Inaction frustrates wind power developers; Comics

Wind-power developers who hoped to be building turbines or manufacturing plants in Montana by now are waiting for the next move by energy regulators or NorthWestern Energy.

They also sound frustrated that despite their willingness to do a major, multimillion-dollar project, they can’t get a contract arranged.

By MIKE DENNISON
Tribune Capitol Bureau

"There is continued frustration, when we try to do everything according to the state of procedures as we understand them to be, and that really doesn’t seem to get us anywhere," said John Jaunich, president of Northern Alternative Energy in Minneapolis.

NorthWestern Energy officials say they’re working on it, and hope to determine later this year what sort of wind power they might need to serve their 290,000 Montana customers.

"We do intend to go out with a (bid request), but we need to figure out how much wind there will be in the portfolio, and how it interacts with other (energy) resources in the portfolio," company spokesman Claudia Rapkoch said Friday in Butte.

Another company watching the process is Montana Wind Harness, whose prior contract with NorthWestern Energy was rejected by the state Public Service Commission.

Doug Barba, executive vice president of Ameresco Inc., a Massachusetts firm that’s the major partner in Wind Harness, said Friday he’s waiting to see what NorthWestern Energy does.

He said the company had hoped to be building its project by now.

"I’d like to be doing what I thought we’d be doing by this time of year, but we’ll just have to wait and see," he said from his Boston office.

Wind Harness, like Northern Alternative Energy, had proposed not only building a wind farm in Montana, but also bringing a turbine-manufacturing plant to the state.

Great Falls had been mentioned as a possible site for the plant associated with Wind Harness.

John Kramer, president of the Great Falls Development Authority, said the delays make Montana look bad, and discourage investors from considering the state.

While Montana drags its heels on the wind-power projects, developers are looking to North Dakota and South Dakota, he said Friday.

"If you’re private industry, who do you think has their act together?" he asked. "Montana, or North and South Dakota? We look foolish. That’s the way private industry sees it. I know, because I’ve talked to them."

It’s been almost four months since the PSC rejected the 150-megawatt contract with Wind Harness. But NorthWestern Energy appears in no hurry to arrange a new one.

Rapkoch said the company wants to arrange some other types of energy contracts first, such as a conservation package and a contract for peak-demand power from a gas-fired plant.

Once those contracts are completed, NorthWestern will turn its attention to the wind deal, she said.

The delay is making wind-power developers nervous, because a federal tax credit that makes their projects economical expires in December 2003.

NAE and its affiliate, Navitas, is one of several companies that lost the initial bid with Montana Power Co. last year for all or part of the 150-megawatt wind power contract.

NAE officials testified before the PSC this spring, pointing out what they thought were flaws in the selection process. They thought they were back in the picture when the Public Service Commission this spring rejected the contract awarded to Wind Harness.

But NorthWestern Energy officials appear uninterested in dealing with NAE, Jaunich said.

That conclusion led NAE to approach the contract from a different angle. Last month, its affiliate asked the Public Service Commission to declare that the proposed NAE wind farm near Whitehall is a special alternative energy project.

That would allow the PSC to set a rate for the electricity produced by the project and require NorthWestern Energy to buy it. The wind-power company is proposing a 50-megawatt project.

NAE made that request Aug. 2. As of Friday, the commission had not even scheduled the request for a hearing.

"Common courtesy would say that if you have something for 60 days, you would at least respond to it," Jaunich said. "As of today, there is no formal response whatsoever."

Commissioner Bob Anderson, D-Helena, said PSC rules do not allow rate-setting for a project as large as the one proposed by the NAE affiliate. NAE’s request says those rules are in violation of state and federal law.

Anderson said he still thinks NorthWestern Energy is committed to arranging a wind-power contract, but he’s concerned that the company isn’t moving more quickly.

Jaunich said his company has the cooperation of people and businesses in Whitehall to go forth with the project, and that it would be a great deal for NorthWestern Energy ratepayers as well – if only a contract could be arranged.

"Everybody is saying this is a great thing, a great thing for Montana, but it’s kind of still at ground zero," he said. "It’s not happening."

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20020923/localnews/140295.html