Federal agency in Pacific Northwest ordered to change its wind power rules

New York Times : Created by Congress in 1937, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) operates all the federally owned hydroelectric plants in the Pacific Northwest. During strong storms earlier this year, the BPA faced a glut of power from its plants and from wind turbines that are connected to its grid. Sending water around the dams and into spillways would have reduced the plants’ power output, but it would also have exposed salmon to harmful levels of dissolved nitrogen. The BPA chose instead to turn off the wind turbines, whose operators lost money and federal tax credits as a result. According to a ruling issued on Tuesday by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the BPA’s decision was wrong. The BPA, said the the commission, should have kept the turbines running and instead paid its customers to take the excess power.