Wind Up

FERC Sides with Wind Farms Over BPA

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 ~ How much do we need a smart grid?

Last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruled that the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) cannot use its monopoly power to force wind farm operators to curtail generation, an action the BPA took in response to a surfeit of hydro power this past spring.

At the time, BPA claimed that they had to curtail wind generation to protect salmon populations. Wind producers argued that BPA should have continued to buy all their generation and could have sold the power elsewhere. BPA's decision cost them both crucial revenue and the production tax credits on which their financing, and hence, the overall project viability, depended.

FERC has now largely agreed with the wind farm operators that BPA could have sent the power to California and instead curtailed generation there.

Wind farm owners, including independent developers and utilities who own their own projects, say the problem is about money, not too much electricity.

"The agency has painted this issue as being about fish and physics," said Stefan Bird, senior vice president at PacifiCorp Energy. "It's about discrimination and dollars."

US Energy By State

Consumption, Renewable Production Varies Widely

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~ The US Department of Energy has revamped their web site. One of the many new things is an interactive map that shows per capita energy consumption (in kilowatt-hours) by state.

It's surprising how much it varies, from New York, with the lowest consumption of 57,322 kWh per person to Wyoming, with the highest consumption of 280,103 kWh per person, more than 5 times as much. Why is that?

Also interesting is renewable energy production by state. According to the map, Washington State produces 92.25% of its energy from renewable sources (chiefly hydro) and 10.96% of the renewable energy of the nation as a whole—242.16B kWh. This is the biggest percentage of any state. Iowa is next with 158.2B kWh and 7.16% of total US production, almost all from biomass.