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Wind Energy Becomes Better Bargain

HOUSE, N.M. -- With every turn of the giant blades of the 136 windmills here on the edge of a mesa, the stiff desert breeze is replacing expensive natural gas or other fuel that would have been burned in a power plant somewhere else.

Wind energy makes up a fraction of electric generation in the United States, but the rising price of natural gas has made wind look like a bargain; in some cases, it is cheaper to build a wind turbine and let existing natural gas generators stand idle. Giant, modern wind farms like the New Mexico Wind Energy Center here may become more common if prices continue to rise.

The center, 150 miles east of Albuquerque, opened in the summer of 2003 and is one of the largest in the country. The power is bought by the state's largest utility, Public Service of New Mexico, and provides about 4 percent of that company's electricity a year. But in March, when demand is low and winds are usually strong, the project generates 10 percent.

The state has established a goal of using 10 percent renewable energy by 2011. The governor, Bill Richardson, a former secretary of energy, has said that New Mexico can become "the Saudi Arabia of renewables."

Across the country, the increase in gas prices has made a fundamental difference in the purchasing decisions of utility companies, said Michael A. O'Sullivan, senior vice president of FPL Energy, which owns and operates the New Mexico center.

"Gas prices helped get -- pardon the pun -- the wind at our backs," he said in a telephone interview from the company headquarters in Juno Beach, Fla.

But it is not without its problems. "One of the things the wind folks do not talk about is when the wind blows," said George E. Kehler, manager of alternative and renewable energy at Dow Chemical.

So if wind energy becomes more popular, output reliability may be a concern.

By MATTHEW L. WALD