LINCOLN — A wind-energy bill signed into law Monday is expected to reap immediate results.
In mid-July, when the law goes into effect, officials predict the announcement of a new, privately owned wind farm near Petersburg, Neb., that would power 6,600 homes.
The bill also opens the way for a gigantic wind farm in Nebraska's Panhandle — 25 times larger than the Petersburg project and among the largest in the country.
“This legislation marks the beginning of accelerated wind energy development in Nebraska,” Gov. Dave Heineman said during a bill-signing ceremony.
Heineman said his goal is to have Nebraska in the top 10 nationally for wind-power generation in 10 years.
The state now ranks 24th in the nation, with a 152-megawatt capacity to generate wind. That is a far cry from neighboring Iowa, which ranks No. 2 with 3,604 megawatts of wind turbines.
But if the proposed 2,000-megawatt wind farm in Banner County in the Panhandle is built, the Cornhusker state would jump to No. 4.
Legislative Bill 1048 is designed to remove the barriers to private generation of electricity that were set up in the 1930s, when Nebraska became the nation’s only public power state.
The bill will allow private companies to generate wind power in Nebraska for export to other states. The companies would be required to pay the expensive costs of building transmission lines to export the power. Officials said that would protect the state’s cheap electric rates from rising.
Nebraska’s status as a public power state has hampered development of wind power here because public utilities, such as the Omaha Public Power District, don’t qualify for the attractive federal incentives that have made Iowa such a magnet for wind power.
Currently, Nebraska generates just over 1 percent of all its power from wind. Both OPPD and the Nebraska Public Power District have set voluntary goals of generating 10 percent of their total power from renewable energy sources by 2020.
Heineman said Monday he opposes mandated renewable energy standards, which have been enacted by several states and will be considered by Congress this year.
Among those at the bill-signing were representatives of all the state’s utilities, as well as State Sen. Chris Langemeier of Schuyler, who led the drafting of LB 1048 as chairman of the Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee.
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