A civil dispute over alleged defects in wind-energy generation turbines filed by a regional power agency is headed to federal court. Last week, the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency filed suit in Olmsted District Court asking a district judge to order the defendant, Vestas American Wind Technology Inc., to enter into arbitration to resolve the dispute. SMMPA claims it has suffered damages exceeding $7 million stemming from defects in four wind-energy generation turbines in western Minnesota.

The project's official name is "Capacity Expansion by 2020," or "CapX2020" for short. It is being driven by an alliance of 11 different utility companies throughout the region, which covers all of Minnesota as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin. The power line planned for this area is one of three 345 kV lines proposed at different areas of the state as part of the the CapX2020 project. The project also includes construction of one 230 kV line between Bemidji and Grand Rapids. A public hearing for residents of this area is scheduled for next Tuesday, in Cannon Falls. It is one of many meetings still to come during the CapX2020 planning process. ...Rate payers from all area power utility companies will see an increase in their bills as a result of the CapX2020 construction, he added. Though Fordice could not put a specific amount on how much the increase to utility bills will be - probably $1.50 to $2 a month - the project itself is going to cost $1.4 billion, which will be divided among all 11 utility companies.

A power agency claims it has suffered damages exceeding $7 million stemming from defects in four wind-energy generation turbines in the western Minnesota. Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, based in Rochester, is asking a district court judge to order the defendant, Vestas American Wind Technology Inc. of California to resolve the dispute through arbitration. ...SMMPA alleges that the turbines have design and manufacturing defects. Duffy said Vestas has refused to address the defects. As a result, he says, SMMPA has lost revenue from down-time caused by system failures. In addition, the defects have accelerated the depreciation of the turbines and their components, there has been a loss of future revenue from the down-time, there have been increased costs, and there has damage to crops and long-term damage to cropland from ground compression due to crane movement.

Horizon Wind Energy's expansion efforts have generated a new need: maintenance of the turbines and the system. LeRoy's the likely site of a facility for an operations building that's planned by the wind energy company. "It's not concrete yet, but it's very likely," said Horizon's operations manager Kevin Clark. "One way or another, we'll be building an operations building next year, and right now, it's almost certain it will be in LeRoy." ...The 200-megawatt site being built next year, called Pioneer Prairie, will consist of 122 turbines, with plans to possibly add 60 more turbines in 2009. The wind farm will run west from LeRoy to Stacyville, Iowa.

Minnesota's first major power line project in a generation is moving forward, and 630 miles of high-voltage wires are expected to be strung across the countryside by 2015. What the final project will look like and the exact route of its three lines, however, is still far from decided. Some of that will depend on what the public deems important. ...The project has even split environmental leaders, who are caught between the desire to encourage more wind farm development in remote areas, and concerns about how the new lines would affect hundreds of landowners and millions of ratepayers. ...Grant said that some electricity from coal-fired plants will likely be sent over the new power lines, but that most of it can be generated by wind farms.

Minnesotans soon can tell state officials what they think of a plan to add hundreds of miles of electric transmission lines across the state. A group of 11 utilities, led by Xcel Energy and including Otter Tail Power Co., has proposed building three high-voltage transmission lines in Minnesota, claiming they are needed to improve service and prepare for growing electricity demands in areas such as the Red River Valley. ...Red Wing attorney Carol Overland has tracked the CapX 2020 proposal and operates a Web site that attempts to debunk the utilities' claim about needed transmission expansion. Overland said a better alternative would be to add generation facilities close to where the electricity is needed. "We're dealing with this false justification of need," said Overland, who will challenge the utilities' claims at the upcoming meetings.

They gave their word and in return farmers gave up their land. Now a broken promise by the state to turn wind energy dollars into funding for schools has at least one farmer fuming. ...Al says, "I had to sign a 30-year lease; I am married to these." Of course there's financial gain for the Stier's to have these on their property, but being civic-minded, they also just wanted to help their schools.

Minnesota renewable energy advocates see great opportunity in wind-generated electricity, but the state struggles to reach that goal. ...efforts to increase Minnesota's use of wind energy face an inconvenient reality: The state lacks enough transmission lines to move the new electricity from wind turbines to customers. ...Also, while wind-generated electricity is more than half of Minnesota's renewable energy, even supporters acknowledge it only works when the wind is blowing, so other energy sources still are needed.

It's back to the '70s for the south metro, as a new generation of major powerlines is being proposed for rural land -- and activists and farmers begin to meet. ...The companies are seeking state approval for a cluster of major lines. Two of them -- 345-kilovolt lines with towers as high as 150 feet, one stretching 230 miles west to South Dakota and the other 150 miles southward to Wisconsin -- would cross Dakota County. No specific pathway has yet been laid down, but the general outlines of the corridors -- mostly 10 to 12 miles wide -- are clear. Points of controversy are expected to include whether the lines are needed, whether they pose health risks and how much landowners should be paid.

As wind power continues to generate excitement for a "green" energy source in the future, developers are looking to Fillmore County as a potential source of the needed winds, especially in the southwestern part of the county. During its monthly meeting Nov. 15, the Fillmore County Planning Commission heard Minneapolis-based representatives of enXco present the second and third requests this year to put up meteorological towers to obtain information on winds.

"I currently have, in Minnesota, 23,000 megawatts of interconnection requests for wind," says Moeller, who oversees new connections for MISO. Another 23,000 megawatts of future wind power in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin also is in line. In comparison, the entire Twin Cities metropolitan area typically draws about 6,000 megawatts of electricity out of the transmission system. While some have been on record for years, a sudden barrage of requests -- about 22,000 megawatts' worth -- has burst into MISO since Sept. 10. Minnesota's new renewable energy law, probably triggered some.

All those sky-picking fans spinning over the southern Minnesota landscape look like the leading edges of a wind-power boom. ...Delivering the wind-made electricity from the turbine to users in the Midwest could slow -- even stop -- some plans for wind power in this part of the Midwest. For all practical purposes, transmission lines serving the Buffalo Ridge are filled, forcing wind developers to look elsewhere until more lines are installed. But jumping on that line is not a guarantee. In fact, so many wind power projects are requesting space on the Midwest electric network that there is a waiting list -- and it's a long one.

Area residents can give views about a large wind farm proposed for Mower County to state regulators at a local hearing Nov. 20. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will take public comment at the formal hearing at 6 p.m. in Grumpy's Restaurant, 204 Fourth Ave. N.E., Grand Meadow. Administrative Law Judge Steve M. Mihalchick will preside. Xcel Energy is seeking approval of its Grand Meadow Wind Farm, which eventually could grow to 67 wind turbines generating 100.5 megawatts of electricity.

A blustery and windy day outside meant bad news for Carleton College's profits. The college hosts several wind power stations on its Northfield campus. However, one of the turbines needs repair. "That should be spinning at just about maximum power generation," said Rob Lamppa for Carleton College. The problem is the blades of the turbine. They refuse to spin. "It's broken and basically it has a faulty gear box," said Lamppa.

While it is pursuing wind power as a renewable resource -- most recently with a large deal last week -- that source is strictly supplemental, SMMPA spokesman Dan Hayes says. Wind-generated power is available when the wind blows, so it is not always online to ship. SMMPA needs to have enough power available 24/7 to supply its 18 city-owned utility companies and their customers. ...But there are other possibilities for baseline electricity, and SMMPA's chief operating officer, Dave Geschwind, says agency managers now are evaluating them more closely.

“You have a tremendous natural resource here,” Juhl said to a group of business people at a luncheon hosted by the Development Corporation of Austin. “We can't continue to give these huge contracts to these foreign national companies. We are giving away our energy future.” Juhl, a 30-year veteran in the industry, said ownership of wind farms across the United States is concentrated in the hands of a very few corporations that are gobbling up land prime for turbines or renting property at nominal costs. And what they pay for land use, he said, pales in comparison to the money generated from wind power. “We examined the ownership structure, and all are owned by four multi-national companies,” Juhl said. “That's money that leaves the community. We're exporting $60 million to these companies.”

School districts stand to lose thousands of dollars a year under a new law that takes away taxes generated by wind farms. A measure passed the Legislature last session means school districts will no longer benefit from taxes generated by local windmills after June 30, 2009. It's a change that has some southeastern Minnesota school officials angry.

"I was contacted [by the Minnesota Department of Commerce in 2005] about the two turbines in question," said Jim Nichols, a farmer, and wind-energy competitor to Jaunich and former Minnesota agriculture commissioner. "It's pretty easy to cheat and we don't need cheaters in this industry," Nichols said in an interview. "Those two turbines were hardly running during the period that he claimed they were and I said I would be willing to testify to that."

According to a 2005 search warrant and affidavit filed in connection with this week's grand jury indictment, Jaunich inflated the electricity generated by a project he developed and managed in Shaokatan Township in Lincoln County called NAE Shaokatan Power Partners. ...The Commerce Department was alerted to the power-production disparity by a wind turbine investor in the area, according to the charges. And a former service technician of Jaunich's company, Northern Alternative, told state regulators that the Shaokatan Power production monthly figures had been inflated.

The project will consist of up to 200 turbines and is expected to come online in three or four phases over five years, beginning in 2009.