NorthWestern CEO talks green energy at economics seminar

NorthWestern Energy CEO Brian Bird spoke via Zoom at the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research 2024 Montana Economic Outlook Seminar Wednesday to give his perspective on the practical reality of green energy in Montana, advocating for its development alongside more natural gas plants.

Contrary to depictions in the media, Bird said, NorthWestern Energy has a diverse energy portfolio including about a third of it from natural gas and coal, another third from wind and solar energy and a third from hydroelectric sources.

He said all of these sources have advantages and disadvantages, and they are moving toward a plan to have net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but technology is not moving fast enough for them to move fully to green energy without threatening the reliability of their power production.

He said his company attempts to balance reliability, affordability and sustainability in providing power to Montana and other states, and wind and solar power are a valuable part of that, but until power can be stored from those sources for 100 hours or more they just aren’t as reliable in a pinch.

He said hydroelectric power is very clean and reliable, but has drawbacks of its own, while coal, and, to a lesser degree, natural gas have the worst environmental impacts, but are extremely reliable, as the plants can be turned on and off and run however long is necessary.

Wind and solar, while they can produce electricity with remarkable efficiency, can’t store energy for more than four hours with current technology, Bird said, so they need more gas plants to produce the energy that Montana needs.

He said Montana isn’t producing enough power in general and given the weather the state can see in winter, it is vital that they have sources that they can always fall back on, even if there is no wind or direct sunlight to use.

He said their power grid is not designed to import more power than they are exporting, but that is often the case and that needs to change.

He said the federal government needs to stop creating regulations that require coal plants to be shut down, as they are still needed.

“Don’t ever tear down the old bridge until the new bridge is done,” he said.