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A New York company that has been collecting wind data at a site in Nikiski for a year says conditions appear favorable for a 10-tower wind generation complex near the Tesoro refinery that could one day supply energy to the refinery and to the Southcentral Alaska energy grid through Homer Electric Association.

BQ Energy, headquartered in Patterson, N.Y., specializes in researching industrial areas across the country assessing there potential as alternative energy generation sites. In late 2007, BQ installed a tower not unlike a communications tower and mounted data collection devices to measure the wind every second for a year. The results from the Nikiski site look very encouraging, said BQ spokesman Paul Curran in an interview Thursday.

"We take that data to build up a curve of what likely long-term wind patterns would be," he explained. "We were surprised by the initial data. We assumed the wind would come up the inlet, but it comes down from the northeast as well. It follows the inlet up and down."

The collected data will be used to estimate the total energy available, and to figure how generating towers should be arranged and spaced. BQ envisions perhaps as many as 10 towers, each about 250 feet tall.

BQ would own the project through a subsidiary, Kenai Winds LLC. Curran said there was "a large appetite" among investors for alternative renewable energy projects even in today's grim economic climate.

"People are looking at it as long-term and steady investment," he said, though he acknowledged finding investors is not as easy today as it was a few months ago. He also noted that tax credits meant to encourage companies to start the switch to or add capacity for alternative energy sources are less of an incentive when companies aren't making as much money.

Nevertheless, BQ believes a project at Nikiski is viable and could have the 10 towers up and running in as little as two years, provided they secure contract commitments to buy the energy. Tesoro is interested, and the tower site is in close proximity to the refinery, making the complex a logical customer, Curran said.

They are talking with Homer Electric Association about connecting to the energy grid, and working with the Alaska Energy Authority, through which they hope to secure an $11.7 million state grant. The total cost of the project is estimated at $46.8 million.

Homer Electric spokesman Joe Gallagher said HEA was fully supportive of the efforts of BQ Energy in working with Tesoro on the wind project.

"We think any program or development of wind power on peninsula is for the public good and will be beneficial for everybody," Gallagher said.

Curran said there were clear advantages to wind farms supplying local energy needs. For one, once the towers are operational, there would be no fuel costs and environmental impacts would be negligible, he said.

The wind turbine towers would be made of steel and fabricated by in modular form by specialty companies Outside, then shipped to Alaska by barge, Curran said.

BQ has applied for the $11.7 million grant through the state's new Renewable Energy Grant Recommendation Program. Gallagher said HEA had submitted a letter of support for that grant.

The Alaska Energy Authority is currently soliciting competitive applications from qualified applicants. The authority will make specific funding recommendations to the Alaska Legislature in the next session, but state lawmakers will see all applications.

Curran said BQ has had some preliminary talks with companies at industrial sites elsewhere in Alaska, but has not pursued other possible wind sites on the Kenai Peninsula yet.

Hal Spence can be reached at hspence@ptialaska.net.