August 18, 2004

Wind Harvest Company Wind News
A compilation of story leads from around the world.
By:  Kevin Wolf

Note:  These story titles and lead paragraphs predominantly come from Energy Central's daily posting of the world's energy stories. Others are sent to me by subscribers of Wind News.  Energy Central requires paid membership to read full stories.  You can often paste the headline into the Google search engine and find the original source of the story.   When I have them, I will include the URL.  Please send me stories that you find, and I will add them into the next edition of Wind News.  Thank you. Kevin
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U.K. issues renewable energy siting guidelines

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister of the U.K. released a revised national planning policy statement for renewable energy in England, which sets out a clearer national policy framework for planning authorities in England.  The policy statement supports the country’s official target of 10% renewable energy by 2010.  It establishes key objectives and issues for consideration across the range of renewable technologies and asks the nine English regions to establish renewable energy targets of their own.  More information is available on the British Wind Energy Association Web site at <http://www.bwea.org/>http://www.bwea.org .
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MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES TO BUILD JAPAN'S BIGGEST WIND TURBINE

  Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Monday it will build by next
  March Japan's largest wind turbine with a 92-meter-diameter rotor
  capable of generating 2.4 megawatts of electricity.
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COLORADO COMMISSION APPROVES XCEL ENERGY'S WIND-POWER PLAN

  Xcel Energy received approval this week to proceed with a plan
  that could triple its wind-power capacity in Colorado by 2007.
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GREEN LIGHT FOR ELECTRICITY NETWORK UPGRADE

  ENERGY regulator Ofgem will today give the green light for vital
  upgrades to Scotland's creaking electricity network that will
  allow the nation to exploit the full potential of green power
  resources such as windfarms.
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GETTING WIND OF GREEN ENERGY

  ONE of Ireland's leading renewable energy companies will open a
  pounds 21m wind farm in Scotland today.
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KERRY'S ENERGY POLICY DIVERGES SHARPLY FROM BUSH'S

  PLEDGING A "MANHATTAN-type project" to develop alternative energy
  sources, and aggressive moves to prevent Enron-style manipulation
  of power markets, Sen. John Kerry yesterday came courting the
  Pacific Northwest.
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FIRM GETS APPROVAL TO PLACE WINDMILL ALONG URBANA, ILL.-AREA HIGHWAY

  An electrical-generation demonstration project using
  state-of-the-art windmills has finally received the proper county
  approvals to proceed.
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COAL COSTS COULD IMPACT THE CREDIT RATINGS OF SOME UTILITIES,
ANALYST WARNS

  Standard & Poor's warned yesterday that the credit ratings of some
  U.S. utilities could be jeopardized over the long term if surging
  coal prices remain near current levels.
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PROPOSALS FOR NINE TURBINES TO BE BUILT ON MERTHYR COMMON

  Proposals for Wales' latest wind farm have been submitted to
  planning officials.  (P) The wind farm, which would be sited on a
  hillside in Merthyr Tydfil, will power more than 18,900 homes.
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Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 15:05:22 -0400
From: Mark Bolinger <MABolinger@lbl.gov>
Subject: New report on community wind development options

Dear colleague-

I am pleased to announce the release of a new report on community wind
power in the United States.  "A Comparative Analysis of Community Wind
Power Development Options in Oregon" was funded by the Energy Trust of
Oregon (www.energytrust.org), and authored by Mark Bolinger, Ryan Wiser,
Tom Wind, Dan Juhl, and Robert Grace.  In commissioning this report, the
Energy Trust's goals were to gain a better understanding of the likely
ownership structures that will be used for community wind projects in
the Northwest, along with the types and levels of financial and
non-financial support that may be required to make such projects
viable.  The full report, which includes an executive summary, can be
downloaded from
http://www.energytrust.org/RR/wind/OR_Community_Wind_Report.pdf

This report begins by briefly reviewing experience with and lessons
learned from community wind power development in both Europe and the
United States.  Based on this foundation, the report identifies and
discusses a number of financial, regulatory, technical, and market
barriers to community wind power development in the United States, and
Oregon in particular.  In light of these barriers, the report proceeds
to describe and financially model a number of different community wind
development/financing/ownership structures that potentially make sense
in Oregon.  These structures include cooperative ownership, aggregate
net metering, on-site projects (interconnected on the customer side of
the meter), projects owned by multiple local investors, projects owned
through "flip" arrangements with tax-motivated corporate equity
partners, and town-owned projects.  Modeling results suggest that
on-site projects will not be competitive in Oregon, while "flip"
structures and projects owned by multiple local investors can be quite
competitive (other structures -- though potentially competitive -- face
significant barriers to implementation).  In fact, due in part to
existing state incentives, including a tradable Business Energy Tax
Credit and an aggressive Energy Loan Program, there is great potential
to develop low-cost community-owned wind projects in Oregon.

Although the financial analysis that is the heart of this report is
specific to Oregon, much of the discussion throughout is sufficiently
generic to potentially be of use in other states.  As such, on behalf of
the report authors and the Energy Trust, I hope you find this report to
be useful, and apologize in advance for any cross-postings.  If you
would like to be removed from this electronic mailing list (used solely
for notification of new publications), please send an e-mail to that
effect to MABolinger@lbl.gov.

Mark Bolinger
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