[The following is the electronic edition of _Wind Energy Weekly_, Vol. 12, #536, 3.1.93, published by the American Wind Energy Association. For more information on the Association, contact AWEA, 777 North Capitol Street, Suite 805, Washington, DC 20002, USA, phone (202) 408-8988, FAX (202) 408-8536, email 3304640@mcimail.com] ONTARIO HYDRO SHOULD CONSIDER EXTERNALITIES, ECONOMISTS SAY Canada's Coalition of Environmental Groups for a Sustainable Energy Future has released a study urging that the environmental damage caused by Ontario Hydro's future power plants be "monetized" and included with financial costs in power planning. The three-volume study, "Environmental Externalities Valuation and Ontario Hydro's Resource Planning," was prepared by Resource Insight, Inc., a utility economics consulting firm, for a hearing on the utility's future plans. Residents of Ontario paid Ontario Hydro roughly $8 billion for electric power last year, according to the report, and had environmental and health effects of power generation been included, the tab would have been roughly $3 billion higher. "The result of not counting these costs in planning," the Coalition said in a news release, "is high pollution levels and a utility that flounders in making rational decisions for environmental protection." A recent decision by Ontario Hydro to cut its energy conservation budget by $1 billion, the release said, "created over [$500 million] in environmental damage [from generation that would otherwise have been reduced] . . . " The report is the first in a series of approximately 50 studies produced for the Coalition with $3 million in intervenor funding provided by the Ontario government in 1990. The Coalition includes Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, the Nuclear Awareness Project, Bruce Nuclear Awareness, Bruce Peninsula Environmental Group, Darlington Alert, Durham Nuclear Awareness, Millbrook-Cavan Environmental Watch, and Ottawa Nuclear Awareness. EPRI: EUROPE TAKING SLOW, STEADY PATH TO WORLD WIND DOMINANCE The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) featured a technology status report on wind energy in a recent issue of its publication EPRI Journal. This is the fifth in a series of articles reprinting the text of that report, entitled "A Growth Market in Windpower" and written by Leslie Lamarre. Winds of Europe The use of incentives in European industries has proceeded at a much more even pace [than in the U.S.], illustrating a steadily increasing commitment to windpower. And while the world's attention in the 1980s was fixed on the hills of California, it appears that Europe will soon steal the show and far surpass the United States in turbine installations. According to Michael Marvin, director of government and public affairs for the American Wind Energy Association, "By the end of the decade, unless current trends change, Europe will dominate world production of wind-generated electricity." Government policies are the driving force behind Europe's increased commitment to windpower. The ministries of energy, environment, and research and development in various countries have established long-term energy and environmental policy plans. Combined, the European programs call for the installation of at least 4,000 MW of wind capacity by the year 2000. The United States, meanwhile, has set no national goals for the implementation of wind technology. Among the European countries expected to be most active in windpower this decade are England, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. Significant activity will also be occurring in Alberta, Canada. The OEM Development Corp., which compiled a soon-to-be- published EPRI report (TR-101391) on wind technology in Europe, points out that the European commitment to wind projects in the 1990s more than doubles the 1,600 MW of wind capacity that exists in the United States. "While some of these goals may not have the force of law, it is clear that European governments are serious about wind and are attempting to give this and other renewables every chance to be implemented on a significant scale," according to Jamie Chapman, author of the OEM report. The European Wind Energy Association projects the installation of 11,500 MW of wind capacity by 2005, 25,000 MW by 2010, and 100,000 MW by 2030. What's prompting European countries to leap so confidently onto the wind bandwagon? They are reacting to factors similar to those propelling the U.S. market for windpower: uncertain oil prices, mistrust of nuclear power (a growing unease that was precipitated by the Chernobyl accident), and increasing damage to the environment from the use of fossil fuels. [Edgar] DeMeo [head of EPRI's solar and windpower programs] points out that environmental concerns clearly predominate. "A number of European countries have come to the conclusion that they need to do something not only to reduce acid rain but to minimize greenhouse gases as well. Wind is a favorite option for them because most of the European countries have good wind resources and because of the status of the technology." DeMeo sums up the difference between the European and the U.S. perspectives today as follows: "In this country, utilities are trying to decide whether they should use windpower and under what conditions it is going to make sense. In the European countries, the decision to use windpower has already been made by the government and the people, so the question the utilities there face is how they are going to use it, not whether they are going to use it." One strength of the European movement is that it represents many sectors of society, including government bodies, utilities, academic institutions, and manufacturers. The Commission of the European Communities and the national government programs are the major forces supporting advances in the technology -- facilitating and even mandating the involvement of utilities, demonstrating new turbines, and stimulating the market. Of great significance with respect to utility participation, European utilities -- unlike their counterparts in the United States during the 1980s -- have been allowed to receive tax credits and other financial incentives. The European government programs have also been of major benefit to European turbine manufacturers. In fact, so strong is governmental support that subsidies have led to the development of machines far more expensive than those produced in the United States. While U.S.-manufactured turbines now cost less than $1,000/kW installed, European machines typically cost 50 percent more and weigh about twice as much. Although European turbines may not be cost-competitive with American-made models, some of them offer extremely attractive features, points out DeMeo. In particular, he says, several machines produced by Danish manufacturers offer high reliability, and a German manufacturer has produced a variable-speed turbine similar to U.S. Windpower's. The heavy subsidies in Europe -- inspired by governmental desire to foster domestic industry -- certainly make the European market hard to break into. But U.S. Windpower did just that last summer, winning a bid to sell 25 MW of windpower to a utility in Holland. MINNESOTA ORDERS UTILITY TO REFUND INTERCONNECTION FEES A Minnesota farmer who installed a single 35-kW wind turbine last July has been awarded a refund for fees charged by the local utility cooperative for interconnection to its power lines. In a recent ruling, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission ordered Minnesota Valley Power & Light Cooperative to cease and desist from billing Stan Nelson for "transformer charges" associated with a transformer upgrade from 10 kVA to 37 kVA. The coop had planned to levy a charge of $41/month in perpetuity for hardware deemed to cost $677. The Commission also ordered the cooperative to pay attorney fees. The ruling comes as good news for turbine owners in the midwestern state. Wind turbine manufacturer Minnesota Windpower, which sold and installed the machine, has sold nearly 50 of its Windharvester 35-kW units to farmers in recent years. Minnesota law includes net energy billing (under which all power produced by the turbine is fed into the utility grid and fully credited against the owner's power use) for wind energy systems under 40 kW in size. Jon Erik Kingstad, the attorney representing Nelson, has represented Minnesota Windpower and its customers in a number of interconnection cases. With this case concluded, he has turned his attention to a similar conflict in which Lyon-Lincoln Electricity Cooperative charged two separate turbine owners $1,800 and $2,400 for interconnection, including fees for a new transformers, meters, service loops, and labor. Kingstad, experienced in utility regulation issues, considers the fees unfair. "These coops do not charge interconnection or service upgrade fees for any other similar new service to customers," he argues. "In the past, when farmers needed upgrading for new dairy pumps the utilities haven't complained, for example." Utilities have argued that wind turbines are fundamentally different from other equipment, however, since they do not increase power demand and utility revenues. Kingstad said he feels positive about future prospects for individuals purchasing wind turbines: "The law is on our side, and down the road the precedent set here with these first few cases will pave the way for quicker resolution with less effort on the part of wind turbine owners. I am very confident." NGOS ORGANIZE WORLD NETWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY Non-government organizations (NGOs) around the world have taken the first steps toward formally organizing an International Information Network for Sustainable Energy (INforSE) following last summer's Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. According to information posted by European NGOs on the EcoNet electronic network, the groups held an organizational meeting in Madrid last fall and are now working on securing startup funding for INforSE from the Danish government. North American contacts, the article said, are Nancy Hirsh of the Energy Conservation Coalition and Ken Bossong of Public Citizen. INforSE has set up a "bulletin board" area on EcoNet called energy.network which will carry English and Spanish versions of documents from the group. This information resource will be available worldwide through EcoNet's partner networks in the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), which includes electronic systems in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Scandinavia, Russia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Brazil, and Uruguay. For further information, contact Nancy Hirsh, Energy Conservation Coalition, 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 600, Takoma Park, MD 20912, USA, phone (301) 891-1100, fax (301) 891-2218, or Ken Bossong, Sun Day Project Director, Public Citizen, 215 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20003, USA, phone (202) 546-4996, fax (202) 547-7392. [ed. note: INforSE's energy.network is available electronically to members of the Wind Information Network (WIN) on EcoNet. For information on joining WIN, contact Craig Culp in the AWEA Washington Office.] SPACE BBS - Menlo Park, CA - 10 Lines - BoardWatch Top Ten BBS 415-323-4193 (v.32bis) - 4gB (50,000 files) + Wx, UPI News, etc.