been struggling for years to develop wind resources, which are now ranked as the second-best in the country, according to the National Renewable Energy Lab.

The state, however, lags in wind-energy generation at No. 22.

By contrast, neighboring Iowa ranks No. 2, and privately owned wind farms are as common there as truck stops along some Interstate highways.

Langemeier said his committee’s study has discovered how complicated it is to navigate Nebraska’s current laws, which were set up decades ago to protect public power and provide electricity at the “least cost” to customers — not to build wind farms and export power to faraway cities.

At least three rough drafts of bills were discussed Thursday, and more might be coming. Those discussed would:

• Revise state law so private investors could more easily gain approval to build generation facilities using wind, solar or other alternative sources. Such projects would have to demonstrate that they would provide public benefits and economic development and that they would not “unreasonably” harm public power or ratepayers.

The change would affect standards now used by the Nebraska Power Review Board — an agency with three employees besides its five-member, governor-appointed board — which Langemeier said would become the “gatekeeper” for wind development.

• Change the state’s personal property tax structure so wind farms wouldn’t have high initial tax expenses and so that tax benefits to local schools and counties would last longer. Currently, Langemeier said, wind farms must depreciate their personal property in only a handful of years, meaning local entities get a gusher of tax revenue followed by a drought.

That wreaks havoc with state aid payments. Stretching out the depreciation or finding a different way to tax the farms would remove a disincentive for private developers.

• Develop some type of entity to coordinate construction of new transmission lines to carry wind energy to market in other states.

Tom Richards, a lobbyist for the Omaha Public Power District, unveiled ideas to create a “Nebraska Infrastructure Authority” and a “Generation Development Agency” to ease construction of transmission lines and energy projects involving public-private partnerships.

Richards said the infrastructure authority would be similar to something being tried in Wyoming. The agency would own the power lines and have the power to issue bonds and use eminent domain. The state would be required to back up any bonds that went bust, a potentially controversial shift of risk to the state from private investors and public power.

The authority’s main goal, he said, would be to provide alternative private funding for expensive transmission lines rather than tap Nebraska ratepayers.

The development agency, Richards said, would also allow for an alternative funding source in the event OPPD or other public utilities wanted to participate in wind projects intended to export power to other states.

The ideas, which Richards acknowledged had not been “properly vetted” with all public power officials, drew mixed responses.

Langemeier and Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm said they weren’t interested in creating new state agencies. They said existing agencies could handle such jobs, if necessary.

Patrick Pope, vice president and chief operating officer for the Nebraska Public Power District, said the Southwest Power Pool, a regional transmission group, already has a bond financing option for private wind farms.

Rich Lombardi, who lobbies for private developers in the American Wind Energy Association, said the ideas discussed, including OPPD’s, were encouraging as was the pledge to make wind legislation a top priority in 2010.

“At the end of next session, it will be abundantly clear that Nebraska is open for business,” he said.

-posted by Eileen Horn, climateandenergy.org