A Heber City company wants to build an array of tall, electricity-generating windmills in southern Iron County's Harmony Mountains. And earlier this week, the public got a chance to weigh in on the Wasatch Wind proposal. Company officials acknowledge the approval process could take several years, but they want to start now to build a relationship with county residents.

Independent wind power company First Wind has received approval from the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the 300 MW Milford Wind Corridor project. The Bureau of Land Management conducted a National Environmental Policy Act environmental assessment for the facility and has decided to issue a permit for the project.

Taking easterly winds in a new direction could provide South Weber and Layton residents near the mouth of Weber Canyon with an alternative energy source. That is, if zoning issues can be remedied, costs met, regulations drafted and not-in-my-backyard battles kept to a minimum. Layton Mayor Steve Curtis is interested in his city pursuing wind turbines as an alternative energy source. ...But before officials in any community turn their face to the wind in search of an alternative energy source, an expert associated with the work done on the small wind farm in Spanish Fork has some advice.

The Bureau of Land Management, Cedar City and Fillmore Field Offices announce the availability of a preliminary Environmental Assessment, draft Finding of No Significant Impact and initiation of a 30-day public comment period for the Milford Wind Corridor Project. The project proponent is First Wind, LLC, - formerly known as UPC Wind Management, LLC. ...A preliminary EA has been prepared by CH2M HILL environmental consultants under the direction of the BLM. The EA analyzes possible impact on the environment resulting from construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of the project.

Reversing its own earlier decision, the Utah Public Service Commission (the "Commission") has concluded that a wind power project must obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity ("CPCN") for a 90-mile transmission line proposed in connection with a wind farm to be built in southwest Utah.

Homeowners in Weber County could soon get permission to place small wind turbines on their homes to generate electricity. Planning commissioners are considering amending zoning rules to allow the practice. ...''We're trying to be as friendly as we can for people who want to generate power that way,'' Western Weber Commissioner Wayne Andreotti said. ''I think it's a good idea because we're all trying to get green.'' Current zoning allows for 40-foot tall windmills only in agricultural areas. The proposal could clear the way for them on half-acre residential lots.

A proposed windmill farm in Spanish Fork cleared a major hurdle Tuesday morning when the Utah County Commission granted the city an easement for the project. The commission voted to grant a 50-foot-wide easement to Spanish Fork city for power lines that will carry electricity from the wind farm to a Rocky Mountain Power substation in Mapleton. The city will pay the county $8,500 for the easement.

PASADENA - The City Council has authorized an agreement with a wind power-generating facility to be constructed in Utah, furthering its stated goal to be more environmentally conscious. The Milford Wind Corridor Phase I is a 200-megawatt generating facility to be constructed in Millard County, Utah. The corridor is just 60 miles from the coal-fired Intermountain Power Project in Delta, Utah, which the council decided not to extend contracts with in December 2006.

Utah’s first major commercial wind farm could begin development this year on South Mountain near Stockton, according to county and state officials. Tasco Engineering Company, a Lehi firm specializing in wind-power generation, is proposing to construct between 20 and 38 wind turbines in the area. The company could eventually put in up to 180 turbines, which would provide as much as 70 megawatts of power, according to a contract between Tasco and Rocky Mountain Power. Julie Orchard, with the Utah Public Service Commission, said wind power projects consistently produce about one third of their maximum capacity. Even at that rate, the Pioneer Ridge project in Stockton could power approximately 20,000 homes for a year. Tasco Engineering refused to comment on its proposed project.

Utah State University wants to know if wind from Logan Canyon can keep campus lights on. The school is collecting wind data near the school's power station. The study could last a year.

The vast open spaces and persistent wind in northern Beaver County have lured a Massachusetts company with plans for a $400 million electricity-generating wind farm. Representatives of UPC Wind Management LLC of Newton, Mass., met last week with the planning and zoning commission of this southwestern Utah county to ask for a conditional land-use permit to build the first phase on 16,000 acres about 8 miles northeast of Milford. Given assurances the project would not close any lands or roads or interfere with grazing rights, the planning commission voted unanimously to grant the permit.

There is wind in the hills of Spanish Fork Canyon, but harnessing it for power and money hasn’t been easy. To bring the Wasatch Wind farm to fruition, Spanish Fork may have to give up some of the property tax dollars that made the project attractive to the city, even if the Legislature approves wind renewable energy tax credits next year. Legislators didn’t reauthorize the credits during the 2006 legislative session, and the company was counting on them.

SPANISH FORK — An embattled wind farm development set to begin construction next year in Spanish Fork may serve as a microcosm for the future of wind energy in Utah and across the nation. The farm, a project of Utah-based Wasatch Wind, will be the state's first commercial wind farm. It already has been delayed after citizens in Spanish Fork requested that it be moved farther from homes, to a site at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. Finding investors was difficult, and the looming expiration date on a state tax credit, on which the project depends, promises an arduous battle still ahead as supporters work to get the credit restored. Like the wind power industry as a whole, the Wasatch Wind project has weathered the early storm and is poised to move forward but remains shrouded in lingering questions

The proposed new rules would lay out license requirements for people who install electricity generation systems that use photovoltaic solar panels or small wind turbines.

Spanish Fork's City Council approved re-wording its zoning ordinance last week to allow wind farms in industrial areas. However, Wasatch Winds company president Tracy Livingston says he can't have a successful wind farm without renewable energy tax credits, even though all 18.9 megawatts of wind power have been purchased by Rocky Mountain Power, formerly Utah Power. And Utah no longer has the tax credits.

SPANISH FORK — Developers of a proposed wind farm at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon were scrambling Monday to secure the necessary leases to move their project away from a residential neighborhood.

SPANISH FORK — Residents, developers and city officials in Spanish Fork are inching closer to a mutual agreement that would relocate a planned wind farm that has generated the ire of homeowners near the area where it was originally planned to be built.