Idaho's regulated utilities, wind developers and state regulators have finally reached consensus on how much it costs to add wind to utilities' transmission grids.

Three orders issued Tuesday by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission establish the amount of discounts utilities can assess against wind developers to account for the cost of integrating wind into their systems.

The orders also remove a cap on the size of small-power projects that can qualify for a rate published by the commission.

Also removed is a provision that allowed utilities to pay wind developers a market rate rather than the typically higher state rate when wind output from projects did not fall within forecast ranges.

Idaho Power Co., as well as Idaho's two other major electric utilities Avista Corporation and PacifiCorp, completed studies to determine wind integration costs.

In 2005, Idaho Power Co. in 2005 asked the commission to suspend small-power wind development to allow it time to study how much it costs the to provide back-up generation when wind output is less than projected.

The commission denied the suspension, but agreed to decrease the size of small-power projects -- from 10 megawatts to 100 kilowatts -- that could qualify for the published rates that utilities must pay generators of small renewable power projects.