Commission approves wind power contract

BOISE – Utility regulators Friday approved an agreement for what will become the state’s largest wind power project.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission accepted the proposed 20-year contract between Idaho Power and Montana-based Fossil Gulch Wind Park.

Under the agreement, Idaho Power will purchase 10.5 megawatts of power generated from seven wind turbines. The wind farm will be located about 31/2 miles west of Hagerman.

One megawatt is enough to power about 650 homes for one year.

Idaho Power’s interest in wind power has been increasing during the past few years.

In April, the commission approved Idaho Power’s first wind power agreement with United Materials. Idaho Power contracted to purchase 9 megawatts of power from a wind farm in that state.

The Hagerman project will not be the first wind power operation in the state. A private residence between Boise and Mountain Home has two towers and sells excess energy back to Idaho Power.

However, the amount of power produced there is less than a megawatt, company spokesman Dennis Lopez said.

Idaho Power also recently asked wind power companies to submit proposals for generating up to 200 megawatts, Lopez said.

Wind will make up about 5 percent of the company’s estimated power generation capacity by 2013, with a capacity to generate up to 350 megawatts of power.

The Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act, passed by Congress during the energy crisis of the late 1970s, requires that large electric utilities offer to buy power produced by qualifying small power producers or co-generators.

It also sets a formula for power prices.