 | 2/8/2014 | Firm seeks to harness Wyoming's wind energy for California |
A relentless wind howls day after day across this high desert, pouring through a low gap on the Continental Divide.
"This is one of the windiest places in the nation," screams Bill Miller above the din of gusting air.
Miller, a wiry man who spent much of his career in the oil and gas business, is in charge of building a massive wind farm on a cattle ranch owned by Anschutz Corp., better known in Los Angeles as co-owner of Staples Center.
It would produce as much power as three nuclear reactors, making it the largest wind-generation facility in the nation, if not the world.
But not a single kilowatt would be consumed in Wyoming. Instead, it would feed a new 750-mile transmission line to the California grid, where the electricity would help California's crusade against global warming, while much of Wyoming continues to rely on the fuel that is one of the big contributors to climate change: coal.
"The enviros look at us and wonder what we are all about," Miller said. "We got into renewables because we think it is a good business."
The Anschutz sales pitch is simple: Its power will be plentiful, reliable and cheap, not to mention green — just what California needs as it faces an era of escalating electricity prices.
But a green energy marriage between Wyoming and California would be a study in stark contrasts, a household of mixed-up politics.
Wyoming residents enjoy the cheapest electricity prices in the nation, thanks to low-cost power from coal-fired plants near vast surface mines in the Powder River Basin. California, which has all but phased out coal power and has the nation's most aggressive renewable energy laws, has close to the highest prices, according to U.S. Energy Department data. State law requires that one-third of the state's power come from alternative energy by 2020.
Wyoming has no legal requirement for renewable energy, and Republican Gov.
Matt Mead's staff says such a mandate would be politically inconceivable in such a conservative stronghold. Wyoming recently became the first state to tax renewable energy.
Political differences, Wyoming officials say, should not get in the way of a good business deal.
Many in California favor buying locally generated, small-scale renewable power, saying it supports state jobs, avoids the environmental impact of building high-voltage transmission systems, provides greater economic benefits and gives the state more direct control of its power grid.
But developers of the $8-billion wind farm here, scheduled to start construction next year, say they can generate and ship wind power to California more cheaply than the state can generate its own.
The wind is so strong and so consistent in Rawlins — even the mayor admits "it wears on people" — that Miller says the wind farm can deliver power across four states and still beat the price of California's own renewable power projects by a wide margin. If Anschutz's meteorological and engineering research is correct, the Rawlins wind farm will undercut the power prices from some California renewable energy installations by half.
"It is understandable that California wants to build their own generation facilities, but it makes a lot of sense for California rate payers to consider Wyoming power," said Loyd Drain, executive director of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority. "We are not talking about Wyoming wins and California loses."
Drain, formerly a Texas lawyer, has worked his charm on California officials, meeting with dozens of the state's top regulators. But the idea of buying green energy from a state that burns coal is politically unpalatable for some California politicians, and many regulatory officials are suspicious about the idea.
After attending a conference on Wyoming wind power, Edward Randolph, energy division chief at the California Public Utilities Commission, observed: "All they wanted to talk about was selling coal power to the coastal states." Randolph wonders whether buying wind from a state that burns so much coal is really accomplishing the climate change goals California has set.
"If we are taking renewable power from Wyoming, while they burn coal, then you aren't accomplishing very much," said Severin Borenstein, a UC Berkeley expert on the California electricity market.
But Anschutz has played a careful political hand. The company has obtained labor agreements with major California unions, including those representing electrical workers and operating engineers, who hope to get skilled jobs building the wind farm and transmission lines. The company plans to negotiate sales agreements with California utilities after all its regulatory hurdles are passed.
At the same time, state and private utility officials in California are worried about a potential consumer backlash against other green energy policies that may be pushing up electricity prices. Cheap power from Wyoming, they argue, could help offset coming price increases that also will likely result from the loss of the San Onofre nuclear power plant, the planned shutdown of other coastal power plants and likely increases in the cost of natural gas.
A study released recently by San Francisco-based Energy + Environmental Economics, a respected consultant in renewable power, projected the cost of electricity in California would jump 27% over the next 15 years, not counting inflation.
The prognosis for higher prices is supported by experts at UC Berkeley and Stanford University, though the state Public Utilities Commission said an internal study indicated that price hikes can be held to the rate of future inflation.
"It is incumbent for California to find the cheapest way to do this," Ren Orans, founder of the San Francisco consulting company, said of the state's renewable energy mandate. One way is to integrate renewable resources across the Western U.S., as far away as Wyoming and Colorado.
What is not under dispute is that coal power is cheaper than wind power, as long as the cost of pollution is not considered. Wyoming consumers paid an average of 7.4 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity last summer, for example, while in California, rates average 15.98 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Wyoming officials make no apologies for their cheap power or where it comes from. "I'm not green," Rawlins Mayor Kenneth Klouda said. But he said the wind farm could stoke the local economy. And Californians, if they don't avail themselves of Wyoming power, "could end up freezing in the dark."
One thing both states agree on is that Wyoming offers the economies of scale. What Anschutz is planning in Rawlins would not be possible anywhere in California. The wind farm would be located on the company's 500-square-mile ranch, so big that it stretches to the treeless Wyoming horizon. The entire city of Los Angeles could fit inside.
Wyoming also offers advantages of timing. In California, the wind blows hardest at night, when electricity demand is low. Just the opposite is true here, where the wind starts picking up after sunrise and keeps growing in intensity, meaning it could supply power in the late afternoon, when California's summer air conditioning loads are highest.
Anschutz plans to install 1,000 turbines in two phases. The company has many of the environmental permits it needs for the wind farm, lacking only a federal permit that would allow for the deaths of eagles if they accidentally flew into a turbine. The turbines would connect to a high-voltage power line, dubbed the TransWest Express, which would extend almost to Hoover Dam, where it would connect into the California electricity grid. Anschutz officials hope the power line, which potentially would be built jointly with the Western Area Power Administration, part of the Energy Department, will get regulatory approval later this year.
The connection near Hoover Dam means that the Wyoming wind energy counts the same as renewable power generated in California in terms of California's renewable energy law, a legal quirk that the company has carefully studied. Even after all the wind turbines are put in place, they would occupy a small footprint of the ranch.
Anschutz said the plan is to continue routine operations on the ranch, where up to 5,000 head of cattle can graze.
"The cattle don't mind the wind turbines at all," Miller said.
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| 12/4/2013 | PCW’s detailed Eagle Conservation Plan
supports application for eagle permit
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issues notice to prepare an EIS |
Continuing the advancement of the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project through the federal permitting process, Power Company of Wyoming LLC is submitting a comprehensive Eagle Conservation Plan along with an application for a programmatic eagle permit to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for environmental review and approval.
PCW’s Eagle Conservation Plan is built on a foundation of years of scientific data-gathering and wildlife monitoring specific to the CCSM Project site, and is designed in alignment with the Service’s ECP Guidance and Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines. The eagle permit application will be analyzed in an Environmental Impact Statement by the Service, according to a Notice of Intent published in today’s Federal Register. The permit covers PCW’s first phase of wind turbine development.
Under the Service’s 2009 Eagle Permit Rule that applies to a variety of activities, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may “authorize the limited take of bald eagles and golden eagles under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, where the take to be authorized is associated with otherwise lawful activities,” such as generating clean, cost-effective wind energy supplies. The Service approves permits only when rigorous conditions and requirements are met, including developing a detailed evaluation of the risk to eagles, implementing all practical measures to reduce that risk, and providing mitigation and compensation in the event of a take — all elements that will be outlined and proposed within PCW’s comprehensive conservation plan.
To assist in its preparation of the EIS, the Service is conducting a 60-day public scoping period, in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act. In addition to accepting comments via mail and email regarding the scope of the EIS, the Service will hold two public scoping meetings in Carbon County, Wyo., on Dec. 16 in Rawlins and Dec. 17 in Saratoga.
“PCW has deployed an avian radar system along with teams of biologists to map where and when birds might use the landscape in the project area, helping us learn where to place or not place turbines to help avoid and minimize risks. We’ve worked with top wildlife scientists to design advanced conservation measures so we can further reduce potential risks. We’re proposing to place over 26,000 acres of the best habitat — including areas with the nation’s very best wind resources — into a conservation easement where wind development will be precluded,” said Garry Miller, PCW vice president of land and environmental affairs. “As a responsible energy developer, PCW is demonstrating its commitment to the preservation of eagles by implementing all practical measures to avoid and minimize potential eagle takes.”
In addition to the Eagle Conservation Plan, PCW is submitting an avian protection plan containing measures proposed to avoid or minimize potential impacts on other migratory birds. PCW has been developing both plans based on ongoing discussions with the Service since 2010.
The entire CCSM Project of up to 1,000 wind turbines already has been analyzed by federal officials in a Final Environmental Impact Statement published by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on June 29, 2012. The CCSM Project site was authorized in a Record of Decision signed Oct. 9, 2012, by then-Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
The CCSM Project wind turbines are being developed in two phases. The EIS being prepared by the Service applies solely to the Eagle Conservation Plan and eagle permit for PCW’s Phase I Wind Turbine Development of 500 turbines. The BLM is reviewing the Plan of Development in a separate Site-Specific Environmental Assessment that is tiered to the project-wide BLM EIS. According to the NOI, the Service intends to incorporate by reference information from the BLM EIS into its analysis.
When PCW determines it will proceed with Phase II wind development, PCW will submit a Phase II Plan of Development to BLM for environmental review and a Phase II Eagle Conservation Plan and permit application to the Service for environmental review. This high standard of detailed and coordinated federal environmental review is described in the 2012 BLM Record of Decision, which noted that the BLM will not issue PCW a notice to proceed to construction without the Service’s concurrence on Eagle Conservation Plans.
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| 6/3/2013 | Field Work Continues At Chokecherry And Sierra Madre Wind Project |
The Power Company of Wyoming (PCW) reports that field work for the proposed Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind energy project is well under way.
Following the release of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision last year, PCW is now preparing its site-specific plans for the wind project’s construction, including working to microsite up to 1,000 wind turbines within the areas approved for wind energy development.
Located on a roughly 50/50 combination of alternating private land and federal land, the 2,000 MW - 3,000 MW wind farm was proposed in 2008 by PCW on portions of a 320,000-acre working cattle ranch privately owned and operated by The Overland Trail Cattle Co. LLC.
All plans will be reviewed by BLM to ensure they comply with the project-wide analysis described in the record of decision.
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| 5/28/2013 | Few Wyoming wind projects making progress |
Wyoming didn’t add any new wind energy projects in 2012, and it would be a stretch to expect many to spring up in 2013.
The state of the Wyoming wind power industry, at least this spring, is not optimal.
Companies with projects and interest in Wyoming are slowly developing their projects, eyes on the day when they’ll be able to transmit their product to customers in other states.
But those projects, for the most part, are years from completion. Some may be a decade away from full service.
That means little large-scale development in Wyoming at present, and lots of waiting. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t proposed projects moving forward.
Wyoming’s still got a lot of wind, and some producers are still taking notice.
Chokecherry and Sierra Madre
It’s impossible to discuss future Wyoming wind projects without mentioning Chokecherry and Sierra Madre, Power Company of Wyoming’s monster $5 billion development planned for ranch land south of Rawlins.
The company hopes to eventually site and construct as many as 1,000 turbines on the site, roughly matching the number of turbines harvesting Wyoming wind in 2012. The project could eventually generate about 2,500 megawatts of power.
Chokecherry and Sierra Madre was identified by the Obama administration as a priority renewable energy project. The project was fast-tracked for approval, with a final Bureau of Land Management decision signed at a Cheyenne ceremony in October.
But the fast track treatment hasn’t meant immediate results on the ranch near Rawlins.
PCW, a subsidiary of Denver-based Anschutz Corp., told the Carbon County Board of Commissioners in March that it plans to apply for state industrial siting permits next spring, with construction expected to follow in the fall.
The company had planned to file the application — a requirement for projects costing more than $190 million — this spring. But a Wyoming state bill that would have governed when project funding must be spent put the brakes on the company’s plans, pushing the application back by a year.
The bill eventually failed.
If and when the project is built, it will become the largest in the country, and likely the world. And it will have a big impact on Wyoming.
Company officials estimate the project will generate 8.76 million megawatt hours of electricity every year. The state charges producers $1 per megawatt hour produced.
The project, then, will contribute $8.76 million every year to the state’s wind production tax, which last year brought in $2.6 million for Wyoming tax districts.
Numerous other projects around Wyoming — most on a significantly-smaller scale — also continue to progress around the state.
Pathfinder plans multiple projects
The other developer with the most interest tied in planned projects is likely Pathfinder Renewable Wind Energy, a company pursuing at least two Wyoming developments.
Chief among the company’s plans is the Pathfinder-Zephyr project.
Holly Wold, a spokeswoman for the company, said Pathfinder has secured about 2,100 megawatts of capacity on the Zephyr transmission line for the project, planned between Chugwater and Wheatland.
The project is sited on private land, avoiding a sluggish federal permitting process. But that doesn’t mean the project isn’t affected by federal law.
Wold said the wind farm’s status is “variable” as it awaits on permitting and completion of the Zephyr transmission line, which is likely to undergo the full federal review. That means Pathfinder may not be ready to operate for years.
“We’re not sure of a target start date,” she said. “It just depends on how all the permitting goes.”
The company is also eyeing a property near Rawlins for its Whirlwind I project, expected to have a capacity between 250 and 500 megawatts.
Wold said few facts are available about Whirlwind I, which is making its way through preliminary study.
“We’ve just been gathering data,” she said. “We’re doing biological studies, and a lot of work with the BLM on our application. It’s just a matter of moving forward.”
Wold said Pathfinder plans to produce power at the site sometime between 2017 and 2021.
Belvoir Ranch moves forward near Cheyenne
A few other developers also continue forward with large-scale projects.
Morley Co., a Jackson-based developer, expects to start producing wind power from its development near Cheyenne by 2016.
Located on the Belvoir Ranch facility, Morley’s development could produce about 300 megawatts of power from about 130 turbines. The company also plans to run private natural gas generators to back up the wind production, although the company hasn’t yet determined how much gas generation capacity is needed.
Bruce Morley, chief executive of the company, said in April that his company expected to submit a state industrial siting project permit request that month. The project is expected to cost $600 million.
The Belvoir Ranch project won’t be subject to a federal review — it’s on city land — but Morley said his company will undertake an environmental study equal to what the federal government would do.
“The level of environmental conscientiousness will be the same, but we can avoid an enormous amount of red tape,” he said.
The project will also be unique in its use of backup natural gas generators. The fuel is commonly used to make up for peaks and valleys in wind energy production, but rarely on the same site as the turbines.
Morley said his approach could help generate more money for Wyoming.
“We have incredible amounts of gas being stored now,” he said. “This seems like a way for us to not just ship out natural gas but use it in Wyoming.”
The project will create about 300 construction jobs and 30 permanent jobs.
Some developers show progess, others cut projects
At least one wind developer who once had multiple Wyoming projects has cut down its plans.
EDF Renewable Energy, based in San Diego, is now only chasing one property in the state.
Company project developer Alan Cowan said in April that the company has terminated plans for the Miller Mountain and White Mountain projects, each located near Rock Springs.
“It’s my impression that we have relinquished the land on those back to the BLM,” Cowan said. The projects faced multiple obstacles, including the state’s sage grouse core area policy, developed to protect sage grouse mating areas, and concerns about how turbines would affect the view.
Despite the dropped projects, the company is still moving forward with its Quaking Aspen project.
The facility, slated for about 10,000 acres of mixed private and public land just south of Rock Springs, is expected to generate about 80 megawatts from about 40 turbines.
Cowan said the project is largely contingent on completion of the Gateway West transmission line, although EDF will likely look out for other transmission opportunities.
“It’s all contingent upon identifying transmission,” he said. “I think right now, we’re looking at a 2018 to 2021 timeline” for completion.
Calls to Wasatch Wind and Third Planet Windpower, companies which between them have previously announced three wind projects in Wyoming, went unanswered. Representatives from Shell Wind Power, the company planning a 25-turbine facility in southeast Wyoming, declined to discuss its project.
Another company, Whirlwind LLC, is keeping a Wyoming project relatively motionless.
Wold, who also represents Pathfinder, said the company’s Lonesome Bronco project north of Rock Springs is on hold.
“It’s transmission that’s holding that one up,” Wold said.
The project is expected to eventually generate between 75 and 150 megawatts of wind power.
Wold said Lonesome Bronco, like many projects, can’t move forward without a clear path to sell its product. But those paths don’t exist — at least not yet.
“There’s no transmission to get any projects to market right now,” she said. “You can spend a lot of money developing a project, but unless you have an outlet to the market, there’s a risk spending those dollars.
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| 3/20/2013 | New date set for Chokecherry state permit |
The Power Company of Wyoming plans to submit a state permit application for the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind farm project by this time next year.
Roxane Perruso, vice president and general counsel for PCW, told the Carbon County Commission during its meeting Tuesday that representatives from the PCW met with the Industrial Siting Council, a state board, to figure out a date to apply for a project permit.
The anticipated date for filing is set for March/April 2014.
PCW originally planned to file the application on Jan. 21, but decided to wait to apply to see what would happen with Senate File 49, which, if passed, would have required projects requesting a permit from the ISC to spend 25 percent of anticipated project funds during the first two years of the project.
That could have caused PCW to reconfigure the anticipated construction schedule for the wind farm because most of the funds are slated to be spent during the back half of the project.
But the state legislative session has concluded, and SF 49 appears to have died in committee.
Perruso said rescheduling the application filing wouldn’t have an effect on the rest of the project schedule.
“This is actually a very aggressive schedule,” she said.
In the next few weeks, PCW is submitting specific designs of the Sierra Madre area to the Bureau of Land Management, and engineers and architects will conduct more research on the site to make sure there won’t be any issues with the specific turbine locations, Perruso said.
That research will take place from March 2013 to June 2014.
BLM is scheduled to conduct a site-specific analysis on the Chokecherry area from November 2013 to September 2014.
In January 2014, PCW plans to apply for county building permits for the Sierra Madre wind area, and then in August/September 2014, the company will apply for permits for the Chokecherry area, Perruso said.
If all permits get approved and all dates are met, initial construction should begin by fall 2014, Perruso said.
“We will do our absolute best to meet this schedule,” she said.
The Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind farm would consist of 1,000 wind turbines in 229,076 acres of public and private land in two sites south of Rawlins. The project is expected to generate a total of 2,000 to 3,000 megawatts of renewable power.
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