facts, analysis, exposure of wind energy's real impacts Windaction http://www.windaction.org/articles/c62?theme=atom Xarayar 2006-06-12T02:16:27Z .22406 2009-07-29T03:59:14Z 2009-07-29T03:59:14Z

If windmills go up on properties lining Kachemak Bay, they could destroy the view, two people testified at the Homer City Council meeting Monday night. An ordinance introduced at the meeting outlines guidelines for those who want to set up wind generation towers. At issue is whether, and under what specifications, the city will allow them. The measure is up for public testimony Aug. 10 and 24.

.20117 2009-02-22T22:30:37Z 2009-02-22T22:30:37Z

Gov. Sarah Palin has trimmed back her support for renewable energy in the face of declining oil revenues, but the Legislature is still pushing forward with last year's proposed projects. ...Palin budget director Karen Rehfeld said the governor was still committed to renewable energy, but with next year's budget likely to have a significant deficit at estimated oil prices, it wasn't a good idea to take money out of savings for new spending now.

.19665 2009-01-25T04:40:28Z 2009-01-25T04:40:28Z

Construction crews should be busy on Fire Island near the western tip of Anchorage this summer, and the state's first major wind farm could be up and running there late next year. ..."We're moving forward with the project," CIRI spokesman Jim Jager said last week. Significant hurdles still remain, including determining which electric companies will buy the power and approval of all permits, Jager said.

.17158 2008-08-01T13:37:36Z 2008-08-01T13:37:36Z

The wind blows a lot on the Bering Sea island, averaging 22 mph - just about right for producing wind power energy for St. Paul residents being crushed by the rising price of diesel fuel. While the island has three wind turbines, the island's 450 residents have no wind power. That's because the city and TDX Corp., the Native corporation that wants to bring wind power to residents through subsidiary TDX Power, Inc., have been going round and round about the issue. The problem is that the city wants to retain ownership of the electric power plant and have TDX sell it wind-generated power. TDX prefers to buy and operate the utility.

.13493 2008-01-09T13:27:20Z 2008-01-09T13:27:20Z

The two companies, working under the name Wind Energy Alaska, are seeking a state permit to put up two 198-foot towers west of Bald Mountain Ridge. Each would hold three or four wind velocity meters, attached at various heights, along with wind vanes and a temperature sensor. A solar-powered transmitter would periodically send data from the towers to a Washington state office. Jager said the study would take a year, longer if winds during the study time are considered abnormal. If wind data is promising, Wind Energy will analyze whether developing a wind farm is profitable. ...Wind Energy Alaska plans to gather wind data this year on the Kenai Peninsula and in northern Mat-Su as well as at Hatcher Pass. It is still gathering data on Anchorage's Fire Island, Jager said.

.10947 2007-07-25T11:40:06Z 2007-07-25T11:40:06Z

Kodiak Electric Association's Pillar Mountain wind generation project is now $1 million closer to a $14 million renewable energy project to offset diesel fuel consumption in Kodiak. Gov. Sarah Palin recently signed a bill in the 2008 state capital budget to assist KEA in offsetting a portion of the costs for the Pillar Mountain wind project. Sen. Gary Stevens and Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux helped push the appropriation through as part of a program to lower costs and reduce emissions in Kodiak.

.9436 2007-05-09T19:24:41Z 2007-05-09T19:24:41Z

The change in leadership at the state's biggest electric company late last month has caused the utility to take a more critical look at a wind farm proposed for Anchorage's Fire Island. The new majority on Chugach Electric Association's board campaigned on a cost-savings platform. It is raising questions about whether the wind farm makes financial sense. The project is being planned by Cook Inlet Region Inc. for land the Native corporation owns on the windy island. Under its previous leadership, Chugach united with three other Railbelt utilities to explore buying power from the wind farm if CIRI builds it. Last week, its operations committee voted 3-1 to withdraw Chugach's support.

.9461 2007-05-09T11:31:11Z 2007-05-09T11:31:11Z

You've probably flown over Fire Island dozens of times. It is about three miles southwest of Anchorage, just off the runway at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Now big changes for the island may be blowing in the wind. Native corporation Cook Inlet Region Inc. announced today it wants to start a wind farm.

.8926 2007-04-12T21:33:18Z 2007-04-12T21:33:18Z

JUNEAU -- Lawmakers proposing to use $24 million to place windmills on Anchorage's Fire Island are facing opposition from at least one electric company that says such state money would be better spent for more pressing needs.

.7527 2007-01-22T13:09:30Z 2007-01-22T13:09:30Z

The Kodiak Electric Association wind generation project on Pillar Mountain, so far does not put birds in harm’s way.

.7372 2007-01-16T13:02:57Z 2007-01-16T13:02:57Z

Leaders in a blustery Western Alaska city have stopped studying wind energy as a power source. The problem? Too much of it. Unalaska, a city of 4,300, seems tailor-made for the alternative energy. It’s situated in the Aleutian Islands, called the Birthplace of Winds. Powerful tempests brew there when frigid Siberian air collides with much warmer air above Pacific waters, producing major storms striking the West Coast, meteorologists say.

.6150 2006-11-03T12:14:53Z 2006-11-03T12:14:53Z

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- In the quest for oil-free power, a handful of small companies are staking claims on the boundless energy of the rising and ebbing sea. The technology that would draw energy from ocean tides to keep light bulbs and laptops aglow is largely untested, but several newly minted companies are reserving tracts of water from Alaska's Cook Inlet to Manhattan's East River in the belief that such sites could become profitable sources of electricity.

.5592 2006-10-05T12:57:01Z 2006-10-05T12:57:01Z

Kodiak Electric Association’s wind generation project is taking steps toward a naturally driven resource that could move the power company away from the high cost of diesel fuel. Results of a 10-month study on wind data were analyzed in August and showed KEA is in a favorable position to use wind atop Pillar Mountain. Darron Scott, KEA chief executive officer, said Wednesday the power company’s wind rank is a 7 on a scale of 1 to 8. “That gives us a good wind regime to work with,” Scott said.

.4559 2006-08-21T11:51:17Z 2006-08-21T11:51:17Z

A Chugach Electric idea to put giant, electricity-producing windmills on Fire Island is giving its neighbor, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, a case of bad vibes. Radar experts recently found that electromagnetic waves from the proposed 33-windmill project would be so strong they would warp the signal of the airport's main air traffic control radar. On top of that, the sheer size of the windmills, whose blade tips could reach 400 feet in the air, would also physically block the signal of another key radar already on Fire Island.

.2625 2006-04-21T12:47:16Z 2006-04-21T12:47:16Z

ALASKA STANCE: Stevens, Young are fighting a Massachusetts project.

.1714 2006-02-19T13:14:29Z 2006-02-19T13:14:29Z

WASHINGTON - Inside the Beltway, he's made his name as a champion for tapping oil resources in his own state - and for telling the federal government to butt out.

.20130 2009-02-22T14:04:45Z 2009-02-22T14:04:45Z

Last week, the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee (LBA) quietly approved $100 million in taxpayer money to be used for a collection of renewable energy projects funded through the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA). Shockingly, lawmakers approved the money just hours after the Division of Legislative Audit released a report that raised serious questions about AEA's due diligence in determining the economic viability of these speculative projects. The report found that four out the five randomly selected energy projects they reviewed showed "there is a higher than necessary risk that the projects will not be successful."

.19861 2009-02-07T00:28:29Z 2009-02-07T00:28:29Z

Last year, the legislature passed a bill to spend $50 million a year on renewable energy projects for the next five years. I voted for that bill. During the special session, the amount was bumped up by another $50 million. I voted against that addition, on the grounds that we shouldn't double the price tag of an untried program. ...They say if you do this job long enough, you're bound to make mistakes. I think voting for this cart-before-the-horse renewable energy bill is one of mine.

.19659 2009-01-25T15:27:04Z 2009-01-25T15:27:04Z

Renewable sources such as wind energy, geothermal energy, hydroelectric power, photovoltaic and solar thermal energy should only be considered supplements. Replacing, for instance, a coal power plant of 100 megawatts would require 300 to 400 wind generators, even if we assume a nominal performance of 2 to 2.5 MW per wind generator. And the problem of storing of wind-generated energy during long-lasting periods of calm has not been solved. Is such a substitution reasonable for Interior Alaska? Certainly not.

.2848 2006-05-05T14:17:21Z 2006-05-05T14:17:21Z

I have actually designed, built and operated a windmill, and I can tell you that the cost of wind energy is 4-6 times that of conventional. Western Alaska is littered with the skeletons of discarded windmills destroyed by icing and gale-force winds.