Being green, without annoying your neighbors, was high on the list of residents' requirements for the regulation of small wind energy conversion systems at last week's special meeting of the planning commission. While not calling for a ban on wind turbines, many residents requested that commissioners write regulations to make the wind turbines as difficult to install as possible and suggested the alternative of a wind farm here, located on one property, rather than allowing individual systems on eligible parcels.

To add to the hot/cold air swirling around the subject of wind turbines in Estes Park, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) said last month there are challenges in making small residential wind turbines workable here. ...There is currently a moratorium on wind turbines, until Dec. 9. The public is invited to attend and comment at the meeting, as commissioners consider draft regulations on small-scale residential wind turbines, based on input received in a recent public survey.

Public input has been the driving force for the issue of wind turbines in Estes Park. Town staff recently conducted a voluntary-response survey related to wind turbines that received 804 responses. Results indicate that the majority (65.1 percent) do not want wind turbines to be banned by the Estes Valley Development Code. Of that majority, 53.7 percent want wind turbines to be regulated and 32.4 percent of respondents want to see wind turbines banned outright. The planning commission will continue wind turbine discussions at its regular meeting.

A Wyoming wind power developer, Wind Holding LLC, has lost its $500 million contract with Colorado State University to build a wind farm at Maxwell Ranch near the Wyoming-Colorado border. Wind Holding was to finance and build the wind farm on land leased from the university. CSU and Wind Holding would then sell the power to recoup construction costs. Wind Holding was not chosen through a competitive bidding process, but instead had approached the university.

The Colorado State University Research Foundation announced Nov. 2 that it could not reach agreement with Wind Holding LLC on a path forward for development of the Maxwell Ranch wind farm. Given the expiration of the Oct. 31 deadline for Wind Holding to cure problems in its lease, the foundation has found the private company officially in default.

A weak market for wind turbines in the U.S. will slow job growth at Vestas Wind Systems' four Colorado plants, Ditlev Engel, the company's chief executive, said Tuesday. "When the world's biggest market takes a breather for a year, it's tough," Engel said in a telephone interview.

Entegrity Wind Systems Inc., a wind turbine manufacturer that based some of its operations in Boulder, has gone bankrupt after failing to develop a plan to tackle millions of dollars of debt. The business was declared bankrupt pursuant to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act of Canada, where it was incorporated, according to a document posted to the front door of Entegrity's locked offices.

CSU's developer in building a wind farm north of Fort Collins to help power the university will have to fix several "problems" with its project lease, including "outstanding financial obligations," by the end of next week after CSU held the company in default over the summer. But Bruce Morley, the CEO of Wind Holding LLC, said last week that the contract it has with the university, which he said "is self-extending for things that are out of our control like the financial crisis," makes CSU's deadline obsolete. "The international financial crisis has caused a delay of the project," Morley said.

Lisa Billings and her neighbors in the Red Mountain area of north Larimer County were thrilled when Wind Holding LLC missed its deadline last summer to start work on a wind farm on nearby Maxwell Ranch. “This is great news,” said Billings, president of the 54-member Greater Red Mountain Protection Association. “A lot of people are really concerned about this.” ...Billings and her neighbors are holding their breath and hoping the project first announced in March 2007 may still fall completely apart. And it’s not because they aren’t fans of alternative energy.

The developer of a $500 million wind farm slated to be built at CSU's Maxwell Ranch now has until the end of October to solve problems with its lease agreement with the university. The Colorado State University Research Foun-dation on Friday voted to extend a 60-day deadline by a month for Wind Holding LLC to get the wind farm project back on track.

The developer of a wind farm slated to be built at CSU's Maxwell Ranch now has until the end of October to solve problems with its lease agreement with the university. The Colorado State University Research Foundation on Friday voted to extend the deadline for Wind Holding, LLC to Oct. 31 because the company said it is making progress.