Bozeman

Bozeman company gets backing for wind project

Posted: May 8, 2010 9:46 AM

By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press Writer
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A Montana renewable energy company says
it has the backing of 10 wind farm developers to pursue a sprawling
power collection grid serving Montana, North Dakota and Alberta.
The announcement by Grasslands Renewable Energy of Bozeman came
as the company received initial approval Friday for a reservoir
project that would store excess power from the developers'
prospective wind farms.
Grasslands president Carl Borgquist says wind-generated
electricity would be used to pump water uphill to a 50-acre
reservoir on Gordon Butte near Martinsdale. When the wind stops
blowing, the water could be released to a lower reservoir - turning
hydropower turbines to keep electricity flowing.
The preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission gives Grasslands a three-year licensing priority for its
project.
As planning for the reservoirs advances, Borgquist said
financial commitments from the wind developers, which he did not
detail, would cover feasibility study costs on the company's
related Wind Spirit transmission project.
"It's a big day for us," he said. "It's not (the money) we
will need to push forward with development. But we hope to keep
continuing to make steps forward."
The combined cost of the wind energy collector system and the
pump-storage project was estimated at close to $2 billion - a steep
price given that Grasslands and other renewable companies must
compete with more traditional power sources such as natural gas.
The nation's electricity demand contracted during the recession,
even as gas gained favor among many utilities. Prices for the fuel
are low, while burning it produces fewer emissions than coal, the
power industry's longtime mainstay.
Wind power has only a sliver of the electricity market, but
demand has been rising sharply, due in part to climate change
worries.
Montana has 376 megawatts of wind power online, with another 500
megawatts expected to be built over the next couple of years, said
Tom Kaiserski with the Montana Department of Commerce.
Over the long-term, Kaiserski said the state could have 5,000
megawatts of wind power, equivalent to about 2,500 large turbines.
Most of the state's wind power likely will be exported to
growing markets on the West Coast and in the desert Southwest.
Large transmission "trunk lines" to span those routes are in
the planning stages.
Projects like Wind Spirit would link the large lines with
isolated wind farms scattered across the Northern Plains.
Northwestern Energy has a similar system planned, called the
Montana Renewable Collector System.
Two of the largest trunk lines are being pursued by TransCanada
- a 3,000-megawatt Montana-Nevada line and a 3,000-megawatt
Wyoming-Nevada line.
TransCanada Project Manager John Dunn said collector systems
like the one proposed by Grasslands would bridge the gap between
the trunk lines and far-flung wind farms. He said Grasslands' pump
storage reservoirs also could play a vital role.
"They basically help generators deliver a firmer,
less-intermittent product to the market," Dun said. "That's a
very valuable component of this renewable equation."
Power projects that could be wrapped into Wind Spirit include
four wind farm sites in Montana, two in Alberta, one in North
Dakota and three with undetermined locations, according to
Grasslands spokeswoman Amanda Larrinaga.
Citing confidentiality agreements, Grasslands would not identify
most of the developers involved. But a representative of one
company, Windmaker Energy, issued a statement touting Grasslands'
potential.
Windmaker managing partner Jeff Arcel said Wind Spirit would
"allow wind developers from different geographic areas to work
together in new ways to fully realize our potential."

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)