Wind Catcher Project Faces Opposition
‘Incredibly innovative’ Wind Catcher project faces opposition
By William W. Savage III, NonDoc.com Editor in Chief
More than an hour into discussion of Public Service Company of Oklahoma’s Wind Catcher project application today, Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett tried to summarize the question before him.
“Does this benefit PSO’s customers or does it harm PSO’s customers long term?” Hiett asked rhetorically in a Corporation Commission courtroom packed with Wind Catcher supporters and lawyers representing opponents. “Really the question is not so much, ‘What does it do for X community or what does it do for one part of the state, the question is, ‘What does it do for PSO’s customers?’”
To hear PSO attorney Jack Fite tell it, the 800 General Electric 2.5 megawatt turbines planned for the Oklahoma panhandle would be a critical “hedge” on the price of natural gas over the next 25 years for the company’s customers.