Rising Wind

The difference shows up in the price per kilowatt hour of energy. A big project with great wind speeds might charge a utility 3.5 to 4 cents for its electricity, Pelstring says, rather than the 5 and 6 cents he’s seen at the upper end of the range.

Bull emphasizes that CBED projects already are competitive with corporate projects: “We’ve found that, on average, these projects don’t cost more,” in terms of the price utilities and their customers pay for energy.
 

The Mission: Transmission

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the cost of wind power has dropped about 80 percent during the past 20 years, as wind turbines have increased in capacity and efficiency. Xcel’s Wilson calls wind energy “the preferred option for new power generation” and—especially because wind prices can be locked in for 20 years in a power purchase agreement—“a good hedge against rising and fluctuating natural gas and oil prices.”

“The costs and risks associated with development are better understood now,” says Glen Skarbakka, manager of resource planning for Great River Energy. “The biggest impediment is the transmission system, getting the energy from the wind project to the markets. The transmission system is improving, but it’s not keeping pace with demand from the industry.”

Other sources including Bull call transmission “the most problematic issue for wind development currently.” It’s a hurdle especially for CBED wind projects, which need a widely distributed network of small “collector” lines.

Great River transmission planner Gordon Peach was waiting in early May for legislation to pass that would authorize a study he hopes to write in the next year. In it, Minnesota’s utilities will look at the projected impact of adding 600 megawatts of community-based renewable energy—about 30 separate projects around the state—to their existing transmission system. The short-term goal will be to help those planned projects relocate within Minnesota if need be to find better transmission capacity. Meanwhile, Peach says, the state’s transmission owners will file a certificate of need this summer for new lines, including one to help tap the Buffalo Ridge. “There’s a lot of energy being cued up along the ridge,” Peach says. “Optimistically, if I could start energizing portions of that line in the 2012, 2013 time frame, that would be perfect. But it’s a long process and we’ve only just begun.”