Williston, ND Active Issues

gundo · Senior Member

RE: Oil Boom, why not power boom?

Mica · Veteran Member

Good lord - with the wind in the Williston area, you could power the whole Western US!! biggrin

Steve Powell · Guru

Anyone know how to start a voter initiated measure?

C'mon Steve?!! You ask that as if you have too many other things going on to do this yourself! wink

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

The company you purchase the turbine from would fix the turbine I would assume. However the economy of scale would kick in eventually and you may have independent service companies spring up that would service them. All that said, as I understand it, the turbines are very dependable and generally don't require much for maintenance. Keep in mind you are still dependent on power from an REC or private company for your power, just during peek wind events would you be spinning your power meter backwards and selling your excess power back to the company. The sad thing is that this technology has been around for a long time and it seems that as wind power goes the big companies would like to keep it out of reach for the average individual, I am not a conspiracist, that is just what it looks like to me from a business standpoint.
Anyone know how to start a voter initiated measure?

SKM · Senior Member

What?! I've never even heard of this. It sounds like a great conspectus..., but one question, who comes and fixes the turbine if for some reason it breaks? Wow, Steve...if your serious about this you could break this wide open!

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

Net Metering - what the heck is it and why it should be an issue. We are in the midst of an oil boom in Williston and we also have the potential to be in a power boom as well. Net Metering is the only cost effective way to promote installation of small home/farm owner wind turbine installations because it allows a property owner to sell power back to the REC. ND has no laws on the books requiring our REC’s to provide for net metering, which is a direct result of their intense lobbying of our state government. If we had net metering laws you could, for example, have a small wind turbine on your property and in the spring and fall when the wind is most prominent you could actually spin your electric meter backwards and sell your excess power back to your REC. They get to buy your excess power back at the avoided cost which is in essence wholesale and you get a credit on your bill for the power that you produced. This is not a new concept, nor is it a new argument, these discussions have been going on since the early 70’s. If we had net metering, it would literally give power back to the people, it seems as though our REC’s are out of touch with their members on this issue and if it became a bigger issue they may actually listen. Here is an example of a small wind turbine: http://www.skystreamenergy.com/skystream/

Here is a better explanation of net metering: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/reinsider/story?id=5582