Falling prices for wind turbines will bring down the cost to build a new large wind farm in Columbia County, We Energies says.

"Market conditions for the procurement of wind turbine equipment have changed considerably" since the utility first submitted its proposal to the state Public Service Commission, We Energies said in a filing with state regulators.

We Energies is proposing a 90-turbine wind power project, the Glacier Hills Wind Park, northeast of Madison. It would be the largest wind farm in the state.

"The cost of wind turbine equipment accounts for the bulk of capital costs for a wind development, and because wind turbine prices have dropped significantly, so has the overall cost of the project," the filing says.

The drop means the project would cost a maximum of $413.5 million, depending on the size of wind turbines selected, We Energies says. That's a savings of more than $112 million from the $525.6 million cost for the project when Glacier Hills was announced last fall.

The utility also said it has reached an agreement with Vestas to supply turbines for the wind project, if the development is given the go-ahead by state regulators.

The drop in prices for wind turbines is linked to the recession and a slowdown in wind power development caused by both the economy and tight credit markets.

"When economic conditions and credit markets took a turn for the worse late in 2008 and early in 2009, turbine vendors, like manufacturers generally, came under pressure and got more aggressive with their pricing and terms, including, for the first time, being willing to lock in pricing," We Energies said in a filing.

Though prices have come down, some of the escalation seen in wind project pricing in recent years has held. The project is still more expensive than the 88-turbine Blue Sky Green Field wind farm in Fond du Lac County, which We Energies opened last year. That project cost $295 million.