Deal struck on Idaho wind power
Idaho’s utilities, wind developers and state regulators have reached consensus on how much it costs to add wind power to utilities’ transmission grids.
Three orders issued this week by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission established 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, the commission disallowed utilities from paying market rates, rather than the higher state rate, when wind output did not fall within forecasted ranges. Idaho Power Co., as well as Idaho’s two other major electric utilities, Avista Corp. and PacifiCorp, completed studies to determine wind integration costs.
23 February 2008
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Tags: Wind power, Wind energy



