With their organic gardens and ample land, Andy and Jessie Welsh had the perfect plan. Living in rural Stearns County, the young couple had hoped to be energy self-sufficient and green. ...From the start, the installation was delayed and marked by setbacks. Electricians had a hard time getting the turbine wired to run properly. When it finally did, the turbine ran for just a few days before they received a call from the company instructing them to shut it down.

He said that people don't realize that a wind farm is constant maintenance, and to ensure longevity, preventative maintenance is needed. ..."Wind energy is not the complete answer to our energy needs," McNeilus said. "It is a piece of the pie, but you still have to have the whole pie, because there are days when the wind doesn't blow."

A small plane crashed a year ago near Grand Meadow, killing the pilot, because it didn't have the proper flight instruments for flying in that day's poor weather, a federal agency says. The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane while maneuvering around a wind farm at a low altitude also was a factor.

A 33-year-old man is recovering from a severe electric burn he sustained Tuesday afternoon while working on a wind turbine north of Dexter ...Officials believe the turbine was electrically charged when Chlan was working on it, giving the worker an electrical burn on his left arm, Amazi said.

A wind farm worker is okay following a crane accident Sunday morning. A Winnebago County Sheriff's report confirms Billy Cody was trapped in a crane at the construction site located between Forest City and Thompson.

When it came time to start repairing a wind turbine at the ethanol plant on Oct. 15, the project had to be put on hold. ..."The blade has been cracked all summer. It's been frustrating," says Dan Moore, director of project development for Renewable Energy Solutions. When the broken blade was discovered, the turbine furthest from the ethanol plant had to be shut down. All three blades needed to be replaced, says Moore, because we couldn't find one to match the other two.

A broadside accident occurred Wednesday in St. Cloud between an oversized-load truck carrying wind turbine parts and a minivan, resulting in one death. Millard and Shirlee Nelson of South Haven were heading north at the intersection of Highway 15 and Second Street about to turn left. ...The number-one thing MnDOT can do in wind turbine transportation is ensure the public's safety on the roads, Coulianos said. Coulianos also said for the three and a half years he's worked for MnDOT, this is the first fatality he's known involving transportation of wind turbines. "This is what we plan not to happen," Coulianos said. "This is very serious to us."

According to fire chief John Garmer, the wind turbine had a "ball of flame" on top when firefighters arrived at the scene. ...The fire was located at the six-turbine Ewington Wind Farm, the same site where a wind generator burned two months ago.

Emergency calls flooded the Jackson County Law Enforcement Center last Wednesday morning as passers-by on Interstate 90 in western Jackson County witnessed huge plumes of smoke ascending to the clouds. The fire originated from one of the six power-generating windmills on the Ewington Township Wind Farm, located south of Okabena just north of I-90. ...After the fire was controlled, the scene was turned over to Suzlon officials, who are conducting an investigation. "We are still investigating a cause," said Suzlon Vice President Ken Glazier. "The fire was controlled quickly and brought to a safe stop. There were no injuries and the damage was limited to the one cell."

A wind turbine near Dodge Center lost one of its blades Friday night when lightning struck it and started a fire.

A wind turbine near Dodge Center lost one of its blades Friday night when lightning struck it and started a fire. The Rochester Fire Deparment was called to the fire because it had the closest long-ladder truck. Its 100-foot ladder was used to help extinguish the fire at 11:15 p.m. One rotor blade was lost, but fire officials were uncertain if the fire reached the generator portion of the device, which could compound the loss.

MILWAUKEE - Large turbines generating electricity in a radar line of sight can harm the ability of air defense radars to detect and track aircraft or other aerial objects, the U.S. Department of Defense said Thursday in a new study. The only way to make sure that U.S. forces can perform their air defense missions is to avoid putting the wind turbines in the line of sight of the radars, said the report submitted to the Senate and House Armed Services committees. Efforts have started to find other ways but they "require further development and validation" before they can be used, given that some turbines with rotating blades reach 500 feet high, the report said. "The numbers, height and rotation of these wind turbines present technical challenges to the effectiveness of radar systems that must be carefully evaluated on a case-by-case basis to ensure acceptable military readiness is maintained," the report said.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration has given the go-ahead to three Minnesota wind power projects after concluding they don't interfere with military radar.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from Minnesota and Wisconsin are urging the federal government to quickly resolve delays on wind energy projects caused by a Department of Defense study of whether wind turbines interfere with military radar.