TXU would take all the energy the wind farm generated at any given time, reducing the output from its natural-gas-fired plants and cutting emissions.

Consolidated Edison announced today that it had reached an agreement to buy electricity from a natural-gas-fired plant in upstate New York at lower rates than it had negotiated previously, saving ratepayers $300 million over five years.

The cost of wind power varies widely with the quality of the windmill site, but prime locations in the United States generate electricity at well under 5 cents a kilowatt-hour, making them cheaper than natural-gas-fired plants at current gas prices.

Expectations of stable or lower gas prices set off a building boom of natural-gas-fired plants, with some 200,000 megawatts of capacity built from 1997 to 2003 - far more than what was needed to cover expected growth over 10 years.

Mexico has sidelined construction of 10 reactors in favor of developing natural-gas-fired plants.

The Mint Farm Generating Station in Cowlitz County is a combined-cycle natural-gas-fired plant capable of generating 310 MW of electricity.

The Long Island Power Authority received bids today from three consortiums to convert the Shoreham nuclear power plant to a natural-gas-fired plant by the mid-1990's.

The result is that wind can be used to save fuel in fossil-fired plants, but the coal- or natural-gas-fired plants have to be built anyway, according to system planners.

The $500 million natural-gas-fired plant was proposed by Pacific Gas & Electric.

Britain learned this lesson recently, putting a halt to issuing new permits for natural-gas-fired plants, whose construction was surging, while it determines the impact on its battered coal industry.