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Wind Blows Free by Staff BPA's Journal, August 2002

BPA is freeing wind generators from a penalty in its transmission rates when they fail to deliver power as scheduled.

BPA imposes a $100 per megawatt-hour penalty on generators that schedule power over the transmission grid and then fail to deliver it because, when scheduled energy isnot delivered, BPA must make costly adjustments to keep the grid in balance and reliable. "But wind generators can't accurately predict their output consistently, so such a penalty would only discourage the development of wind projects," said BPA Administrator Steve Wright.

While wind power producers will no longer pay a penalty, they will still make up the difference between scheduled and actual generation. BPA has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve the rate change effective Oct. 1, 2002.