WIND PAYS

$250+ million over 20 years is 12.5 mil a year that blows in with the wind:

Study: Wind to blow $251M off energy bills
August 23, 2006 (Denver Business Journal via Yahoo Finance)
- A study released Wednesday by a trade association representing companies invested in the wind energy industry says Colorado customers of Xcel Energy Inc. are expected to save about $251 million in energy costs over the next 20 years through the use of wind energy vs. natural gas-fired power plants.

-The study also said that consumers could have saved an additional $186 million if all the wind projects Xcel pursued had come to fruition…Several wind projects have fallen by the wayside in recent years due to a number of factors, ranging from higher costs of steel poles to support the turbines to difficulties negotiating agreements between developers and the utility…
-Authors of the study were Jane Pater, who has worked on energy and environmental issues, and Ron Binz, former head of the Colorado Consumer Counsel's office…
- The study also repeated the need for additional transmission lines, essentially highways for shipping electricity from rural and remote power plants to urban consumers.