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Home / Washington Business - July/August 2003 / Will windfarms blow away other energy |
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Will windfarms blow away other energy |
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Written On: July/August 2003 |
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Written By: By Robert D. Kahn, Ed.D |
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Wind power, the fastest growing energy technology in the world, has come to Washington and more wind turbines are on the way. Thanks to competitive costs and robust reliability, this environmentallyfriendly technology is Washington’s newest renewable energy resource. In converting the kinetic “fuel” of the wind into much-needed electricity, wind turbines harness a naturally recurring, pollution-free resource.
Washington is a late bloomer in wind power development, but the Evergreen State has quickly made up for lost time. It is home to the world’s largest wind farm, the 300 megawatt (MW) Stateline Project it shares with Oregon. (For wind power projects, a single megawatt provides enough power to meet the electric needs of 240 Northwest homes.)
The state also claims the distinction of hosting the nation’s largest public power wind farm, Energy Northwest’s 48 MW Nine Canyon Project. With utility interest growing, and several of the nation’s leading wind power developers hard at work here, the Evergreen State will soon see more wind power capacity installed.
One such developer, Michael Zilkha, co-owner of Zilkha Renewable Energy, has substantial plans for Kittitas County, which he hopes will soon surpass Walla Walla in
wind-generated power production. Zilkha is quick to point out that his efforts hold special appeal for him and his employees.
“It is incredibly satisfying,” Zilkha explains, “to work in an industry where a sincere sense of social responsibility prevails.” That same sense drives many Washingtonians who choose to support renewable energy, even if it costs a little more per kilowatt-hour.
Washington utilities now offer customers “green power,” as called for in HB 2247, landmark legislation that AWB actively supported during the 2001 session. This spring, for example, 6,500 Puget Sound Energy (PSE) customers were sending their utility an additional $40,000 per month to bring new renewable energy generation online.
Mercer Island resident Beth Cordova was among the first to sign up for the PSE program.
“Anything I can do to encourage the utility to partner with people to encourage the use of renewable energy,” Cordova recently told the Mercer Island Reporter, "I will do it."
Suburbanites are not the only ones supporting wind power; Washington’s farmers back it, too. And no wonder—wind power is a shot in the arm for rural counties. Hugh Preston, a Walla Walla rancher who leases property to the Stateline Project, credits the royalties he receives with helping keep Nine Mile Ranch in the family.
“It will help us sustain a way of life,” he said.
The Energy Policy Division of the State Office of Trade & Economic Development reported in a recent study that wind-rights leases typically run $2,000 per turbine. Moreover, the report observes that farmers and developers score a win/win “…because the wind turbine tower only occupies a small amount of total project area [so] farming and ranching operations are often not greatly affected.”
The Office of Trade & Economic Development helped fund a site-specific study on the economic impacts of wind power projects that was sponsored by Kittitas County’s Phoenix Economic Development Group. ECONorthwest, an independent economic research firm, found that if the nearly $400 million in wind farms proposed for Kittitas County
went forward, the community would see substantial increases in new revenues. ECONorthwest estimated that the two proposed wind projects totaling 390 MW will increase income within the county by more than $12 million during the two years of construction and $4.2 million annually as a result of project operations.
In addition, the projects’ status as Kittitas County’s largest taxpayers would, as a result of Initiative 747, noticeably lower everyone else’s property taxes.
Kittitas County is front and center in Washington’s march toward making wind power a mainstream resource.
The county has three features certain to attract wind energy developers: strong winds, high voltage power lines and open rangeland.
Zilkha Renewable Energy (ZRE) announced its proposed “Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project” last spring. Since then the company, which has offices in Portland and Ellensburg, has completed extensive engineering and meteorological studies and investigations into the avian, wildlife, noise, visual and other aspects of its proposed 180 MW project.
Wind power experts consider the ground ZRE has leased as ideal for development. The 5,000 square acres between Ellensburg and Cle Elum features a series of barren, north south ridges. This elevated ground runs perpendicular to the prevailing southeasterly winds created as the warm temperatures of the Columbia Plateau draw cool air down from off of the Cascades. A total of six BPA and PSE transmission lines traverse the wind swept area.
Zilkha filed for a permit from the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) this January. The company is the first renewable developer to “opt into” the state-permitting agency. ZRE elected to file with EFSEC after the Kittitas County Commission, reacting to a vocal “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) minority, exchanged the siting regulations it had on the books for a new, complex set of rules that, among other things, expose wind energy developers to protracted legal challenges.
According to Chris Taylor, ZRE’s Development Manager, “EFSEC, with its well-earned reputation for fairness and extensive local participation, offers a rigorous permitting process that is sure to win the confidence of our neighbors in Kittitas County.”
Taylor is impressed with the thoroughness of EFSEC’s one-stop permitting review. The agency has solicited extensive local input and plans to continue doing so. Meanwhile, the agency is challenged in calibrating its procedures with what is required by a 180 MW wind farm; after all, the last project it permitted was a 1,300 MW gas-fired power plant.
“EFSEC has a highly formal process,” said Darrel Peeples, the Olympia attorney who represents ZRE and has practiced at the agency for more than 25 years. “It was designed to scrutinize nuclear power plant applications. The agency’s costs to review the Zilkha project are five times more expensive than what they would be if Oregon’s siting agency were reviewing the same project.”
Zilkha Renewable Energy and its colleagues in the industry see a market for their product. With wind power now competitive with natural gas-fired generation, their confidence appears warranted. All three of the state’s investor-owned utilities have recognized wind power’s advantages by proposing significant increments in their integrated resource plans. PacifiCorp, for example, assigns wind power a value for hedging natural gas and greenhouse gas mitigation.
Puget, the state’s largest investor-owned utility, took the plunge this spring when it signed a short-term contract for a small share of Stateline’s output. It plans to meet at least 5 percent of its needs with renewable energy by 2013. But that percentage could easily double as the utility becomes more familiar with wind energy.
Wind power will never rival Washington’s primary renewable energy resource: hydroelectric power. But two dry years out of three is a vivid reminder that the state needs to diversify its energy portfolio. Wind power has arrived in time and at competitive prices so that it can make a real difference.
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