GOING WITH THE WIND AS A BIGGER SOURCE OF CALIFORNIA POWER STATE ELECTRIC BOARD BACKS $94.2 MILLION LINE IN TEHACHAPI.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

California's electricity-management board has endorsed construction of a $94.2 million power line regarded as the first step in expanding Antelope Valley's wind-energy farms as much as sevenfold.

With a post-energy crisis state law ordering utilities to get 20 percent of their electricity from ``renewable'' sources by 2017, state officials say the Tehachapi area has the potential to grow from 600 megawatts of wind power to as much as 4,500, with another 400 megawatts in Los Angeles County.

``It's an important resource for California,'' said Stephanie McCorkle, director of communications for the California Independent System Operator, which manages the flow of electricity along California's power grid.

State energy regulators this spring called for an orderly, logical, and phased expansion of the transmission system serving the Tehachapi wind farms, which are hindered from expanding by the lack of a way to get more power out to the state power grid.

``Tapping into that potential will require more lines than just that first leg,'' said Nancy Rader, executive director of the California Wind Energy Association.

Running 26 miles from Valencia to a substation west of Lancaster, the 500,000-volt line would draw power first from an entirely new wind farm proposed in the foothills south of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, according to state documents.

A later extension would run high-power lines to the Tehachapi Mountains to serve the area of existing wind farms, officials said.

The Valencia-West Lancaster line still requires approval from the California Public Utilities Commission.

While the Independent System Operator board in its decision Thursday told Southern California Edison to proceed with the design and environmental studies, Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric have objected to financing power lines serving wind projects.

The utilities want the wind energy companies to pay for lines, saying it would be a waste of customers' money for utilities to pay for a line to a proposed wind farm that ends up losing out on production contracts.

The proposed west Antelope Valley wind farm, which has not been approved by Los Angeles County officials, is envisioned as providing 200 megawatts - enough to power 100,000 to 200,000 homes at full wind speed - through about 110 to 130 giant turbines spun by the Antelope Valley's plentiful winds.

``It's really early in the process,'' said Jan Johnson, a spokeswoman for wind-farm operator PPM Energy Inc., which is a part of the giant Scottish energy firm ScottishPower. ``We're really pleased with the endorsements and approvals to date.''

PPM Energy wants to have its west Antelope Valley wind farm, called the Fairmont project, operating by December 2006, in part to capture expected federal tax credits, state documents show.

PPM has proposed another 200 megawatt wind farm between Tehachapi and Mojave that it wants to have operating by December 2007. A second company has proposed a 300 megawatt Tehachapi-area wind farm for operation by December 2006, records said.

If built, those farms would essentially double the maximum wind-energy output of the Tehachapi area, which is already dotted with thousands of turbines and, according to the American Wind Energy Association, is the most productive wind-energy area in California.

While the California Public Utilities Commission has identified a possible 4,500 megawatt maximum output for new wind farms in the Tehachapi area - enough to power 2 million to 4 million homes - the inherent nature of wind power means the average output would be far less.

Unlike a natural-gas power plant, a wind farm can't be called on to boost output at a time of need. Instead, when wind power is sending electricity into the power grid, reserves of other types of generation must be kept available in case the wind stops blowing, state officials said.

During the peak of last week's record demand for electricity, for example, the Tehachapi windmills were putting out about 35 percent of their maximum capacity.

State officials said they are able to manage the drawbacks of wind-generated electricity, which on the positive side won't experience fuel price hikes or cause pollution - other than the sight of them on mountaintops and hillsides.

``We're making it work,'' McCorkle said of accommodating wind power.

The route for the proposed Valencia-West Lancaster power line has not been established. The line may follow an existing power line route and involve modifying or replacing the existing towers, said a Southern California Edison spokeswoman.

``This is something we've been working on for a number of years,'' Southern California Edison spokeswoman Alis Clausen said. ``We have lots of environmental work to do. We have to analyze several alternate routes. We have to scope out the costs. We have a huge amount of work do do.''

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) Rows of windmills in Tehachapi currently generate about 600 megawatts of wind power. The wind farms could build up to creating 4,500 megawatts for the power grid.

(2 -- ran in AV edition only) State regulators have called for an expansion of the transmission system serving the farms, made up of windmills like this one.

(3 -- ran in SAC edition only) Rows of windmills in Tehachapi currently generate about 600 megawatts of wind power. If expanded, the wind farms could build up to creating 4,500 megawatts for the power grid.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer