Windfall -- Existing Transmission Lines Help Make Power Feasible
Posted on: Wednesday, 19 March 2008, 00:00 CDT
By David Lester
By DAVID LESTER
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
KITTITAS -- Every day the wind blows is a good day here at Wild Horse. This barren, windswept hillside that once was home only to wildlife now has a new use.
The 127 huge, slowly spinning white turbines stretch across the ridgeline, northeast of here, generating enough energy to power 55,000 homes annually -- nearly twice the amount needed for every home in the city of Yakima.
This facility, a $380 million investment by investor-owned Puget Sound Energy, is on the leading edge of a rush to harness the wind in Washington state and across the region.
Total capacity in the state has tripled since 2005 to more than 1,160 megawatts, and more is on the way. The state already is fifth in the country in the amount of wind generating capacity on the ground. Texas is first.
Sprouting wind turbines means opportunities for developers, landowners and local communities. They also are a sign of future challenges about how the costs for growing the distribution system are parceled out. More sites are nearing approval in Kittitas County as well as in Klickitat County, which borders the Columbia River Gorge. Even Yakima County may get into the act, with four sites scheduled to be tested for feasibility as wind sites, a process that takes at least a year.
"It really is a sign that renewable energy as a cost-competitive form of energy is here," said Pascal Storck, president and chief operating officer of 3Tier, a rapidly growing Seattle consulting firm that forecasts good sites for wind, solar and hydro power. "It's not something that is waiting for its day."
Wind farms mean much-needed revenues for landowners and tax revenues for school districts and local governments.
Wild Horse, for example, doubled the assessed value of the Kittitas School District, said Brian Lenz , manager of local government and community relations for Puget Sound Energy.
There are issues to be overcome, to be sure:
Future needs to upgrade the regional transmission system and who pays for them.
Resolving siting conflicts.
Current shortage of turbines.
Uncertainty over renewal of a federal production tax credit that has been a driver in wind development.
Wind power is competitive with other sources, costing about 4 cents to 7 cents per kilowatt hour.
The federal production tax credit -- about 2 cents per kilowatt hour -- makes wind even more attractive.
A battle is going on in Congress to renew the credit beyond 2007.
In addition to the credit, a regional green movement that manifested itself in a voter-approved initiative in 2006 also is a factor. Initiative 937 mandates large utilities obtain 15 percent of their energy needs from renewables by 2020.
Renewables -- wind, solar and biomass -- make up about 2 percent of the state's current energy sources.
Customer interest also is adding to the push for wind.
"On the customer side, we have heard that they want their utility to be moving into the area of clean power," said Andy Wappler, senior public relations manager for Puget Sound Energy, which has 1 million utility customers in Western Washington and Kittitas County and has the most wind capacity developed.
Puget Sound is in the hunt for another 1,000 megawatts of wind energy to meet the 2020 target.
But the biggest reason for the growth of wind lies just out of sight from Wild Horse: the Columbia River with its huge hydroelectric generating capacity and the transmission lines that crisscross the state and region.
Because of its intermittent nature, wind energy needs a solid base of other sources to sustain delivery of power to homes and businesses. Hydro dams are that base.
Other states, principally Montana and North Dakota, have better wind than Washington. But the lack of transmission is stunting development.
The nonprofit Renewable Northwest Project, a primary proponent of the initiative, estimates Washington, Oregon and Idaho have potential for 20,000 megawatts of wind energy. Montana has as much as six times the potential as the three other Northwest states combined.
"The Northwest, I think, proves to be more attractive than you would think based on the wind potential because wind is very compatible with the hydro system," said Tim Stearns, a senior energy policy analyst for the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development.
While wind development has taken off in the last couple of years, developers have long been looking at the region, said Doug Carter, senior vice president for Chicago-based Invenergy Wind North America LLC.
Invenergy is nearing approval for a 69-turbine wind farm near Wild Horse, called the Vantage Wind Power Project, between the Vantage Highway and Interstate 90, about seven miles west of the Columbia River.
The company is looking at other sites. Carter declined to disclose them because of the intense competition for good wind sites in the state.
"There is not a lot of wind in Washington and Oregon. People have been scouring the area for sites," he said.
It is the proximity to the huge Columbia River hydro resource that keeps people looking.
"The Columbia River Basin generating resources are huge. They are a very key market fundamental," Carter said. "There are challenges with transmission. But those fundamentals are big."
Energy planners agree the region has the existing facilities to handle up to 6,000 megawatts of wind energy with minor improvements to the system.
But near the 6,000-megawatt barrier, major investments will be needed to keep the energy coming for a growing region.
The federal power-marketing agency, the Bonneville Power Administration, estimates the cost of new transmission lines range from $300,000 to $2 million a mile depending on costs due to terrain, capacity and land acquisition.
Bonneville is preparing to take those costs into account when it proposes new rates for 2009.
"What it gets down to is we owe it to our customers to make sure the proper parties are being charged for the cost of running the system," said Scott Simms, Bonneville spokesman in Portland. "As we look at some of these wind farms, where they are located and where they are going, a large part of the wind is serving customers beyond BPA borders."
The search for new wind sites has brought developers to Yakima County. The county hearing examiner is mulling a request by Northwest Wind Partners, a joint venture between Goldendale's Ross Management and EnXco, a French company, to place meteorological stations on four parcels, three north of Sunnyside and the other south of Moxee.
Three of the four parcels belong to John Top, co-owner of the Toppenish Livestock Commission.
Top said the chance for wind power development is a boon to farmers and ranchers.
"It's an opportunity for a piece of ground that is otherwise limited in ability to produce something," he said. "It allows a lot of cattle ranchers to keep property in the family."
Wind-farm development is a windfall for owners of remote pieces of property. Annual payments can range from $2,000 on up for each turbine.
Royalty payments vary widely since they are based on the number of turbines at a particular site and the amount of energy each produces.
Remote sites like Wild Horse have proven to be noncontroversial. But some sites have raised a furor by neighbors concerned about the impact the rotating turbines have on their vistas.
One such development is the Kittitas Valley Wind Project, a 65- turbine farm on both sides of U.S. Highway 97 between Ellensburg and Cle Elum. County commissioners denied the application. But Gov. Chris Gregoire, on a recommendation from the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, pre-empted the county and approved the project last September.
The county then challenged the decision, contending the council was biased and had prejudged the outcome. The case is now headed to the state Supreme Court.
Those kinds of conflicts are rare, said Ann Gravatt, policy director for the Renewable Northwest Project.
Most embrace wind farms.
"The communities want the projects, the revenues, the jobs and benefits that come with them," she said.
Tom Karier, a Washington state member of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, said meeting future power needs with wind will create local conflicts.
"Every resource carries with it some local impacts," the Eastern Washington University associate dean said. "I think it is important those local impacts be considered and addressed. Equally important is that we build enough renewables to meet our energy needs."
Reporter David Lester can be reached at 577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.
(c) 2008 Yakima Herald-Republic. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Yakima Herald-Republic
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