Author Archives Laura Arnold

IndyStar: Renewable energy users say state’s regulatory climate favors big utility companies in Indiana

Posted by Laura Arnold / July 14, 2013 / Posted in Uncategorized / No Comments

Written by Chris Sikich, Jul. 12, 2013 3:56 PM

http://www.indystar.com/article/20130712/BUSINESS/307120040/Renewable-energy-users-say-state-s-regulatory-climate-favors-big-utility-companies An on-line video is also available.

Third-grade teacher Donya Bengert and her students learned a real-life lesson when they undertook a yearlong project to build a wind turbine in 2010 at their small Southern Indiana school.

They raised $25,000 from business grants and penny-jar donations. They won governmental and school board approvals. But when they were ready to install the turbine, Vectren Energy charged a $12,000 fee for a new transformer it said was necessary to handle the additional energy load.

“I almost had a heart attack,” Bengert said. “Oh my gosh, we spent almost a year raising all this money, we’ve got it all and we’re ready to go.

“But Vectren didn’t want to do it.”

The project’s installer, Brad Morton of Evansville-based Morton Solar & Wind, has filed a complaint with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. He alleges that Vectren has violated state code the past eight years to stop or slow a number of renewable energy projects on which he has worked.

[Download and read the Complaint filed by Morton Solar Against Vectren HERE: 44344 Verified Complaint Morton Solar_2013-06-21_13032-PLED-COMPLAINT - SIGNED ]

Vectren disputes the allegations, saying the utility follows state regulations and works to ensure renewable projects are safely and reliability added to the electrical grid.

[Download and read the Answer filed by Vectren HERE: 44344 Vectren Answer to Morton Solar Complaint_2013-07-12]

Renewable energy advocates and contractors are watching the case closely as they try to convince state policymakers and utilities that Indiana needs to further encourage cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels such as coal. They say the filing could have a wide effect on how much money utilities charge and how long they can take to process applications to fully connect solar and wind projects to the electrical grid.

Indiana ranks 39th lowest of the states in the percentage of renewable energy it generates. Only 3 percent of the power consumed in Indiana is from renewable energy, 9 percentage points behind the national average.

Kerwin Olson of Citizens Action Coalition, an advocacy group for energy policy and utility reform, said there is a clear resistance in Indiana to renewable energy.

“There are a lot of questions about the policy level at the Statehouse, at the regulatory commission and with utility business plans about whether they are really doing enough to enable renewable energy,” Olson said.

The complaint

Morton has been in the solar and wind power business since 2005. He has been butting heads, he says, with Vectren just as long.

He says Evansville-based Vectren, a gas an electric utility that serves more than 1.1 million customers in Indiana and Ohio, has impeded people from putting up solar and wind units. The complaint alleges the company failed to meet state deadlines on some projects, required unnecessary but expensive equipment upgrades on some projects, and in general, dragged its feet on projects beyond state deadlines.

He says Vectren is motivated to stall or stop the spread of renewable energy because projects cut into the utility’s profit margins.

“Vectren thinks everyone will want to do this (install solar or wind power), and they are trying to keep it hidden, out of sight and out of mind,” Morton said. “That’s their game plan.”

Vectren spokeswoman Chase Kelley disputes the utility has broken the law and denies allegations it has tried to protect profits.

Connecting renewable energy products to the grid, she said, is not as simple as “flipping a switch and turning it on.” The company, she said, must do on-site visits and conduct studies to ensure the projects are safely and reliably connected to the power grid. The utilities move as fast, she said, as each customer’s pace requires.

“We work one on one with customers ... and we follow all of the rules and regulations set forth by the IURC.”

Laura Arnold, president of the Indiana Distributed Energy Alliance, a nonprofit that promotes renewable energy, said Morton raises compelling issues about Indiana utilities’ roles in connecting projects to the grid. She said it’s difficult to determine whether other solar and wind contractors face resistance from the state’s five major electrical utilities and assortment of nonprofit co-ops. Many solar and wind providers, she said, will not complain formally out of fear of ruining their business relationships with the utilities.

Morton, she said, is risking the chance of further disintegrating his business relationship with Vectren by openly confronting the utility. In most instances, she said, solar and wind providers decide it’s easier to work with utilities to reduce installation costs or “just bite the bullet and pay.”

After reading Morton’s complaint, she has begun to contact providers to explore the issue.

Indiana's status

Utilities point out that Indiana has made strides with regulations governing renewable energy. The state updated its net-metering and interconnection policies two years ago, ensuring customers who install renewable energy systems receive billing credits for the excess energy they produce.

Ed Simcox of the Indiana Energy Association, a nonprofit that supports utilities, said such efforts are likely as much change as the utilities are ready to support now. Despite increased federal environmental regulations, he said traditional energy sources such as coal still are the best way to keep rates low and to produce large amounts of reliable power. Simply put, he said, it’s not sunny and windy all of the time.

“We have gone up the scale a bit in Indiana on the overall average cost, but we are still in the lower half when viewed from the 50 states, even with the cost of retrofitting (coal power plants) associated with EPA mandates,” he said.

But advocates say Indiana has been slow in fostering renewable energy.

■The state doesn’t require utilities to use renewable energy. Thirty states have standards for the amount of renewable energy utilities must use. An additional seven states, including Indiana, have legislated goals for renewable energy generation. Without enforcement, though, Indiana’s goal has meant little. No Indiana utility is participating in the state’s voluntary goal to generate 10 percent of power from renewable sources, according to state regulators.

■The state doesn’t allow a bidding process for new power plants that would draw renewable energy providers.

This year, the General Assembly opted against requiring a competitive open bidding process for the construction of power plants, opting instead to study the issue. Utilities choose who will build and operate new power plants, but some wind-energy companies believe they can win the opportunity to build power plants if given the chance in a neutral and open process.

■The state lacks regulations to promote renewable energy among utilities and financial incentives that would better encourage home owners and businesses to invest in alternative power and hook up to the power grid. Other states offer an assortment of incentives that include tax credits, installation rebates and payments.

Rep. Dan Forestal, D-Indianapolis, is building momentum to bring a program to Indiana currently offered in nearly 30 other states to offer government-backed loans to businesses that want to become more energy efficient. The loans would be paid back with savings from energy bills.

■Indiana law is too vague in addressing in which circumstances utilities can charge customers — and how much money they can charge — for equipment upgrades when installing renewable energy systems. And, advocates say, specific timelines written in Indiana regulations regarding the connection of renewable energy systems to the power grid are loosely enforced.

Morton and Vectren have a preliminary hearing scheduled July 25.

Morton is asking Vectren to pay him unspecified financial damages. The utility also faces state fines if the commission rules it has violated the law. But the main impetus in filing the complaint, he said, is to ensure Vectren adheres to state laws regulating approval of renewable energy projects.

Regulatory commission spokeswoman Danielle McGrath said such cases often raise questions that lead to broader discussion and policy changes. The commission, she said, would have no comment on the specific case because it’s under way.

Arnold said more clearly written state regulations would protect energy customers.

“If you are someone who is interested in purchasing and installing a renewable energy system yourself, these are more bureaucratic obstacles to face,” Arnold said,” and it’s a financial barrier.”

Challenges ahead

At Haubstadt Community School near Evansville, the $12,000 fee Vectren proposed for a transformer to handle electrical load from the wind turbine would have been a project killer. When Morton and the school of slightly more than 300 students protested to the state, regulators advised the fee was not legal.

Chase said Vectren and the commission agreed the school should not be charged under state regulations. “We quickly made the change,” Chase said, “and they were able to avoid that fee.”

Bengert said it took weeks to resolve and she worried the wind turbine, powerful enough to perhaps power her classroom on a windy day, never would be installed.

“It took us quite a while to get over that hump,” she said. “I even told them, it’s a school. It’s kids doing this. My God, give me a break.”

The school fought and got its project through.

But Morton’s complaint and the larger issue over the state’s regulatory climate persists.

Gov. Mike Pence and state lawmakers decided to study the state’s energy needs this summer. Office of Energy Development Director Tristan Vance said a committee will examine renewable power in Indiana. The group’s membership and specific agenda have not been set. The study could lead to legislation in 2014.

Vance is aware of Morton’s filing, though he said he has not examined it closely. The committee, he said, will examine the interaction of utilities and renewable energy providers.

“Grid integration for renewable energy is something that we want to look into more,” he said, “as we diversify our energy resources in the state.”

Follow Star reporter Chris Sikich at Twitter.com/ChrisSikich. Call him at (317) 444-6036.

Editor's Note: This story appeared on page E1 in my home delivered edition of the Indianapolis Star on Sunday, July 14, 2013.

Wind backers eye expanded bidding: Wind backers eye expanded bidding (by Chris Sikich and Stephen Beard/The Star)

Are big wind farms losing their appeal in Tippecanoe Co. (IN) and elsewhere? Why?

Posted by Laura Arnold / July 09, 2013 / Posted in Uncategorized / No Comments

Wind energy momentum winds down in, around Tippecanoe County

Economics, annoyance factors add up

LAF N Wind Farms

Windmills on Bruce and Ginger Buchanan's property in Fowler are a part of the Fowler Farms, LLC wind project. / Abigail Kaeser/Journal & Courier

Written by Emily Campion

Those looking to the horizon in southern Tippecanoe County for spinning wind turbines will have to wait a little longer.

EDF Renewable Energy, a third-party operator that maintains wind farms and has recently been working to develop its own, is terminating its lease agreements on nearly 10,381 acres in southeast Tippecanoe County after seven years of communication with property owners.

The company informed its lessors in an annual meeting on June 19 about the shutdown of Tippecanoe Wind Project. However, property owner and lessor Allen Orr said the reasons he heard were somewhat vague.

Orr, who leased his 185 acres to EDF, said during the annual meeting in 2012 company officials alluded to an economic problem.

“They didn’t say much, only that they were sort of on hold, I think, because I don’t think they had a buyer for the power they were going to generate.”

EDF released a statement Wednesday about the termination of the project.

“Throughout the development process, a vast number of studies and reviews are done in preparation for the eventual installation and operation of the project. Recent study results had indicated potential siting impacts associated with set-backs for multiple species of birds and bats found in the area. This in conjunction with future projects of the anticipated transmission availability date led us to release the participants of the Tippecanoe Wind Project.”

Orr leased his land for $10 an acre annually toEDF.

Orr said the introduction of the project in 2006 didn’t shake too many residents and neither has the termination.

“As far as most of us are concerned, so be it,” Orr said. “We cooperated and they couldn’t make it fly.”

As of 2010, Indiana held 11th place in the nation for wind energy capacity and third fastest in growth. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, total output of electricity in Indiana wind farms could power more than 300,000 households or 12 percent of the state’s 2,473,000 households.

Bruce Buchanan said he allowed wind turbines on his property for the sake of his family's future economic security. / Abigail Kaeser/Journal & Courier

Familiar site to some

Currently, there are more than 400 wind turbines in Benton County and at least 300 in White County.

Bruce Buchanan, 65, of Fowler has been living in his two-story, red-brick home in the middle of 6,000 acres of farmland since 1972. He had grown accustomed to the silence of the farm by the time British Petroleum began installing his turbines in 2008.

“When you walked outside, it was peaceful and quiet, really. And do you know what we have now? We have generators talking to us,” he said with a chuckle. “They are mechanical beings. And if you don’t want to talk to them, they still talk to you.”

But Buchanan and his wife, Ginger, adapted for the sake of future economic security.

“The family I leave behind will need to make a living and pay bills like I do. In my mind, if you chose not to be a part of the project, I don’t think you were using your economic sense because you about have to do this,” he said, adding that in a county as small as Benton — about 8,400 people — it’s an unmatched opportunity for revenue.

Buchanan receives about $5,000 annually for each of the seven average-sized towers and about $7,500 for each of the four Clipper towers — turbines with blades 30 feet longer than average, he said.

With 11 towers on his property, that’s $65,000 in extra revenue for the corn farmer.

Growing disenchantment

About the time Buchanan watched semitrailer after semitrailer haul the blades of the wind-capturing behemoths onto his property, the region seemed taken by the notion of clean energy.

Since then, however, some Hoosiers have become disenchanted with the humming giants, seeing more negatives than positives.

One example is Clinton County, where the county’s board of commissioners voted recently to keep the county “wind farm free,” at least while they’re on the board.

E.ON, a power and gas company with facilities in Europe, Russia and North America, brought the project to the board of commissioners on July 1.

County Commissioner Skip Evans said he and his fellow board members spent the past month speaking with constituents and gathering information about the impact of wind farms in preparation for E.ON’s proposal.

“I went to wind farm meetings in Tipton County, and the residents hate them,” Evans said.

Since then, Evans said he’s received more than 100 calls telling him “don’t give in.”

Meanwhile, he has had only five calls in favor of wind energy projects.

Common complaints from landowners who live around the turbines include the constant hum, shadow flicker and sometimes blades flinging ice. On top of the annoyance factor is the impact on birds and bats.

Communication factor

Chad Martin, renewable energy Extension specialist for Purdue University, said their concerns about the humming sound are valid. Secondly, there has been, at times, a lack of communication between companies harvesting the wind and landowners.

“The industry is so new here in Indiana,” he said. “Not all places in the state are well-equipped to understand how wind farms integrate within their community.”

That’s why Martin and other wind energy experts at Purdue are doing research to address and validate their concerns.

“The noise issue is one that is prevalent among opposition,” he said. While the blades can be adjusted to minimize the noise, engineers also must account for external variables, such as the turbines proximity to obstructions in the field causing noise to bounce around.

Possibility of a sour relationship between the landowner and the energy companies also can intimidate farmers from engaging in business.

Martin said locals and wind energy corporations need to look no further than White County for an example of a successful working relationship.

“The wind energy developer said ‘we will accommodate you,’ ” he said. The company addressed landowners’ questions and made adjustments.

Specifically, landowners requested the use of a linear placement of the turbines as opposed to the scatter pattern used in Benton County that can interrupt the flow of farming.

“They did not treat it as a behind-the-door, under-the-table communication,” Martin said. “They want to become good neighbors.”

Exelon campaign to end Federal Wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) is flawed; Designed to protect nuclear and fossil fuels

Posted by Laura Arnold / July 05, 2013 / Posted in Indiana Michigan Power Company (I&M) / No Comments

Raising prices behind closed doors

By Gabe Elsner - 07/04/13 08:00 AM ET

A quiet campaign to undermine one of the country’s most successful drivers of private-sector energy investment has slowly been gaining steam. Led by Illinois-based utility Exelon, the effort is designed to end public investment in the wind energy industry, while protecting taxpayer handouts to nuclear power and fossil fuels and raising consumers’ electricity prices.

Exelon’s basic argument is that the Production Tax Credit often causes electricity prices to “go negative,” meaning that operators of more expensive power production (like Exelon) must pay for electricity instead of selling it. When this “negative pricing” happens, the argument goes, utilities like Exelon lose money.

Unfortunately just about every aspect of this argument is false. Exelon’s priority is to force consumer prices to rise, and eliminating the PTC is key to achieving that priority in a world where cheap natural gas is out-competing nuclear power.

Here’s why:

First, as the Center for American Progress pointed out in a recent analysis, wind never set the “day-ahead” market price for energy in 2012 according to the pricing data from the electricity market where Exelon operates. In the “real-time” market, wind energy set the market price for electricity in Exelon’s service area only 0.5 percent of the time while natural gas and coal set the price 89.2 percent of the time. Exelon’s most basic claim that wind power is causing the electricity market to “go negative” is simply false.

Unhelpfully for Exelon, an executive from its subsidiary Constellation Energy admitted this reality, when he told an audience at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in June that Exelon’s stock price falling by two-thirds is directly related to the 50 percent drop in natural gas prices in recent years. As the Constellation executive explained, “nuclear generation was looking phenomenal,” but now it struggles because of cheap natural gas. He made no mention of wind or the PTC, and with good reason.

Second, and perhaps most galling, Exelon has come right out and said that higher consumer electricity prices are desirable because they’ll help raise the company’s profit margins. Specifically, in May, Exelon told investors and released a statement that company was “positioned for unparalleled upside from improving (i.e., more expensive) power markets, coal plant retirements and other factors.” That’s because nuclear generators are not flexible and their costs are too high to be profitable as long as gas is cheap. Weakening a cheaper rival like wind makes it that much easier for Exelon to get back in the black.

It gets even worse for customers if Exelon succeeds in rolling back the PTC, because wind energy is set to save customers billions of dollars. A recent report from Synapse Energy Economics found that, if wind energy doubled in the PJM market (which includes Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington, DC) over the next few years, it would produce a net benefit of about $1 billion in 2021 and $6.9 billion in 2026 by driving down PJM energy customer costs by $1.74 per megawatt-hour. Increased wind energy would put billions of dollars back in ratepayers’ pockets, but would cost inflexible power producers like Exelon significantly. [IndianaDG notes that the I&M service territory in Indiana is also part of PJM.]

Perhaps this is why Exelon is going so far as to collaborate with fossil fuel-funded anti-clean energy groups like the American Energy Alliance (AEA). AEA’s President Thomas Pyle is a former Koch Industries lobbyist and the group’s parent organization has received funding from ExxonMobil and foundations run by the fossil fuel billionaire Koch brothers. In a recent Bloomberg story, an AEA spokesman explained that Exelon is communicating with the group on a weekly basis “about how best to fight another extension of the tax credit.” Clearly, Exelon is abandoning its earlier claims to be a “green” utility and opting for the bottom line by backing political attacks on wind.
Exelon’s customers recognize what the company is doing, and they oppose it. The Checks & Balances Project commissioned a poll last December showing high levels of support for wind energy and ratepayer antipathy toward Exelon’s anti-PTC campaign. In that poll, 54 percent of Exelon customers opposed ending the PTC, and that opposition rose to 70 percent if ratepayer dollars were being used to fund anti-PTC lobbying.

In the months since, Exelon’s agenda – to end the PTC and profit from higher consumer prices as a result – has become even more explicit. One wonders how strongly residents in the states noted above would react if they knew more about what was happening behind closed doors on Capitol Hill.

Whether your priority is low energy prices or expanded clean energy – or both – it is essential to recognize Exelon’s efforts for precisely what they are: profit-driven misrepresentations designed to squeeze out a cheaper competitor - wind. That’s worse than hypocritical. That’s manipulating the political system for Exelon’s economic gain at the expense of the company’s own customers.

Elsner is the director of The Checks & Balances Project, a pro-clean energy watchdog group focused on holding government officials, lobbyists, and corporations accountable for their actions related to energy, government spending, public health and the environment.

WSJ: Solar Groups Seek Tea-Party Support; Why do some Republicans support electric utility monopolies?

Posted by Laura Arnold / July 03, 2013 / Posted in Uncategorized / No Comments

July 2, 2013, 10:05 p.m. ET

Solar Groups Seek Tea-Party Support

Renewable-Energy Firms Seek Conservative Backing as Utilities Seek to Trim Price They Pay Homeowners

By RUSSELL GOLD

As the solar-power industry skirmishes with utilities over the growth of the home solar-panel business, it is enlisting a new political ally: tea-party activists and conservative groups.

Renewable-energy firms have traditionally sought help from the political left by touting the environmental benefits of greener power. But as the industry grows in states with heavily Republican populations, such as Arizona and Georgia, it is trying to broaden its base of support by framing the dispute on solar reimbursement rates as one of free markets and greater consumer choice.

Sandy Huffaker for The Wall Street JournalGene Westemeier of Sun City, Ariz., fears his utility may boost what he pays for nighttime electricity use.

Whether the tactic works will be seen in coming months, as Arizona and Georgia weigh regulatory changes for rooftop solar installations. Arizona could lower what utilities pay residential customers for excess power generated by solar panels, while Georgia could set requirements to promote solar.

In Arizona, where the solar industry and the state's largest utility, Arizona Public Service, are battling, a statewide trade group representing home solar-installation companies has launched a group called Tusk—Tell Utilities Solar won't be Killed—headed by Barry Goldwater Jr., the son of the late conservative icon. It uses an elephant as its logo, much like the GOP, and has turned up political pressure on the elected state panel that sets energy policy.

In television commercials and online ads and videos, Mr. Goldwater has argued that the utility is trying to "extinguish" solar power and preserve a monopoly on electricity production.

Local utilities "ought to be encouraging people in Arizona to put these on their roof," he said, "not discouraging it." Mr. Goldwater also argued that Republicans should support solar power because it provides consumers with a choice, similar to vouchers for public schools.

Mark Schiavoni, an executive vice president at Arizona Public Service, a unit of Pinnacle West Capital Corp., PNW -0.64% said its 18,000 customers with rooftop solar are effectively being subsidized by 1.1 million other ratepayers. He sees the solar industry's appeal to free-market conservatives as a ploy. "They are trying to protect their business," he said, "and they will fight tooth and nail" to prevent any rule changes on how much homeowners are paid for excess electricity.

Solar-panel owners generate on average about 70% of the electricity they need, pulling the remainder from the grid at night and on cloudy days, APS estimates.

APS credits those customers on their bills for the solar power they generate, based on high retail power prices, which wipes out most of the customers' utility bill, other than a $16 monthly service charge, according to APS. But the utility believes the credits are too generous and don't fully reflect the value of the solar power, which APS believes is lower, said APS spokesman Jim McDonald.

Mr. McDonald declined to detail the new payment system APS plans to propose to state regulators next week, but said it would "resolve the issue in a way that's fair and sustainable" for all customers.

So far, letters to the Arizona Corporation Commission are running heavily in favor of not changing the existing rules.

Gene Westemeier agreed in 2012 to pay $70 a month for 20 years to a California firm that installed 16 solar panels on the roof of his Sun City, Ariz., home. He said the benefits he gets from the extra power he transfers to APS more than makes up for that cost, but fears APS may try to increase what he pays for nighttime electricity use.

The solar industry's stepped-up involvement in state politics comes as it experiences rapid growth in the U.S. Home installations across the country rose 53% in the first three months of 2013 compared with a year earlier, according to a solar trade group, as prices for solar panels have fallen dramatically.

The torrid growth hasn't gone unnoticed. The Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade group, said earlier this year that solar and other rapidly growing technologies could create a "significant future disruption to the utility business model."

In Georgia, where the state's Public Service Commission is considering a 20-year plan for future electricity generation submitted by Georgia Power, the state's largest utility, the solar industry is recruiting tea-party activists to push for rules that would boost rooftop solar.

It wasn't a hard sell, said Debbie Dooley, co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party, who explained that tea-party activists were already livid about plans by the unit of Southern Co. SO -0.65% to pass the cost overruns of a nuclear power plant expansion to customers.

"We believe Georgia Power is being fiscally irresponsible and we believe consumers should have a choice," Ms. Dooley said. Georgia Power said in a statement that it "listens closely to the concerns and ideas of the tea-party groups."

Lauren "Bubba" McDonald Jr., a Republican member of the state commission, said he now supports allowing more rooftop solar power than what the utility has proposed, seeing it as an issue of choice. He says he firmly agrees with the local tea party.

"I'm an old conservative and businessman," Mr. McDonald said, explaining that the energy business is changing and the future of old power sources such as coal are becoming less clear. But, he added, "I will tell you one thing: The sun will be shining, and that is free energy."

—Cassandra Sweet contributed to this article.

Write to Russell Gold at russell.gold@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared July 3, 2013, on page A3 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Solar Groups Seek Tea-Party Support.

My Indianapolis home delivered copy of the Wall Street Journal carried this story on page A3 with the headline: Excess Solar Power Rates in Dispute.

Randolph County, IN: Leader in green energy technology with new wind farm

Posted by Laura Arnold / July 01, 2013 / Posted in Indiana Michigan Power Company (I&M) / No Comments

Submitted by Rick Yencer on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 12:57pm.

By Rick Yencer

WINCHESTER, IN - Those distant wind turbines at Randolph Eastern Schools and Union City were a sign that Randolph County was ready to embrace alternative energy with a new $350 million wind farm near Modoc and Lynn.

As Greg Beumer, Randolph County economic development director explains, those turbines besides other green industries made the community a natural for the latest wind farm built by EDP Renewables North American costing around $350 million.

"This will make Randolph County a leader in green energy technology," said Beumer.

Indiana Michigan Power announced this week that the proposed Headwaters Wind Farm built by EDP would add 200 megawatts of wind power to its system over the next 29 years, That announcement came on the heels of Delaware County just deciding to withdraw rules for wind farms, and another builder, E-ON, pulling tax incentives for a similar project,

Randolph County impose wind farm rules about seven years ago, according to Bill Terrell, president of the county commissioners, as renewable energy companies began looking for a wind farm site.

Terrell said there was not alot of opposition to the development especially in a very rural areas of the county where setbacks, noise limits and other restrictions were proposed years ago. He lives near the site in southern Randolph County but is not one of leased property owners.

Indiana Michigan has been seeking proposals since February to add more wind power to its system. Actually, the utility agreed in a consent order negotiated with the federal government, other northeast states and environmental groups to add 200 megawatts of new wind energy. And the utility was only looking at plans for projects in the late stage of development. [See previous post describing AEP Settlement Agreement http://wp.me/p37Lx8-14V]

Besides settling a dispute over alternative energy, Indiana Michigan insisted the wind farm would bring jobs and long term economic development to the area.

EDP Renewable will create more than 150 jobs through construction that is expected to be finished in 2014 And there will be 20 permanent jobs for its operation.

"We are excited to partner with Indiana Michigan Power to deliver clean and cost-effective homegrown Indiana electricity to more more than 55,000 homes annually," said Gabriel Alonso, CEO of EDP Renewable, a company headquartered in Spain.

EDP Renewable owns and operates 29 wind farms in the United States including the Meadow Lake Wind Farm in White County. It is headquartered in Madrid, Spain and is he world's third largest wind energy producer.

And Indiana Michigan has other wind power suppliers in Benton, Madison, Grant, Howard and Tipton counties.

Winchester Mayor Steve Coyle was excited about the development, adding that a wind turbine would be added to the city's Vision Industrial park. With Winchester now on the map with Wick's Pies and Silvertown precious metals, the green leader would help promotion and market the community to even more employers.

Beumer explained Union City led in green industry with AMP Electric Vehicles, manufacturer of electric trucks and vans, and IMPCO that manufacturers compressed gas engines.

Original article: http://www.munciefreepress.com/node/28972

Editor's note: The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) issued an order in Cause No. 44313 on June 26, 2013, for a Purchase Power Agreement (PPA) for the wind turbine proposed by the City of Winchester. See http://www.in.gov/iurc/files/44313order_062613.pdf