August 2004 Newsletter

Windland Windfall? Company Looks to Cotterel Mountains to Harness Wind

Sunday, August 1, 2004
By Karin Kowalski, Twin Falls Times-News

ALBION – There's something special about the Cotterel Mountains. Many residents of the Albion Valley look at the ridge and see an important part of the community's natural beauty. Windland Inc. sees an ideal site for the first large-scale commercial wind farm in Idaho.

Representatives of the company told The Times-News that the ridge line combines many of the best characteristics of a wind site: it has a lot of wind – about 19 mph on average, it is easily accessible and it's near existing power lines. The Boise-based company is seeking a 30-year right of way to place between 80 and 100 wind turbines that could range from 360 to 425 feet tall, base to blade tip.

Many residents of the nearest communities – Albion and Malta – aren't happy about the idea of the landscape being changed by the presence of turbines that would be at least one-fourth as tall as the 1,500-foot rise of the mountains from the valley floor. The nearest home would be about two miles from the site, said Mike Heckler, Windland's director of marketing and development.

Windland estimates about 160 jobs would be created from the project, putting about $18.2 million into the economy during construction, then $5.4 million per year. Ultimately the decision will be up to the Bureau of Land Management, which has been studying the possible impact of the project since December 2002.

An ideal site for wind

Heckler has been researching wind in the area since 2001. He said the Cotterel Mountains are unique in the state for the type and steadiness of wind they have. Class 5 wind levels are the break-even point for wind power and the ridge has class 5 and 6 winds flowing parallel across it.

Gerald Fleischman, a staff engineer at the Idaho Energy Division, said the Cotterel Mountains are a great wind site because the long ridge forces air to go over the mountain and it is perpendicular to the prevailing wind. "It's almost a classic shape for an ideal wind site," Fleischman said. "We suspect it is great wind."

The only way Cotterel Mountain could be better is if it was slightly concave to the west. At the same time, there are quite a few similar sites in Idaho, Fleischman said. For instance, he just set up an anemometer at a site about 15 miles south of Malta that is more deserted than Albion Valley.

Fleischman said Idaho is ranked 13th in wind resources in the United States, and yet has no large wind projects. "We need energy and I think wind is a good place to get it," Fleischman said. He said it's no worse than hydroelectric power, which has to be in canyons.

Fleischman said the only drawbacks to the Cotterel project are the costs of installing the turbines and the visibility they could have. At sites like Cotterel, the only useful spot is along the ridge, and large turbines need so much room that it would not be practical to put them in multiple rows like in California. Heckler said today's windmills are larger and more efficient, making large projects with fewer turbines more cost effective.

A need for power

Idaho imports about one third of its power and depends on hydroelectric power for a large portion of its energy. Heckler said wind energy works well in conjunction with dams. Windland President Roald Doskeland said wind is steady over the long term. "You can count on it," he said.

Skeet Warr, a member of the board of directors for Raft River Rural Electric Co-op, said the state's power production is not keeping up with the growing demand since new dams are not being installed. Warr said the wind farm might be a progressive answer, but otherwise the board is neutral regarding the project.

Idaho Power officials say the wind farm project comes at an opportune time since the company is planning to add 350 megawatts of wind power to its power sources. "We're looking at wind power as part of our resource plan," said Dennis Lopez, a spokesman for Idaho Power.

The wind farm also could benefit from hooking up to a recommended 345-kilovolt high voltage transmission line that could be built from Wyoming to Idaho, according to the fall 2003 Rocky Mountain Area Transmission Study. Idaho Power will be in the market for wind energy this fall and Windland could bid to sell the power when the company puts out a request for proposals, Lopez said.

Heckler said specific customers for the power haven't been identified, but Windland hopes Idaho Power will be one of them. "They're a natural fit for us," he said.

Many people are concerned that power from the project would be sold out of state. Lopez said that when wind generators produce more power than can be used in Idaho, it helps Idahoans to have that power sold out of state, because excess power cannot be stored. Local people then benefit through the yearly power cost adjustment to their bills.

Gene Fadness, a spokesman for the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, said it can't take a position on the project, but if Windland plans to sell energy to Idaho Power, the commission will have to approve it. Fadness said the commission generally encourages the use of renewable resources.

Economics of the project

Windland is a 50-50 partner with Shell WindEnergy for the $200-$250 million project. Shell runs six wind farms in the United States and three more in Europe, making it the second largest wind energy company in the United States, said Hugh Yendole, the development manager for Shell WindEnergy.

Heckler said he could not say how much it would cost to produce the power, but he said that with the production tax credit, the wind farm could be competitive with 4.3 cents per kilowatt hour, which is Idaho Power's estimate for how much wind power should cost.

Hecker said he did not have an estimate of how long the project would take to pay for itself, but he said the wind resource there has an acceptable payoff, which includes the cost of building, and transmission lines and substations.

Fadness said wind power gets subsidies in the form of a production tax credit of 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour produced, but that is up for renewal in Congress. Both of Idaho's senators support it. If it isn't renewed, it would be damaging for the wind industry, Fadness said. Wind is becoming more affordable, but it isn't as cheap as water power.

Heckler said the tax credit is an integral part of any wind power project. Doskeland said all power industries get some kinds of subsidies. "The production tax credit is to offer a level playing field," Heckler said.

Idaho's Legislature also proposed a half-cent per kilowatt production tax credit and a 3 percent investment tax credit on equipment for wind power. Gov. Dirk Kempthorne vetoed it in April, but it might come before the Legislature next session.

Scott Barker, the project manager for the environmental impact study at the BLM, said the BLM would receive rent for the turbines of about $2,365 per megawatt each year regardless of whether or not they produce electricity. The BLM would also receive a royalty for the amount of electricity produced. With Windland's current estimates of using 80 to 100 turbines with capacities of 2.0 to 3.0 megawatts, the BLM could receive between $378,400 and $709,500 a year just for the turbines being there.

If the project were approved without delays, Windland could start construction in late summer 2005 and have the wind farm functioning by mid summer 2006.