ALLETE Inc. (NYSE:ALE) has significantly expanded its North
American footprint while continuing to focus on providing
sustainable energy and water solutions, company investors heard
today at the Duluth-based energy company’s 2017 Annual Meeting of
Shareholders.
About 700 people attended the 2017 Annual Meeting at the Duluth
Entertainment Convention Center on Tuesday, where they re-elected
10 directors, approved compensation-related resolutions and
ratified the selection of ALLETE’s accounting firm. After
conducting business, they heard from Al Hodnik, ALLETE’s chairman,
president and CEO, and three company presidents.
“Through a well-thought-out, energy-centric strategy, ALLETE has
expanded its reach across North America, including an initiative
that will balance carbon-free wind and water power for a cleaner
energy future in North America,” Hodnik said. “ALLETE now operates
across the nation, with energy and industrial water treatment
customers or facilities in 49 states.”
Hodnik said ALLETE and its energy companies have grown
significantly while transforming the nation’s energy and water
landscapes.
He reported ALLETE earned $3.14 per share in 2016 on net income
that was up 10 percent over 2015, and ALLETE's market
capitalization is now about $3.5 billion, up from $2.7 billion at
this time in 2016.
The company’s board of directors recently increased the dividend
3 percent to $2.14 per share on an annual basis, and Hodnik said
the company’s three-year total shareholder return through the end
of 2016 was 44.4 percent.
“ALLETE’s enduring financial success is forged from its
renewable roots, fueled by partnerships and an entrepreneurial
spirit, and guided by core values and a balanced stakeholder view,”
Hodnik said. “It is our view that rising societal expectations for
even cleaner energy and water forms into the future will drive the
long-term need for the sustainable solutions offered by ALLETE’s
companies.”
Hodnik pointed to Minnesota Power, ALLETE’s largest business, as
it continues to pursue its EnergyForward strategy designed to
modernize and diversify its energy mix at two-thirds renewables and
renewable-enabling natural gas and one-third environmentally
compliant baseload coal.
Brad Oachs, senior vice president of ALLETE and president of
regulated operations, outlined the Great Northern renewable energy
initiative. When complete in 2020 as the Great Northern
Transmission Line makes an international connection at the Canadian
border, it will reduce Minnesota Power’s carbon emissions by 33
percent over 2005 levels and put the company’s power supply at
nearly 40 percent renewable energy by delivering carbon-free
hydropower from Manitoba.
“Even though EnergyForward paces Minnesota Power ahead of state
standards, we continue to seek renewable opportunities,” he said.
“Natural gas enhances integration of renewables, and we also expect
to add natural gas generation to our system and explore new wind
and solar possibilities as we further reduce our carbon
footprint.”
Along with the shift toward renewables, the company says there
is a shift among customers who want more control over how their
energy is used and produced. Deb Amberg, ALLETE senior vice
president, chief strategy officer of regulated operations and
president of Superior Water, Light and Power, said ALLETE’s
companies are leading this trend of providing “your energy, your
way.”
Through the installation of smart meters and new web portals
where customers can check their energy use and conservation
programs, the companies are helping customers gain more control
over their bills, Amberg said. An increase in rebates available for
small-scale home and business solar system installations also helps
customers make the switch to their own generation.
“Our goal is to exceed customer expectations, to find ways to
delight them and leave them with a positive impression,” she
said.
ALLETE Clean Energy President Al Rudeck Jr. said his company
operates in a growing market for wind power. In six years, he said,
the company has grown to own and operate six wind facilities across
the nation that generate more than 500 megawatts of power, and has
become ALLETE’s second-largest net income source.
ALLETE Clean Energy’s multipronged growth strategy is taking
shape as wind turbine components arrive in the Port of
Duluth-Superior this year. Qualified for federal production tax
credit “safe harbor” provisions, the turbines give the company the
pricing power to develop more wind power capacity over the next
four years.
A portion of these turbines could be placed at the 100-megawatt
wind facility that ALLETE Clean Energy will build in North Dakota
starting in 2018 to supply electricity to Xcel Energy under a
20-year power purchase agreement, subject to regulatory approval.
ALLETE Clean Energy also recently announced it will expand by up to
50 megawatts the Thunder Spirit wind farm in North Dakota for
Montana-Dakota Utilities, which has an option to purchase the
expansion as it did with the first phase of Thunder Spirit.
“The safe harbor turbines have improved our already strong
project prospects and connected ALLETE Clean Energy with new
industry partners nationwide,” Rudeck said. “I’m excited about
ALLETE Clean Energy’s promising future, and proud to be expanding
emission-free energy and transforming the nation’s energy
landscape.”
ALLETE shareholders, voting by proxy, elected to new terms
current directors Kathryn W. Dindo, Sidney W. Emery Jr., George G.
Goldfarb, James S. Haines Jr., Alan R. Hodnik, James J. Hoolihan,
Heidi E. Jimmerson, Madeleine W. Ludlow, Douglas C. Neve and
Leonard C. Rodman. The Don Shippar Community Service Award, given
annually, was presented to lineworker Josh Athman for his volunteer
efforts with first responders in the Pierz-Little Falls area.
“Whether internationally, nationally or locally right here in
the region, ALLETE is well-positioned to grow,” Hodnik said to
shareholders in conclusion. “Guided by a strong and diverse board
and fueled by 2,000 talented individuals working synergistically
with each other, your investment in ALLETE continues to be rewarded
and remains in good hands.”
ALLETE Inc. is an energy company headquartered in Duluth,
Minnesota. In addition to its electric utilities, Minnesota Power
and Superior Water, Light and Power of Wisconsin; ALLETE owns
ALLETE Clean Energy, based in Duluth; BNI Energy in Bismarck, North
Dakota; U.S. Water Services in St. Michael, Minnesota; and has an 8
percent equity interest in the American Transmission Co. More
information about ALLETE is available at www.allete.com.
ALE-CORP
The statements contained in this release and statements that
ALLETE may make orally in connection with this release that are not
historical facts, are forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and
investors are directed to the risks discussed in documents filed by
ALLETE with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170509006345/en/
ALLETE Inc.Investor Contact:Vince Meyer,
218-355-3276vmeyer@allete.com
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