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'Strategic
Resource' Should Be 'National Energy Priority,' A strong response from the U.S. wind energy industry to a request for proposals (RFP) to build new power plants in the Pacific Northwest is a signal that the clean energy technology is ready to respond quickly to the electric power crisis in the Western states, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said today. The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a federal agency based in Portland, Ore., that sells electricity from federally-owned hydropower projects, issued an RFP in February seeking 1,000 megawatts (MW) of new wind power. Describing the response, George Darr, BPA's renewable power resource program manager, said, "[It] blew us away" -- 25 proposals, totaling about 2,600 MW, were submitted. [2,600 MW of wind capacity is enough to serve 500,000 to 750,000 average U.S. households, or 1.4 million to 2.1 million people.] Furthermore, the proposals included room for expansion of the projects to a total of 4,000 MW. The first wind power plants to be built for BPA will be installed by the end of next year -- far more quickly than most other power plants could be built -- and will begin delivering electricity to the utility system, helping the drought-plagued Northwest conserve scarce hydropower supplies. As BPA Acting Administrator Steve Wright explains, "Harvesting the strong, steady winds of the Columbia River Basin works especially well with our hydro power base. When the winds blow, we can save more water in reservoirs. When the winds are still, we can release the river's power. Wind farms add to our local renewable resources." Even so, AWEA said, the BPA experience "has only scratched the surface" of the wind potential of the Pacific Northwest and Western states. Said AWEA executive director Randall Swisher, "Hundreds of thousands of megawatts of wind power plants could be installed in the western U.S., vastly increasing electricity supplies and providing an abundance of clean, domestic energy. "The wind resource of the Western and Midwestern states is bigger in energy terms than the oil resources of Saudi Arabia (see note). It's a strategic national energy asset, and developing it should be a national energy priority." Swisher called for expansion of President Bush's national energy plan to include a "serious renewable energy agenda for the nation." For wind, he said, necessary measures include · Extension of the existing federal production tax credit (PTC) for wind, which will expire at the end of this year unless it is renewed by Congress. (A proposed PTC extension is included in the President's plan.) · A Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS), which would require that a certain minimum percentage of electricity generated in the U.S.--AWEA has previously endorsed 10% by the year 2010--be produced by new renewable energy power plants. · Increased R&D funding to continue driving the price of wind-generated electricity down. · A directive to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to take steps to integrate intermittent electricity-generating resources like wind into the electric utility transmission system. · A 30% investment tax credit for small wind systems (below 75 kilowatts in capacity, suitable for household or small business use). · A requirement that federal government agencies purchase an increasing percentage of their energy needs from renewable energy suppliers. "Wind energy is the great success story of the last energy crisis -- a brand-new technology developed over the last 20 years with enormous potential," Swisher said. "It's time to put it to work to deal with the energy problems we have today." * "The wind resource of the Western and Midwestern states is bigger in energy terms than the oil resources of Saudi Arabia." The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates Saudi Arabia's remaining oil reserves at 261 billion barrels, or enough for about 90 years at the current production rate of 8 million barrels a day. If burned to produce electricity, that amount of oil would generate about 153 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh). The Pacific Northwest Laboratory, a U.S. federal lab, has estimated the U.S. wind resource as being capable of producing 10.8 trillion kWh annually. Thus, in 15 years, U.S. winds could generate more electricity than all of Saudi Arabia's oil without being depleted. If wind is compared directly with oil in raw energy terms, the comparison is less advantageous (because 2/3 of the energy in a barrel of oil is lost when it is burned to generate electricity). Even so, in 45 years, U.S. winds could produce more energy than Saudi oil reserves, and again, without being depleted. ### AWEA, formed in 1974, is the national trade association of the U.S. wind energy |
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©
2001 by the American Wind Energy Association. |
