Appalachian Power Nails Down 225 MW in Wind Power

Appalachian Power Co. is asking state regulators in Virginia and West Virginia to approve 225 MW of new wind generation from facilities located in Ohio and West Virginia.

The Roanoke-based electric utility, which serves roughly 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee, already has 375 MW of wind generation, with another 120 MW coming on line in 2018. With the approval of the two new projects, the company would have a total of 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy (wind and hydro).

“We are continuing to transition to an energy company of the future and further diversifying our power generation portfolio. These acquisitions move us in that direction,” said CEO Chris Beam. “Direct ownership and operation of these facilities will give our employees new experiences in the planning, production and delivery of power from diverse generating assets as Appalachian continues to add renewable resources in the years ahead.”

The 175 MW Hardin Wind Facility will be located in Hardin County, Ohio, and the 50 MW Beech Ridge II Wind Facility will be in Greenbrier County, W.Va. Both wind projects are under development by Invenergy, LLC.

Bacon’s bottom line: I wondered why Appalachian, the bulk of whose service territory resides in Virginia, would acquire wind properties based in far-away Ohio. Spokesman John Shelpwich gave the following response:

Appalachian Power operates in both Virginia and West Virginia. Our customers share in plants in both states… hydro and natural gas plants here, coal plants in W.Va. Historically, we have also owned or partly owned plants in other states (generally coal) too. In this case, these two facilities were proposals that came out of the RFP we issued in 2016 for wind generation with a primary requirement being that the new plant had to be interconnected with PJM. Both of these are.

We had a number of proposals in response; these two — and one other that was also approved will be in Indiana that we will not own, but will purchase its output by long-term contract — provide our customers the best deals. (I will note that it has been hard to get a sizable wind facility constructed in Va. so far).

If you recall, the RFP for utility scale solar we issued earlier this year calls specifically for construction to be within our service territory in Va. or W.Va. We received numerous proposals for that RFP too and are reviewing the best opportunities.

The key sentence: “It has been hard to get a sizable wind facility constructed in Va. so far.”

The problem here is not obstruction or foot-dragging by Virginia’s electric utilities. Appalachian wants to own Virginia-based wind power. A big part of the challenge, I suspect, is the paucity of viable utility-scale wind sites. Also, wind farms in the mountains are strung along ridge tops, almost invariably stimulating resistance from locals who don’t want their views marred. If Virginians want more wind power, we may need to take a look at how local zoning codes empower NIMBYs and hamper wind development.

Another lesson: If you like wind power, you’d better like the transmission lines that enable electrons in Ohio and Indiana to flow to Virginia. As renewable wind and solar make gain an increasing share of Virginia’s electric power mix, Virginia needs to build out a highly flexible grid that can handle the intermittent power generation from those sources. That means investing in “smart” grid technologies. And it could well require building more transmission lines.