DWP OKs Contract to Purchase Windmill Power From Wyoming

Over the next 16 years, the city of Los Angeles could be powered, in part, by winds blowing across the Wyoming plains.

On Tuesday, the Department of Water and Power board approved a contract worth between $236 million and $280 million to buy windmill-generated electricity, increasing in a small way its commitment to renewable “green” energy.

The cost depends on how much energy is delivered.

The City Council must also approve the deal and is expected to do so in the next few weeks.

The DWP board voted 4 to 1, with the lone dissent coming from Commissioner Nick Patsaouras, who questioned whether the contract would result in the city buying other types of power not considered clean.

The firm that would provide the power is PPM Energy, which operates several wind farms throughout the West.

The company also manages the distribution of natural gas, which produces less emissions than coal-fired plants but is not considered a renewable source of power.

The electricity would be generated by wind-powered turbines at the company’s Pleasant Valley Wind Energy Center in southwest Wyoming.

The 82 megawatts would amount to less than 1% of the city’s annual energy needs, but DWP officials hailed the move as a step toward their goal of having at least 20% of the city’s power supply come from renewable sources by 2010.

DWP officials said the new contract would mean that about 6 1/2% of the city’s power would come from renewable sources. The benefit of green power is that it is emissions-free. The downside is that the wind power would cost about twice as much as power generated by a coal-burning plant in southern Utah that provides almost half of the city’s electrical needs.

“One of the key things to keep in mind is we have to balance everything with reliability and economics,” said Kim Hughes, a DWP spokeswoman.

Most private and municipal utilities are striving to meet the 20% green-power goal by 2017. At the request of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the DWP board last year moved up its deadline to 2010.

The agency has other plans for green projects, including a wind farm to be constructed near Tehachapi and the installation of solar panels at office buildings and homes in Los Angeles.