I'm all for renewable energy, but this sucks

[Wrinkle]

I thought it a little strange when I read that OG&E was seeking Oklahoma Corporation Commission approval/authorization for a plan to make OU 100% renewable by 2013. All it really takes is what's called a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to buy power at a given rate over a given time, and, in this case, for all renewable wind power provided by the Spirit Wind Farm near Woodward, OK.

Turns out, the OCC authorization is required because OG&E doesn't think OU should pay for its electrical usage, rather, all OG&E customers. Thus, sought a rate hike so all could contribute to OU's energy usage.

Read it here:
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/10/ou-spirit-wind-farm-agreement-reached?cmpid=WindNL-Tuesday-October20-2009

Boren does it again. Offloaded the entire campus electric bill to the people of Oklahoma (who were already paying it), so provides a huge budget windfall for OU.

I'm all for renewable energy, but this sucks.

BTW, the $270 million project cost for 44 turbines comes in at over $6 million per turbine, about three times the cost normally associated with a per turbine installation of this type.

UPDATE: In fairness, I should adjust my claim here. It appears the Spirit Wind Farm is using newer 2.3MW wind turbines. So, 44 turbines would produce about 101MW of generation capacity. These turbines are more expensive than the most commonly used 1.5MW versions. But, extrapolating a $2.1M/1.5MW turbine cost to 2.3MW comes to $3.22M/2.3MW turbine. That would make a total project cost of around $142 million. So, the stated project cost of the farm would be only about twice what the costs should be.

[sgrizzle]

It sounds like a rate hike to pay for construction of the turbines, there is nothing saying that OU wouldn't receive an electric bill still.

[Wrinkle]

It sounds like a rate hike to pay for construction of the turbines, there is nothing saying that OU wouldn't receive an electric bill still.

If they do, then it sucks twice as bad.