Putting up towers and turbines, building roads between them and hooking them to the power grid can be expensive. Offering a little leeway on the front end in the form of tax relief - up to about $10 million until recently - has helped Oregon bring in the farms during the past decade.

Salt River Project announced Friday that it was considering raising electricity rates 8.8 percent, opening the next chapter in a long string of rate hikes to hit Arizona consumers over the past decade. But it also offered a glimpse of the future, where more energy will come from cleaner, renewable sources - but will come at a premium. If approved, the increase could go into effect in October.

Low electrical transmission capacity is not only making it difficult for wind power developers to figure out how to connect to the grid; it's created another hurdle for development of a uniform tax-exempt policy. The Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency was charged with creating the policy to guide all payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements for wind farms by the county Board of Legislators last year.

The government released guidelines Thursday for allocating stimulus money to renewable energy projects, a move expected to help kick-start an industry dragged down by the recession. The guidelines from the Treasury and Energy departments detail how developers can apply for grants to finance up to 30 percent of wind farms, solar plants, biomass facilities and other renewable energy operations.

Ohio lags far behind the rest of the Midwest -- and most of the country -- in wind power use. ...So why does Ohio have one wind farm -- the four turbines at the Wood County Landfill in Bowling Green -- instead of windmills all over the northern part of the state? "In the past, other states have offered better incentives," said Joe Woods, managing director of North Coast Wind and Power LLC in Port Clinton.

A Canadian energy company and an arm of the U.S. Energy Department are working on a deal to complete financing for a proposed Montana-Alberta power line that would span 214 miles and carry power from the region's emerging wind industry, officials said Tuesday.

A state program that subsidizes green energy projects got trimmed Friday when lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that reduces tax credits for Oregon wind farms. Gov. Ted Kulongoski hasn't decided on the bill. His aide said he doesn't want to roll back Oregon's incentives for alternative energy because they have delivered "tremendous economic returns." At the same time, he recognizes that the state needs all the money it can get in the next two years.

In the waning, let's-make-a-deal days of the 2009 Oregon Legislature, clean-energy advocates, utilities and industry trade groups have been wrangling over three bills that could significantly modify renewable energy legislation implemented just two years ago.

The success of a bill that would slow wind farm development in Oregon seems assured in Salem this week, slowed only by disagreements as to the extent of cuts to the green energy tax subsidy. ...Hunt said the changes would save the state nearly $70 million over the next six years.

The U.S. Department of Energy expects to soon set out rules for $6 billion in loan guarantees included in the stimulus package to fund renewable energy projects and is working to set up a small business program, a DOE official said on Tuesday. ...The $6 billion in loan guarantees is in addition to $42.5 billion in loan guarantees that have been authorized under energy legislation passed in 2005, but which have not yet been finalized.

Given a chance to put a bill on Gov. Ted Kulongoski's desk that would cut Oregon's generous wind tax credits, the state House of Representatives paused today. Now a bill that would cut Oregon's Business Energy Tax Credits goes to a conference committee.

The U.S. government is committing billions of dollars to support renewable energy such as wind- and solar-power plants. Some say it should use more of that financial clout to encourage less energy consumption in the first place. Advocates of conservation, including businesses that help homeowners and companies save energy, think there should be more subsidies and tax incentives for basics like insulation and window shading, and for newer, more costly products like light-emitting-diode lamps and building-automation systems.

Young County commissioners moved a step closer to reaching a tax abatement agreement with Gamesa Energy on Monday by creating a tax reinvestment zone. The zone is a necessary step toward an abatement agreement. Games has announced it plans to build a wind farm that would be mostly in Jack County with 12 turbines extending into Young County.

The board of directors of the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency is expected to review a proposed agency policy Tuesday that will establish how much industrial-scale wind farms must pay to local taxing authorities during their incentive periods. The IDA provides tax exemptions for 10 to 15 years, along with other incentives, to developers seeking assistance and conduit loans.

A plan to erect an array of windmills in eastern El Paso County won't be blowing a yearly windfall the county's way. That's because wind energy facilities are considered business personal property, and the county ditched its personal property tax about a decade ago.

Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. and Otter Tail Power Co. estimate the current rules could drive up their customers' monthly bills by 18 percent to 30 percent annually. If the problem is not remedied, it could undermine public backing for wind power development in North Dakota, Public Service Commissioner Tony Clark said. The state has more than 700 megawatts of wind generation capacity, with more than 3,000 megawatts of projects planned.

As much as 100 billion euros ($143 billion) in planned investments in German offshore wind farms are at risk as developers struggle to get funding, jeopardizing the deepest emissions cuts in the European Union. Bochum's municipal utility expects its first wind park to be delayed by up to two years, Managing Director Bernd Wilmert said. HEAG Suedhessische Energie AG, a regional energy supplier known as HSE, had to go to twice as many banks as it would have needed last year to finance a 1.3 billion-euro North Sea wind farm, Chief Executive Officer Albert Filbert said.

The Obama administration has proposed a 25 percent cut in the research and development budget for one of the most promising renewable energy sources in the Northwest - wave and tidal power. ...Most of the attention so far has focused on developing large wind farms east of the Cascade Mountains. But because wind blows intermittently, the region also needs a more reliable source of alternative energy; tidal and wave fit that need. Also, at least with tidal, the generators would be closer to population centers than the wind turbines in eastern Washington.

Despite the speed with which the government wants to act - the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act -- includes a goal of spending 50% of the $787 billion allocated by the legislation within 120 days from when it is signed into law -- many hurdles and unanswered questions remain ...while one provision of the Recovery Act gives cash grants, another takes away tax benefits. The act stipulates that recipients of cash grants can only use 85% of the accelerated depreciation associated with a project.

Ohio's tax structure could blow holes in the state's plan to become a major wind energy center, a national wind trade group says. In a letter to Gov. Ted Strickland, the American Wind Energy Association argues that Ohio's tangible personal property tax on electric utilities could drive wind developers to neighboring states. Other Ohio businesses no longer pay tangible personal property taxes, which are imposed on a utility's equipment, such as generators and wires.