This past year has been a challenging one, but our economy is moving forward in North Dakota. To keep this going, we must focus on our priorities for growth. One of these priorities is our energy grid – its ability to be reliable and affordable is directly tied to the success of our economy. The key factor to this success in North Dakota is renewable energy.
Renewable sources, while being the fastest growing energy sources today, are also abundant in our state. North Dakota has incredible potential and harnessing the power of this energy in our backyard means that our energy grid is strengthened. Renewables also bring greater flexibility, having the power to quickly scale up or down to meet demand.
The other half of this solution is not just the energy sources we’re utilizing, but how we are delivering power to customers when they need it. As state leaders have noted, there is also a great need to build out our much-needed transmission infrastructure so that our state is prepared to meet energy solutions in every scenario. I couldn’t agree more. If we make this a priority, we can ensure that new projects on the grid, including with renewables, are immediately accessible by more and more communities.
Clean energy and reliability go hand in hand. We have the homegrown resources, now it’s time we have the energy grid to fully tap into them.
Perry Brown, Hope, N.D., serves on the Steele County Job Development Authority's board of directors
