Section 1: Wind Farm Developer

    Blue Canyon Wind Farm was developed by Zilkha Renewable Energy of Houston, Texas. This company recently changed its name to Horizon Wind Energy. The first phase of the Blue Canyon Wind Farm went commercial (on-line) in December of 2003.
    Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC) played no role in the actual development, but is purchasing the power from this first phase. WFEC entered into a 20-year purchase agreement to buy electricity from the 74.25-megawatt wind energy project.

Section 2: About WFEC

    In existence for over 64 years, WFEC has grown into Oklahoma’s largest locally owned power supply system. WFEC is a generation and transmission cooperative that provides essential electric service to 19 member-owner cooperatives, Altus Air Force Base, and other power users.
    Through these 19 distribution cooperatives, WFEC supplies the electrical needs of more than two-thirds of rural Oklahoma, and also into parts of Kansas, Arkansas and Texas.
    With three generation plants located at Mooreland, Anadarko and Hugo, WFEC has a total production capacity of more than 1,486 megawatts, when the hydro allocation is included. WFEC owns and maintains approximately 3,700 miles of high voltage transmission line delivering to approximately 325 substations, switch stations and metering points.

Distribution Cooperatives Served by WFEC/Headquarters Location

Alfalfa Electric Cooperative - Cherokee
Caddo Electric Cooperative - Binger
Canadian Valley Electric Cooperative - Seminole
Choctaw Electric Cooperative - Hugo
Cimarron Electric Cooperative - Kingfisher
Cotton Electric Cooperative - Walters
East Central Oklahoma Electric Cooperative - Okmulgee
Harmon Electric Association - Hollis
Kay Electric Cooperative - Blackwell
Kiamichi Electric Cooperative - Wilburton
Kiwash Electric Cooperative – Cordell
Northfork Electric Cooperative - Sayre
Northwestern Electric Cooperative - Woodward
Oklahoma Electric Cooperative - Norman
People’s Electric Cooperative - Ada
Red River Valley Rural Electric Association - Marietta
Rural Electric Cooperative - Lindsay
Southeastern Electric Cooperative - Durant
Southwest Rural Electric Association - Tipton
Altus Air Force Base - Altus

Interconnection

    The Blue Canyon Wind Farm project is interconnected to the WFEC transmission system, which helps ensure the energy can be delivered and helps keep the price very favorable. Twenty-four miles of 138 kv transmission line, approximately 400 wooden poles, was constructed to connect the wind farm to WFEC’s Washita Switch Station, located 10 miles west-northwest of Anadarko. WFEC will own, operate and maintain the metering, communication, system protective devices and the transmission system to deliver the power.

Section 3: Size of Project

    The first phase of the Blue Canyon project will consist of the construction of forty-five (45) 1.65-megawatt wind turbines for a total of 74.25 megawatts. All of the electric energy produced in this phase will be purchased by WFEC. The energy produced in this phase will be enough to annually power more than 20,000 homes. The site has the potential to produce as much as 300 megawatts, consisting of almost 200 wind turbines in the future, if all phases of construction are completed.

Section 4: Location and Site Determination

Location: Northwest of Lawton and west of Apache (Near intersection of Highways 19 and 58 – Highway 19 comes out of Apache and Highway 58 goes past Lake Lawtonka and near Meers).

Site Determination: Horizon decides on specific locations for wind farms after years of gathering wind data at particular sites of interest. Blue Canyon was developed at one of the best sites in the state, according to studies performed in the area. The ridgeline’s east-west orientation, which is perpendicular to the prevailing southerly wind directions, results in one of the most energetic wind resources in the southwest. To see a map on wind sites, go to: www.seic.okstate.edu

Section 5: Wind Energy Becomes Option

Changing Times: Basically, economic issues tended to point towards other forms of energy production in the past. Now, times are changing. In the past few years, natural gas prices have risen, have become much more volatile, and are only getting worse, helping wind become more economical. In addition, the size and reliability of wind turbines has much improved in recent years, which helps the economies of wind. With this in mind, WFEC took the initiative to seek out new options to help ease the volatility of the natural gas market.
    And, even with operational obstacles, earlier capacity planning studies showed an optimal amount of wind power, if priced properly, could fit into the WFEC generation portfolio.
Wind resources were included in WFEC’s 2002 Request for Proposal (RFP) process, with alternatives to match wind generation and customer loads actively pursued in order to optimize wind power value for WFEC member cooperatives. Overall, 12 responses were received from this RFP. Following further study and evaluation, the list was narrowed to two finalists. Both were wind developers.
    Following intensive discussion and negotiation with the two finalists, WFEC opted to enter into a power purchase agreement with Zilkha (now Horizon). While the actual pricing for wind energy cannot be disclosed, it can be noted that it is less than 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, with a very low escalation rate over the life of the contract.

Positive Aspects: WFEC is in favor of wind for several reasons, including the environmental aspect that it has to offer. Due to WFEC’s fuel mix, there is an overall tendency to rely more on natural gas than some other utilities in the state. Because of this, wind power may help WFEC to reduce this dependence and the price volatility associated with it.
The locations of wind farms also have an influence. Any proposed wind project is being primarily developed in rural Oklahoma. Since WFEC’s member-owner cooperatives serve predominantly rural folks throughout the state, this type of project should be beneficial to cooperative customers in other ways as well.
    Landowners receive funds for leases of land to place the wind turbines on and typically receive royalty payments based on the energy produced as well. Property taxes are a significant benefit locally as well. It is estimated that Phase 1 of the project will pay in excess of $3 million in property taxes. If additional Phases II through IV are completed, then the tax payments would likewise increase.

Employment: During construction, the project employed approximately 100 people with six to eight full-time employees needed for operation and maintenance once the wind project became operational.
    Turbine Technology: Modern wind turbine generators are sophisticated high-tech machines designed to convert the power of wind into electricity. Electricity from each turbine’s generator is fed through power cables that ultimately connect to the wind power plant’s substation and into the main utility grid.
    Taller wind turbines with larger blades and generators are one factor in bringing costs down. The taller the turbine tower and the larger the area swept by the blades, the more powerful and productive the turbine. In addition, today’s turbines are about 97 percent reliable, which is much improved from a few years ago. The height of the turbines in the Blue Canyon project will be about 328 feet (from tip of an upright blade to the base), with a rotor diameter of over 200 feet. Each blade will be approximately 115 feet in length, with a rotor blade speed of 20 rotations per minute.

Section 6: Past Obstacles

Economics: WFEC has actually looked at wind energy for the past 10 to 15 years, but there were reasons why its pursuit was simply not economically feasible. These include:

• Primarily, Oklahoma has historically had relatively stable and low fuel and energy costs as compared to other states.
  
• Wind energy has historically been expensive and the technology not very reliable.
  
• WFEC’s existing hydro peaking and supplemental energy contract with the Southwestern Power Administration provides very inexpensive off-peak energy from existing renewable sources that WFEC wanted to ensure would not have to be restricted to support wind generation.
  
• Coal supplies over 50 percent of WFEC’s member needs, and, incrementally, coal power is priced below the cost of wind power. Again, WFEC wanted to ensure that less expensive coal generation would not be restricted in order to find a place in off-peak periods for wind power.
  
  

Operational limits: WFEC’s 3,700 miles of sparsely populated transmission lines and current 1,400 + megawatt generation and load presented unique operational problems for inclusion of wind power in WFEC’s generation portfolio. Among these problems included:

• The limited transmission capacity in remote areas of wind farm development.
  
• Steps and costs involved in cycling existing generation units to meet the megawatt fluctuation from wind farms.
  
• Ancillary service support from existing generation (regulation, voltage support, energy imbalance, etc) to supplement wind resources.
  
  

Disadvantages: Utilities are somewhat limited to how much wind can be used on their system, utilizing the technology that is available today. It must be taken into consideration that there are days when there is no wind. In the future, perhaps some type of storage technology can be developed to take and store energy produced from wind when it is at its highest and bring it back when needed.
    Being a generation cooperative, WFEC’s primary interest is meeting customer loads or demand for electricity and matching up energy to meet these load requirements, which change minute-by-minute.
One particular disadvantage is the unscheduled and intermittent nature of the wind. The intermittent nature of wind means that there needs to be other generation, typically gas-fired, standing by to follow the load and increase or decrease its production in response to changing wind conditions. And, it has to be known how much intermittent wind the system can handle and how to manage it in the most cost-effective manner.
    Another feature of wind is its tendency to be directly inverse to the load. Energy production from wind is typically at its greatest during lower energy usage times and during peak energy use, wind generation is typically at its lowest.

Section 7: Mandatory Regulations

    Wind energy is also included in ongoing legislative discussions. Several bills have been considered at the state level to encourage wind development and to establish a requirement for utilities to have a certain percentage of their power supply come from renewable energy by a certain date in the future. Even without mandates, WFEC is taking a proactive approach and has looked to add renewables to our generation mix as it becomes economically feasible for our member-owners. With the addition of wind power, some 13 to 14 percent of annual energy sales will be renewables.
    While supportive of wind and other renewable energy, WFEC does not believe that State or Federal mandates related to renewable energy are a good idea. Utilities should be allowed to incorporate renewable energy as it makes sense for the end-use customers.

Section 8: Frequently Asked Questions

The Future & Beyond....

Q: What will the wind farm look like?
A: The best way to know what what a wind farm will look like is to visit one.  Large modern turbines can be described as gentle giants with their slow graceful rotating blades but obviously aesthetics are a matter of personal opinion.  In general turbines are painted a light gray or off-white to blend with the sky.

Q: How long will the wind turbines last and what happens when the project life is over?
A: The design life of modern wind turbines is 20-plus years.  When turbines are removed at the end of the useful life of a project the wind farm will either be ldquo repowered rdquo with new wind generators or the land will be restored to virtually its original condition.  The long-term agreements with the landowners provide for restoration of the land after the project is decommissioned.


Mechanical Concerns

Q: What is shadow flicker?
A: A wind turbine will cast a shadow up to about 1 000 to 1 500 feet during the hours around sunrise and sunset. As the turbine blades turn, the shadow flickers.  The effect of shadow flicker is extremely localized and lasts for a very short period of time.  Part of the development and siting process involves performing studies to help ensure that turbines are placed in locations far enough away from homes to avoid shadow casting disturbances.

Q: Are wind turbines noisy?
A: Today's wind turbines are engineered to meet stringent noise limit requirements in Europe, where higher land use densities mean turbines are routinely installed near houses and other community buildings. The minor noise that is heard from a modern wind turbine is most generally described as a whoosh or swish sound.  It is not difficult to have a conversation in a normal tone of voice at the base of an operating wind turbine. At a distance of 1,000 feet, the audible noise from a wind turbine is typically 45 to 50 average decibels and is effectively masked by the background noise of the wind itself.  Field tests of the prospect's ambient noise level will be conducted and computer simulations will be performed to help ensure the layout of the wind farm will not be a noise disturbance to its neighbors during operation.

Q: The wind doesn't always blow. Is wind energy reliable?
A: The turbines will be "parked" when the wind is calm.  Detailed wind analysis estimates when and how fast the wind will blow on average throughout the day and various seasons of the year.  Wind studies have been ongoing at the Blue Canyon site for more than two years.

Q: Are wind turbines safe?
A: Wind energy is one of the safest generating technologies in the world. Some of the many safety features include shutdown at high wind speeds, lightning protection and humidity sensors to help prevent ice throws. The first and only wind-turbine-related death of a member of the public in the entire world was that of a parachutist in Germany who jumped into a turbine.


Agriculture and Wildlife

Q: How will the project affect land-use practices?
A: During the project design process, we work closely with the landowners to minimize disruption to ongoing land uses. Each turbine, including the gravel access road that serves it, will occupy only about one acre of land.

Q: Do wind turbines affect wildlife?
A: Local wildlife studies are conducted prior to constructing a wind project in an effort to ensure the project is developed in the most environmentally friendly way possible. Nationally recognized bird experts have already conducted multiple studies on the Blue Canyon site. Based on what is known about avian risk factors at wind power plants in North America and Europe, the types of bird species and numbers of birds that occur at the project site are not likely to be at significant risk.


Benefits of Wind Energy

Q: What are the benefits of wind energy?
A: Wind energy is a clean and safe form of energy with little or no emissions. It creates jobs while it diversifies the nation's energy base.  The growing popularity of wind power has made it the fastest-growing source of electricity generation in the world since the early 1990s.


Blue Canyon Wind Farm Brochure (PDF 192k)

Turbine Dimensions (PDF 30k)