Alternative windpower ownership structures: Financing terms and project costs

Comparing Statewide Economic Impacts of New Generation from Wind, Coal, and Natural Gas in Arizona, Colorado, and Michigan

“…The body of literature about wind's economic development impacts and the uncertainty of gas pricing is growing (Wiser and Kahn 1996), as well as several modeling tools to calculate economic impacts (Goldberg et al, 2004;Costanti 2004). The methodology for this report was initially developed for a paper describing the economic benefits to Colorado published in the Global WINDPOWER 2004 conference proceedings (Tegen 2004).…”

“…As stated, it is fair to assume that a utility-owned plant will likely be partially tax exempt in Colorado, but a privately owned power plant will be required to pay county property tax (Wiser and Kahn 1996). In Michigan, we safely assume that wind projects will not pay property taxes until 2013.…”

Wind Energy: Progress and Potential

“…This in turn means that wind's economics are highly sensitive to the interest rate charged on that capital. One study found that if wind plants were financed on the same terms as natural gas plants, their cost would drop by nearly 40% (Wiser and Kahn, 1996).…”

Revisiting the 'Buy versus Build' decision for publicly owned utilities in California considering wind and geothermal resources

“…With few exceptions (Wiser and Kahn 1996), renewable sources of supply have received similarly scant attention in the buy versus build debate.…”

“…4 Our analysis is not intended to provide precise estimates of the levelized cost of electricity from wind projects and geothermal plants; nor is our intent to 1 The August/September 1993 issue of The Electricity Journal (Volume 6, Number 7) was almost entirely devoted to the "buy versus build" debate. 2 First described in Wiser and Kahn (1996). 3 The California Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority has recently adopted a hybrid buy/build approach for wind, in which the Authority plans to purchase power from privately owned wind plants for the first 10 years (in order to capture the federal production tax credit), with an option to buy the plant in year 11 (once the tax benefit is exhausted).…”