Thanks to Wharf Rat over at Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse
Wind power, downsized
Projects to power a few thousand homes are springing up in the Columbia River Gorge
Thursday, August 24, 2006
GAIL KINSEY HILL
When alternative-energy enthusiasts ponder the potential of wind generation, they generally envision huge, 100-turbine projects capable of producing power for tens of thousands of homes.
But there's a new, more modest player on the block. It's called community wind, and if pent-up interest is any indication, it's destined for a small but determined place on the Northwest's energy grid.
Loosely defined, community wind projects involve fewer than 10 turbines and direct ownership by the farmers, ranchers and others who might live in the breezy, rural reaches that make for prime wind-turbine territory.
Generally, such small-scale endeavors are shunned by large developers, who want lots of turbines, windier wind and high-voltage transmission connections to population centers. In that light, they will help round out the national foray into wind.
Several community wind farms, years in the making, are poised to make their debut in Oregon, right alongside the big corporate enterprises that already lay claim to some of the choicest spots in the blustery Columbia River Gorge. Many more are in the works.
"We've got landowners lined up, wanting to get in on it," said Judge Gary Thompson, who heads the Sherman County board of commissioners and has watched a region of dryland wheat farms become a hotbed of wind-farm development and speculation.
Although community wind is characterized by its contained scope and local tie-in, it is by no means quaint. The projects use the same high-tech, high-capacity turbines employed by the big boys. And they rely on sophisticated financial arrangements, including outside investors' ponying up plenty of immediate cash in exchange for federal tax advantages that the projects offer.
Another, smaller piece of the financial package would come from the Energy Trust of Oregon, which has about $3.5 million available for a first round of projects. The nonprofit organization, fed by revenue from a 3 percent fee tacked onto the energy bills of Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp customers, will provide grants to cover the extra, or above-market, costs associated with wind generation.
The Energy Trust narrowed a list of 17 initial applicants to four and hopes to announce at least one recipient, maybe several, by fall.
"We're in the thick of negotiations," said Alan Cowan, the trust's renewable-energy program manager. "We're looking for the ones with the most likelihood of success."
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