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Winds of change -A pollution-free source of power

Advocates for wind power say it’s now a viable energy source.
As Jim Carculis faced a benign waft of air blowing across Cowle Ridge in western Alberta Saturday, the giant wind turbines looming
overhead began to churn, as if on cue, perking his excitement and marking his point.

By MARTIN J. KIDSTON, IR Staff Writer – 03/06/02

“When people say that wind isn’t efficient, I’m the first one to say they’re wrong,” Carculis said. “Wind energy is just as, if not more
efficient, than gas conversion.”

Carculis, founder of Montana Wind Harness, subscribes to a philosophy put into practice by the Europeans several years ago. It’s the
same belief the Canadians turned to in the early 1990s outside Pincher Creek — a small town of 2,000 people located between
Lethbridge and Calgary.
The technology now, Carculis believes, is the technology that makes wind-generated electricity both possible and competitive.

By early next year, that technology could be coming to a windblown ridge in anytown Montana, as the promise of clean energy,
sold at a competitive rate, creates competition between counties hoping to spawn economic development.

After Montana Power Company opened its default portfolio to private energy contractors following the deregulation of the state’s
energy market, Carculis sealed a contract with MPC to provide 150 megawatts of power per year using wind generation.

At an approximate cost of $150 million, his L.L.C. operation, working with the Denmark-based turbine manufacturer Nordex, plans
to construct more than 115 wind turbines in Montana, create at least three wind plants and bring jobs to the state’s rural sectors.
A model of Carculis’ vision for Montana has already been realized at the Cowle-Ridge Windplant near Pincher Creek.

Here, on a ridge overlooking both the Canadian prairie and the Rocky Mountain Front, wind turbines, meteorological towers and a
remote site-control system drive a fluid operation that generates more than 60 megawatts of electricity per year — enough to power
7,500 average homes.
Cowle-Ridge is a subsidiary of Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc. The 960 acres of land occupied by the wind plant is privately
owned by cattle ranchers. Cattle graze in the fields surrounding the turbines.

Chris Ford of the Cowle-Ridge Windplant said the facility generates power by using wind to create rotating mechanical energy. This
drives electrical generators to produce power.
A transformer is used to “step up” the voltage, and underground power lines transport the electricity to a common power grid for
distribution.
The entire operation is controlled remotely by a computerized system at the Pincher Creek office, located several miles east of the
wind plant.
At Cowle-Ridge, Ford said, the power from the facility’s original 52 wind turbines goes directly to the power grid. The electricity is
sold to Trans-Alta Utilities Corporation of Canada under a long-term contract.
Shell Canada also purchases power produced by three newer turbines. Energy produced by the remaining two is sold on a
merchant basis.

“It’s finally starting to catch on,” Ford said of wind-generated electricity. “We just finished installing 20 new Nordex machines in
January and we have plans for future expansion.”
The wind turbines are monoliths of modern technology. The generator and blades alone weigh 130,000 pounds. The turbines are
fix-pitched and stand 46 meters tall, roughly 151 feet. The blades have a span of 60 meters from tip to tip and operate at 19 RPM,
maximum, to produce 1.3 megawatts of power.
The turbines cost approximately $1,000 per kilowatt to install.
Kevin Markovich, director of marketing for Montana Power Company, said that on July 1, power customers who don’t select an
alternative electrical supplier would stay with MPC under “supplier of last resort,” or default supplier.

In order to serve that role, Markovich said MPC has put together a portfolio of contractors to serve those customers who choose the
company as their default supplier.
When MWH gets its turbines on line, sometime in 2003, the resulting energy will stay within the state, feeding MPC’s power grid.
From there, Markovich said, the power will be distributed appropriately.
As part of the contract, MPC requires MWH to establish its turbines on at least three sites. Through site diversity, Carculis said, the
turbines would operate under a more predictable energy curve, allowing MPC to better predict its power schedule.
This, Carculis believes, would benefit MWH with long-term profitability.
“We didn’t walk into this without our eyes wide open,” Carculis said. “There are transmission limitations in Montana. We know that. It
may cost us an extra percent to do multiple sites, but the reward is paid back in the first few years.”

Carculis said MWH has isolated 13 potential sites across the state. Of those, six are currently being analyzed for further
consideration. Two have been identified as “likely” locations. He would not reveal what sites MWH was looking at.
MWH hopes to begin operation by the third fiscal quarter of this year and is waiting for the results of various studies before making
its final decision on site location.
“Contractually, we have to be on no less than three sites, with no more than 46 turbines on any one site,” Carculis said. “We are
limited to 60 megawatts of nameplate capacity at any one site.”
Carculis described nameplate capacity as a wind farm’s maximum generating potential. In reality, regardless of the resource, the
actual power generated is typically less, by around one-third, than the nameplate capacity assigned to the unit.
The disparity between actual and potential energy output is true of all generating methods, be it coal, gas or wind.

Leroy Beeby with the utility division of the Montana Public Service Commission, said tapping the wind to produce energy makes
sense. This, he said, was based on his own opinion and not that of the PSC.
“It’s pretty practical,” Beeby said of wind energy. “It’s a renewable resource and it’s efficient. You’re looking at a resource that can
compete with other resources. There’s an abundance of wind and it’s just going to waste.”
The practicality of wind energy, combined with advances in technology, will allow MWH to sell wind-generated power for $31.65 a
megawatt hour for the next 20 years, Carculis said.
In comparison, he said, PPL is selling electricity generated from existing hydroelectric dams for $31.15 a megawatt hour. Thermal
energy, using coal and gas, is well above the $31.65 rate, he said.
“I think we’re very competitive, quite frankly,” Carculis said.

However, Carculis admitted that the future of the Federal Production Tax Credit could play a significant role in the future of wind
energy in the U.S.
The tax credit is a program offered through the U.S. government as an incentive for companies to invest in wind energy. For every
kilowatt produced by a wind turbine, a small tax credit is given. The incentive lasts for 10 years.
“The production tax credit is the true incentive,” Carculis said. “It makes or breaks the viability of good investments into wind energy
products.”

However, the tax credit is not currently in effect and is scheduled to go before the U.S. Senate for review.
“Right now, it’s up in the air,” Carculis said. “We’re hoping and praying that the Senate extends it. There will not be a single wind
project in the U.S. if the tax credit is not approved.”

http://helenair.com/headline/1A1.html

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A pollution-free source of power

By MARTIN J. KIDSTON, IR Staff Writer – 03/06/02

Monitoring the 77 environmentally friendly turbines on Cowle Ridge in western Alberta, while sitting several miles away, is
easy given today’s computer technology.
No pollution is emitted in this cleanest of here-and-now energy plants.
Ilah Hucik, administrator at the Cowle-Ridge Windplant, said every aspect of the 57 Kenetech wind turbines, and every detail
of the 20 Nordex turbines — costing $1 million each — can be reviewed from an office at nearby Pincher Creek, or from as
far away as Germany.
“You can shut down the whole wind plant, or start it up from the office,” Hucik said. “You can clear alarms, or bring up an
intensive pole, which tells you how much power a particular turbine is putting out.”
The computer system, displaying colorful graphs and pulsating charts, can give the operator an overview of the facility, or
bring up the smallest detail on a single generator.

“At one glance, we can see the status of the entire system,” Hucik said. “You can view events, or view the history of a single
machine.”
Nordex officials in Germany, Denmark and Spain can also monitor the turbines at Cowle Ridge, or check the weather 46
meters above ground.
“The monitors tell the wind speed at each turbine, along with wind direction,” Hucik said. “It reveals the total output of the
plant.”

The Cowle-Ridge facility employs eight people. The facility sits on 906 acres of land owned by cattle ranchers who still graze
herds on the productive land.
According to the plant, wind power is a zero emission, renewable-generating technology. Unlike coal or natural gas, it does
not consume natural resources or emit carbon dioxide.

The Cowle-Ridge facility reduces system-wide carbon dioxide emission levels by 60,500 tons per year, reduces sulfur dioxide
emission levels by 151 tons per year, and nitrogen oxide emission levels by 94 tons per year, according to the company.
For every kilowatt-hour generated by a wind turbine instead of fossil fuels, between one and two pounds of greenhouse gas
emissions are avoided, the company claims.

Cowle-Ridge produces more than 60 megawatt hours of electricity per year — enough to power 7,500 average homes.
Approximately two hours of production from one turbine will power a typical home for a month.
“We get an immense amount of (public) interest at this facility,” Hucik said. “People are fascinated. There is a lot of interest in
clean energy out there.”

Reporter Martin Kidston can be reached at 447-4086, or by e-mail at [email protected].

http://helenair.com/headline/1A2.html

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