The nine turbines will make up the first wind farm in Utah, which is one of the only Western states without one. ...Currently, the land is worth just more than half a million dollars, Hiskey said. When the windmills and generators are added to the property, it will be worth $25.5 million. "In our first year, we would receive $66,719," she said, referring to what the tax collection will be with the rebate. Mikell said the agreement is the best possible solution for the company as well as the tax beneficiaries. The company will receive a tax break, and land will be developed that could not be used otherwise. "The turbines were actually the least impact thing that could be built there," she said. "Getting something [built on the property] is better than nothing."

The push is under way to restore a state tax credit for producers of alternative energy, a credit that could make or break a proposed wind farm at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. The 2007 Legislature is still more than two months away, but proponents of restoring the tax credit are trying to get a head start so it doesn’t meet the same fate it did this year, when it was pushed aside in the final hours of a furiously busy session.

The future of a proposed wind farm in Spanish Fork is in jeopardy. Key investors in Wasatch Wind pulled out when Utah lawmakers failed to reinstate a tax credit for renewable energy. Wasatch Wind spokesperson Christine Watson Mikell says Utah is getting a reputation in the energy industry for being quote “not a wind-friendly state.”

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.

Wind power could be a new cash crop for farmers and ranchers in Utah, say researchers who were awarded a federal grant to promote small, independent wind farms. Utah State University business professors Edwin Stafford and Cathy Hartman released the second of two reports Friday. The first was a general summary of the economic benefits of small-scale wind farms. The second was an examination of hypothetical wind farms in Tooele and Box Elder counties.

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

SPANISH FORK, Utah (AP) -- A proposed wind farm could be in jeopardy because Utah no longer offers a renewable energy tax credit that Wasatch Winds officials say is needed for the project to be successful.

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.

However, if tax credits for renewable energy sources aren't restored in a legislative session by the end of this year, then there will be no wind farm because the company can't afford to build and operate it without the credits.