Wow, Wow, Wow -- This Is Incredible -- ... Must Be Freezing Over -- Wind Turbine Project Canceled -- North Dakota, USA

Updates

January 26, 2014: I spoke too soon. Xcel has four wind farms in North Dakota on the drawing board.  

Original Post

Xcel announced it is canceling a 150 megawatt wind turbine project in southeastern North Dakota due to environmental costs of implementing the project.

Remember: Xcel was just granted a 12 percent hike in electric rates (more on that at the bottom, with link).

Data points:

• Xcel, Minneapolis-based utility, cancels plans to build 150-megawatt wind farm in southeastern North Dakota
• Decision based on: “the adverse impact this project could have on endangered or threatened species protected by federal law, and uncertainty in the cost and timing in mitigating this impact,” 
• US Fish and Wildlife Service simply expressed a "concern" that certain birds were at risk, Xcel said
• $400 million project
• Was to go into operation this year (2011)
• Partnered with EnXco, the US project development unit of Paris-based EDF Energies Nouvelles SA

My comments: the Xcel "cover story" may be 100 percent accurate. But I doubt it. Times are a-changing. Congress is not going to pass and "cap and trade" legislation and if they do, Xcel probably already meets/exceeds what they need; if not, they can pursue this project again. Xcel had already done the cost basis analysis and knew the wind farm would not be profitable when federal subsidies end; getting rate increases through the PUC would have damaged company's reputation in front of their customers. My hunch is Xcel was looking for an excuse to cancel the project and when they got the "boiler-plate" e-mail from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, they broke out the champagne. Folks, wind power is very, very expensive, and when subsidies end, it's going to get even more expensive. It's possible Xcel will just move this project down the road (where there are no "certain birds") but I would be surprised.

This decision was based on an "e-mail." It had not even resulted in any discussions between the parties (if the full story is being told); no discussion with public utility commission. We don't even know who in the US Fish and Wildlife Service signed off on the e-mail.  (We may not have heard the end of this story. A copy of the e-mail would be quite enlightening.)

Remember, North Dakota consumers had just received a 12 percent rate increase three months ago. That was a temporary increase while Xcel and ND PUC debated the higher rate Xcel needed. This whole story is quite incredible.

What Birds Most Likely At Risk?

With regard to what birds would be at risk, the most likely were the birds in the western flock of whooping cranes. I cannot find a map accurate enough to show their route over North Dakota (about midway between Texas and northwestern Canada) but their route is close enough to cause concern. Unlike other "birds of concern," these are perhaps the most well-known and identifiable by the general public. A loss of even of these rare and protected birds by a wind turbine would be a public relations disaster.  Interestingly enough, the migration is watched so closely, the wind turbines could easily be shut down for the one month that that birds would be flying through North Dakota. But if a company is really worried about migratory birds flying through North Dakota, it almost rules out the entire state for wind turbines because their actual paths would be so variable.  North Dakota is rated #1 in potential wind energy capacity.