Although wind energy still provides less than 1% of the power consumed in the state of Washington (wind cranked out only 0.21% of the kilowatts consumed there in 2002), this is changing. Here's how.

Energy companies send wind "prospectors" to find the best spots for wind turbines. Some of the first and best research on wind power was done in the Northwest, where "soft energy" (other than fossil fuel) experts at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) saw promise in marrying wind with hydropower. With backing from BPA, scientists at Oregon State University created the country's first long-term database, helping jump-start the wind industry in the northwest. Then, in the 1980s, Boeing built, to the tune of $52 million, the first large wind plant in the world—for BPA, NASA, and the US Department of Energy—near Goldendale above the Columbia River Gorge.

"Powerful Choices"
Distributed Energy spoke with key contacts at some of the 17 utilities in Washington that now offer their customers "green" power, as required by a 2002 state law, most of it from the wind.

According to a report called "Powerful Choices" published in August 2003 and prepared by Daniel Etra of the Portland, OR–based Renewable Northwest Project (RNP), a substantial number of Northwest ratepayers voluntarily choose to support renewable energy development, and this number continues to rise. Founded in 1994, the RNP is a broad coalition of public-interest organizations and energy companies actively promoting the development of renewable resources in the region.

"Utilities with programs that began in the last several years continue to sign up more customers for their products, and more utilities are implementing green power programs as a way to satisfy the growing customer demand for renewable energy," Etra concludes in "Powerful Choices." "These increases are a testament to the high level of customer support for renewable energy in the region, especially given rising utility rates and the poor economy in the Northwest."

Although the consistent increase in green power customers and sales over the last year has been good news for proponents of this renewable energy, Etra makes several recommendations to utilities about designing and implementing successful green power programs. These recommendations are (1) gain credibility, (2) show results, (3) develop land projects, (4) practice constant outreach, and (5) partner with other groups.

Energy Northwest
Energy Northwest, formerly known as Washington Public Power Supply System, is a joint operating agency of public utility districts and municipal utilities. Energy Northwest operates two generating stations—the Columbia Generating Station on the Hanford site near Richland, and the Packwood Generating Station in the Cascade Mountains near Packwood.

According to Daniel Porter, project development manager for Energy Northwest, the agency is, for the moment, the owner/operator of the largest publicly owned wind power project in the United States.

"Private developers operate larger facilities," Porter says. "We became the largest publicly owned wind power project in America by making a strategic decision in 1999 to develop a significant amount of electric generating capacity from the wind. We are a joint operating agency for public utility districts and municipalities in the state of Washington, so it fits well with our mission to develop and operate wind generation for our members and other public utilities."

Nine Canyon Wind Project
Energy Northwest has one wind project in operation, the Nine Canyon Wind Project, located 8 miles southeast of Kennewick, WA. It can generate 63.7 MW of electricity and provide enough power on average for at least 12,000 households. It consists of 49 wind turbines manufactured by Bonus Energy, a Danish manufacturer. Each turbine can generate 1.3 MW. There are three turbine blades, each 100 feet long, forming a 30-ton propeller. The propeller is attached to a nacelle that houses a large gearbox and generator, as well as a computer that controls the turbine in automatic operation.

According to Porter, the whole assembly sits atop a 200-foot steel tower bolted to a concrete foundation buried 30 feet into the ground. When the wind blows at least 8 mph, the turbine senses that it is fast enough to start generating and automatically rotates the nacelle to face the wind and releases the propeller to start turning. It automatically synchronizes to the electric grid where power is distributed to nine public utilities in Washington.

Once connected to the grid, the propeller turns at a constant 19 rpm, about three seconds per revolution, while the gearbox in the nacelle turns that into 1,800 rpm for the generator. The generator produces electricity at 690 V, which is stepped up to 34,500 V at the base of the tower. From there it connects by underground cable to a high-voltage substation, where it is stepped up again to 115,000 V and connected to the high-voltage transmission grid. The turbine generates at a fairly low level at the threshold 8-mph wind speed, but as the wind picks up, the turbine, still at a constant rotating speed, re-pitches its blades and ramps up the amount of power it generates. It reaches full power around 30 mph, and from that wind speed up to 55 mph it produces a constant 1,300 kW—again, without spinning any faster, but continuing to adjust blade pitch to produce more power.

"This is typical of the way most large, commercial wind turbines work," Porter notes. "Very little maintenance is required, so the entire 49 turbines can be operated on the long term by four technicians and a supervisor, with additional crews temporarily brought in for repairs or special needs. The turbines are on farmland and, including access roads, take very little actual land out of production."

The farmer can literally continue to farm right up to the turbines and is free to use the several miles of access roads. The farmer benefits by earning a royalty—between $4,000 and $5,000 each year for each turbine that occupies his land—literally sharing in the revenue produced by the turbines.

The turbines are environmentally very low-impact, Porter adds, with the biggest concern birds and bats. "Proper siting minimizes that impact, as does the slow rotating speed of the propeller. Installed cost per turbine, including roads and substation and maintenance building, is approximately $1.5 million, which makes them, cost-wise, out of reach to most individuals. Individuals interested in generating their own wind power can purchase smaller, kilowatt-size turbines."

Although wind energy still provides less than 1% of the power consumed in Washington, that is changing. The reason, according to Porter, is that there are two commercial wind farms operating in the state, Nine Canyon and nearby State Line, the latter operated by FPL Energy, a subsidiary of Florida Power and Light.

"There are several hundred megawatts of planned projects, most in the central and eastern regions of the state," Porter says. "It is uncertain how many of the planned projects will become reality, as there is some uncertainty regarding the fate of the government incentive programs that have spurred development in the past."

Those incentives are stalled in Congress, but show some sign of being approved in the future. If so, they will spur significant additional construction in the United States, including Washington and Oregon. How much and how fast?

"It depends on many factors, including the fate of portfolio standards that have been proposed that would require minimum levels of renewable energy development relative to conventional power plants," Porter notes. "Right now, wind is the most viable renewable energy source, with biomass, geothermal, and small hydro somewhat more expensive, and solar power far more expensive. Another factor to consider is that even though the cost of power is increasing in the Northwest, we still enjoy some of the lowest electricity prices in the nation, which increases the challenge to renewables to compete on price."

"Green Power"
Seventeen utilities in Washington are now offering their customers "green" power as required by a 2002 state law, most of it from the wind. What are some recent developments in the ways Energy Northwest handles wind power? How are these projects going? According to Porter, the power from Energy Northwest's wind project is sold as "green"—i.e., the green tags or "attributes" go with the power to those utilities that purchase the wind power from the agency.

"We cannot speak for the individual utilities, but to date they have retained the green attributes in their system," Porter says. "They have the option, however, of selling the green attributes in the form of green tags to others. In doing so, they in effect render their wind purchase as just plain electricity versus green power. Besides our operating wind project, we have several others under development [siting and permitting], but not under construction. We are also marketing some of those projects. We cannot construct a project until the power is pre-sold, because that is a prerequisite to our ability to issue municipal bonds to finance the project. We believe in a continuing market for wind power, which is why we are developing wind project sites around the state."

Lessons Learned
The number one lesson Porter has learned from being involved with wind projects is that siting is everything. "Don't fall in love with a site unless you first check it out for sufficient wind and low environmental impacts, such as bird migration paths (a no-no), endangered wildlife, cultural issues," he says. "My advice to those who want to get involved in wind projects is to involve cultural, community, and wildlife stakeholders and opinion leaders at the beginning. Make them part of the process."

Another lesson learned, Porter says, is that electric transmission is an extremely difficult challenge. "Most transmission systems are congested and waiting lines for capacity can be untenable," he says. "Expect to work hard and long with the transmission grid operator and purchasing utilities."

How do the overall costs of wind power and its operations and facilities compare with other forms of power? "Our reliability [availability to generate] is consistently above 99%," Porter emphasizes. "Of course the variable we cannot control is the wind itself. But we can make sure the turbines are ready to go when it blows. So, bottom line, reliability is very high after two years of operation. In fact, no major overhauls should be required for 20 years or more."

Improvements in Turbine Design
According to Doug Smith, assistant general manager at Aberdeen, WA–based Grays Harbor PUD (GHPUD), technological improvements in turbine design and manufacturing as well as in wind resource evaluation have made wind more cost-competitive than it was in the recent past.

"As a result, it can now be included in utilities' power portfolios without major adverse effects to ratepayers," Smith says. "Customers are starting to indicate a strong preference for green resources, and many have indicated a willingness to pay more for clean, renewable energy. As technology improves, potential sites that were once marginally feasible can now be considered viable. I think this applies to the Nine Canyon site, and probably to others in the Northwest."

GHPUD is involved in the Nine Canyon Wind Project, and contracts for a 12.5% share of the output. The utility also has a voluntary "green power" program. "Participation in the program is sparse—less than 0.1% of our residential customers participate, and we have no non-residential participants," Smith says. "It's likely there are many factors that could explain this lack of participation. Paramount among these is that we are in an economically depressed area that saw electricity costs increase by over 50% in the past four years. It's not surprising that few people have voluntarily agreed to pay even more."

One very big issue for GHPUD is the Renewable Energy Production Incentive (REPI), which provides production-based credits to consumer-owned utilities who invest in renewable energy resources, including wind. "Even with this credit applied, wind is still more expensive than most of our other resources, but the REPI credit puts us in the ballpark of economic viability," Smith explains.

The problem with REPI is that it's funded by an annual appropriation that must be approved by Congress. Current funding levels are inadequate to provide credits for all eligible projects. "Add to this the uncertainty inherent in the annual appropriation, and you can imagine the difficulty this presents for utility planners," Smith notes. "On the investor-owned utility side, the parallel mechanism is a Production Tax Credit. The principal difference is that all utilities with eligible projects can take advantage of this credit, because it does not require Congress appropriate a specific funding amount. It does require periodic renewal by Congress, so it is subject to some of the same uncertainty in the REPI. However, the difference in the funding mechanisms gives a decided advantage to investor-owned utilities that develop renewable resources. We believe that replacing REPI with a tradable tax credit would go a long way toward leveling the playing field."

According to Gil Gallegos, power manager at GHPUD, in late 2000 Energy Northwest issued an invitation to its 17 public power members to participate in Phase I of the Nine Canyon Wind Project. GHPUD and seven others accepted the invitation. In October 2001 GHPUD entered into a 22-year power purchase agreement with Energy Northwest for 12.5% of Phase I output.

"The turbines are state-of-the-art with the ability to maximize generation by facing into the direction of the wind, to minimize avian damage by rotating slowly, and to prevent damage from high winds by automatically shutting down and restarting later," Gallegos notes. "The wind farm properties are on dry-land wheat farms leased from individual landowners. The small footprint of the towers minimizes the land area required for the towers. One of the purchasers is the local load-serving utility, Benton County PUD, which installed and maintains the distribution and transmission system connecting to BPA's regional transmission grid."

Gallegos says Phase II of Nine Canyon was constructed and put into commercial operation in 2003. "Phase II consists of 12 1.3-megawatt turbines with an installed capacity of 15.6 megawatts and a forecasted capacity factor of 32%. GHPUD purchases 12.5% of Phase II output. Phase II improves Nine Canyon unit costs by sharing certain costs of Phase I equipment such as the electrical substation."

It's important for effective project design and feasibility, Gallegos says, to record as much hourly history of the wind resource as possible in order to determine the daily/seasonal variability of wind speeds. "Where winds are variable in direction it will be important to obtain directional turbines," he notes. "Knowledge of temperatures is also important so as to deal with icing and cold-weather problems that might arise. A major element in project feasibility is tax considerations. Tax credits and tax-exempt bonding needs to be employed to the fullest to reduce construction and O&M costs. The Nine Canyon project has relied on tax-exempt bonding to minimize capital costs and on federal REPI funding to offset annual production costs. Continued REPI funding is currently uncertain—the project has a reserve fund to help smooth out annual variations in project costs.

"Site costs can be minimized by securing long-term leases with property owners," Gellegos adds. "These costs need to be understood as part of the feasibility process. Access roads are another consideration that facilitates initial construction and continuing maintenance. Also, an experienced construction team is important in getting the project built quickly and correctly. Phase II of Nine Canyon required only three months for completion of construction, due not only to the overall experience of the team, but to the specific site experience gained from construction of Phase 1 [such as a more effective way to construct tower foundations in the loose soil]. A geotechnical study assisted in identifying subsoil composition at the various tower locations."

Smith says there are other lessons learned in wind production, and they include these facts: (1) Environmental considerations must be part of project feasibility and operational planning; (2) avian monitoring, reporting, and adaptation can be expensive if not dealt with effectively; (3) interconnection costs can be very expensive. In particular, ancillary costs such as energy imbalance can be very expensive for wind projects with volatile and unpredictable hourly generation. Interconnection and transmission costs need to be carefully quantified through discussions with the local and regional distribution/transmission providers; and (4) Security needs will depend on project location and accessibility to the public. The cost of a security patrol can add up. Remote monitoring is one possible solution to reducing security costs.

One of the biggest challenges with wind, Smith says, is the intermittent nature of the resource. "As a utility, our primary mission is to keep the juice flowing at the precise rate that customers consume it. This presents particular challenges in incorporating wind energy into our power supply. When wind is a relatively small part of the mix, this challenge can easily be met. As the percentage of wind on the system grows, the challenge becomes more difficult. In the Northwest, the hydro system provides a nice complement to wind energy, since it can function as a huge energy storage system. When the wind blows, we can store more water, and when the wind stops, the stored water can be used to produce energy to fill the gap left by lack of wind. This system is not without limitations, however. For instance, agricultural needs [irrigation], salmon recovery efforts, and varying weather patterns all affect the operation and availability of the water resource," he says.

Chelan County and Wind Power
Chelan County has 12.5% of the Nine Canyon Wind Project, which is added to its normal resource mix of hydropower, making its power 100% renewable. This is separate and distinct from the voluntary green programs utilities have to offer. Although it's a small percentage of customers, it's been very successful. According to Jim White, senior energy services engineer at Chelan County PUD, customers want wind power and there's also a push statewide for a renewable portfolio standard.

"A lot of utilities are doing this in order to head that off and to begin meeting that standard on a voluntary basis without it being mandated," White says. "We have a way of making solar cost-effective in Chelan County even though we have some of the cheapest power in the nation. Our retail rate is 2.8 cents per kilowatt-hour, but through voluntary contributions—people paying into our green power program—we take 100% of those funds and divide that among the small wind and solar power producers in the county. So if you produce 5% of the power you get 5% of the money. We pay up to $1.50 per kilowatt-hour. So far we have more solar and small wind than any other county or city in the state of Washington."

White says there really isn't a utility out there that couldn't make wind power work. "There's demand out there for wind power," he says. "To get more and more people involved we've started a whole marketing program including bill inserts and having the press publicize wind projects. There are a variety of reasons why people are involved. They believe in the projects."

The Future of Wind Power
According to Porter, the future of wind power holds many promises. "Technology continues to improve, and turbine manufacturers are beginning to recognize that the best wind sites in terms of average wind speeds are getting used up, and they need to develop wind turbines that function well in the low- to moderate-wind-speed locations," he says. "They are also continuing to look for ways to lower costs. So hopefully wind power gets more economical and won't need subsidies forever. In fact Congress is already sending signals that they are reluctant to continue to approve subsidies very much longer. At any rate, wind will continue to be the number one source of green energy for some time. But biomass generation may emerge as a second significant source of green power in the next few years, which is why Energy Northwest is heavily involved in developing that technology for commercial, economic deployment."

According to Smith, his utility intends to continue its involvement in the Nine Canyon Project, and will entertain the possibility of future expansions when they are deemed to be in the best interests of its ratepayer-owners.

"In my view, the future of wind power hinges on the development of cost-effective energy storage mechanisms that can meet the challenges presented by the intermittent nature of the wind resource," Smith says. "Until that happens, wind will continue to play a relatively small part of the overall energy picture. At present, we consider wind to be a good energy resource, but a poor capacity resource. Another way of saying this is that having wind in our portfolio means that we can reduce purchases of natural gas for electric generation, but it won't keep us from building a natural gas–fired generator. We have to have enough resources to meet our load regardless of whether the wind is blowing or not.

"Proponents of wind energy are fond of saying that we could meet all the energy needs of the US if we tapped into all the available wind resources by installing more turbines. While this may be true, we can't meet our operational and capacity needs without a whole lot of storage for those times when the wind isn't blowing."

Pennsylvania-based ROBERT GLUCK is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times and on Microsoft's multimedia encyclopedia Encarta.

DE - January/February 2005