The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced Thursday that it has approved a $161 million loan to the company building the Montana Alberta Tie Line between Great Falls and Lethbridge. The Western Area Power Administration will loan Toronto-based Tonbridge Power Inc. - the project's developer - money with funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, also known as the federal stimulus bill.

Canadian and Irish companies announced plans Friday to build a 100-mile-long power line in Montana that could prompt construction of wind farms in the Great Falls area by giving developers access to large out-of-state markets hungry for renewable energy. ...Construction of the transmission line would spur the construction of wind projects near it, Jamison said. Gaelectric is studying wind farm construction at several sites across the state, including near Fort Benton and Havre.

A Canadian transmission company and an Irish wind developer said Friday they are teaming up to pursue a central Montana power project that could result in at least $1 billion worth of new wind energy in the Great Falls area. If the project succeeds, it would give Montana's burgeoning wind energy industry room to grow - an expansion that to date has been limited by a lack of lines to move power out of the state.

The developer of a $213 million transmission line being eagerly awaited by wind developers said construction is set to begin following the decision Thursday by the Supreme Court of Canada to refuse to hear an appeal of the project's permit. With the court's decision, all avenues for legal challenges have been exhausted and Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. will now be able to begin construction on both sides of the border by December.

A Canadian company is seeking wind power developers to move electricity along a pair of $3 billion transmission lines in Montana and Wyoming -- potentially spurring a major increase in renewable power exported from the Rockies to the Southwest. The two lines would move 3,000 megawatts of power from each state. That's more than three times as much wind power as Wyoming currently produces and eight times what Montana has.

Blade repairs are tricky, Moya said, because the weight and thickness of the repair materials have to be perfectly matched to the blade. Otherwise, a blade ends up lighter or heavier than the others on the windmill, causing the entire apparatus to wobble like an unbalanced tire and ultimately fall apart. "We send images of the damage to our engineers in Houston. They send detailed blueprints back about what needs to be replaced," Moya said.

Big machines have been rolling up to Allegheny Mountain for days. Site development work on Virginia's first industrial wind energy plant is expected to start this week. Passersby report heavy equipment has been parked near the entrance to Red Oak Knob, and blasting heard over the last couple of days. A skidder moved in after dark a few days ago, and trees are being cut near one of the turbine sites; one truck full of logs has already headed out with its load.

District 300 would shoulder 80 percent of the costs - as well as potential benefits and decision-making - associated with the consortium that would build wind turbines to generate the electricity. Dave Ulm, the district's energy coordinator, said the entire project is estimated to cost between $46 million and $50 million.

Lightning knocked out two wind turbines and sent a massive tower blade crashing to the ground at the Judith Gap Wind Farm last month, the company said Wednesday. Repairs began earlier this month and will continue into September, said Susan Dennison, an Invenergy spokeswoman.

As a safety precaution, residential wind towers would be banned within 1,000 feet of schools under new zoning rules proposed in Cascade County. ...Different setback rules - the height of a wind tower in addition to the blade length plus 20 feet - are proposed when wind towers are proposed in the vicinity of private property.

A federal ruling that went against NorthWestern Energy on a proposed power line shouldn't change basic plans for the 430-mile line to export homegrown power to out-of-state markets, company officials say. But the recent order has piqued the attention of state regulators, who say they're wondering whether NorthWestern's Montana electric customers could end up paying for part of the line.

Molnar, R-Laurel, says the proposed 430-mile power line into southern Idaho is nothing more than a way to drain inexpensive Montana-produced power out of the state and into lucrative California markets. ...If PPL, which supplies about half the power for NorthWestern's customers, could move more power to California markets, it could demand a much higher price from Montanans, Molnar says.

Darrel and Jean Gogel's Trochu acreage is a piece of calm in a hectic world--where Darrel can retreat after working days away as a truck driver, and Jean can unwind from her job as a hospital housekeeper. That could change, the couple says, if a plan for a 54-turbine wind farm near their house goes ahead.

Cascade County is considering creating setbacks to protect properties from wind development, including schools. But should schools be exempt from the rules? That's the question Cascade County commissioners must decide, Planning Director Brian Clifton said.

A Canadian energy company and an arm of the U.S. Energy Department are working on a deal to complete financing for a proposed Montana-Alberta power line that would span 214 miles and carry power from the region's emerging wind industry, officials said Tuesday.

Federal officials are again delaying whether to list sage grouse in 11 Western states as threatened or endangered -- leaving in limbo until at least 2010 a spate of industries that could face sweeping restrictions if the bird is protected. The chicken-sized grouse ranges from Montana to California alongside livestock grazing, oil and gas drilling and an increasing number of wind power turbines.

Efforts should be focused on stopping output of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas which helps heat the planet, rather than moving to a source that can be regenerated, said Craig Mundie, the man who replaced Bill Gates as the world's largest software maker's futurist. Conservation and radical technologies, including new nuclear, could be key, he said.

The police in Nandurbar are verifying a complaint by one Anand Thakare alleging that Aishwarya, Suzlon Energy Ltd, the company that makes wind energy turbines and maintains and operates the turbines on behalf of the investors, and several others had duped him into "selling" his land cheap for a planned 1,000 MW wind energy farm.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund invested $15 million in Invenergy's High Sheldon Wind Farm, located in Wyoming County, through Credit Suisse Customized Fund Investment Group, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced Monday.

A company plans to build a $420 million wind farm with 133 turbines in southwest Campbell County. San Ramon, Calif.-based Third Planet Windpower is eyeing 14,000 acres for the project on both sides of Wyoming Highway 50 near the Johnson County line. The company has begun talking to local landowners about leasing land.