Wind's up for energy industry

A hard wind is blowing - and it's kicking up a lot of energy.

In fact, the U.S. wind energy industry is on track to install a record 2,750 megawatts of generating capacity this year.

That will produce about as much electricity as is used by the entire state of Rhode Island and help strengthen energy security, according to the American Wind Energy Association, which released its third-quarter market report this week.

"To strengthen our energy independence we need safe, domestic, and inexhaustible energy, and wind power provides just that," said Randall Swisher, the association's executive director.

In Southern California, no company is more committed to wind energy - and alternative energy sources in general - than Southern California Edison. SCE is the nation's leader at meeting customer needs with renewable power. Last year, 17 percent of SCE's overall energy was produced by renewable power. That number is expected to be between 16 percent and 17 percent this year.

"We have more than 1,000 megawatts of wind contracted," Stuart Hemphill, SCE's director of renewable and alternative power, said. "We're doing all we can to get more, including building a transmission line to Tehachapi." That area is important because it has about 4,500 megawatts of untapped wind potential, according to Edison spokesman Gil Alexander.

"Our projection for our 2006 power mix includes about 3 percent of all the energy we send to customers coming from wind-generated sources," he said. That includes wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and small hydro sources, Alexander said.

The nation's wind farms currently save over a half-billion cubic feet of natural gas per day and help reduce the supply pressure that's driving up natural gas imports, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

"Every megawatt-hour of domestic, inexhaustible wind energy from our heartland is a megawatt-hour that doesn't burn fuel, and that strengthens our energy security, protects our environment, and creates good jobs," Swisher said.

To produce wind power, a large tower with a propeller is installed in an area where there are strong, steady winds. As the wind blows the propeller around, it turns a generator, which produces electricity. The more towers, the more power. The larger the propellers, the more electricity can be generated.

"We do have quite a bit of wind power from Tehachapi already," Hemphill said. "We also get it from San Gorgonio near Palm Springs. Those wind turbines you see while driving to Palm Springs are under contract to Edison."

Swisher said Edison's use of wind energy is important. "They have been one of the leading purchasers of wind power for many years," he said. "The role of the electric utility is absolutely essential because they are the ones who provide market demand."