BREEZY BARGAINS
‘Windustry’ Gaining Converts in Colorado and the West
By Headwaters News, 10-12-05
If we didn’t understand energy economics before now, we’re getting a quick lesson. An increase in energy prices has pushed and pulled our markets in new directions. In terms of transportation, since there really isn’t any other viable and widespread alternative to gasoline, people are driving less and buying smaller cars.
But when it comes to heating and powering our buildings, we’re seeing a shift, if only subtle at this point, away from traditional petroleum and coal-based sources.
On Monday, Headwaters News reported that more Montana schools are turning to wood for heat because they can’t afford natural gas prices. And today, we posted a story from the Denver Post about the growing popularity of Xcel Energy's Windsource wind-energy program in Colorado.
According to the Post, the 29,000 Colorado residents who use Xcel Energy's wind-energy program will pay about $10 less a month than their neighbors who use conventionally generated electricity. Right now, they pay about $6 more a month for the wind energy, but rising natural gas prices are forcing the shift. Xcel's 1.3 million other customers might not be far behind, though if too many more sign up, Xcel execs fear the company may run out of wind before they can increase their infrastructure.
The program has solicited kudos from many in and out of the industry. As quoted in the Post, "People should be lining up now at Xcel to buy wind power because it will save them a lot of money," said Rick Gilliam, senior energy-policy adviser for Boulder-based Western Resource Advocates.
As well, in Sunday's Post, op/ed writer and wheat farmer John Stulp said “Across eastern Colorado, a steady wind sweeps the plains, and the opportunity to harvest it for clean, renewable energy is a growing reality for farmers and ranchers. The state's Office of Economic Development & International Trade estimates there are 6 million acres of potential wind resource lands in Colorado, mostly on the eastern plains.�
Harvesting wind is not a new concept. Farmers long ago used it to pump water for their livestock, and it has been employed for years in Europe. It seems to finally be gaining supporters in this country. It does have its problems, of course (inland doldrums, birds in flight and funny looking horizons, to name a few), but according to the Windustry Web site, a 300-foot turbine with a good wind source can produce 5 million kWh of electricity each year, enough energy for 500 average American households.
In Montana, as reported in the Billings Gazette last week, a wind farm in the Judith Gap area is expected to put 90 turbines online by late November. These turbines are smaller 1.5 megawatt turbines that can each produce energy for between 350 and 400 homes each, or a total wind farm estimate of nearly 300,000 people.
In Idaho, the state's largest wind farm project is expected to be online by the end of the year. PacifiCorp, the utility that serves 61,000 residents in eastern and southern Idaho, has contracted to buy 175,000 megawatt-hours of electricity each year from the wind farm. That is roughly enough energy to power 17,500 homes.
And with the passage of the national energy policy that extends tax credits for development of wind energy projects through 2007, the West is likely to see more wind farms.
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