The first oil well I saw on my trip to Williston was just west of Stanley ND, 80 miles east of Williston. It was flaring off the natural gas. Energy is being consumed to pollute.
All but one oil well location was capturing the natural gas. It was located just east of Williston. A compression ignition CAT engine with a generator, was connected to the well using the natural gas as a fuel. In 2008 the plan was to capture all of the natural gas and use it to make electricity. Combined with wind and coal energy, North Dakota now has a electrical surplus. The Great Recession further amplified the energy surplus.
Another factor is the changing electrical demand. Efficiency programs inspired by global warming concerns are being implemented. As an example, five years ago the lighting in my office was 300 watts. Today the lumens are the same with only 78 watts. In the rest of our house incandescent are being replaced with CFL bulbs that use sixty percent less electricity. This is happening in many homes. We are using less electricity per household.
It is hard to find numbers on electrical production but electrical power is traded as a commodity. Therefore it is easy to see what electricity costs are in different area’s. Base load price is six to eight cents on both coasts and one cent in North Dakota. Peak load prices are as high as twenty-five cents and more.
Why isn’t North Dakota electrical power shipped east or west? Infrastructure! There are five grid areas in the United Stated not connected. A surplus of Electrical energy cannot be shipped across country. There is no incentive for more energy production in North Dakota if it cannot be sold at a profit. Therefore natural gas is flared and energy is wasted and only pollutes.
The solution is technically simple and but politically complex. At the 5th Annual North Energy a typical United States grid map was shown. The question from the floor was why wasn’t this implemented. The answer given was “no one is in charge.” This is an over simplification of the problem. A better answer is many are in charge, with personal agenda’s, and when a leader that emerges they are immediately politically and personally persecuted. The leaders of this persecution are people like Koch Brothers, Peabody Coal, Harold Hamm of Continental Industries and many others.
The benefits of a National Grid are many and will be the topic of next Blog.
The solution? The next time we vote look up the monetary contribution received by a candidate. And if received by a energy company you could have identified a politician who is owned by that energy company.
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