ABSTRACT
Catamount Energy Corporation (CEC) was formed in 1986 as a non regulated subsidiary of Central Vermont Public Service, the largest utility in Vermont. In May 2004, CEC announced a new WGE partnership with Marubeni Corp., a giant Japanese industrial conglomerate. One of the justifications for wind-generated electricity (WGE) was that the world faced considerable uncertainty in terms of its future supplies of fossil fuels, notably oil, and that this uncertainty would directly impact utilities' ability to meet future demands for electricity. Critics of WGE's economics note that wherever it is used, it is accompanied by massive state subsidies. Referring to Denmark's WGE experience, one American-based critic claimed that the Danish Energy Commission subsidizes nearly 30% of the true cost of producing wind power in that country. The company was seeking regulatory approval for the development of a 27-turbine wind farm to produce WGE atop Glebe Mountain, in south-central Vermont.
