The landowners group will voice its concerns Monday at a Nicollet County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. In a letter sent to area media, the group said surrounding landowners, including those who have signed land-use leases with the New Ulm Utilities Commission, have opposed the project from the start. The letter stated the landowners entered into the leases only for fear of losing large portions of their crop lands to eminent domain procedures. "There are a lot of concerns and unanswered questions," said landowners group member Jeff Franta, adding that the group will wait until the meeting to air specifics.

A company that develops wind energy projects will be allowed to put more data-collection devices in northern Mower County, which could lead to a project involving more than 170 wind turbines. The Mower County Board unanimously approved on Tuesday a request from Renewable Energy Systems America for conditional-use permits to install and operate two meteorological towers in Waltham Township, one tower in Sargeant Township and one in Dexter Township.

Four Renewable Energy Systems Americas, Inc. (RES) conditional use permit requests for meteorological towers were endorsed by the Mower County Planning Commission. However, they all came under attack by another wind energy developer. RES is a national leader in the development and construction of renewable wind energy. This summer RES was awarded five utility scale wind projects in Canada with a total capacity of 954MW. RES critic James Hartson is a Waltham area farmer who is trying to develop the state's only community-based (i.e., farmer-owned cooperative) wind project in Mower County, Green Acres Wind Farm.

A New Jersey company said last week that it has joined with Michael Nakhamkin, one of the top thinkers in energy storage, to develop ways to trap wind-generated power in underground reservoirs. Nakhamkin has helped develop technology to pull excess energy off the power grid - usually at night when usage has waned - to run compressors that pump air into sealed, underground caverns that once held oil, salt or natural gas. During periods of higher demand, the air is released and heated to run air expansion turbines. ..."We really think this is a game-changer for the renewables industry," said Roy Daniel, chief executive of Energy Storage and Power LLC, a joint venture between PSEG Energy Holdings and Nakhamkin.

The MinnDakota Wind Power Project near White is set to expand by one-third. Iberdrola Renewables, of Portland, Ore., on Friday announced a $100 million expansion, called the Buffalo Ridge Wind Power Project. It would add 50 megawatts of potential power production from about 50 new turbines. There already are 100 turbines in the original MinnDakota wind farm capable of producing 150 megawatts.

How big a deal is two cents? Well, it's a big deal if you're trying to produce wind energy. A federal production tax credit of 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour is set to expire at the end of the year. Wind energy producers generally expect lawmakers to renew the credit, but Congress has yet to act. With time running out, the wind power industry is scrambling. ...Xcel's Frank Prager said the end of the tax credit on December 31, is rippling through the wind industry. He said many U.S. companies are rushing to finish projects before the deadline.

Like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, the elements needed to put together a 5-megawatt wind energy farm northwest of New Ulm are all coming together for the New Ulm Public Utilities Commission. Giant steps were taken at the NUPUC meeting Tuesday as the commission approved the land and wind easement leases with three landowners in southwestern Nicollet County to provide space for the wind turbines needed to generate that amount of "green" energy. In all, New Ulm Public Utilities would be leasing a total of 237.03 acres just off Highway 7, about 5 miles northwest of Klossner.

If wind energy converters are located anywhere near a residential area, they must never become too noisy even in high winds. Most such power units try to go easy on their neighbors' ears, but even the most careful design cannot prevent noise from arising at times: One source is the motion of the rotor blades, another is the cogwheels that produce vibrations in the gearbox. These are relayed to the tower of the wind turbine, where they are emitted across a wide area - and what the residents hear is a humming noise. ...In a joint project with colleagues from Schirmer GmbH, ESM Energie- and Schwingungstechnik Mitsch GmbH and the Dr. Ziegler engineering office, IWU researchers have developed an active damping system for wind turbines. The project is being funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt.

State Rep. Ken Tschumper, DFL-La Crescent, hosted a community forum last week featuring a panel of environmentalists. Tschumper and others question whether the project's estimates of demand are accurate. He also is concerned that ratepayers could end up financing a project that could harm the area's environment. Other worries include possible health effects and what the potentially 150-foot-high transmission towers would do to the region's scenery. "There are decisions being made here with this high-voltage transmission line ... that are going to impact people's lives for the next 30 or 40 years," Tschumper said.

The deadline for public comment in the controversial power line project known as CapX2020 has been extended to Sept. 26. Minnesota Rep. Ken Tschumper, DFL-La Crescent, along with members of several nonprofit groups encouraged residents to take that extra opportunity to voice their concern about high-voltage power lines coming through or near La Crescent. ...Joseph Morse, a member of the Bluff Land Environment Watch based in Winona. cited risks to people's health and to wildlife. "This is my community, and I'm concerned about it," Morse said.

Residents in Anoka and 10 other cities across the state could soon be looking up to the whipping blades of a wind turbine towering over their communities. The turbines are part of a project by the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA), an electricity cooperative made up of metro and outstate cities that hopes to bring wind power off large turbine farms in rural areas and into homes. While plans for the turbines are in the early stages, the project's leaders are beginning to approach the member cities to determine appropriate sites.

FPL Group Inc., the largest U.S. producer of wind power, said second-quarter profits fell 48 percent on a drop in the valuation of energy contracts. Its net income declined to $209 million, or 52 cents a share, from $405 million, or $1.01, a year earlier. Revenue fell 8.8 percent to $3.59 billion. FPL Energy, the alternative energy arm of the company, reported a decrease in net income of 98.5 percent to $3 million in the second quarter from $203 million last year. The net income of Florida Power & Light Co., which provides electricity for 4.5 million customers in Florida, increased by 2.8 percent to $217 million from $211 million.

Attorneys on different sides of a windmill dispute in Fayette County can agree on at least one aspect of the 262-foot-tall turbines: the hulking structures can't be camouflaged. "A wind turbine can be seen. You can't hide it," said Dan Rullo, attorney for Iberdrola Resources, formerly PPM Energy. ...The project has been on hold since March 11, when the zoning hearing board denied the company's request for a special exception and variances for 24 of the turbines. The matter went before a judge Thursday after Iberdrola filed a civil suit appealing the board's denial.

Lynden Township has denied a landowner's request to erect a wind turbine. The township board voted 2-1 this week not to approve a conditional-use permit for the 120-foot tower. Russ Pearson had proposed installing the wind turbine to produce electricity for his property in the Hidden River addition.

The first several towers for the new 99-megawatt Elm Creek Wind Farm have been put up just southeast of Bergen and all 66 of the project's wind turbines are expected to be built and operational by the end of the year. Construction of the Elm Creek project, an expansion of the 100-megawatt Trimont Area Wind Farm built late in 2005, was announced July 12 at the Trimont Chocolate Festival by developer Iberdrola Renewables and electric utility Great River Energy.

High Country Energy L.L.C. is going to Minnesota investors for as much as $3.1 million to help finance the early stages of its project in parts of Olmsted, Dodge and Mower counties. Eventually, the project could take in as many as 200 turbines generating electricity from the wind. Such wind projects typically are financed by large private investors. However High Country Energy has registered an in-state public offering, which allows the company to sell shares of stock to the general public living in Minnesota.

Construction has already begun on a second 99-megawatt wind farm, which will double the size of the current Trimont Area Wind Farm, officials announced Saturday in Trimont. The Elm Creek Wind Power Project will add another 65 wind turbines and is expected to be online by the end of this year.

The world's two most powerful wind turbines, with blades up to 500ft in diameter, are to be built on the Northumberland coast in clear view of northeast England's most renowned shorelines. ...The two machines are planned to be up to 650ft high, including their blades. At that height they would be more than 200ft taller than the current tallest turbines in Britain. ...Each could generate up to 7.5 mega-watts of power.

Winds in southwest Fillmore County may soon do more than blow hats off of farmers. EcoEnergy LLC plans to build a 400-megawatt, $850 million wind farm in Bristol Township, a 36-square-mile farming town near Preston, Minn., with a population of about 500. The Elgin, Ill., alternative energy company is the latest trying to cash in on Mother Nature in Fillmore County. Bristol Township's prevailing winds have attracted two other wind developers in the past year, according to zoning records.