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The ILEC NEWS is a quarterly publication for ILEC member-owners. Spring 2009 Look to the ILEC NEWS for ILEC NEWS Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative Cooperative news and events, industry updates, helpful hints and special Construction of Wind Farms Remains on Schedule features. Despite having an extremely cold and windy Iowa A 500-ton crane arrives at the turbine site winter this year, construction of your Cooperative’s two community-based wind projects remained on Our Mission schedule. There were only a few weather related delays Iowa Lakes Electric due to the cold temperatures and wind, whereas Cooperative is dedicated Wanzek Construction’s safety protocol required con - to leadership, growth struction to be temporarily suspended if the outside and environmental temperature dipped 5 degrees below zero or wind responsibility by providing speeds reached 22 mph to ensure the safety of the con - reliable, competitively- struction crews and to minimize potential damage. priced energy while If the weather related delays would have put the offering valuable services wind projects behind schedule, Wanzek was prepared to benefit our members, to power up portable generators with lighting towers our customers and the to illuminate the construction site to allow the crews The process of erecting each wind turbine was com - communities we serve. to continue working late into the evening during times pleted in phases, beginning with the installation of the of more favorable weather conditions. first of the three tower sections, called the base section. inside Iowa Lakes first broke ground on the The cranes work together by hoisting the base section President/CEO Comments . .2 Cooperative’s $43 million community-based wind of the tower into the air and attaching it to its concrete Powering Iowa’s Future project in June 2008 with a geotechnical review and pedestal base. Long and massive anchor bolts secure Customer Satisfaction Survey . .3 soil testing at each of the wind turbine sites. Once the base section of the turbine onto its concrete Salute to Our Team . .4 each turbine site location was determined, pre-con - pedestal. After the base tower section was attached and Iowa Legislators Welcomed struction work to prepare the area for the wind tur - secured, the remaining two sections of the turbine Back to Session . .5 bines began. tower were aligned and attached. Once assembled, the Heat Pumps Save Energy . .6 The first phase of pre-construction was to build completed tower pedestal stands 262 feet tall and Count on Your Cooperative for approximately five miles of new, industrial-grade weighs 276,000 pounds. Reliability . .7 roads. Without a finished road surface the elongated Assembling sections of the turbine tower Our Energy, Our Future Postcard . .8 semi tractor-trailers transporting the turbine parts would not be able to access the 14 turbine site loca - Plans Cancelled for Proposed tions. In total, it took 25 semi tractor-trailers to deliv - Sutherland Gnerating Station . .8 er all of the components needed to construct just one Planning a New Grain Bin? . .9 1.5 megawatt wind turbine. 2009 Annual Meeting and By mid-October the roads were in place and con - Director Candidates . .10-12 struction had started on the massive turbine founda - Automatic Bill Payment . .13 tions. The goal was to get the road infrastructure Above and Beyond . .14 completed, the foundations installed and the under - ground electric service, along with a fiber optics com - Introducing Kill A Watt . .14 munication system, buried before the ground froze. Energy Cost Adjustment . .15 Once the pre-construction work was completed, Arnold Motor Supply Expanding . .16 the ground needed to freeze to support the significant ILCC Wind Energy Program weight of the cranes. In December, semi tractor-trail - The nacelle, which weighs 112,000 pounds, sits at Benefits from USDA Loan . .16 ers arrived at the wind farm sites hauling the construc - the top of the tower section near where the rotor blades tion cranes. Each wind farm was equipped with three are attached and houses all of the generating compo - Economic Development Overview .17 cranes, two smaller, 120-ton mobile cranes and one nents. The three fiberglass blades are manufactured as Register for Oahe Bus Tour . .18 large 500-ton crane. The 500-ton special purpose a matched set to ensure the 128 foot blades are symmet - Cooperation Among Cooperatives .18 crane had a long, lattice boom that extended 320 feet, rical and balanced. If the blades are not in balance, the Basic Electric Receives Grant . .18 about the length of a football field, that was needed to rotor blade assembly will not rotate smoothly and the Buy, Sell, Swap Ads . .19 erect the 262 foot turbine tower. vibrations would destroy the wind turbine’s generator located within the nacelle. Join Mr. Tight-Watt’s Co-op continued on pg. 5 EnergyCast! . .20 Powering Iowa’s Future Assigned electric service territories provide important benefits to member-owners and incentives to pursue economic development efforts for Northwest Iowa owans receive electricity from their electric poles, transformer and wires. The certainty of know - utility, which is determined by designated serv - ing where and when we must do this allows your ice territories that were created over 30 years Cooperative to plan more efficiently and be as cost ago. In 1977, the Iowa General Assembly effective as possible. passed legislation that permitted the Iowa Under Iowa’s service territory law, all utilities are IUtilities Board (IUB), which was then known as the treated equally. Every utility is landlocked and Iowa Commerce Commission, to establish exclusive assigned electric service territories are helpful to service territories for all electric utilities. As a result, Iowa’s cooperatives in dealing with density issues. each electric utility must provide safe, reliable electric Density refers to the number of member-owners a service to all customers in their assigned service ter - cooperative serves for every mile of utility line ritory and cannot serve customers in another utility’s installed and the lower the density, the higher the territory. cost of providing electric service. Cooperatives serve The IUB established these service territories by member-owners who live primarily in rural Iowa as creating boundaries in a line equidistant between we are all well aware. adjacent utilities with the flex - On average, Iowa’s ibility to consider such things cooperatives serve approxi - as preservation of existing cus - mately four customers for tomers and consideration of every mile of line available, natural or physical barriers. whereas Iowa Lakes serves, This legislative policy is on average, 2.59 member- stated as follows: “In the public owners for every mile of util - interest to encourage the ity line. The investor-owned Terry L. Bruns development of a coordinated (IOU) utilities in Iowa serve President/CEO statewide electric service at about 23 customers per mile Iowa Lakes retail, to eliminate or avoid of line and the municipal util - Electric Cooperative unnecessary duplication of ities serve nearly 54 cus - electric utility facilities, and to tomers per mile of line. promote economical, efficient, Cooperatives must spread and adequate electric service the operating costs of provid - to the public.” (Iowa Code Iowa Lakes serves, on average, ing electricity among a much 476.25) 2.59 member-owners smaller customer base than Iowa’s service territory law for every mile of utility line. either of the other two types has served Iowa well and has of Iowa utilities. become a model for other states to emulate. This law Without exclusive service territories, coopera - has provided stability to the utility industry, most tives would be at a significant risk of losing cus - notably in the areas of planning and development. tomers to other utilities and it is most likely – if that Electric utilities are very capital-intensive businesses were to occur – that cooperatives would lose those spending and investing millions of dollars each year. areas with the highest concentration or density of Cooperatives must determine as accurately as possi - electric customers. This would most likely include a ble the future electric needs of our member-owners large number of important commercial and industri - in order to ensure an adequate and reliable source of al (C&I) accounts. The operating costs of providing generation for today and at least 10 years into the electricity, however, would not decrease significantly future. Knowing with some degree of certainty who with the loss of these customers and so the remain - our member-owners are and what specific geograph - ing member-owner base would have to struggle with ic areas your Cooperative is responsible to serve the rate burden from the increase of a disproportion - helps us accomplish this planning process more al amount of operating expense combined with the effectively. Not only must cooperatives plan ahead to significant loss of the C&I operating revenue stream. meet existing member-owners generation needs, we Thus, exclusive service territories benefit the state of must also plan for system expansion and mainte - Iowa and the utility by providing member-owner nance of our existing physical delivery system – the account stability. 2 I L E C N E W S register for the oahe bus tour Cooperatives have taken the obligation to community development programs. have helped attract, that makes for a positive win- serve seriously, which is part of the service Collectively Iowa’s electric cooperatives have win situation. Most importantly, it is not just your territory law. Not only do we install the utility some astounding statistics during 2007: Cooperative that benefits; it is all of the member- infrastructure necessary to serve the remote Ł Managed a $679 million electric utility owners of your Cooperative and the surrounding member-owner living in a home in the mid- business that employs 6,900 people and communities who benefit too! Absent assigned dle of a rural township, but we also work to generated $176 million in local income.

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