Erickson: Wind needs coal, coal needs wind
State’s attorney says transmission line won’t work without baseload
BY ALYSSA MEIER
EDITOR
When it comes to the debate over renewable energy and fossil fuels, neither can operate efficiently without the other, State’s Attorney Ladd Erickson said. Speaking at last week’s
Mercer County hearing on a recent wind moratorium, Erickson said he would represent a neutral position, neither entirely for nor against the ban on wind energy in the county.
Erickson explained that wind was not an enemy of coal, but something necessary to subsidize the energy. “We're going to need wind to supplement our lignite,” Erickson said.
Erickson went on to explain that wind energy wasn’t stable enough to operate alone on the electrical grid, nonetheless the DC transmission line operated by Coal Creek Station. He
explained that the physics of how these systems operate require a combination of energy, if wind were to be used. Erickson said he could imagine the possibility of relationships between wind farms and other energy producers like coal and natural gas plants.
