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Wally Cole offered our invocation in the Salvation Army's cavernous gymnasium after we sang both the United States and Canadian national anthems. This writer then led the assembled group in song, starting out with the two happy verses of Puff the Magic Dragon who was Working on the Railroad, causing us all to sing a Hymn of and for the Nations. A Rotary Minute Quiz was also administered, based on the first three pages of the August Rotary magazine, with two of three questions answered correctly. Although peaches are, as of this writing, simply being eaten and not sold, Jamie Larson exhorted us to keep up our sales efforts and, to start the bragging, an apology was made for skipping our traditional, seldom-desired quiz based on fascinating facts for Fergus Falls' favorite, phenomenal, fuzzy fruit. Mary Pettit followed by contributing for missing a few meetings and having to leave the day's meeting early and also to brag about a granddaughter's birthday that day. Brian Tjaden contributed to encourage us all to buy a brag and fine card and because he also had to leave the day's meeting early. Buzz Lundeen was glad to be back after being out with a terrible case of COVID. Tim Hunt then reported he and Desta had been dealing with her medical problems and of the death of a friend two days short of reaching 101 years of age. Katie Johnson introduced (for Mark Bring) Jeff Schlotfeld from Otter Tail Power Company, who is a Senior Engineer in its Development, Engineering and Construction division. Currently Otter Tail is relying on coal for about 50% of its energy production, with 25% coming from wind and solar and hydro and gas/oil making up for the rest. OTP serves 422 communities, 133,700 customers, with 6,352 miles of transmission lines and 7,877 miles of distribution lines. By 2050, the expected energy mix will be 71% wind, 13% solar, 1% hydro, 15% gas and oil, with no coal. That means its current energy generation is currently 37% renewable (intending to get to 55% by 2030) and that its goal is to see a 50% reduction in carbon emissions from owned generation resources by 2030 and 97% by 2050 (excluding MISO market purchases). Minnesota's Clean Electricity Standard mandates that electric utilities in the state must provide 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040, with interim targets of 80% by 2030 and 90% by 2035. Jeff then talked about the 3,400-acre solar project planned for Abercrombie in Richland County, North Dakota, with a target operational date by the end of 2027. The Solway Solar project will be located northwest of Bemidji in Beltrami County, involve 487 acres of land and is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2026. The former project is expected to generate $23.8 million in local and state tax benefits over its 35-year life expectancy and, at its peak, will involve approximately 300 construction jobs. Similarly, Solway will generate about $4.2 million over the same time period and reach a maximum of 70 construction jobs. The other statistics we were provided were mind-boggling: Abercrombie will have 618,384 sun-tracking solar panels, 101,566 array piles, 20 miles of access roads and 19.7 miles of fence. Solway's numbers are 107,487, 17,098, 3 miles and 4.3 miles respectively. Each panel will be about eight by four feet and weigh 90 pounds. Abercrombie will have 74 1500 VDC inverters (each weighing about 40,000 pounds), while Solway will have 14 (there are 16 inverters at Hoot Lake). The solar panels are about 98% efficient, will be about 33 inches off the ground and in a storm will go to a safe storm position. For more on these projects, you can go to otpco.com/solar. Current plans are for the company to have a 70-watt battery operational before the end of the decade. |
