Oklahoma electric companies looking at wind power

<br>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Three of the four largest electric companies in Oklahoma are getting closer to harnessing the wind. <br><br>Western Farmers Electric Cooperative is the closest to adding wind power

Monday, March 10th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Three of the four largest electric companies in Oklahoma are getting closer to harnessing the wind.

Western Farmers Electric Cooperative is the closest to adding wind power to its portfolio. The company plans to start a 64-megawatt wind farm northwest of Lawton this spring.

Zilkha Renewable Energy of Houston is developing the project and will sell the generated electricity _ enough to power 20,000 homes _ to Western Farmers.

Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. and Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority of Edmond also have announced plans to buy electricity from 50-megawatt wind farms. The two utilities are accepting offers from companies to develop the projects.

American Electric Power-Public Service Co. of Oklahoma has not announced plans to buy wind-generated power, but its subsidiary, AEP Energy Services, develops wind farms.

The company has developed three wind farms in Texas and owns the rights to about 50 sites in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas.

``From a corporate perspective, we're very aggressive in going after wind power sources,'' said Jeff Rennie, a spokesman for the Oklahoma utility.

Advancing technology has helped drive down the cost of wind-generated electricity by more than 81 percent in about two decades. Wind power cost about 32 cents a kilowatt-hour when it first became popular in 1981, but prices now range from 4 cents to 6 cents a kilowatt-hour.

A federal tax credit, which is scheduled to expire at the end of the year, can lower the charge to just more than 2 cents _ rivaling the cost of more traditional coal- and natural gas-fired generators.

The state's four largest electric utilities said they pay from 2 cents to 4 cents a kilowatt-hour for natural gas-powered electricity and from a fraction of a penny to less than 2 cents for coal-powered electricity.

Despite its affordability, wind power has its limitations. Generators work only when the wind is blowing.

``Wind is unscheduled and intermittent,'' said Brian Hobbs, director of enterprise management at Western Farmers. ``You can forecast when you think it is going to blow, but you don't really know until after the fact, when you will have wind.''

Oklahoma and surrounding states have more than enough wind to meet energy needs, but they don't always have wind at the right time. Wind is most prevalent in the spring when energy needs are lowest. And the hot August afternoon is when wind is less likely to come sweeping down the plains.