[Chat] More on wind power

[Emil Volcheck]

Here's more information on how you can buy wind power.

There's a mention below of Chesapeake WindCurrent, which
is a local company, http://www.windcurrent.com .  They
run wind farms in West Virginia, which is upwind from
Maryland.

--Emil

----- Forwarded message from Michael Philips <michael.philips3 at verizon.net> -----

Delivered-To: volcheck at speakeasy.net
From: "Michael Philips" <michael.philips3 at verizon.net>
To: "Emil Volcheck" <volcheck at acm.org>,
	<WarhorseNW at aol.com>
Cc: <pdelaquil at comcast.net>, <jwalton at jhsph.edu>, <ciparker at jhsph.edu>,
...
Subject: RE: Confusion about NewWindEnergy, was Re: CCAN Solar Energy Supplier
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 19:51:59 -0400


If I may jump in here,

I am a consultant to Community Energy Inc., among others.  This is a somewhat
esoteric subject and many people get it wrong.  The reality is that when you
turn on your lights, you don't know whether the electrons are coming from a
nuclear plant, a coal plant, or a wind farm.  Now the wind-generated electricity
in our region is coming from wind farms in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. They
are sending electrons into the grid and you are consuming some whether you
explicitly sign up for them or not.

But it costs a little more to generate electricity with wind than with other
sources.  So that extra cost has to be covered somehow.  That's where
enlightened consumers come in.  By paying a little extra, you are helping cover
the cost of the existing wind farms and thus allowing wind developers to prove
to financial institutions that wind power can cover its costs, so additional
wind farms can be financed.  The way that enlightened consumers pay that little
extra through the purchase of "renewable energy certificates," also known as
tradeable renewable energy certificates, green certificates, or green tags.
They are denominated in kilowatt-hours or megawatt hours and you sign up for
however many you want.  When enough of these are sold, the wind farm is said to
be fully "subscribed."  That is, the extra cost of the wind farm compared to a
fossil fuel plant has been covered.

Community Energy Inc. sells wind power in the form of these renewable energy
certificates.  So does WindCurrent.  So do the utilities. Because you cannot
direct an electron from a wind farm to your house, and because you cannot tell
which power plant any given electron comes from, all wind power is sold in the
form of renewable energy certificates.  The certificates specify which wind farm
your wind purchase comes from and when the wind power was generated.  In order
to ensure that consumers are not simply paying more for electricity without
getting wind power, independent certification bodies, such as the Center for
Resource Solutions in San Francisco, operate verification programs to make sure
that every kilowatt-hour of wind that you buy was actually generated by a wind
farm.

So that's it in a nutshell.  There is one other issue, and that is whether you
should buy local certificates, thereby supporting the development of local wind
farms, or national certificates, which help support the wind industry generally.
Some companies in the DC-Baltimore area sell certificates from wind farms in
Texas and elsewhere.  The certificates are cheaper than local ones because it is
windier in Texas and thus wind power is more economical there. The important
thing is that you buy local certificates, whether from Community Energy or
someone else, and thus support the local wind industry and the improvement of
the local airshed.


Michael Philips
Energy Ventures International
P.O. Box 5844
Takoma Park, MD 20913
USA
Tel: +1 (301) 891-1010
Email: michael.philips3 at verizon.net




CCAN Folks,

Mr. George Durazzo seems to imply that NewWindEnergy can actually
supply wind power to Maryland residents.  I read about the program,
and this is not precisely what is happening.  If you buy
kilowatt-hours from NewWindEnergy, you are not actually receiving that
power.  You still pay the same charges on your utility bill to BGE,
and BGE still burns as much coal to supply the electricity for your
home.  What you are receiving from NewWindEnergy are Tradable
Renewable Certificates (TRCs), which certify that the specified amount
of power you bought is being generated from renewable sources, not the
actual electicity itself.

It appears to me that this program is a means of subsidizing renewable
energy production -- not a way to make the electricity you consume any
greener.  At least not at the moment.

George -- is this what you mean when you refer to buying wind power?

Incidentally, NewWindEnergy is in Pennsylvania, but there's a
Baltimore company, Chesapeake WindCurrent, whose webpage is

    http://windcurrent.com/

that offers a similar arrangement.  I think if you want
to do this, it would be good to support a local company.
The prices are the same as NewWindEnergy, although it looks
like WindCurrent requires a higher minimum monthly purchase
to get the favorable rate of $2.50 per 100 kWh.


--Emil

3040 Guilford Ave.
Baltimore, Maryland.

--
Emil Volcheck
volcheck at acm.org
http://acm.org/~volcheck





----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
Emil Volcheck
volcheck at acm.org
http://acm.org/~volcheck