Wind power raising hopes for clean energy

Wind power raising hopes for clean energy
TVA project poised to grow
By ELIZABETH A. DAVIS
Associated Press

Knoxville—The Tennessee Valley Authority's three turbines atop Buffalo Mountain are showing that the Southeast can rely on wind for a considerable amount of power.

Representatives of the nation's largest public utility detailed their experiences generating electricity with wind to a workshop of environmentalists, federal energy officials and regional power distributors Thursday. Plans to expand the program will move ahead this summer, TVA said.

The agency's three 200-foot-tall, rotor-topped spires started producing power last October on a ridge 25 miles west of Knoxville.

The $3.4 million turbines are the only ones in commercial use in the Southeast and can provide about 2 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 400 homes a year.

TVA soon will ask for proposals to increase the wind program at least tenfold to 20 megawatts, agency spokesman Gil Francis said.

Four undisclosed sites in TVA's region have been chosen for wind turbines, although the agency is open to alternatives, he said.

Even TVA's competitors were impressed with the wind power results. "It's clear there is a lot of initiative, a lot of movement being made in the industry to speed up the process of installing wind turbines," said Jonathan Kubler, a rate manager at Georgia Power who toured the turbine site after the workshop. Georgia Power is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Co.

TVA's turbines are a far cry from early projects tried decades ago in the Southeast that were criticized for being noisy, interfering with television reception and not working properly because of lack of constant wind.

"Our goal was to knock down the myth that wind doesn't blow in the South," said Stephen Smith, director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a co-sponsor of Thursday's conference. "Overcoming that myth is one of biggest challenges."

TVA used high locations for the turbines to better tap wind currents.

The turbines are providing about 60 percent of the power in TVA's Green Power Switch program, which provides electricity through a mixture of renewable energy sources. As of April, TVA had 3,609 residential Green Power customers who had agreed to pay a slightly higher rate to use energy from renewable sources.

Georgia Power is interested in starting a similar green power program using various renewable resources such as solar and wind power, Kubler said.

"Unfortunately, there aren't many feasible locations for wind in the state of Georgia, and so we are interested in possible partnerships with other utilities in wind development," he said.

TVA officials reported Thursday that the wind turbines experienced some early problems, ranging from lack of communication with the remote area to ice forming on the rotors.

Sensors on the rotors have been replaced twice because of defective equipment.

But TVA officials are pleased so far.

"Today it's providing most of the Green Power Switch," said Rick Carson, who oversees renewable energy operations through TVA's Public Power Institute.

Carson said TVA is hoping to conduct tests to verify that the turbines are performing at their highest capacity.

To make sure the turbines aren't disturbing native and migrating birds, scientists search the grounds for bird and bat carcasses. So far no threatened or rare flying creatures have been found.

TVA officials are working on a final version of their proposal to expand the wind program, but a final date for its release is uncertain.

"This is going to get people to do some serious thinking about wind potential in the South," Smith said.