Public Utilities Commission Reverses Ruling Against Wind Turbines

The commission which oversees the regulation of public utilities in Boise has reversed an earlier decision regarding wind turbines.

The fight over whether or not to make power companies pay to put power generated by wind turbines back into the grid is intensifying.

The side of the fence eager to see more farms generating power is celebrating a victory on Thursday.

The idaho public utilities commission has fully approved 3 of 5 sales agreements between Rocky Mountain Power and wind developer Cedar Creek Llc, after a meeting between the two sides.

All 5 of those sales were previously rejected by the commission.

“This is kind of the compromise that came out of those meetings,” said Gene Fadness, executive assistant at the Idaho Public Utilities Commission.

The project stalled in June when the commission declined to approve sales agreements between Rocky Mountain Power’s parent company Pacificorp and Cedar Creek Llc. But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission intervened, deciding the commissioners had overstepped their bounds.

“And basically indicated to us that we should reconsider,” said Fadness.

With the revival of the projects, some farms may be moved from their original Bingham County location to the Meadow Creek Wind Farm in Bonneville County.

There is no word yet whether power rates will be affected by more turbines on the grid.

Our station tried to get some reaction from Rocky Mountain Power and the developer in charge of the Cedar Creek Wind Project. None returned our calls by the time we were on the air.