Editorial: Paul Matthys

Imagine being the head coach of a football team with excellent players, the brightest coaching staff, and the best fans anyone could ask for. Now, that seems like a great position to be in, but imagine trying to coach the team, execute your mission, and ultimately win a championship when the rules of the game change while you are still playing. Working in the energy business sometimes feels exactly like this, especially when administrations change, and a new vision is born.

A change in our administration has shed some positive light on our industry with the President’s pro-energy agenda. We will continue to evaluate and share with our members the positive impact this will have in the days and months to come. We will also continue to work with our local, state, and federal elected officials to foster energy-friendly policies that strengthen our grid reliability, keep electricity rates stable, and maintain our environmental stewardship.

Cass County Electric is one of eleven distribution cooperatives that purchase power from Minnkota Power Cooperative. The eleven cooperatives work closely with Minnkota, helping shape the future of our power supply and distribution systems. One Board member from each distribution cooperative makes up the Minnkota Board, which meets monthly to discuss cooperative business, including power supply planning. Minnkota also has a Manager’s Advisory Committee (MAC), which meets at least ten times yearly to assist in this planning process. Cooperation among cooperatives is one of our seven cooperative principles and helps make us a successful and strong organization.

Carbon capture and sequestration, simple-cycle natural gas, co-firing natural gas and coal, zero emissions coal-fired plants, small nuclear reactors (SMRs), more wind, and solar are all options the Minnkota team is looking at for future power supply resources. Each has its own set of challenges and opportunities. Rest assured, we look at every option with reliability and affordability and future cooperative generations at the forefront of our planning.

Minnkota recently announced the addition of a 370-megawatt (MW) wind farm near New Rockford, North Dakota. This project will help stabilize our purchase power agreement pricing (for wind) and secure long-term wind resources. They continue to evaluate the need for carbon capture and sequestration through Project Tundra while studying other options for future baseload power supply resources. Baseload resources (i.e., coal, nuclear, and natural gas) are vital to grid reliability and stability.

The energy industry will always have challenges and hills to climb. Still, we have a bright future with many exciting opportunities to lead the world in manufacturing, AI data storage, carbon capture, grid stability, and affordable energy prices. We must preserve our baseload resources to achieve these goals while maintaining a balanced power supply portfolio.