Vancouver USA port to tap wind farms for power

Vancouver USA port to tap wind farms for power The Washington state Port of Vancouver has reshaped itself over the past several years into a serious player in the niche market of importing wind turbines.
   Now port officials are taking advantage of all those turbines producing clean energy to green up its own act.
   The port authority said it has signed an agreement with Green Mountain Energy to buy 60 percent of the port's electricity from wind farms in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington.
   Technically the port is not buying the power directly from the wind farms, but instead is paying $18,018 for wind farm energy credits from Green Mountain to offset 60 percent of the port's annual electricity usage.
   The wind-generated power purchased under the credits will be fed from the wind farms into the general power grid for sale like any other power. This means the port will be entitled under the credits to purchase an equivalent amount of power from the grid whenever it needs the electricity.
   The year-long contract with Green Mountain, which specializes in such power credit transactions, will be reviewed annually.
   When the port started importing wind energy components in 2005, it handled 83 complete wind turbines, increasing to 127 complete turbines in 2006. Last year, the port handled the components to build 305 complete wind turbines, and an additional 120 towers.