Public, private leaders launch regional energy road map

A road map for the Great Plains Region's long-term energy future, which was formulated with input from leaders of industry, agriculture, state and provincial governments and environmental groups in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Manitoba, is being released June 6 by the non-profit Great Plains Institute's Powering the Plains (PTP) program.

The road map offers three key messages:

• The region's world-class energy resources and ingenuity can be harnessed to significantly reduce global warming emissions in the electric power sector while meeting projected demand at a moderate increase in cost – but only if we begin now.
• Ongoing investments in energy efficiency, necessary for achieving such reductions, can save consumers, businesses and governments billions of dollars over the next half-century.
• Fully optimizing the region's low-carbon energy resources can stimulate jobs and economic development and provide a prudent hedge against volatile energy prices.

"We are thankful for the opportunity to have participated with the various stakeholders in discussing these important issues facing our industry, customers and the environment," said Brian Zelenak, manager of regulatory administration for Xcel Energy. "Consistent with the principles of the road map, Xcel Energy is committed to voluntarily reducing our impact on the environment. We are the nation's No. 1 wind power provider, are strongly committed to reducing energy use through conservation programs, are at the midpoint of one of the nation's most aggressive voluntary emissions reduction projects and are researching new technologies including clean coal technology with carbon sequestration – all components of this road map."

The road map lays out objectives, milestones and strategies for preparing this region to flourish in a world increasingly worried about global warming. It provides a menu of policy options and shows the benefits that can be achieved through significant new investment in energy efficiency, wind, advanced coal with carbon capture and storage, biomass, hydro power, and hydrogen technologies.

"During a series of town hall meetings across the region on this road map, some people expressed concern about including coal as part of our energy future. But with China building the equivalent of a coal-fired power plant per week and with coal playing a huge part in our current energy system, we need a low-CO2 path forward for coal and we need it soon," said Bill Grant, Midwest director of the national conservation organization, Izaak Walton League of America. "The size and urgency of the global warming challenge has persuaded some of us in the environmental community that encouraging more responsible use of coal is just as critical as stopping conventional coal plants."

"This road map could not be timelier," said State of Wisconsin public service commissioner Mark Meyer, a participant in the next-generation coal work group that helped develop the road map's coal chapter. "Several states in our region have passed landmark energy legislation and are beginning to develop climate action plans. Our hope is that this road map can provide guidance for Wisconsin, but also serve as a framework for complementary activities across the Upper Midwest. Wisconsin is certainly going to do its part and benefit economically in the process."

The Great Plains Institute is a regional non-profit organization based in Minneapolis that brings together key public and private leaders from across the Upper Midwest to identify and support policies, projects and research that will accelerate the transition to a renewable and low-carbon energy system by mid-century. Powering the Plains is one the Institute's four core programs, generously supported by the St. Paul-based Bush Foundation and several PTP stakeholder institutions.

View or download the Energy Roadmap