Public Power - January/February 2008 - (Page 24) RTOs&Renewables ble ewa Ren olio 1. f port ards d or stan its f red xc gy 2. Ta d ener n wi ed d prov ogy an l . Im 3 no l tech capita r e low sts co Factors Boosting Renewable Energy Use Advocatestransmission organizations claim of organized markets operated by regional Spees and Lave calculated that 66 percent of wind electricity is produced in RTO It is true that states in RTO areas gener- states that have only 30 percent of wind rethat renewable energy resources are becoming a larger source of electricity production ate most of the renewable electricity source potential. Wind development grew produced in the 48 contiguous states, “even significantly after organized markets began because of the organized markets. “The development of competitive whole- for renewable types in which RTOs have operating. However, the development of gesale electricity markets, operated by regional less than half of the potential resources,” othermal, wood, and waste biomass technologies predated the existence transmission organizations has creof RTOs, they said. ated a fertile environment for the “The Carnegie Melon analysis of Three factors aside from RTO growth and expansion of renewable power resources, as well as the data showed that “membership formation had a major influence on the growth of wind, the Carnegie alternative approaches to meet enMellon researchers said. The first is ergy demand,” the PJM in an RTO impedes the state adoption of renewable portfoInterconnection said in a paper development of the wind resource, lio standards in the late 1990s and published last year. early 2000s. The second is a sharp But researchers at the Carnegie rather than helping it.” uptick in new wind capacity just Mellon Electricity Industry Center prior to the expiration of federal reached the opposite conclusion after performing a detailed statistical analy- said Kathleen Spees and Lester Lave of production tax credits for wind energy. sis of the use of renewable energy and how Carnegie Mellon. “It seems reasonable to Third is improved technology in the late that correlates to membership in a regional hypothesize that RTOs might promote re- 1980s and 1990s, which lowered costs of retransmission organization. Their findings newables.” Nonetheless, the Carnegie newable resources, Spees and Lave said. “For some areas, the lower costs have show that other factors, such as state policies Melon analysis of the data showed that to promote renewables, are much more “membership in an RTO impedes the de- passed the critical threshold that made these closely correlated with the renewable en- velopment of the wind resource, rather than investments profitable; in fact, capital costs decreased from almost $2,500 per kilowatt helping it.” ergy generation. BY JEANNE LABELLA 24 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2008 PUBLIC POWER
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