facts, analysis, exposure of wind energy's real impacts Windaction http://www.windaction.org/articles/c73+112?theme=atom Xarayar 2006-06-12T02:16:27Z .37728 2013-03-13T02:31:16Z 2013-03-13T02:31:16Z

These are unstable times for wind energy plants. Acciona in West Branch is laying off 40 workers, just months after White House officials had visited the plant to push for wind energy tax credits. Even though the credit has been extended a year, there's still uncertainty in the workforce.

.37708 2013-03-12T18:14:45Z 2013-03-12T18:14:45Z

Monday marked the second major round of layoffs at the West Branch facility in its six-year history. In 2009, Acciona laid off 58 employees, which was a third of its West Branch workforce. At the time, company officials called it a "short-term issue" due to the sluggish economy, but most or all of those positions never came back.

.37704 2013-03-12T13:31:02Z 2013-03-12T13:31:02Z

"U.S. wind development declined sharply over the past year for reasons beyond our control," ACCIONA Windpower said. "The reduction in our work force is necessary to meet the current volume of production while we work to complete new turbine supply agreements."

.36066 2012-09-18T19:52:49Z 2012-09-18T19:52:49Z

The biggest cuts will come in Fort Madison, where 407 workers at a wind turbine blade factory will be out of work. About 220 workers there will be retained. The company blamed difficult market conditions due to lack of congressional action on a wind energy tax credit as well as increased use of natural gas-fired power plants and an overall sluggish economy.

.36061 2012-09-18T17:25:26Z 2012-09-18T17:25:26Z

Siemens, a German conglomerate, announced Tuesday it is laying off 146 employees at its wind turbine nacelle plant in Hutchinson, leaving just 152 employees there. All told, 615 employees in Siemens' wind power business will lose their jobs. Siemens said the change would primarily affect employees in Iowa, Kansas and Florida.

.35828 2012-08-20T14:29:37Z 2012-08-20T14:29:37Z

Most of Clipper's employees - and layoffs - are believed to be in Cedar Rapids, where the company manufactures its Liberty wind turbines. The company declined to provide numbers specific to each of its locations. ...Layoffs have mounted in the wind industry even though there are still four months to go before the credit expires.

.35821 2012-08-19T22:59:07Z 2012-08-19T22:59:07Z

The company removed one turbine from the property and Stineman said he believed it was installed near Gladbrook. However, the company dissolved before the second turbine could be dismantled and the crane company later assumed ownership.

.35609 2012-07-25T11:26:58Z 2012-07-25T11:26:58Z

According to ACCIONA, the 6 MW Pioneer Grove wind farm will feature two 3 MW AW3000 wind turbines. The erection of the first 100-meter concrete tower, which includes five sections, is expected by mid-October.

.35603 2012-07-23T19:40:03Z 2012-07-23T19:40:03Z

In the fall of 2010, Horizon installed several wind measuring towers to test two possible locations for wind farms in Plymouth County. ...In January EDP announced that the project has been put on hold due to poor market conditions. "It's not a priority project at this point."

.35431 2012-07-11T11:47:25Z 2012-07-11T11:47:25Z

"The structure would be quite noticeable," he said. "There needs to be a public vetting of whether it's appropriate to have that as an accessory use." Rather than have the Board of Adjustment overturn his decision, Boothroy said the "proper thing to do" would be changing the code, if that is what the public wants.

.35195 2012-06-09T02:17:14Z 2012-06-09T02:17:14Z

The decision means MidAmerican can continue its ongoing expansion approved by regulators in 2009, which allowed the firm to add 1001 megawatts and allow the company to pass certain costs to customers in a rate increase ...It also means that MidAmerican does not have to buy wind power from NextEra, which the Florida company had proposed as an alternative.

.34356 2012-02-20T09:16:55Z 2012-02-20T09:16:55Z

Strottman bought two turbines from Earth Linked two years ago to drastically cut his monthly $1,700 electric bill. The project cost $410,000. Strottman received $123,000 in government funds and he got a loan for the balance. The farmer makes $3,700 monthly payments on the machines that currently sit idle.

.34045 2012-01-10T15:53:21Z 2012-01-10T15:53:21Z

Horizon Wind Energy, the company that installed several test towers for two potential wind farms in Plymouth County has "put the project on hold," according to Roby Roberts, a spokesman for EDP Renewables, which owns Horizon. "Demand for energy is way down, due to the recession," Roberts said.

.31766 2011-04-20T21:27:36Z 2011-04-20T21:27:36Z

During the Development process it has become evident that the wind resource at the Long Creek site is not robust enough for the project to be competitive with other projects in the region in the near- to mid-term.

.30563 2010-12-29T20:27:18Z 2010-12-29T20:27:18Z

As a wind-turbine factory in Pipestone, Minn., lays off most of its workers, competitors in South Dakota and Iowa are booming. ...The stark differences among the three Midwestern manufacturers show how business can blow hot and cold in what is still a young and growing wind-power industry.

.30574 2010-12-29T06:51:38Z 2010-12-29T06:51:38Z

In the short run MidAmerican's surplus of energy is sold to other utilities. However, its new wind capacity will be available if MidAmerican and its partner, AEP of Columbus, Ohio, are able to build a 765-kilovolt transmission line that would connect wind energy in Iowa and the Upper Midwest with larger markets east of the Mississippi River.

.29696 2010-10-30T12:12:18Z 2010-10-30T12:12:18Z

But figures from the American Wind Energy Association released Friday show a dramatic drop in new projects during 2010. In 2009 about 10,000 megwatts of new capacity came on line nationally and another 4,000 megawatts were finished in the first quarter of 2010. But since then just 500 new megwatts of wind energy have been completed in the U.S.

.29531 2010-10-19T17:06:49Z 2010-10-19T17:06:49Z

The transmission system for electricity is "entirely too congested at this point," he explained. "This is basically our first step," Yonnone said. "We need to get met towers up first to get a couple years under our belt of wind data, crunch the numbers and we determine whether or not the wind is viable for a larger wind project."

.29259 2010-09-22T23:32:42Z 2010-09-22T23:32:42Z

The 3-megawatt turbines are already used abroad and North American customers are interested in buying them because they will make it feasible to build wind farms in less-windy places where smaller, 1.5 MW turbines will not work as well, she said. The larger rotor diameters mean less wind is necessary to turn the blades, Hazen said.

.28334 2010-07-16T12:43:21Z 2010-07-16T12:43:21Z

Between 17 and 27 wind towers are expected to go up south of Edgewood and west of Greeley. Steve Dryden is the owner of R-P-M Access, which will build and run the 41-megawatt facility.