This weekend we, (by we I mean Rogue River Wind, Ltd) submitted a federal appropriations request to implement a 5MW micro-grid that will produce enough power to supply the Coquille, North Bend and Coos Bay school districts, Coos County government agencies and the US Coast Guard Air Base in North Bend and generate over $2M in excess revenue for the schools. A $5M project, we have asked the federal government to contribute $2M of the total cost to install wind, solar and combined heat and power generators in a smart-micro-grid that sells excess power to the neighborhood.

The balance of the project will be funded with private investment from Rogue River Wind, and state and federally backed energy loans. Net proceeds will be directed into the school foundations to be used in the schools’ general funds. The project will create 72 family wage jobs and based on Oregon’s 7⊄ KWH the revenue stream of $3.1M each year will create or save an additional 124 Coos County jobs, based on the 2009 U.S. Governor’s estimate of 40 jobs created for every $1M of infrastructure spending.

This locally owned smart-micro-grid concept can be duplicated throughout Coos County and Oregon. In California where PUC established energy rates are higher the same grid would earn $9M annual revenue. Ten similar projects along the Oregon coast can generate $310M over the next ten years providing hundreds of jobs averaging $24 per hour.

While community owned wind energy is encouraged in Oregon there are regulatory hurdles to cross and in the next few weeks I will be traveling to Salem to find ways to allow our local communities to fund our schools and create jobs. Soon I will be heading to DC to lobby select members of the House Energy and Water Subcommittee to approve this appropriation in the 2010 budget. Along the way I will provide updates and let you know what you can do to help including calling and writing these Congressmen to support the request.

The request is thorough and has backup documentation, still there is no guarantee the appropriation will make it through committee but it does make economic sense. With or without this appropriation we can solve many of our economic problems right here simply by not importing power and exporting dollars. Just generating an essential service like electricity, and selling it locally, keeping the profits local can bring economic stability, sustainability and prosperity.

Oregon may not be the first state to implement such a community project, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington and Iowa have done this already, but Oregon could be the first to use distributed energy to capitalize upon abundant renewable resources. There are many technological challenges ahead that have been met and overcome in other communities and in Europe. Coos County can do this if we pull together as these other communities have done.