A North Dakota utilities regulator expressed concern Monday about a wind energy project that he said would provide “greenwashing” to a large corporation.
Public Service Commission Chair Randy Christmann noted that Verizon, which has a contract to buy power from a proposed NextEra wind farm in Oliver County, has no need for the electricity.
“They don’t need this energy in this line. They’re essentially just greenwashing themselves to get environmental activists off their backs, correct?” Christmann asked Clay Cameron, a representative of NextEra during a public hearing on a large wind farm in Oliver County. The Oliver County IV project would add up to 73 wind turbines in the county.
“I don’t like the term greenwashing,” Cameron replied during the hearing in Center.
“I do like the term because I think it’s a pretty accurate description,” Christmann said, referring to corporations and other entities investing in green energy projects.
Christmann said that when it’s windy, the project could add 200 megawatts of wind energy, which currently benefits from government incentives. “That will displace nonsubsidized energy on the market, except for when the demand is real high,” he said.
