Thursday, February 22, 2001, 12:00 a.m. Pacific

BPA officials planning huge wind-power buy

by Lynda V. Mapes Seattle Times staff reporter Greg Lehman The main grouping of wind turbines atop Vancycle Ridge near Helix, Ore. The Bonneville Power Administration will announce plans today for its largest-ever purchase of wind power, marking the region's biggest commitment to renewable energy.

The reason is simple: cost. With the rising price of energy, wind-generated power is cost-competitive. The BPA may buy at least 1,000 megawatts of wind power by 2003, by far the federal agency's largest commitment to a single source of renewable energy.

While still a tiny fraction of the region's power supply, wind is the fastest-growing power source in the world, growing 26 percent in total generating capacity in 2000 and 37 percent in 1999, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

But it has a long way to go before it's a significant piece of the region's power supply. Hydropower provides 63 percent of the power used in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and part of Wyoming. Coal provides 21 percent; gas 9 percent; nuclear 3 percent; and all other sources, including wind, less than 3 percent. Wind alone provides just 0.1 percent of the region's power, said Jeff King, senior resource analyst at the Northwest Power Planning Council.

The BPA's plans to purchase wind power are expected to spur the industry.

The purchase depends on wind power remaining cost-competitive with gas-fired generation. "Based on the proposals we are seeing, that is quite possible," said George Darr, manager of renewable resources for the BPA.

There is also concern about adding another weather-dependent source to the region's power supply. The hydro system pouts for lack of storms, and so do wind farms. But so far, benefits of the buy appear to outweigh those concerns, Darr said.

Wind provides environmental advantages over other forms of generation. Wind power creates no pollution, has no fuel cost and is infinitely renewable. Wind power plants are also speedily built - they can be put up in six months - and they're easy to expand.

With its gusty Columbia River Gorge and windswept open farm country, the Northwest is a prime location for wind farms. Washington has tens of thousands of megawatts of wind-power potential, easily enough to generate power to supply 3 million homes.

Montana alone is windy enough to supply 15 percent of the entire country's electricity demand. The Great Plains states could blow away more than their entire population's electricity demand, easily, with wind power.

Wind power carries potential economic benefit as well. The best sites for its generation are in the most desolate, empty places that have enjoyed the least of the state's economic boom. Wind farming could provide a new source of income for farmers with little cash flow but plenty of wind.

The downside to wind power is that it is an intermittent source of energy: The wind doesn't always blow. To ensure a steady power supply, wind turbines must be supplemented with other sources.

Still, it may be competitive despite that drawback. Gas-generated electricity is costing about 6 cents a kilowatt hour, about the same as wind power when the cost of adding supplemental power to round out wind turbine down time is added.

Then there is the appearance factor. Generating towers can be as tall as the Statue of Liberty, and battalions of wind turbines stretching across open landscapes change the view.

The towers must also be carefully sited to avoid bird migration corridors, feeding areas and population centers. Raptors can be particularly vulnerable; they are attracted to the same soaring currents wind turbines thrive on.

Changes in tower design may have reduced bird kills. Old towers were latticelike, providing plenty of perches, while today's towers are smooth-sided poles. That may reduce bird kills, although the data are inconclusive.

Bigger, slower blades used in most wind projects today are also easier to see and therefore may be less harmful to birds. The blades turn at up to 30 revolutions per minute, down from 150 revolutions in the fastest generators 20 years ago.

Tim Cullinan, director of science for the National Audubon Society's Washington state office, said siting is the aspect of wind-farm development that most significantly affects birds. Conservationists successfully negotiated with the developers of the Stateline wind project to move some of its towers because of concern about bird traffic around the Walla Walla River Delta.

"We are not necessarily opposed to wind power," Cullinan said. "We are killing birds, but when you look at the alternatives, like more dams on rivers or global warming, those are potentially much greater impacts than not converting some our power sources to renewable energy."

Cultivating interest of farmers

Germany is the world leader in wind power, with 6,113 megawatts of generating capacity in place.

The United States is second, with 2,554 megawatts, and an additional 2,000 megawatts projected to come on line by the end of the year.

The region's only operating wind farm today is at Vansycle Ridge, Ore. Its 38 turbines turned on in 1998.

But one of the world's largest wind farms is under development by FPL Energy at a site on the Oregon/Washington border. The Stateline project's 450 Danish-built turbines will generate 300 megawatts of wind power, enough to serve 70,000 residences. The Washington portion of the project, with 200 megawatts, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The new wind boom is drawing the attention of farmers, who can put wind turbines on their open ground and reap a double crop, one of food and the other of wind.

More than four years of prices for wheat below the cost of production have helped build the interest. When Mike McArthur, a judge in Sullivan County, Ore., convened a summit on wind power last week, more than 100 landowners, many of them farmers, showed up.

A seminar in Spokane last month on harvesting the wind drew 350 people, more than double the expected turnout.

"This could keep a lot of wheat farmers in business," McArthur said.

Farmers can make an average of $2,000 per turbine per year, said Rachel Shimshak, director of the Renewable Northwest Project, a regional advocacy organization promoting solar, wind and geothermal power throughout the Northwest.

How it works

The technology of wind power is simple: As the wind goes past an aerodynamically shaped blade, lift is created that turns the blade, which turns a generator, producing power.

The largest towers are approximately 300 feet high, with blades big enough to form a circle with a diameter as long as a football field.

Advances in wind-turbine technology have helped make the turbines viable in more sites. Although the best wind velocity for generating power used to be 15 to 25 miles per hour, that has expanded through better blades to a wider range, 7 to 50 mph.

That increases the time of year when wind turbines can produce power, and take more demand off the hydro system.

Wind power is also stable, because its cost does not fluctuate with the price of fuel. And it helps diversify the region's power sources. Both benefits are powerfully attractive in the current energy crisis.

Wind is still a distant stepchild to the region's other power supplies. About 10,000 megawatts of new gas-fired power plants are under consideration in the region, for example - 10 times the project purchase of wind power.

But although natural gas is a cleaner fossil fuel than coal, burning gas produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that causes global warming.

Gas supplies and pipeline capacities are also tight, and the price of gas is high and expected to remain so. All of that makes wind an attractive alternative.

"How we grow to meet our energy needs in the short term matters," said Shimshak. "If we choose an all-fossil-fuel future, there are significant consequences. With a diversified electricity system that starts with conservation and adds renewables, we will have a clean and more stable power supply."

Contact Lynda V. Mapes at 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 22, 2001