Illinois
Currents News • Legislation • Trends • Research •

Mellencamp tour celebratesrural electrification

Grammy Award-winning recording and performing artist John Mellencamp, who has paid tribute to America's heartland in his music and through his participation in Farm Aid concerts, is tipping his hat to rural America once again. On May 5, he'll begin a three-month tour of North America, which he's dubbed "The Rural Electrification Tour." The tour will kick off in Houston and features appearances at Deer Creek Music Center near Indianapolis on July 3 and 4.

"In the '30s, rural electrification brought electricity to farmers and other rural dwellers for the first time in their lives, and along with that electricity came radios and record players: Music!" Mellencamp explained. "We're lucky enough that for the last 20 years, we've had the opportunity to play our own small part in bringing music to people; to entertain them and have a lot of fun in the process."

This is the first tour in two years for the Bloomington resident. Other venues on the 40-city tour are Chicago's New World Music Theatre (May 28) and Cincinnati's Riverbend Music Center (June 22).

Farm crisis hotline open

The University of Illinois Extension has revived a toll-free, confidential hotline to help farmers facing financial crises. Rural Route 2 takes its name from the Rural Route hotline that operated during the farm crisis of the 1980s.

The hotline may be reached by calling (800) 468-1834 weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Callers will be referred to experts in farm business and family finance, to local service agencies and the Farm Resource Center. Callers will receive information about the Illinois Farm Development Authority and key U.S. Department of Agriculture programs and on coping with family stress. Other topics will be added as needed, says Dennis Campion, head of Extension.

Economic stress can spill over into other parts of family life, according to Campion. For example during the last farm crisis and the 1993 flood, there was an increase in divorce rates and family violence. Experts expect schools, churches and social service agencies may soon face challenges related to stress in the farm economy.

After the Rural Route 2 operation hours, farmer callers may want to call the Farm Resource Center's 24-hour crisis line at (800) 851-4719.

Fuel cells for homes and small businesses

Fuel cells have powered NASA spacecraft for decades. Soon fuel cells may be available to power homes. A fuel cell is a lot like a battery, but unlike a battery a fuel cell will not run down as long as it is supplied with fuel like natural gas or propane. Fuel cells produce electricity in a clean, quiet and efficient electrochemical process. The only waste products produced are water and heat.

General Electric is making a strategic move toward fuel cells by partnering with Plug Power on a joint venture to market fuel cell systems worldwide. Residential and small business fuel cells generating up to 35 kw may hit the market beginning in 2001.

GE says it plans to partner with resellers to market the systems within defined territories. Resellers are likely to include companies where GE Power Systems already has strong relationships, such as natural gas and propane distributors, electric utilities, energy service companies, and gas and power marketers.

Initial commercial fuel cells will operate on natural gas, propane, or methanol, according to Plug Power, and are expected to hit 40 percent in electrical efficiency. When excess heat generated by the fuel cell is captured and used for hot water or heating, the overall efficiency can climb to over 70 percent. GE Fuel Cell Systems said it expects to offer residential-sized systems in 2001 for $7,500-$10,000. As production increases the price could fall to about $3,500, generating electricity at 7-10 cents per kwh, depending on fuel and usage.

Several Illinois electric cooperatives have announced interest in providing fuel cell service to members.

6 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING MAY 1999

Co-ops join forces to reduce power market risk

Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC) has joined three other generation-and-transmission (G&T) electric cooperatives to form the Alliance for Cooperative Energy Services (ACES) Power Marketing, one of the nation's first cooperative-owned power marketing entities. SIPC joins with Buckeye Power of Ohio, East Kentucky Power Cooperative, and Wabash Valley Power Association of Indiana in the new venture. ACES Power Marketing will improve the cooperatives' chances of successfully operating in today's competitive and highly volatile wholesale market.

ACES Power Marketing is a limited liability corporation that will offer economic power dispatch, transmission scheduling, hourly and daily trading, long-term marketing, risk and load management and competitive intelligence.

Southern Illinois Power provides wholesale power to Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association, Monroe County Electric Co-Operative, SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative and Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative. Harold Dycus, a director of Egyptian Electric and SIPC, will serve as secretary of the ACES Power Marketing board.

The four G&Ts provide electricity to 71 member distribution systems serving nearly one million meters in a five-state area. They have a combined generation plant capacity of 3,400 megawatts and a total system load of 4,000 megawatts. Other G&Ts are expected to join ACES Power Marketing. The consortium could eventually include 40 G&Ts, and 550 distribution co-ops serving 10 million members.

Corn Belt Energy holds first Internet annual meeting

Corn Belt Energy Corporation was one of the first co-ops in the U.S. to do a webcast of its annual meeting over the Internet. Corn Belt Energy Corporation was formed after Illinois Valley Electric Cooperative merged into Corn Belt Electric Cooperative in January. Members at the main meeting site at Normal Community High School West in Normal, could hear and see members at the northern region's meeting site at Bureau Valley High School in Manlius, and so could the rest of the world over the Internet. The webcast was held to allow the Northern Region members to attend their annual meeting without having to drive to Normal.

The Internet isn't ready to replace broadcast or satellite television just yet, but technology has advanced the Internet along to the point where this type of video communication is very cost effective. The Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives (AIEC), in conjunction with Dave's World, an Internet service provider serving central Illinois, made the necessary technical arrangements.

Although the video and sound quality delivered over the Internet were not always clear during the meeting, most members seemed impressed with the experiment. Kevin Bernson, coordinator of video production for AIEC summed it up by saying, "This was a lot like 50 years ago when co-ops started bringing electricity to rural areas." It wasn't perfect, but it was an interesting demonstration of what the new technology will do for us in the future.

Smart choice for schools

Hundreds of communities across the U.S. are planning new schools or renovating old ones. Many are adding the energy saving and improved comfort and safety of geothermal heat pumps to the plan.

More than 450 schools in 37 states enjoy the benefits of geothermal heat pumps. Not the least of these benefits is cost savings. In 1995 alone, U.S. schools that chose geothermal heat pumps saved an estimated $6 million, money they reallocated for books, computers, teacher salaries and more. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, if every school district that needed to replace heating and cooling systems over the next 10 years selected geothermal heat pumps, the total energy savings would exceed $11 billion.

Communities where new schools are planned or old schools are slated for renovation should give the technology a close look. Call your local electric cooperative or heat pump dealer for information on geothermal heat pumps, or visit the GeoExchange website at www.geoexchange.org.

MAY 1999 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING 7

High power prices stimulate new generation capacity

Contracts for power this summer remain at levels reminiscent of last year's high prices. High contract prices show that market traders believe spot prices for electricity will again be sent to four-digit levels.

Several factors caused last year's price spikes. At that time almost 23 percent of generating capacity was unavailable in the Midwest during June. Temperatures were high for several consecutive days causing higher than anticipated demand. Problems in one area of the Midwest quickly became problems in other areas and limited the ability of utilities to shift generation to meet load. These shifts caused overloads on the transmission system.

Market players are beginning to address the capacity shortage. Many utilities are beefing up maintenance to make sure their generators will not be one of the generators to miss the high prices next year. A number of nuclear units have also returned to service. Many have reactivated generation that was previously retired from service. Finally, non-utility generators called merchant plants are rushing new plants into service. In the Midwest interconnect area called MAIN, new market entrants plan to have more than 600 MW of new capacity built by next summer.

All of these changes hopefully mean there will be plenty of power this summer and we will not see the price spikes that drove up the cost of power.

Deregulation will be like...

The analogy goes like this: Trying to create competitive electricity markets without new arrangements for transmission would be like having a thousand travel agents and only one airline.

Now there may be some fresh lessons coming from the airline industry that could be used by those of us concerned with deregulation and retail competition in the electric industry. At the end of December, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that it would be studying 13 major airports to learn how policies at the individual airports affect travelers' access to competing carriers.

For example, low-fare airlines have a very limited presence at the Minneapolis airport, where Northwest controls more than 80 percent of passenger volume. The DOT has said individual fares there run about one third higher than the national average. Among issues the federal agency will examine are policies on long-term leasing and exclusive use of departure and arrival gates.

How does this relate to the utility industry? Simply erase the word "gates" and substitute "wires." Imagine electricity discounters trying to serve customers through wires controlled by an established provider who is not interested in making room for competitors. That actually is some people's idea of competition.

Protecting appliances from surges

Lightning during a storm can cause damaging power surges. Voltage surges can also damage appliances during power restoration.

TVs and entertainment systems are the most vulnerable. Computer modems and telephone answering machines are also highly susceptible to voltage surges. These items can be hit from more than one direction. Often the TV cable, antenna or satellite system unfortunately have separate grounds from the electric system. With different ground potentials between the two grounds the TV essentially becomes a fuse ready to blow. The same can happen to a computer modem with different grounds for the telephone line and the electrical system.

The reality is that almost anything these days that plugs into electric power is at risk of surge-related damage or destruction. That's because very sensitive electronic components are finding their way into everyday appliances. This microcircuitry is extremely sensitive to changes in the electrical current. Catastrophic failure can result, or the damage can be cumulative, the result of successive surges that eventually cause complete failure.

During outages an additional surge risk comes from the use of electric generators. Frequently, generators provide an uneven flow of electricity, filled with sags and spikes. This uneven power, especially the surges, can cause real damage to operating equipment.

Electric power quality is an increasingly important issue for members and the electric cooperatives that serve them. Surge suppression devices provide simple and effective protection. These products work by clamping down on the spikes before they can damage the equipment they're protecting.

Surge suppressors are available in a wide range of designs and specifications. Whole house surge suppressors are available and so are surge suppressors for phone lines and coaxial cable. Contact your local electric cooperative for more information about surge suppressors.

8 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING MAY 1999