NorthWestern Energy mum on plans for wind contract

NorthWestern Energy’s call for wind generation bids closed three months ago this week, and a company official said Wednesday the energy giant may be close to awarding a contract.

By MARTIN J. KIDSTON – IR Staff Writer

However, Claudia Rapkoch, communication director for NorthWestern Energy, said that while an announcement may be close, the company wasn’t ready to divulge the bids it received in February. Nor would she say who submitted the bids or how many megawatts of power the company hoped to contract using wind-generated power.

Last year’s efforts by five Montana communities, including Helena, to land a wind turbine assembly plant were snuffed when NorthWestern cancelled it’s principle agreement with Montana Wind Harness to generate wind energy in the state.

Steve Wieland, sales manager for Nordex U.S.A., based in Grand Prairie, Texas, said the turbine assembly plant proposed for Montana by his company is no longer on the table.

The cities of Helena, Great Falls, Butte, Livingston, and Jefferson County, were competing for the plant, which was tied to the agreement between NorthWestern and Montana Wind Harness. The plant would have been used to build Nordex’s $1 million wind turbines for distribution throughout Montana and the nation as wind energy came on line.

"What I do know is that the original bid (by Montana Wind Harness) was never consummated," Wieland said. "That bid was legally contested and fell apart."

Messages left on the answering machines of Montana Wind Harness and its president, Jim Carkulis, over the past three months have not been returned.

Just last March, Carkulis had expressed optimism for the new assembly plant, as well as his company’s 150-megawatt power project, which was expected to be on line this year. At the time, Carkulis touted the proposal as a $150-million project to construct 130 wind turbines in Montana, create no less than three wind plants, and bring jobs to the state.

But when the Public Service Commission ruled that NorthWestern’s contract with Montana Wind Harness was flawed, NorthWestern opted out of the deal, effectively killing the state’s chances of landing the Nordex Assembly Plant.

NorthWestern has since reopened the bidding process.

"The Nordex (assembly plant) is not something I’m aware of that would be a part of what we’re talking about," Rapkoch said. "We went after a request for wind energy and that Nordex agreement was totally separate."

Rapkoch said the company has received a "half-dozen" new bids for wind energy. NorthWestern contracted Lands Energy Consultants, based in Washington State, to review the bids.

"We did receive some good bids," Rapkoch said. "We’re coming down to the end of the process, yes. But at this time, I don’t have anything. I can’t discuss who the bidders were."

Along with Montana Wind Harness, contracts with Tiber-Montana, Montana First Megawatts, Thompson Falls Co-Gen., and Rocky Mountain Power "were essentially canceled," Rapkoch said.

Rapkoch said that Northwestern has since signed three of the power suppliers back, including Tiber Montana and Thompson Falls Co-Gen.

Rocky Mountain Power did not sign a new contract with NorthWestern, and Rapkoch would not say if Montana Wind Harness was one of the six contenders for the new wind energy contract, or if the company even submitted a bid.

"There are a lot of variables we’ve been looking at and studying very closely," Rapkoch said.

Reporter Martin Kidston can be reached at 447-4086, or

[email protected].

http://helenair.com/articles/2003/05/15/montana/a07051503_03.txt