GOVERNOR

Renewables Requirements

In his 2003 State of the State Address, Governor George Pataki proposed standards that would ensure at least 25 percent of the electricity purchased in New York by 2013 is generated from renewable sources such as wind power. In 2001, Pataki issued an executive order that requires state agencies to use renewables for 10 percent of their electricity by 2005 and 20 percent by 2010.  The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has announced it will purchase up to 50 megawatts of electricity from two projects, which will be developed by Chautauqua Windpower and Windfarm Prattsburgh and completed in December. The deal, signed under a 10-year long-term contract, comprises about half of the plants' output. The rest will be sold by the two developers to private-sector customers.

Chautauqua Windpower (no website) is a subsidiary of Jasper Energy.

Windfarm Prattsburgh (no website) is a joint venture of: UPC Wind Partners, LLC, Global Winds Harvest, Inc and Natsource, LLC

Chautauqua Windpower believes that the 41.5 MW of wind power currently operating in New York avoids more than 45,000 tons of annual carbon dioxide emissions. And each installed MW of wind power stimulates about $1.2 million of capital investments. To meet Governor Pataki's goal, about 4,000-5,000 MW of installed renewable capacity will be necessary over the next 10 years. New York currently produces 17 percent of its power from renewables, with most of that coming from hydro sources.

Altogether, about 13 states have implemented renewable portfolio standards and the U.S. Congress may include such standards in the pending energy bill. One proposal would require that the United States generate 10 percent of all electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Meanwhile, many states and local jurisdictions encourage the use of renewables through such measures as tax incentives and public benefits funds. Texas is another trendsetter. State law there requires that about three percent of its energy come from renewable sources by 2009. It's already about half way there and has more than 1,000 MW of wind energy. 

Real power planning problems emerge because of the intermittent nature of wind energy, the most obvious being the need for back-up power and spinning reserves. Reliable generating units that serve in a 'backup' role for the unreliable electricity output from wind turbines must be running at less than full capacity and efficiency or running in a 'spinning reserve' mode. While operating in these modes, fossil-fueled units are producing emissions. Therefore, the contribution of wind turbines to emission reduction will be tiny, at best, and perhaps non-existent.

Land use issues are now coming to the forefront of the wind power discussion in some states. Environmentalists are protesting the 130-turbine wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound in Massachusetts. A recent study conducted by Cornell University says that if all forms of alternative energy were fully implemented, they could never provide more than half of the nation's energy. At the same time, such generating facilities would take up 17 percent of the nation's land.

The 101 NYPA wind turbines will be sited on approximately 4,100 acres, with an anticipated maximum generating capability of 151 MW during peak winds. Assuming the turbines achieve an annual 30 percent capacity factor, the wind farms will produce approximately 400,000 MWh of electricity each year. That is only 0.267 percent of the total MWh of electricity sold by electric utilities in New York State. Excluding hydro sources, wind and solar currently make up less than 2 percent of the generation mix.