FERC Rules Against Wind Power Curtailment in Pacific Northwest

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--On Wednesday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled against the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) (Portland, Oregon) curtailment of wind power during times of high hydropower output in the Pacific Northwest. The BPA is a self-funded segment of the U.S. Department of Energy. The agency is responsible for 75% of the high-voltage transmission lines in the Northwest and provides approximately 30% of the electric power used in the region, including about 20,000 megawatts of hydropower generating capacity on the Columbia River.

In May this year, BPA faced a dilemma. Snowpack in the northwest had reached the highest level in several years, and as this began melting, upstream reservoirs began rising to unsafe levels. To alleviate the problem, BPA channeled the excess water through hydropower generating stations, causing a sharp spike in hydropower production to the grid. To help maintain grid stability, BPA limited generation of thermal power plants and took area windfarms completely offline. For additional information, see May 18, 2011, article - Weather to Determine if Wind Power is Curtailed in Pacific Northwest and May 24, 2011, article - Melting Snowpack Brings Increase in Hydroelectric Generation on Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. The shutdowns took almost 100,000 megawatt-hours of wind power off of the grid from mid-May to mid-June, resulting in lost sales and production tax credits for wind generators.

Unsurprisingly, wind generators filed a claim with FERC that BPA was unfairly favoring hydropower at the expense of wind power. The companies filing the complaint included Iberdrola Renewables (Portland), PacifiCorp (Portland), NextEra Energy Resources (Juno Beach, Florida), Horizon Wind Energy (Houston, Texas) and Invenergy (Chicago, Illinois). FERC's ruling this week states that the BPA policy to curb wind generation in cases of excessive hydropower production is discriminatory to wind generators. FERC has given BPA 90 days to produce an alternative policy.

In a brief statement about the ruling, BPA Administrator Steve Wright said that the agency was disappointed by the ruling, as discussions about the policy were already under way. In what seems a jibe toward the federal regulators, Wright said, "The temporary oversupply of energy is a Northwest challenge. We believe it is the region's responsibility to find the most appropriate way to address this challenge."

As part of our Renewable Energy Database, Industrial Info is tracking more than 90 active renewable energy projects in Washington and Oregon with a combined investment value of more in excess of $26 billion.

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