Rural Electric Co-ops and Wind Power

The Realities of Consumer-Owned Wind Power For Rural Electric Co-operatives, a 16-page Power Point PDF, was presented originally as Power Point slides by

Steve Lindenberg, U.S. Department of Energy; and Jim Green, National Renewable Energy Laboratory; WINDPOWER 2006; Pittsburgh, on June 4-8, 2006.

P3
The Market for Small Wind Turbines is in Rural America
• Better access to good wind resources
• Zoning is less often a barrier
• Larger parcels provide adequate space for wind turbine installations
• Most of rural America receives electric service from rural electric cooperatives

P8
Net Metering for Wind Only 22 states have net metering for all rural customers [map]

P9
Wind Interconnection Dispute in Iowa
FERC ruling in February 2006 backed away from the net metering enforcement action of June 2005. Provisions of EPAct 2005 are changing the scene; outcome is uncertain for net metering

p10
Understanding the Co-ops

p13
Times Are Changing
• Member preferences turning to renewable energy
• Price of electricity is going up
• Opportunity for rural economic development–Wind is an untapped resource
• Wind power is a hedge for an uncertain future with respect to:
Price of coal; Price of natural gas; Carbon taxes; [Congressional mis-steps one and two].

P 15
Conclusions

p 16
Carpe Ventum
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Carpe Ventum? The Latin roughly means "Seize Wind." Does the Latin phrase spur us to install a wind turbine compared to an English phrase? Does the Latin make us more clever, smarter, or more likely to be a successful wind farmer? For me, all "carpe ventum" did was send me looking for a Latin-English dictionary and after looking at two Google pages of them, then futzing with "that looks right." Gad, no wonder we have less and less time to accomplish useful things; we're often required to do preparation tasks in order to understand something that has been "clarified."

It's best to have cheese with whine, so I'd better stop now.
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Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) is a five-page PDF produced by The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) a national service organization dedicated to representing the national interests of cooperative electric utilities and the consumers they serve.

{Surprisingly, the PDF is encrypted to prevent abstracting the document for easier comprehension. Perhaps not fully serving consumers' interests.}

The doc is an overview of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-58) where the tax credit bond serves as a tax credit to the bondholder. The doc has these headers

• qualified projects
• qualified issuers
• how CREBs work
• availability
• application process
• terms of CREBs
• credit rate
• spending the proceeds of CREBs
• board action needed for re-imbursement
• parties involved in issuing CREBs
• partnering with private entities
• marketing CREBs
• CREBs versus the Production Tax Credit
• steps to take immediately and
• other resources.
________________________________

Even though we enjoy 1,030 billion kWh of wind power every year, there is the rare boring day-
6 PM Jun 05, ENE at 3 mph
1 PM Jun 05, Variable at 3 mph
10 AM Jun 05, NNE at 7 mph
5 AM Jun 05, Calm
9 PM Jun 04, N at 16 mph.

Do contact me if you want to buy any of this blog's content or would like to have other specific wind power-related content uncovered.

'Til next time. Best Wind.

A wind co-op model for South Dakotans

Nick Rahall. a West Virginia Congressman, is instigating mis-informed legislation that will re-chill wind development as did legislation by his fellow Congressmen concerning wind turbines and military radar clutter. Too-often urban legislators dream up regs or laws that don't "make a lick of sense." Does Mr. Rahall enjoy air-conditioning and heating? Is he concerned about affordable electricity rates for his constituents? If "yes," then ethically he is accountable for being thoroughly educated about birds and bats stricking wind turbine blades. Glass windows are equally destructive of birds; is he dreaming up a federal reg for that technology as well?
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Our Wind Co-op is a unique cooperative of small-scale wind turbines on farms, ranches and public and private facilities across the Northwest. Through this collaborative effort, 10-kW turbines were installed at numerous rural sites serviced by publicly-owned utilities. Ten small wind turbines (10 kW rated power each) have been installed across the Pacific Northwest.

The Co-op was established in 2003 to foster growth in smallscale, distributed wind power; by 2007, 145,776 kWh have been harvested by members' turbines. Our Wind Co-op Green Tags are “value-added” because they are derived from small-scale, locally owned wind turbines.

In recognition of these unique qualities, Puget Sound Energy purchased all the Green Tags produced by OWC members in Washington and Oregon through 2006, and offered them for sale to their consumers through the utility’s Green Power Plan.

A review of how Our Wind Co-op leverages tag sales to reduce the cost-share required of site hosts is presented in this eight-page PDF. These Our Wind Co-op FAQs show how well-designed the co-op's business is.

South Dakotans can mimic this organization to harvest some of the 1,030 billion kW hours of wind power we enjoy (well ... SOME of us, any way) each year. We can harness some of those kWhs and put them to work for us in a number of situations, such as for air-conditioning and heating. We have a working model that can be adapted to our climate and REA situations; it's not "rocket science" any more!

A handful of South Dakota wind-
8 PM Jun 04, N at 20 mph
4 PM Jun 04, NNW at 23 mph11 AM
Jun 04, NNE at 14 mph
5 AM Jun 04,Calm 10 PM
Jun 03, NNW at 15 mph.

Do contact me if you want to buy any of this blog's content or would like to have other specific wind power-related content uncovered.

'Til next time. Best Wind.

Wind power and wind energy definitions #2

Wind is to "Aericulture" as crops and livestock are to agriculture. And "aerinomics" is to "aericulture" as agronomics is to agriculture. Putin this perspective, wind farming is (or should be, here in South Dakota) just another agricultural practice. Installing and operating a small wind turbine is "wind gardening" while community wind is "commons wind" (but probably stretches the farming lingo into "left field." OK, I'll leave it there.)

Over here in South Dakota we have the nation's fourth-best potential wind power- 1,030 billion kW hours annually. One-third of that (343 billion kW hours) could be harvested by wind turbines to meet the power requirements of 36,645,299 homes (each home uses 9,360 kW hours per year). But the variable nature (speed, duration, direction) of wind demand a concurrent constant source of electricity to sustain "the life we've grown accustomed to."

So even here, you can't be a wild-eyed get off the grid now person without radically changing your lifestyle. However these definitions and posts will serve as your "roadmap" to reducing electricity bills or diversifying income.
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C-BED- Minnesota’s Community-Based Energy Development legislation offers some important benefits to community wind projects.

An overview is through this link.

Community wind- small wind turbines are installed by a community or individuals to generate wind power for municipal or local use. Selling excess wind power is a secondary concern for community wind operators.

Condition monitoring- the use of sensors to measure and telecommunications to inform operators of the "wear and tear" of equipment. Vibration analysis.tribology, and thermography are all examples of Condition Monitoring techniques.

Maintenance Resources, an online dictionary, is the source for this definition.

Cut-in wind speed- the wind speed at which a wind turbine starts to generate electricity. With higher wind speed the turbine approaches its rated power and maximum electricity generation.

Dispatchable- power generation that can be immediately increased to meet demand above baseline power or immediately decreased once demand falls to baseline. Fossil-fueled power and nuclear-fired power are dispatchable power. Wind power is non-dispatchable because it is
variable. A variable source of power causes some degree of instability in a power grid.

Distribution- information about the distributions of wind speeds and the frequency of the varying wind directions, can be shown by drawing a wind rose using meteorological tower measurements. Wind roses vary from one location to the next.

Electricity wheeling- an energy consumer is able to select her/his own energy supplier, or "wheel in" energy from one of two or more different suppliers. When a utility on one region sells energy to a customer in another utility's territory, the energy is said to be wheeled to the
customer.

A handful of South Dakota wind-

3 PM Jun 03, N at 24 mph
1 PM Jun 03, N at 18 mph
11 AM Jun 03, N at 16 mph
3 AM Jun 03, N at 5 mph
5 PM Jun 02, N at 20 mph light rain; mist.

Do contact me if you want to buy any of this blog's content or would like to have other specific wind power-related content uncovered.

'Til next time. Best Wind.

On-Farm Energy Production

On March 8, 2007, Montana's senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT, Senate Agriculture Committee ) introduced legislation that would give incentives to produce renewable energy "on-farm" farmers and ranchers. The proposal status is S. 828.

On-farm Energy Production Act of 2007," is an amendment to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today signed onto Baucus' bill, {link}which will go before the Agriculture Committee for its consideration before going to the Senate floor.

Baucus' bill would amend the EQIP which currently gives producers incentives to do conservation work on their lands.

The bill will help farmers and ranchers install windmills, solar panels, or biodiesel oilseed presses on their operations. The federal government would pay about 50 percent of the total costs to add renewable energy sources to the farm or ranch.

Baucus said other alternative energy programs help agriculture producers, but indirectly. Under his bill, farmers and ranchers will benefit directly because they'll be able to cut their energy and fuel bills. The Farm Bureau and the Farmer's Union back this proposed legislation to boost alternative energy.

A Handful of South Dakota wind-

{wind farming doesn't make economic sense until the wind is faster than 14 mph, so this Handful yields little wind power}

Noon Jun 02, N at 6 mph
9 AM Jun 02, N 7 mph
5 AM Jun 02, Calm light rain; mist
9 PM Jun 01, E at 6 mph
7 PM (23) Jun 01, ENE at 5 mph light rain
2 PM (18) Jun 01, E at mph 14 light rain .

Do contact me if you want to buy any of this blog's content or would like to have other specific wind power-related content uncovered.

'Til next time. Best Wind.

Diversifying income from thin air

Food for a wind farming effort is in the 30 March 2007 AgWeb.com (a division of Farm Journal, Inc.) Wind Energy Blows In, by Margy Fischer and Jeanne Bernick.

• Dan Moore's family farm is along Interstate 90 in southern Minnesota; Moore knew he had to have a second income. Instead of venturing off the farm, he saw potential in the thin air. Two wind turbines tower over his corn fields there.
  “I noticed all these wind turbines going up on the Buffalo Ridge in Minnesota and thought if they can do it, I can do it.”
• Buffalo Ridge {which originates in the northeastern South Dakota Coteau Hills} is a rise across southern Minnesota dotted with 470 wind turbines.
• Moore is lucky to live in the wind-friendly state of Minnesota, which offers a renewable energy production incentive—1¢ per kilowatt—to wind energy providers.
• Minnesota isn’t the only state turning to the sky for energy. In 35 other states you’ll find wind turbines shooting up over corn fields, staggered along the prairie and placed among hills and mountains.
• “It’s reasonable to think that the turbine, tower and necessary roads will take up a half an acre to an acre out of production for every megawatt generated,” says Larry Flowers, technical director at the National Wind Technology Center in Colorado.
• Many factors for wind projects to be financially feasible, including cooperation with the local utility. In many areas suitable for wind turbines, progress is stymied by the lack of adequate transmission systems.
• Turbine demand currently exceeds supply, and wind projects are capital-intensive undertakings. Right now, the wait for a new turbine is 2 years, Wind says.
• “In reality, only about 10% of the schools, farmers and other landowners who contact me about setting up wind towers even pass the feasibility test,” Wind says. “Of that 10%, only 5% of projects ever get done.”
• Physical and financial considerations—along with persistence—must tie together to develop a successful wind energy project. In Moore’s case, it took five attempts to get his wind project online.
• “You’ve got to be aggressive to be a wind developer,” he says. “I pretty much learned everything on my own. I looked up articles on the Internet and made many, many phone calls.”
• The obstacles Moore encountered included timing to receive production incentives, Federal Aviation Administration restrictions on the site and height of the turbines, and bidding and contracting with the utility company.
• “The first thing to do is to get a good lawyer {or a paralegal?} who has done wind energy projects before” Moore says. “There were probably 20 contracts and copious amount of paperwork that weren’t easy to decipher.”
• Landowners are changing the nation’s energy profile. With one successful project under his belt, Moore is now partnering with other local farmers and landowners to develop a 36-megawatt wind energy project.

A Handful of South Dakota wind-

• 4 PM May 31, SSW at 15 mph
• Noon May 31, S at 12 mph
• 8 AM May 31, S at 8 mph mist
• 1 AM May 31, SW at 14 mph
• 8 PM May 30, W at 21 mph.

Do contact me if you would like to buy any of this blog's content or to uncover other wind power content on the Web.

'Til next time. Best Wind.

Wind farming homework, Part One

Wind EnergyY Institute Wildcatting for Wind, June 1-2, 2006; Sweetwater, Texas, is a 3-page PDF that highlights one area of "homework" for a wind farmer.

Clearing the Hurdles to Economical Wind Power, Remarks of Jeffrey D. (Dan) Watkiss
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP

"On top of contracting to purchase or lease access to a wind resource and negotiating EPC agreements with equipment vendors and contractors, the developer of wind generation confronts an obstacle course of additional legal/economic hurdles that must be cleared if its project is to succeed."

Electricity from the Wind: What Landowners Should Know, an unsourced 4-page PDF retrieved 30 May W 07, advises

"But as with any business venture, rural landowners interested in leasing their land should do their homework."

Sections include

• Lease Agreement
• Easements
  
• More Factors to Consider
• Heavy industrial equipment


• Landowners should review their insurance policies


• Landowners should discuss taxes with the developer and with an attorney


• Wind turbines may be sited on Conservation Reserve Program and grassland easements. (Know which restrictions do apply)


• Landowners should not feel pressured by developers to enter into a leasing arrangement

"Landowners who install wind turbines on their land should expect a lot of attention."

Eminent Domain and Wind Development in New York is a webpage from Save Western NY, a voluntary association of residents and property owners in the Town of Wethersfield.

An article appeared in North American Windpower in January of 2006 (Marketplace, p. 28) entitled "Eminent Domain And Wind Development In New York", authored by Steven D. Wilson of the law firm of Read and Laniado. The article is no longer at the firm's website.

Among Mr. Wilson's conclusions in the article:

"To incorporate under the same provisions as have New York's investor-owned utilities, an entity need only satisfy the statutory definition and carry on the functions of a gas or electric corporation. The statute defines gas and electric corporations broadly, requiring only that the corporation is organized to generate and supply electricity for public use.

Accordingly, it appears that a private wind developer could satisfy the definition of an electric corporation and, thus, could incorporate as such. This grants the private developer the power of eminent domain."

Landowners with property adjacent to a wind farm are "concerned the power of eminent domain would allow developers to cross property with power lines, with trenches, with no public hearing."

{me} Is this something South Dakota wind farmers should be "what if-ing" as well?

A handful of South Dakota wind-

• Oldest 10 PM May 29, Calm
• 9 AM May 30, ESE at 5 mph mist
• [Now we're back to normal]
• 1 PM May 30, SSE at 22 mph
• 5 PM May 30, WSW at 20 mph
• 8 PM May 30, W at 21 mph.

Do contact me if you want to buy any of this blog's content or would like to have other specific content uncovered.

'Til next time. Best Wind.

Energy Overlay Zones expedite renewable energy development

One post of Ed Morrison's EDPro Weblog has these headlines

• Rural opportunities to develop "energy islands"


• Wind power in Rhode Island


• Wind shifts in economic development


• An energy overlay zone**


• Wind energy cluster in West Texas


• Michigan's NextEnergy


• Texas moves ahead with renewables


• Incentive Watch


• Myrtle Beach is not quite sure


• A milestone in wind energy development

**That's a new phrase for me, so I Googled up the following about it

"Klickitat County in southern Washington, studied the potential impacts of future energy projects within its borders and came up with a plan to direct those projects to the most appropriate areas. The county's new "Energy Overlay Zone" is a zoning tool aimed at expediting renewable energy development. The Energy Overlay Zone covers more than 1,000 square miles, two-thirds of Klickitat County."

"Typically, each energy project would have to have a specific zoning application and approval process. Now, for example, siting wind turbines in the Energy Overlay Zone will be automatically approved at the county level without the need for further investigation or permitting. Energy projects must still meet the requirements of Washington's State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA)."

Final Energy Overlay Zone and Environmental Impact Statement Files - issued by Klickitat County, August 2004 and March 2005. Its Cover - Intro Letter - Fact Sheet is a seven-page PDF.

A report in the Ellensburg Daily Record; Saturday, April 30, 2005; was an article titled "How scenic Klickitat County handled wind farms." It concluded "Most people here have already spoken about what they want."

{me} Food for ACTION by South Dakota counties, yes?

A handful of South Dakota wind-

• Latest 6 PM May 29, W at 9 mph
• 4 PM May 29, SSW at 5 mph light rain; mist
• 2 PM May 29, SW at 16 mph light rain
• 11 AM May 29, S at 17 mph
• Oldest 7 PM May 28, S at 25 mph.

'Til next time. Best Wind.