Fall 2001 Energy - Aero/Dynamic

Fall 2001 - Energy

Aero/Dynamic
by Colin McDonald

Stateline Wind Farm (Courtesy photo)

The Vansycle Ridge, high above the Columbia River Basin on the Washington-Oregon border, will soon be home to the Stateline Wind Power Project. The project is the largest single wind turbine development in the world. When completed, it will boast approximately 450 state-of-the-art, 242 foot towers, each with a blade pathway measuring 154 feet in diameter.

Developers expect the giant wind farm to produce approximately 300 megawatts, or enough electricity to power about 70,000 homes.

“This is wind power on a grand scale,” said Terry Hudgens, PacifiCorp Power Marketing president. “Stateline is a watershed event for our company and for the region. With Stateline, wind is no longer just a small niche in our supply, but has taken a position as a very real and significant part of the new electric resources the region badly needs.”

PacifiCorp Power Marketing, an unregulated wholesale electricity marketer, signed contracts to purchase and resell all of Stateline’s electricity. Florida Power and Light, the self-proclaimed largest wind electricity producer in the nation, is building the plant and will own and operate it as well.

The massive wind project is yet another sign that governments and investors are finally realizing the potential of wind power. The federal government is now offering a 1.7-cent tax credit for every kilowatt hour a wind power plant produces during the first 10 years of production. This incentive encouraged a flurry of wind-farm construction. At least 30 projects ranging in size from 10 to 200 megawatts race for completion by December 31, 2001, the cut-off date for the government tax credit.

“No doubt about it, the tax credit makes wind farms cost-effective,” said Christine Real de Azua, American Wind Energy Association spokeswoman. “With the price of natural gas, wind power is definitely cost competitive. Companies are going ahead regardless if they make the December 31 deadline.”

According to Department of Energy models, Washington state could meet 45 percent of its current electricity needs through wind power. Several countries already depend on wind power for a significant percentage of their energy portfolio. Real de Azua said Germany, the world’s largest wind energy producer, meets 3 percent of its energy needs with wind farms; Denmark receives 13 percent and Spain 20 percent.

“Here in the U.S. we have not been doing much,” Real de Azua said. “We’re still less than one percent and only looking at 6 percent by 2020.”

One Northwest company is looking to be a part of that 6 percent with a patented wind turbine model. The Wind Turbine Company is researching for its proposal to construct 30 wind turbines at the Roosevelt landfill in Klickitat County. With a design incorporating two blades on the down-wind side of the tower, rather than the traditional three blades on the upwind side, Bellevue-based WTC hopes to prove it has a cheaper and more-efficient wind turbine.

“There is a growing interest in wind power, especially in light of the recent energy crisis,” said Larry Miles, president and CEO of WTC.

The WTC has researched wind power cost effectiveness for the past 10 years.

“Every year we say this will be the year,” Miles said. “It looks like we are finally going to do it.”

Fall 2001 - Energy

Aero/Dynamic by Colin McDonald

Aero/Dynamic
by Colin McDonald