By
Robert Pore
The
Grand Island Independent
Posted
Apr 24, 2008 @ 03:04 PM
CROFTON
—
Nebraska Public
Power District and Crofton Hills Wind Farm announced Thursday that they have
signed a 20-year power purchase agreement that will result in the construction
of a second wind farm between Bloomfield and Crofton.
The 42-megawatt
Crofton Hills Wind Farm, to be located south of Crofton, will become
operational in 2009 and is expected to annually produce enough energy to supply
an amount of electricity equal to that consumed by approximately 13,000
Nebraska residences in a year. The project is a direct result of NPPD’s efforts
to expand participation in wind development by issuing a request for proposals
last July for wind projects up to 100 megawatts in size.
That request yielded 10 proposals from seven different developers that NPPD
eventually pared to three projects for further negotiations. The Crofton Hills
Wind Farm is the second project of its type to reach a successful agreement
with NPPD. Under terms of the agreement, Community Wind Energy Transmission
(CWET), LLC, will operate and manage the facility, and NPPD will purchase the
output. The final negotiated price is proprietary, but compares favorably with
the cost of NPPD owning and operating such a project and with energy prices in
the open market.
As it has with its 60-megawatt Ainsworth Wind Energy Facility, NPPD will be
working towards partnering agreements with Omaha Public Power District, Lincoln
Electric System, Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska, and Grand Island
Utilities for shares of the electric output of the Crofton Hills project.
John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union that led the coalition of
organizations in support of the Community Based Energy Development (C-BED)
legislation, said, “We applaud the Crofton area landowners, Knox County public
officials, NPPD Board of Directors and management, the Cedar-Knox County Rural
Electric, the Legislature, Governor Heineman, and all the organizations
involved in the landmark C-BED legislation and the C-BED projects that have
been developed so far. Nebraskans worked together to fashion a unique wind
development approach that will help our public power state develop our enormous
wind resources in the most economically beneficial way, while enhancing the
benefits of our unique public power state. This is collaboration at its best.”
Gale Lush, chairman of the American Corn Growers Foundation (ACGF), the
organization that contracted with C-BED wind farm pioneer Dan Juhl to develop
this project, stated, “This locally-owned wind farm model offers Nebraska
farmers and landowners the economic structure to deliver another form of
competitive, sustainable, renewable energy to Nebraska consumers, without depleting
our precious water resources and without using fossil fuels for power
generation. This benefits public power, our environment, and our rural
communities.”
According to NPPD
president and CEO Ron Asche, the power purchase agreement between NPPD and CWET
is the second of its kind in Nebraska. The first was the previously announced
80-megawatt Elkhorn Ridge wind project, also north of Bloomfield.
“This community-based project will be a rural economic development engine for
the Crofton area, for the Knox County tax base and for the Nebraska economy. We
are grateful to Juhl Energy Development, Inc., of Woodstock, Minn., whose
expertise and industry leadership led us to this success. We acknowledge the W.
K. Kellogg Foundation for their support of our community-based wind energy
development work and the benefit it provides to rural America,” said ACGF Chief
Executive Dan McGuire.
Crofton Hills Wind Farm will provide clean, renewable energy, and will provide
an economic boost in rural Knox County. The project will cost approximately $69
million and will generate more than $3.2 million in personal property taxes to
local governments over a five-year period. During the construction period
approximately 50 individuals will be performing work, with the facility expected
to have four permanent employees when operational. The Crofton Hills Wind Farm
is projected to generate over $300,000 in annual revenue related to land leases
and revenues to project owners.
“I am so pleased to have the opportunity to bring the rural economic
development benefits of the C-BED wind development model we have used so
effectively in Minnesota to Nebraska,” said Project Developer Dan Juhl. “I
believe this model is a perfect fit with the Nebraska public power system. It
harnesses the private sector wind energy incentives to put public power on a
level playing field with private sector based states while maximizing the rural
economic development benefits of wind energy development.”
Ownership in the facility is structured according to the Nebraska Rural
Community Based Energy Development Act with all landowners where wind turbines
are being sited offered an ownership option. The act requires that at least 33
percent of the power purchase agreement payments over the 20-year agreement
flow to Nebraska residents.