USA - 16-yr pact approved by US State Department to purchase 82 MW of wind energy annually from PPM Energy

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) on Tuesday approved a 16-year pact to buy 82 megawatts of wind power from PPM Energy, which is enough to power 39,000 homes a year, the LADWP said. PPM Energy of Portland, Oregon, concentrates on wind power and is a U.S. subsidiary of British utility Scottish Power Plc. The LADWP will pay a fixed rate of $63 per megawatt hour for the term of the agreement. The power will be generated at the Pleasant Valley Wind Energy Center in Uinta County, Wyoming. LADWP wants to reach a goal of 20 percent of its power generated using renewable sources by 2010.

PPM and the LADWP are working toward agreement of two more wind power pacts, said Rod Deaton, LADWP general manager, in a press statement. Those two projects will bring about 100 MW of wind power generation into the LADWP portfolio, the statement said. PPM Energy has more than 1,700 megawatts of wind energy either in operation or under construction with plans to increase that figure to 3,500 megawatts by 2010. Its major customers include the LADWP, and utilities in Seattle; Sacramento, California; Pasadena, California; and Anaheim, California as well as investor-owned utilities Xcel Energy and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and federal Bonneville Power Administration. Scottish Power two weeks ago said it would spend about $3 billion to build up PPM's wind power business.