Power shift: Wind now seen as a viable alternative energy source
Eric Markell has been watching the wind blow for 25 years, hoping that someday it would heat homes and light buildings.
The wind's energy potential wasn't taken seriously until recently because it was too costly and unpredictable, said Markell, Puget Sound Energy's senior vice president of energy resources. Now with vast improvements in the reliability of wind technology, utilities are considering it as an alternative to traditional resources like hydroelectricity and natural-gas-fired generation in a major way.
PSE is paving the road, by announcing last week that it would pay up to $300 million for the proposed Wild Horse Wind Power Project near Ellensburg. The purchase makes PSE the first utility in the state to buy a wind farm.
And the Bellevue-based utility is just one of many in the Northwest trying to fulfill demand for power through wind, said Barrett Stambler, director of renewable business development of PPM Energy, which sells power.
Portland General Electric, PaciCorp and Avista also are looking for renewable power sources, he said. In all, he estimates, the utilities want to acquire about 2,500 megawatts by 2010.
"PPM has made wind power one of its most important business agendas, because there is so much interest by customers to diversify their energy sources," Stambler said.
But the process is not simple. With few wind farms completed in Washington, wind power is not readily available. Developers have started working on several sites but are struggling to get farms off the ground as residents rally against them and they wait for the federal tax credit to be renewed that would make the resource more competitive on price.
"Wind must and should have a permanent key place in our portfolio," Markell said. "The struggle is in actually getting it done."
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Power shift: Wind now seen as a viable alternative energy source
