PURPA Wars

Deck: 

Why Idaho is fed up with renewables.

Fortnightly Magazine - August 2012
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Dear Wind: We Need to Talk.

The ad was hard to miss. It ran right across the top of Idaho Power’s web site in late July. And if you clicked, you would have seen the rest of the message, including this:

“The huge influx of industrial wind projects forced onto our system is raising customer rates and threatening the reliability of our electrical grid. Federal law requires us to buy energy from renewable energy projects, but we don’t think Idahoans should be required to pay inflated rates for electricity that is often not needed at all.

“That’s why we asked the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to change the way prices are set for these projects. We invite you to be heard on this important issue.”

Elsewhere on its web site, Idaho Power touted its brand-new, 300-MW Langley Gulch combined-cycle gas turbine generator—placed online June 29—and its key role in helping the utility meet an all-time record utility demand of 3,245 MW, recorded July 12, between 3 and 4 p.m., when wind generation on the Idaho Power system had contributed only 14 MWs.

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