In 2006, the Vermont Energy Partnership released its "Wind Power in Vermont," in which the challenges and benefits of harnessing wind were outlined. This year, the partnership released an updated report on wind power in Vermont. Among its findings: The total wind generating capacity in the United States grew 45 percent in 2007; No new wind power has come online in Vermont since 1997; Only one such project has received a certificate of public good from the state's Public Service Board; wind can only meet about 10 percent of Vermont's total electricity supply.

"Although wind is an intermittent power source, as output depends on wind strength, it can supplement Vermont's larger, baseload, 24/7 power sources, Vermont Yankee and HydroQuébec," stated the report.

Members of the Vermont Energy Partnership include Entergy, the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp., Central Vermont Public Service, Efficiency Vermont, IBM, Vermont Business Roundtable, Vermont Chamber of Commerce and Vermont Grocers' Association.

"While wind power is a popular and growing source of electricity generation in the United States ... it continues to face regulatory obstacles and local opposition," stated the Vermont Energy Partnership report. "And while there is clear potential for an expansion of wind in the State of Vermont, even fully developed, wind can only meet a fraction of the state's electricity needs. To ensure that Vermont has a dependable supply of clean and low-cost electricity, base load providers such as Vermont Yankee and HydroQuébec must continue to serve our state into the future," stated the report.
The Vermont Public Interest Group questioned the motive behind the report.

"Vermont Energy Partnership is a questionable organization with facts that don't check out," said James Moore, the clean energy advocate for VPIRG. "All this is a lightly veiled attempt to downplay renewable energy solutions and support Vermont Yankee."

Renewables, which includes HydroQuébec, currently produce 390 of the 1,000 megawatts Vermont requires during peak load demands, according to the Energy Information Administration. Vermont Yankee supplies another third of the state's electricity. The rest comes from out-of-state sources such as coal and natural gas fired power plants.

VPIRG issued a report in 2006 on renewable energy potential in Vermont. In it, Moore stated Vermont could get 80 percent of its energy from renewables -- wind, solar, biomass, methane recovery and hydro -- by 2016.

As far as wind power is concerned, Vermont has the potential for 6,000 megawatts of energy, according to Vermont Environmental Research Associates. If the state were to exploit only 10 percent of that potential, it could replace Vermont Yankee. That would require wind turbines on 78 of Vermont's 517 miles of ridgeline.

In the United States in 2007, "the U.S. wind energy industry installed 5,244 megawatts, expanding the nation's total wind power generating capacity by 45 percent in a single calendar year and injecting an investment of over $9 billion into the economy," according to the American Wind Energy Association.

Just the same, wind produces just a little more than 1 percent of the total electric supply in the United States. According to a 2008 Department of Energy report however, wind power could supply up to 20 percent of the nation's electricity by 2030.

Calling the United States "The Saudi Arabia of Wind Power," oilman T. Boone Pickens has suggested the nation build a wind farm stretching from Texas to North Dakota to meet that 20 percent demand.

Pickens estimates the project would cost $1.2 trillion.

"That's a lot of money, but it's a one-time cost," stated Pickens at www.pickensplan.com. "And compared to the $700 billion we spend on foreign oil every year, it's a bargain."

A new wind project just approved in Texas is estimated to cost $5 billion, eventually producing 5,300 megawatts of electricity.

Experts have given cost estimates for new nuclear power plants ranging between $1.5 to $7 million a megawatt, or about $5 billion per power plant. In June 2008, Moody's, in its "Nuclear plant construction poses risks to credit metrics, ratings," reported the costs for wind and solar were between $2 and $3 million a megawatt.

However, stated the report, the capacity factor for wind and solar runs between 25 and 35 percent. Nuclear power has a capacity factor of 90 percent. The capacity factor is the ratio of the actual energy produced in a given period, to the hypothetical maximum possible, such as running full time at rated power

Six wind power projects have been proposed in Vermont.

One was rejected by the Public Service Board, one has been halted and one has received conditional PSB approval. The remaining three are at various stages of development.

The Deerfield Wind Project/Searsburg Expansion, 15 to 24 wind turbines, would produce an additional 45 megawatts on top of its current 6 megawatts. The East Haven Wind Farm, which was rejected by the PSB, would have provided six megawatts. The Equinox Wind Farm, outside Manchester, is in the permitting process and would supply nine megawatts. The proposed Lowell Wind Project, 12 to 26 turbines, would produce 18 to 39 megawatts.

VPIRG is member funded, said Moore, and also receives support from non-profit foundations.

Its board of directors includes representatives from Businesses for Sensible Priorities, Spruce Mtn. Design and the Lintilhac Foundation. Its trustees include the founder of NRG Systems and the director of Earth Turbines, the director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, a director from Seventh Generation and the founder of Solar Works.