OREGON REGULATORS BACK WIND

Oregon regulator slams BPA wind curtailments; Curtailments of wind farms' output in the US north-west have been heavily criticised by the state energy regulator for Oregon in legal papers filed this week.
John McKenna, 20 July 2011 (Windpower Monthly)

"The Public Utility Commission of Oregon (OPUC) claims that the Bonneville Power Administration’s ‘anticompetitive and discriminatory’ policy of limiting wind-power output at times of oversupply of hydropower risked wrecking the wider region’s investment plans for renewable energy."

[OPUC submission to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC):] "Markets cannot properly function if a party can abandon its contractual obligations and unilaterally use its transmission system to impose its own policies to benefit a preferred group of customers…"

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"The submission urged Ferc to make BPA immediately revise its curtailment policy and was made in response to a 113-page complaint filed with FERC by a group of wind-farm owners…against BPA's actions, which, at the time of the filing, had already stopped around 74GWh of output.

"…BPA also filed papers with Ferc…[highlighting its] statutory obligation to protect fish, which prevents it spilling too much water over dams at times of high water levels and necessitates the production of extra hydropower. It also points out BPA’s inability to sell wind-generated electricity during times of low demand and claims that Ferc has no authority…Ferc has not yet responded…BPA is no longer requesting wind-power shutdowns this year and last month claimed that since the curtailments started on 18 May just 6.7% of electricity generated by wind farms had been affected."