Spin or lose?

The Coachella Valley's windmills are praised as generous giants and decried as hazardous eyesores. When it comes to generating clean energy, breezy doesn't necessarily mean free - or easy.

You know you're almost back in the Desert when you see the windmills on the horizon. The 20-mile stretch of wind farms from Cabazon to Edom Hill in Cathedral City has become - to the admiration of some and the dismay of others - a defining characteristic of the Coachella Valley.

With a sitting president, several presidential candidates and our own governor calling for expanded development of alternative energy sources, the natural breezeway that includes the San Gorgonio Pass has stirred debate over the future of wind energy in this region. Add to that several new wind farms being proposed or already online, and some residents and groups are taking their complaints to anyone who will listen - from county officials to media. They are clear on their goal: to stop future development of wind turbines in the pass.

From the early 1980s through the early ‘90s, California was the national leader in wind energy development and power produced by wind farms. Although surpassed by Texas in recent years, the Golden State has been roused from complacency, "I think the electric power crisis in 2001 was a wake-up call," said C. P. van Dam, professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering at UC Davis and director of the California Wind Energy Collaborative (CWEC). "We realized we can't put all of our eggs in, for instance, the natural gas basket."

According to van Dam, who says wind power accounts for almost half the state's current renewable energy, California is pushing to diversify its energy sources so that it won't go dark if fossil fuel prices skyrocket. The state has mandated that by 2010, at least 20 percent of electric energy must come from renewable sources - including wind, solar, biomass and geothermal plants.

There are numerous interests attempting to calculate the actual energy generated by the San Gorgonio Pass wind farms. Skeptics such as Alexandra Weit, a resident of Snow Creek, a community at the foot of Mount San Jacinto that lies in the shadow of the windmill array, claim that wind energy provides only a fraction of what the operators claim. "The wind is intermittent," she says, "and they exaggerate their production by quoting only installed capacity."

Indeed, the power companies offer differing, sometimes wildly varying numbers.

According to Gregg Fishman, public information officer of California Independent Systems Operator, the pass has a current installed capacity of 691 megawatts - the amount of electricity that would be produced if all existing turbines were operating at their peak around the clock. "One megawatt is enough power to service roughly 650 homes," explains Fishman. "The San Gorganio Pass has a capacity factor of about 20 percent of its installed capacity, meaning that if you average it out over a year, the wind energy output from the area is about 140 megawatts. So the local wind farms can power 91,000 homes all year long."

Ask Brad Adams, chief operating officer of Whitewater Energy Corporation and he'll tell you the current installed capacity in the pass is 660 megawatts. With actual generation averaging 30 percent of that capacity, he says, over 1.73 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity are produced in a year. "With the average California home using 6,250 kilowatt-hours per year, the pass powers 277,517 homes annually," Adams asserts.

Vanessa McGrady, a Southern California Edison (SCE) spokesperson, provided statistics from last year showing the utility company purchased 721 gigawatt-hours of electricity from windmill operators in the pass, equaling a third of SCE's total wind portfolio. "That's enough power for about 235,000 homes at a point in time," she says.

Contributing to the statistical confusion are the variables with which turbine operators and power companies must contend. Energy demand fluctuates throughout the day, especially when it's hot. And wind energy is controlled by wind availability. "Our customers need more power in the afternoon than any other time," says SCE spokesperson Gil Alexander. Since wind power is generally more available during evening hours, the peak needs therefore are not always assisted by wind energy.

Another factor: the turbines have a rather narrow optimum wind-speed range. In order to avoid damage, they must be shut down when the average wind speed reaches 50 to 55 miles per hour. "Wind turbines are designed for average wind speeds of 15 to 20 miles per hour," says van Dam. Whether there's too much wind or too little, there can be long stretches when the turbines are not producing at full capacity.

Proponents argue that any wind energy is good energy - no matter when it's generated. "When the turbines are turning, the power they provide means we aren't using that power from fossil fuel-burning plants," says Mark Farley, a local environmentalist and owner of Elite Land Tours, which offers educational visits to the wind farms.

High-profile problems

Are the turbines benefiting one aspect of the environment at the expense of another? Longtime Snow Creek resident Les Starks calls the wind farms "industrial slums" - claiming the windmills have displaced wildlife and degraded the quality of life for nearby residents. "There was a canyon near Whitewater Canyon that used to have thousands of bats," says Starks, "and now you don't see any." He's also noticed a decline in turkey buzzards migrating through the pass.

Some operations, such as the Altamont Pass Wind Farm in Northern California, have an unfortunate record with regard to bird mortality. The turbines there have even been dubbed "Cuisinarts of the air" for killing thousands of bats and birds, including golden eagles. A 2003 study of the San Gorgonio Pass by the Northwest Wind Coordinating Committee found that each turbine kills approximately 1.2 birds per year or about 3,000 birds annually. (A more recent number reported in the Press-Enterprise of Riverside, California, put the average yearly kills at 6,670.) That number may sound large, but the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA ) points to a study that shows other causes of bird mortality, including cats and cars, exceed turbine-related deaths 250 to one.

Marlon Ashley, the Fifth District supervisor for Riverside County, believes that bird deaths have been minimized in the San Gorgonio Pass because it is not a regular migratory route. "We have the ideal situation here for wind farms," he says.

Carl Zichella, regional director of the Sierra Club, says that while the organization's policy is supportive of alternative power sources such as wind and solar energy, "we recognize that all energy resources have adverse impacts. It is, therefore, important that siting and deployment of these systems always address the specific conditions of each location and minimize any harm to nearby communities and local wildlife.

Both the Audubon Society and the American Bird Conservancy support wind energy - provided that studies are done in order to avoid adding wind turbines to sites within migration pathways. They also advocate the use of monopole or tubular towers instead of lattice towers, which encourage nest-building.

Wildlife safety is not the only concern. From her house in Painted Hills, Joyce Manley can see both monopole and lattice windmill towers, and she believes the manmade behemoths leak fluids that could contaminate the soil and the valley's life-sustaining aquifer. Chris Copeland, operations manager of Wintec Energy, another wind farm operator in the pass, says there are no completely pollutant-free energy plants, regardless of the type of energy they produce. "If we have a spill of lubricants or cleaners, we scoop up the affected soil and dispose of it as hazardous material," he says.

Copeland points out that whatever minor contamination may result from the turbines is offset by the clean energy they produce. "Wind energy is completely clean in that it doesn't release carbon dioxide emissions like fossil fuels do," he says. AWEA statistics support that wind turbines emit zero carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

By turns vexing and valuable

Before any new wind energy project is approved for county or Bureau of Land Management land, the operator must pay for a third-party independent siting study and an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that covers bird mortality, environmental effects and visual impacts. According to Marion Ashley, the siting process is in-depth and exhausted, and once a proposal is under review, the planning commission goes to the locale in question and holds community hearings.

Residents' opinions, of course, don't always mesh with the development regulations established by Riverside County for its designated San Gorgonio Pass Wind Energy Policy Area. Some of the wind energy zones mapped by the county surround homes in Painted Hills west of US Highway 62, parts of Desert Hot Springs and North Palm Springs. According to Ashley, the setback requirements -designed to prevent injuries and property damage in the event of, say, a falling blade - are clear: there must be a three-to-one distance from a turbine to a house. For example if a turbine is 300 feet tall, including the tower and rotor blades, the turbine must not be installed to a house closer than 900 feet.

Still, residents who live near the turbines voice a laundry list of annoyances, including bright flashing lights, droning sounds, constantly moving and disorienting shadows, and blowing dust and runoff from unpaved maintenance roads. And then there are the broken, out-of-service windmills that are just plain eyesores.

The wind farms in the pass started cropping up in the early 1980s and there are more than a few forlorn scarecrows dotting the fields. CWEC's C.P. Van Dam acknowledged that some turbines have age-related problems and smaller ones don't produce as much electricity as newer models. Copeland agrees: "With advances in technology over the last 20 years, comparing an old turbine and a new one is like comparing a Model T to a Lexus."

The benefits of updating turbines to the new, taller Vesta V90 model, which has an installed capacity of three megawatts; are evident. "Because it rises higher, runs in lower winds and is more efficient, it produces the same amount of energy as 60 of the taller turbines over the course of the year," says Whitewater Energy's Brad Adams.

Cost is another factor operators must consider when mulling turbine replacement. Copeland says that a new tower with one-megawatt capacity costs in the vicinity of $2 million. According to AWEA, it takes an average of 10 years to recoup the initial investment of installing a wind turbine, depending on capacity and location.

"Wind energy has become cost-competitive in the last 10 years for newer turbines," says van Dam, adding that while the initial expense associated with building wind farms can increase with new technology and natural inflation, pursuing wind energy is advantageous because it isn't a commodity controlled by markets and it reduces our dependency on foreign oil.

Under the current federal production tax credit, which is due to expire at the end of 2008, wind energy operators receive an income tax credit of two cents per kilowatt hour produced. The credit applies to commercial operations with turbines placed in service between 1993 and 2009. Energy subsidies are nothing new. "All forms of energy in this country are subsidized," Copeland says.

Brave new whirl

Wind farm development in the San Gorgonio Pass continues apace. The Dillon Wind Project operated by PPM Energy comprises 45 new turbines that have the capacity to produce one megawatt of electricity each. Forty were installed on unincorporated county land near Desert Hot Springs which has opposed turbine installations on acreage that it is eying for annexation while the rest were erected within the Palm Springs city limits. The energy will be sold to Southern California Edison.

Another wind energy endeavor still in the planning stages is one of the most controversial thus far. The 2,400-acre Cabazon Ridge Project proposed by Cabazon Wind Energy a special-purpose entity of Whitewater Energy in partnership with Shell proposes the installation of wind turbines along a prominent, 4000-foot high ridge south of Interstate 10 on private land just inside the borders of the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains National Monument. The land owner and another wind energy developer secured approval for the project years ago only to see the county declare the area a scenic resource - thereby blocking any development. The former developer pursued and won a court order to have the designation lifted. But later that company Enron had much larger issues to confront and abandoned the project.

Cabazon Wind Energy's current proposal calls for a phalanx of turbines as tall as 410 feet rising from the valley floor to the top of the ridge. Marlon Ashley suggests that based on the information he has now he is wary of approving the project. "This would be the first wind farm placed on a pristine ridgeline," he notes. A BLM representative says the project would be rejected if it were proposed for siting directly on monument land.

The project has raised the suspicions of agencies and activists alike. Says Kimberly A. Nicol, environmental program manager for the Department of Fish and Game, Inland Deserts Region. "We would be concerned with impacts to Peninsular big horn sheep habitat, the project's consistency with the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, and if impacts to birds and bats have been discussed and addressed." And Donna Charpied, director of the Desert Communities Protection Campaign complains. "Why do we bother spending millions of dollars of taxpayers' money to create protected areas...only to place inappropriate developments on their doorstep?"

Cabazon Ridge Project developer Brad Adams is confident of the proposal's integrity. Our EIR will show that our project is a viable and environmentally beneficial one producing clean renewable energy for 75,000 homes," he says.

With wind energy having been harnessed in the Desert for nearly three decades, the next few years will determine its future here. Presently, it accounts for just two percent of California's portfolio. That number surely will rise along with new and bigger windmills - love them or hate them.