Windmills may soon dot the prairie in southern Albany County, if all goes as planned for a company that places large-scale wind farms in rural areas.

Ridgeline Energy, a Washington-based company focused on utility-grade wind projects, has been studying the region for about three years and plans to begin building a wind farm in 2010, Randy Gardner, project manager, said Tuesday before the Laramie City Council.

"We are in the early stages," Gardner said, adding that Ridgeline has identified two possible farm sites.

The first is on private land located on the Lewis Ranch. The 25,000-acre site is south of Laramie on Sand Creek Road near the intersection with Sportsman's Road and stretches to the Colorado border. The second possible site is an area called Flagrock project and is 26,000 acres situated on BLM land. The Flagrock project is west of the Lewis Ranch in the Red Mountain area, though Red Mountain is not included in the site, Gardner said.

"We are not sure which one we are going to end up using," Gardner said. "We have been studying wind out there for three years, and as we get better defined out there on the wind ... we will determine the type of turbine" and the site location. The turbines will be somewhere between 150-500 feet tall, he said.

"Right now, we are looking at 167-178 turbines ... but when it comes time to build, the numbers can go up or down," he said.

Councilor Erik Molvar noted that historical sites are close to both projected locations.

"The Overland Trail goes through that general area. What is the proximity there, and what can be done to mitigate the intrusion?" Molvar said.

"As we understand the Overland Trail, it is on the other side of Boulder Ridge from where we are," Gardner said. "The visual impact should not be there."

Gardner said that a driver on U.S. Highway 287 going south might see windmill blades on the horizon, but probably not much else. And drivers coming north would likely not see anything at all.

"Boulder Ridge does a really good job of hiding this," Gardner said.

Councilor Karl McCraken asked how many jobs the farm would bring to the community, both during and after construction.

"We anticipate ... that during construction for each 100 megawatts, we will have 100-plus construction jobs, followed by between eight and 10 permanent positions for each 100 megawatts of construction," Gardner said.

Ridgeline Energy focuses on utility-grade wind projects, or the large wind projects that produce energy to be sold to utility companies, he explained. At this time, Ridgeline does not know whether it will distribute power to the west or the east. That will be determined when Ridgeline finds a buyer for the power, he said. Large transmission lines run through both project sites.

"We have several thousand megawatts of potential wind on our books right now, and hopefully, depending upon how things go, we should be getting those developed in the next few years," Gardner said.

Councilor Joe Vitale asked about plans to terminate the life of the wind farm.

"It is tough to talk about the end of a program when you are just getting started, but sometimes that can be overlooked and becomes more of a nightmare for the property owners," Vitale said.

John Kotek, a consultant on the project from Gallatin Public Affairs, said that starting a wind farm is an expensive capital investment. "You don't want to throw that away after a 15-20-year-use life. You want to re-power with the latest technology. You have a lot of people working in the area," Kotek said. "I have not seen a wind farm abandoned yet in North America."

But it is common and practical to plan for an end, he said. "We will identify that and make an agreement before the farm is built," Kotek said.

Gardner added that the Albany County Commissioners are currently reviewing the permitting process for wind farms in Albany County.

"One of the things that they are going to require is the decommissioning of wind farms. Not only does our contract with the landowner require decommissioning plans, your county will have regulations ... as well," Gardner said.