UTILITY, DEVELOPER WILL BUILD NEW WIND, NEED NEW TRANSMISSION

It’s an important story, reported over and over again this year, and likely to be reported frequently in 2009. In several regions of the U.S., wind’s potential is limited only by the local transmission system’s capacity to bring it from the remote regions where it is captured to the population centers where it is demanded.

In the relatively sparsely populated Pacific Northwest, Puget Sound Energy (PSE), a major utility, and Renewable Energy Systems (RES) Americas, a major wind developer, will build wind projects and are asking for new transmission.

This version of the story has 2 interesting wrinkles: (1) Wind projects have already proven an especially good fit in the rural Washington farming landscape, and (2) new wires to take wind power-generated electricity from the farmlands to the central grid could turn rural regions of the state into a bigtime energy exporter.

Jennie Dickinson is a local resident who benefits both from the installations’ impact on her community and from the increased activity at the Port of Columbia where she is a manager and where the foreign-made turbines and parts are keeping longshoremen busy.

Jennie Dickinson, member, Citizens for Economic Diversity: “Wind power and wheat farming are a wonderful fit together, and the joint development agreement between PSE and RES Americas offers tremendous potential for helping families stay in the community…We’ve seen the benefits of Hopkins Ridge and Marengo, and look forward to even greater opportunities in Dayton and Pomeroy in the future.”

What kind of benefits does wind bring? In 2008, the Hopkins Ridge facility paid $900,000+ in property taxes to Columbia County. The Wild Horse facility paid $1.3 million+ in property taxes to Kittitas County.

There’s more.

Via the transmission in development by the Western Governors Association and planned by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), Pacific Northwest wind will soon be delivered to California and its energy-ravenous consumers. They will likely buy everything Washington state developers can put on the wires and a small portion of all those revenues wiil go back to local landowners and into local municipalities. (See WIND WARS?)

In a similar kind of move, Wisconsin Public Service Corp. (WPS) bought the rights from a major developer, enXco, to build a wind installation in Iowa. They had originally agreed to joint development.

Like the Washington state deal, the Iowa project will help the developing utility meet the mandate requirement of its state Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). Taken together, they are a good demonstration how, even in times of severe economic constraints, an RES that requires utilities to obtain a portion of their power from New Energy sources by a date certain will drive development, expand capacity and bring the benefits of New Energy - in the form of jobs and revenues - to Main Street.

Closing question: Do these moves into wind installation ownership by big utilities say something about the availability of credit to big developers?

The Plan: Put this system in place, deliver the wind power to it and send it where it's needed. (click to enlarge)

PSE, RES Americas extend wind work in Wash. State
Bernie Woodall (w/ Christian Wiessner), December 15, 2008 (Reuters)
and
PSE in deal to develop new wind facilities
Bill Virgin, December 15, 2008 (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
and
PSE and RES Americas to jointly develop wind energy facilities in Washington state
December 15, 2008 (RES Americas)
and
WPS acquires Iowa wind farm
Business Journal of Milwaukee (December 18, 2008)

WHO
Puget Sound Energy (PSE) (Andy Wappler, spokesman); Renewable Energy Systems (RES) Americas (Craig Mataczynski, president; Kimberly Harris, executive vice president/chief resource officer ); Bonneville Power Administration; Wisconsin Public Service Corp. (WPS); enXco

click to enlarge

WHAT
PSE and RES announced a joint venture to develop new wind installations and filed a request for new transmission. WSP bought rights to develop Crane Creek from enXco.

WHEN
- The 1st permits for new wind could come as early as 1Q 2009.
- The finalized joint venture agreement between the utility and the developer came December 5.
- Hopkins Ridge opened in 2005. It expanded this year.
- Wild Horse opened in 2006. It will expand in 2009.
- The new projects will be developed in several phases over 5-to-10 years.
- The Crane Creek installation is expected to go on line in 2009.

click to enlarge

WHERE
- PSE and RES worked together on the Hopkins Ridge (Columbia County) and Wild Horse (Kittitas County) wind farms.
- The new projects will be in Columbia and Garfield counties in southeast Washington.
- PSE is based in Bellevue, Washington (near Seattle).
- The RES Americas main offices are near Denver. It also has offices in Austin, Texas, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Portland, Oregon and Montreal, Canada.
- RES Americas is a unit of the UK’s Renewable Energy Systems Group.
- The Crane Creek installation will be in Riceville, Iowa.

WHY
- RES/PSE asked the federal Bonneville Power Administration for up to 1,250 megawatts of transmission interconnection for the new wind projects.
- RES built Wild Horse and Hopkins Ridge.
- Hopkins Ridge (87 turbines) recently increased its capacity to 157 megawatts.
- Wild Horse (127 turbines) has a 229-megawatt capacity and is expanding (by 22 turbines) to 273 megawatts.
- RES helped build the 140-megawatt Marengo I and 71-megawatt Morango II projects in Columbia County.
- RES Americas has built 12% of all U.S. wind projects and 20% of those built in 2007.
- RES and PSE have studied potential wind-farm sites and have had preliminary discussions with landowners about property leases.
- The new projects will be about the same size as Hopkins Ridge and Wild Horse installations.
- The Crane Creek installation will have 66 turbines and a 99-megawatt capacity.

How about trading sun for wind? (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Craig Mataczynski, president, RES Americas: “RES Americas and PSE bring some unique strengths to developing wind energy projects. RES Americas has a great breadth of experience in design and construction across the United States, while PSE has strong ties to the communities in which it operates. Together, we have a track record of projects that meet the challenge of climate change while also creating jobs and business opportunities.”
- Kimberly Harris, executive vice president/chief resource officer, PSE: “The Hopkins Ridge and Marengo facilities have shown their value in providing jobs and expanding the tax base, and are an excellent fit with existing agricultural uses for area landowners…”