News
Category:
Washington
Wind topples turbine in Ellensburg; minor flooding of Mercer Creek
May 1, 2013 by Brian Myrick in Daily Record
May 1, 2013 by Brian Myrick in Daily Record
A wind turbine at the city of Ellensburg's Renewable Energy Park toppled over on Monday, buckling under wind speeds of more than 30 mph and gusts as high as 45 mph.
Gary Nystedt, city resource manager, said city staff will start going through the turbine's wind speed data to figure out exactly when it came down.
Also filed under [
Safety|
Structural Failure]
The Whistling Ridge Energy Project received a green light ...But the decision scaled back the original proposal, reducing the number of wind turbines from 50 to 35. The outcome didn't leave the project developers or its opponents entirely happy. Construction never started. Opponents, led by Portland-based advocacy group Friends of the Columbia Gorge, mounted a legal challenge that's now landed before the state's highest court.
Also filed under [
Legal]
Longview adopts new zoning rules for residential windmills
April 30, 2013 by Amy M.E. Fischer in The Daily News
April 30, 2013 by Amy M.E. Fischer in The Daily News
A year after Longview resident Ken Spring installed a vintage windmill on his 3-acre property without a permit, the City Council adopted new zoning rules that allow for small wind energy systems.
Also filed under [
Zoning/Planning]
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) this week released a new proposal to share the "oversupply costs" that pile up when there is not enough demand for all the electricity produced by hydroelectric dams and wind-power producers.
During these oversupply periods, when wind-power producers may be asked to shut down, the plan would compensate them for lost revenue, according to Doug Johnson, a BPA spokesman.
Ex-professor tells senators climate data manipulated
March 27, 2013 by Brad Shannon in The News Tribune
March 27, 2013 by Brad Shannon in The News Tribune
A retired Western Washington University professor testified to a Republican-controlled state Senate committee Tuesday that climate change stopped in 1998 and that human-caused greenhouse gases are not responsible for fluctuations in the Earth's temperatures or melting polar ice caps.
Also filed under [
General]
Winds of change blowing through wind power industry
March 3, 2013 by Ross Courtney in Yakima Herald-Republic
March 3, 2013 by Ross Courtney in Yakima Herald-Republic
Californians don't want Washington state's electricity as much as they used to. In 2011, the California Legislature passed laws that encourage utilities to generate most of their renewable power from within the state.
That left up to $5 billion worth of proposed projects for Washington and Oregon suddenly without investors. ...The price of natural gas has been low, making renewable energy such as solar and wind less attractive.
Also filed under [
Impact on Economy|
Tax Breaks & Subsidies]
Inslee team downplays earlier bid to lure wind-power firm
February 7, 2013 by Jim Brunner in Seattle Times
February 7, 2013 by Jim Brunner in Seattle Times
Gov. Jay Inslee is trying to lure a struggling Massachusetts wind-power company to Washington state.
In one of his first initiatives as governor, Inslee sent a handwritten note and spoke by phone with the chief executive of AMSC, a Devens, Mass.-based firm.
Also filed under [
General|
Massachusetts]
Economic uncertainty puts the brakes on Northwest wind power industry
October 16, 2012 by Dan Catchpole in Yakima Herald-Republic
October 16, 2012 by Dan Catchpole in Yakima Herald-Republic
Nationally, wind energy producers face competition from falling natural gas prices. Plus, it's unclear whether a much-relied-upon federal tax credit for wind energy producers will be renewed. ...Regionally, transmission lines are at capacity in some places. Markets are getting tougher. Also, wind farm operators complain that property taxes have risen steeply under a new state formula.
Also filed under [
General]
Mid-Columbia group forms to fight higher electric bills from unneeded power
September 28, 2012 by Annette Cary in Tri-City Herald
September 28, 2012 by Annette Cary in Tri-City Herald
A new campaign to change the state Energy Independence Act was launched Thursday in the Mid-Columbia to prevent rising electricity rates to pay for unneeded renewable energy.
Mid-Columbia state legislators, chambers of commerce, ports, business organizations, cities and public utility districts are backing the effort to prevent or delay increased electricity rates.
Also filed under [
General]
Gorge group sues Skamania on zoning issues
September 21, 2012 by Andy Giegerich in Portland Business Journal
September 21, 2012 by Andy Giegerich in Portland Business Journal
Portland-based Friends of the Columbia Gorge is charging the county with "failing to protect its critical areas and resource lands in violation of state law." The land, while unzoned, had been protected until Skamania lifted a development and forest work moratorium on Aug. 21.
Also filed under [
General]
Republicans mock Inslee's vision of an energy 'revolution'
September 9, 2012 by Susan Kelleher in Seattle Times
September 9, 2012 by Susan Kelleher in Seattle Times
The GOP has taken Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee to task for promoting the green energy industry as a way to bolster the state's economy, claiming many such companies are failing or teetering.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
"Balance is critical, and that is really where our focus is. And that's to produce as clean a power as we can, and to keep our customer bills affordable," said Grant Ringel, a spokesman for PSE told the Los Angeles Times.
Also filed under [
Impact on Economy|
Energy Policy]
PUD says BPA plan helps wind energy producers at ratepayer expense
June 15, 2012 by Angelo Bruscas in The Daily World
June 15, 2012 by Angelo Bruscas in The Daily World
The policy essentially would curtail production - particularly wind generation - when there is too much power for BPA to handle, a situation that usually occurs in the spring. And it would also pay the wind energy producers for their lost revenue. PUD commissioners say that amounts to subsidizing an already subsidized industry by passing the costs on to BPA customers like the Grays Harbor district.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy|
USA]
BPA reins in wind farms; Excess hydro power forces order
May 6, 2012 by Amelia Templeton in Statesman Journal
May 6, 2012 by Amelia Templeton in Statesman Journal
The order forced wind farms along the Columbia River to shut down for about 10 hours during the past weekend. ..."Our folks are working as hard to minimize it, but as the runoff continues, it is certainly possible that it will happen again. It depends on a number of factors: the runoff, what the wind is doing. Certainly what amount of power people are using."
BPA orders NW wind farms to curtail production
April 29, 2012 by Steven Dubois in San Francisco Chronicle
April 29, 2012 by Steven Dubois in San Francisco Chronicle
The agency, which manages much of the power grid in the Northwest, confirmed it issued the orders during the early morning hours of Sunday and Monday, when demand is low.
The action rekindles a dispute from last year, when the agency curtailed wind turbines because the water from a large mountain snowpack.
Desert Claim wind project not likely to go up this year
April 28, 2012 by Justin Pittman in The Daily Record
April 28, 2012 by Justin Pittman in The Daily Record
enXco could conduct minor site preparation in the late fall, but it appears unlikely that the project will get off the ground this year. In addition to providing notice, enXco still needs to submit a number of plans for EFSEC approval before construction can proceed.
Also filed under [
General]
In early March, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire approved the proposed Whistling Ridge wind power project to be sited near White Salmon on land owned by SDS Lumber and Broughton Lumber, paving the way for 35 turbines standing more than 400 feet tall.
Also filed under [
General]
The initiative's goals may have been laudable -- encourage the construction of new renewable sources of energy, creating jobs and reducing our dependence on carbon-based fuels.
But in practice, the measure is riddled with unintended consequences. The result is a legal mandate that forces utilities to act against the best interests of their customers and the environment.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
Columbia Gorge wind farm opponents may go to court
March 6, 2012 by Shannon Dininny in Associated Press
March 6, 2012 by Shannon Dininny in Associated Press
Jason Spadaro, president of SDS Lumber, said he appreciates the governor's approval, but that the reduced size of the project means it is not economically viable at this time. A smaller project will need higher power prices to be viable, he said, and the project will be on hold but not permanently shelved.
Also filed under [
General]
BPA said the policy, implemented between May and July of last year, resulted in the curtailment of 97,557 megawatt-hours of wind generation, or 5.4 percent of the total wind output connected to BPA's grid, for a loss of $2.15 million in renewable energy credits (REC) and production tax credit (PTC) income.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy|
Oregon]
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