The U.S. population is expected to grow by 45 million before 2026, and Idaho's population grew about 13 percent in the first sixth years of the century. In the past three years alone Idaho Power added over 40,000 new customers. That's all added up to the need for more generating capacity and transmission, and Keen said it's going to cost a bundle - about $300 million a year from now till 2010. ...recognizing that many renewable sources of energy don't produce power at a constant rate, Keen said new conventional resources must be sought out and expanded, including coal, natural gas, hydroelectric and nuclear power. "Nuclear has to be a part of the solution long-run if we want to reduce our carbon footprint," he said.

For weeks now we've been telling you about a possible windmill farm that could be built in Bingham County. The Bingham County Planning and Zoning Commission has had two public hearings on the matter and tomorrow night, they will vote on whether to allow a special use permit that would make way for the wind farm to be built. But not everyone is happy about the possibility. Hear that, that's gold for some people, but others feel robbed by it. Orin Morgan is one of those. "I'm not really against wind power. We need other power sources, so I'm not against it, I'm just against the location."

A new House bill, gaining support among lawmakers in Boise, could spearhead the construction of renewable energy plants on Idaho's federal lands. If enacted, HB 500 would open up some of Idaho's endowment lands for the capture of renewable energy such as wind, geothermal or solar rays. That power could be used to satiate Idaho's growing energy needs or be sold to neighboring states.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the Boise utility "determined that coal-fired generation is not the best technology to meet its resource needs in 2013." The company had planned to get an additional 250 megawatts from coal by then. Instead, it now aims to develop a new natural gas turbine somewhere in southern Idaho by 2012, to augment plans to add 101 megawatts of wind generation in December 2008 and 45.5 megawatts of geothermal generation in phases between 2007 and 2011. ..."The realities are, you still need a resource to back up nondispatchable resources like wind," he said. "As we look at it right now, the best immediate technology for today is a combined-cycle natural-gas power plant."

There is a big concern about global warming and a lot of the Democratic leadership has expressed significant concerns about global warming. But at the end of the day, if you're concerned about global warming, one has to look at nuclear. If you look at a 1000-megawatt nuclear plant, it takes about 500 acres. If you look at a 1,000 megawatt solar plant, it takes about 40,000 acres. If you have a 1,000 megawatt wind farm, it's about 150,000 acres. For baseline generation, it's going to come down to coal and nuclear, and we need them both. It's not one or the other. No matter who is in the presidency or in Congress, we need a sound energy program, and it will likely involve nuclear.

The utilities were concerned that a federal law requiring them to buy renewable energy like wind power from small producers at the same cost they'd pay for other power on the open market didn't fully recognize the cost to cope with an energy source that rises and dies with the wind. "Wind is unique because of its intermittency," said Bob Lafferty, manager of wholesale marketing and contracts for Avista. "It probably blows about one-third of the time."...... The proposed settlement, now being finalized for submission to the utilities commission, allows the utilities a discount for wind power, calculated to reflect "integration" cost. That includes the cost to come up with other power sources when the wind simply doesn't blow.

The proposed settlement, now being finalized for submission to the utilities commission, allows the utilities a discount for wind power, calculated to reflect that "integration" cost. That includes the cost to come up with other power sources when the wind simply doesn't blow.

A final obstacle to a booming Idaho wind-energy industry may be close to cleared, the state's three major utility companies indicate. Idaho Power Co., Avista Corp. and PacifiCorp say they're proposing a deal with wind developers that may lift a temporary restriction on the amount of energy Idaho wind farms can produce. The deal could spawn a legitimate wind-energy industry in southern Idaho if the temporary restriction is lifted, said Gene Fadness, a spokesman for Idaho's Public Utilities Commission, the state's energy regulating agency. The restriction has blocked several wind producers from starting business......Under a federal law, utilities must accept alternative energy at a rate of about $64 per megawatt-hour. The utilities propose lifting the size restriction but cutting the rate by between $5 and $7.50 per megawatt-hour to pay for backup generation when the wind doesn't blow.

Two bills making it easier for landowners to set up wind power generation systems on farms, ranches or state lands were signed recently by Idaho Gov. Butch Otter. One became effective immediately. It is House Bill 189, which moves the taxes assessed on wind farm operations from the ad valorem property tax roles to the production tax list. Operators will be taxed on their output, rather than on the physical generation equipment. This means more monies will go to the counties, and the amount should even increase a little from year to year, said Dar Olberding, lobbyist for the Idaho Grain Producers Association. That's why the counties supported this bill, he said.

The Bonneville Power Administration, which markets the power from the four dams and 26 others, assumes it must replace the full capacity of the dams, more than three times the electricity the dams annually produce. Its managers say they need the full capacity to ensure there is enough power for the rare but critical event that requires all the power the system currently has. BPA predicts the annual cost to range from $400 million to $500 million. It assumes it would have to replace the dams with 3,400 megawatts by building natural gas turbine generators. It could use wind to produce some of that power, but the capital costs would be the same since it needs the gas turbines to back wind turbines up when the wind doesn't blow, said Kieran Connolly, BPA regional power manager.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has approved two wind power purchase agreements for the Idaho Power Co., a Boise, Idaho-based electric utility. The first is a 20-year sales agreement with Houston-based Telocaset Wind Power Producers LLC for 100 MW of wind energy. According to the commission, Telocaset’s wind farm is scheduled to be complete by March 2008. The second agreement the commission approved is between Idaho Power Co. and Idaho Winds LLC, which plans to build The Alkali Wind Farm six miles northwest of Glenns Ferry. The project includes 12 turbines that will be operating by Dec. 31. Even though the maximum output of the project is 18 MW, it will not generate more than 10 MW on average on a monthly basis, the commission says. Energy delivered in excess of that amount may be accepted, but Idaho Power will not be obligated to pay for it under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act.

It takes energy to maintain energy from small wind farms. That was the conclusion of Idaho Power’s study on the impact of wind power, which was released Wednesday. Among other findings, the Operational Impact report said that small wind farms - those which produce 10 megawatts or fewer - require the assistance of hydroelectric power to compensate for generating fluctuations caused by changes in wind speed. Idaho Power uses its hydroelectric sources to provide additional energy when small wind farms are unable to stay at predetermined power levels. The report estimates that it costs Idaho Power $10.72 per megawatt hour to offset such fluctuations. The utility wants wind farm operators to pay that expense.

The state House Resources and Conservation Committee approved a bill Thursday that would allow the Idaho State Board of Land Commissioners to decide whether public land be used for commercial or business purposes. The bill, which was proposed on behalf of Ridgeline Energy, a wind turbine company looking to expand its operations in southern Idaho, would allow commercial leases on state land for up to 49 years. Currently, only leases for use of stone, coal, oil, gas or other minerals can be longer than 10 years. As a result, decisions would be determined on a case-by-case basis by the board, which consists of Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, State Controller Donna M. Jones, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna, Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and Secretary to the Board George Bacon. The bill would not affect agricultural leases, grazing leases, oil and gas leases, mineral leases, geothermal leases, single-family, recreational cottage site and home site leases.

Despite the potential of wind as an alternate energy source for Idaho, a recent proposal by Idaho Power Company makes some wind developer plans seem quixotic at best. The state's largest utility wants some of the windmill wild-catters to pay for power grid upgrades to transmission lines and then some. At issue is just who should pay for the upgrade of a power transmission line in the Twin Falls area, which would be used by two wind farms near Hagerman. The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is now reviewing a complaint filed by Cassia Gulch Wind Park and Cassia Wind Farm. The wind farmers say that an Idaho Power plan to require small-power producers to pay for nearly $60 million in transmission upgrades threatens the economic viability of a number of wind projects. Energy developers have big plans for wind power in Idaho, which ranks as the 13th windiest state in the nation. According to the Idaho Energy Commission, 42 wind farm projects around the state are in various stages of development, with a combined potential output of 1,500-2,000 megawatts of electricity. Since 1 megawatt is enough juice to power 650 homes, current plans would be enough to power 1.3 million homes. Of course, this is only if the wind blows steadily, which it never does. Intermittency is the bugaboo with this clean energy source.

Idaho Power Co., the state’s largest utility, has told the Idaho Public Utilities Commission that wind farmers should pay the millions of dollars for upgrades needed to connect them to the power grid. Wind farmers say Idaho Power should pay for the upgrades, as required by a 1978 law. The commission is hearing arguments over the dispute.

They've considered more hydroelectric plants, but depending on the water year they can be unreliable. They’ve also thought of wind turbines, but again those are only as reliable as the wind, and according to them nuclear power isn’t an option for at least 20 years.

That’s good news to people who support renewable energy such as wind, solar and biomass -- but all supporters still have to face the state’s decision on the issue before they can get too excited: Results of a state utilities wind integration study are forthcoming.

Director Bob Boren reported that the Idaho Consumer-owned Utilities Association (ICUA) has passed a resolution to get hydroelectric power reclassified as "green" energy. The resolution next goes on to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association for consideration at the regional and national levels.