ERMUSR MISC 08-14-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Demand and reliability • Minnesota and the surrounding region are experiencing tremendous job and population growth, leading to a steady increase in electric use at an average of one to two percent per year. • The last major upgrade of the electric transmission system took place more than 25 years ago. Since that time, electricity consumption in Minnesota has doubled. • Studies show that customer demand for electricity will increase by 4,000 to 6,000 megawatts by 2020-more than today's system can deliver. The proposed new transmission lines will be built in phases designed to meet this growth. The lines will also help support expanding renewable energy growth to meet the new Minnesota Renewable Energy standard -the most aggressive in the nation. • The CapX 2020 projects will help support the significant energy needs posed by the state's rapidly growing ethanol and biofuel industry. Ethanol and biofuel plants need a considerable amount of electricity for production. The plants are located in rural areas where corn is grown, but they place stress on the electric grid, which was developed over the years to accommodate agricultural and residential loads. Additional transmission infrastructure will help ease this stress. • It is understandable that the current system is nearing its capacity; we're using more electricity -far more -than we did even a few years ago. • Our electricity demand has risen in proportion to the growing number of electronic items and appliances we depend on and to the increasing size of our homes. Here are some statistics to illustrate just how much more electricity we demand today: - Twenty-five years ago, when the fast major transmission upgrade took place, about 30 percent of homes had central air conditioning. Today, that number has more than doubled to nearly 70 percent of homes. - Last year, you could find 26 consumer electronics, such as DVDs, cordless phones and high definition televisions, in the average home. Compare that with 1975 when the average household had less than two of these items. - Larger homes use more energy. The average single-family home in the Midwest is almost 40 percent larger today than it was in 1976. - Microwaves are a virtual necessity today with 90 percent of kitchens having one in 2005 versus just 25 percent 25 years ago. - In 2006, 50 percent of American homes had three or more TVs, a dramatic increase over the one TV owned by 57 percent of households in 1975. - ATV is on for an average of 8 hours and 15 minutes a day in an average U.S. home, an hour more than 10 years ago. - We spend $5 billion annually to power our TVs. In 2010 that number is predicted to rise by 75 percent, meaning that customers will pay over $8 billion annually to run their TVs. - In less than 10 years (1998-2005), the percentage of homes with a DVD player rose from 1 percent to more than 80 percent.