TRIBUNE EDITORIALS
Reduce obstacles in Montana to wind power
Tribune editorial board
Montana has a strong energy future ahead of it, with stiff winds, lots of sunshine, coal-fired and natural gas-fired electricity and more. Conserving electricity remains an excellent option.
We'd like to see Montana continue as a strong energy producer and exporter of power. Montana is beginning to form a group to look at ways for the state to meet a 2030 deadline to cut carbon emissions by 47 percent under a proposed federal Clean Power Plan.
One good idea is to continue to assist wind power. Montana wind farms already generate 665 megawatts of wind power, but could do plenty more, with assists from agencies and Congress. That's according to wind energy proponents who chatted Tuesday with the editorial board.
"Renewables clearly have a role to play," said Jeff L. Fox of Bozeman, Montana policy manager for Renewable Northwest. He said wind power from Montana could help provide new electricity for Northwest utilities if one or two Colstrip units eventually close. And Colorado's Tom Darin, senior director of Western state policy for the American Wind Energy Association, noted Montana is considered among the top 10 states with an ability to provide wind power to states affected by the Clean Power Plan.
Ways to help what may become a blooming wind-energy industry in Montana would include:
• Congress renewing production tax credits for wind energy, a subsidy that has helped spur the industry so far. Rather than continuing to approve short-term extensions of the credit, it would be more prudent for Congress to pass a long term renewal of the subsidy, with a gradual phaseout. That would allow wind-power businesses to more easily plan their investments in a commodity that's readily available east of the Rocky Mountains.
• Eliminating a fiscal bottleneck on a 500-kilovolt transmission line that begins at Colstrip and runs west. At Townsend, the charge to transmit power along the line jumps so high that no one wants to pay the price, according to Fox. The result: 184 megawatts of capacity on the line have been "unused for more than 20 years." Wind energy backers have tried to get the federal Bonneville Power Administration, which sells cheap hydropower to customers, to reduce the rate, to no avail. We think it makes sense to reduce that rate, which could be used by wind or solar farms, or other users who need transmission.
• Upgrade the 500-kilovolt line that runs through Townsend. The same path would be followed, and 500 to 600 megawatts of power could be added; a new substation would be needed west of Missoula. One estimate for the BPA's share of the line upgrade was $141 million; Fox said BPA did "a lot of foot-dragging" after a wind firm, Gaelectric, planned a wind farm at Judith Gap and asked for an upgrade in 2010. BPA still hadn't finished an impact statement in 2014, when Gaelectric gave up the project.
We'd like to encourage BPA to do more to improve transmission of electricity in Montana. The agency should cut its excessive pricing to free up 184 MW, and we also like the sound of the upgrade. Assistance from Montana's congressional delegation to improving power transmission in the state would be helpful.
Montanans need energy, and so do more populous Western states. Let's be thoughtful about how we move forward.
— Tribune editorial board