Each legislator received from the commission this month a 30-page document, which describes in detail the future North Dakota has in the energy industry.
"The plan paints a vision for North Dakota's energy future. It provides a framework against which you can assess energy-related legislation," said North Dakota Department of Commerce Commissioner Shane Goettle in a statement to the legislature. Goettle is also chair of the EmPower ND Commission.
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Included in this group was Mantador resident Terry Goerger, who was a representative for the agriculture industry.
"I think it was a good commission," Goerger said. "I think it was the first time that all entities of energy sat down at the table to understand each other's industry and to work together."
The developed policy includes 10 key goals, 40 policy recommendations and nearly 100 action items that build on the considerable progress made to date by Empower ND, which is the state's comprehensive energy policy. Since 2001, the policy has helped generate more than $5 billion of new energy-related projects.
Goerger brought to the table ideas from a farmer's perspective, reflecting on renewable energy sources like coal, gas and oil and how it affects a farmer's land.
Goerger explained because "we're never going to run out of corn and soybeans" there is a big need to evaluate all the renewable energy sources North Dakota has to offer.
"I think everyone is starting to understand there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle," Goerger said. "We just need to look at all our resources and figure out what's going to work the best for North Dakota but at the same time make sure we keep an eye on and take care of what we have."
The commission's policy touches on the need to not only supply energy but also to produce and export energy.
According to a news release from the North Dakota Department of Commerce, Goettle relayed to legislators that enhanced export capacity is needed to accommodate the potential for aggressive wind development. The building of one or more clean coal generation plants and developing electrical production from both natural and synthetic gas could also be considered.
"Clean coal technology is here, it's working, we have great supplies there that we should utilize," Goerger said.
"We propose 5,000 megawatts of installed wind capacity by 2020. That's enough to power 1.5 million homes. While ambitious, it's doable if we take a regional approach that grows our electricity market from five states to perhaps 12 states, and eventually to the entire nation," Goettle said, pointing out that wind development also requires base-load generation from the coal and gas industries.
This concept and many others will be part of policy proposals coming from a variety of places, including the Interim Energy and Transmission Committee, individual legislators and recommendations from the governor and the Industrial Commission.
The EmPower ND policy is a working document with a number of long range goals, said Goerger, and policy that the commission will continue to review.
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