PSC chair laments ‘greenwashing’ with North Dakota wind power

A North Dakota utilities regulator expressed concern Monday about a wind energy project that he said would provide “greenwashing” to a large corporation.  

Public Service Commission Chair Randy Christmann noted that Verizon, which has a contract to buy power from a proposed NextEra wind farm in Oliver County, has no need for the electricity.   

“They don’t need this energy in this line. They’re essentially just greenwashing themselves to get environmental activists off their backs, correct?” Christmann asked Clay Cameron, a representative of NextEra during a public hearing on a large wind farm in Oliver County. The Oliver County IV project would add up to 73 wind turbines in the county. 

“I don’t like the term greenwashing,” Cameron replied during the hearing in Center. 

“I do like the term because I think it’s a pretty accurate description,” Christmann said, referring to corporations and other entities investing in green energy projects.  

Christmann said that when it’s windy, the project could add 200 megawatts of wind energy, which currently benefits from government incentives. “That will displace nonsubsidized energy on the market, except for when the demand is real high,” he said. 

“I am not aware of this project displacing anything on the existing system,” Cameron replied. 

Christmann said traditional energy sources, like the coal-fired power plant in Oliver County, “without being able to sell their power, a vast amount of the time, they could close.”

The three-person Public Service Commission took no action on the wind farm Monday. It will vote on the proposal at a future meeting. 

Cameron said the project would cost about $345 million and a related transmission line would cost about $45 million. He said NextEra wants to start construction on the Oliver County IV project in May or June and be in operation by December. 

Cameron said NextEra has a Jan. 1 deadline to begin supplying power, according to its agreement with Verizon. 

When asked by Commissioner Julie Fedorchak about why Verizon was in the energy business, Cameron, “They felt like they had a need for purchasing power to fulfill their net zero carbon goals by a certain date. So that’s why we chose to sign them up on this particular project.”

He said it was NextEra’s first commercial contract with a nonutility customer in North Dakota. 

Kevin Prannis, who represents union labor that works on energy projects, was acting as an intervenor in the Oliver County case. He asked Cameron if North Dakota were not to approve the project, would Verizon just move on to another similar project? 

Cameron said that was a fair assumption. 

NextEra received several positive comments from residents of Oliver County for being good community partners and adding to the tax base. 

Lonnie Henke, who farms near Hannover, praised NextEra for offering compensation to landowners who are near the turbines but don’t have them on their property. 

“I hope this compensation model is followed in any area of the state where wind farms are  built,” Henke said. “It is fair and promotes harmony between neighbors and participants.”

One landowner, Daryn Karges, said he will see wind turbines in every direction from his property if this project goes through, adding to previous projects from NextEra and others. 

Hearing set Monday on wind farm proposed for North Dakota coal country

He farms near other turbines and, especially being downwind from turbines, “they are quite loud,” he said. 

Keith Kessler, who said he can see 34 turbines from his property, questioned the need for the project if the power is not going to be used locally. 

He said the shadow and spinning blades, which create an effect known as shadow flicker, keep his wife from being able to do fieldwork in certain areas. 

“The long-term effects of these things, we don’t even know yet,” Kessler said. 

And while the projects do provide tax revenue to the county, he said there also are costs, such as road maintenance. 

His advice was “buyer beware.” 

“There’s things that show up afterwards that you don’t even think of,” Kessler said.