North Dakota Electric Cooperative Taps Solar Power for Disaster Mitigation

By: Corey McKenna on October 26, 2010

Solar panels power a livestock well in McHenry County, N.D. Photo courtesy of Brian Hvinden/FEMA.

A North Dakota electric cooperative turned to an alternative energy source to provide power to Sheridan County ranchers whose power was knocked out by an April ice storm. The storm dropped nine inches of snow on Bismarck, knocking out power to thousands in the central and southwestern regions of the state and caused more than $33 million in damage mostly to utilities, according to a request for public assistance filed by Gov. John Hoeven.

Rather than rebuild a section of transmission line that provided power to the ranchers’ pasture wells, the Verendrye Electric Cooperative installed two solar power sites capable of generating 470 watts.

The installations in McHenry and Sheridan counties were funded with $11,201 in FEMA hazard mitigation grant money. FEMA estimated that $29,000 was saved compared with the cost of reinstalling the approximately mile-long power line.

“In lieu of building in new power lines to a remote site to a pasture well, if it’s summer pasture well we’ll put in solar instead of building in a power line,” said Randy Hauck, member services manager for Verendrye Electric Cooperative, “because we can do that at a cheaper cost than building in the power line, and it provides the same service.”

Tom Jespersen, a Verendrye energy adviser who installed the solar panels, said numerous factors led the cooperative to install the solar panels. “In these two applications they happened to go across a small slough or a small lake and it posed the additional problem just getting that power back in to those sites, but cost was the biggest factor.”

The Sheridan County site, which produces 130 watts, was installed in August and took about six hours to set up. Work on the McHenry County site, which generates up to 340 watts, started in August and was completed in September. It took about 20 hours to install.

According to Hauck, Verendrye has been installing solar power systems since 1991. The cooperative has approximately 220 such sites. In the past, Verendrye has installed solar power systems in isolated locations where transmission lines didn’t exist. “We have several other solar sites in our service area,” Jespersen said. “But this is the first time for the disaster application.”

The North Dakota Department of Emergency Services was happy to save money through the project. “Any time an applicant can identify a more cost-effective way to restore service, we will explore it,” said Greg Wilz, the department’s deputy director, in a news release. “And if it also happens to use a renewable energy source, that’s just icing on the cake.”

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