Idaho's three large regulated electric utilities have proposed a settlement with wind developers that they say could resolve cost issues that have slowed development of small wind projects in Idaho. Idaho Power had asked the Public Utilities Commission to place a moratorium on rapidly increasing wind development projects within its territory while the company studied how much it would cost the utility to accept wind-generated power and to provide for backup generation when wind output is less than projected. The commission denied the request, and it reduced the size of wind projects that could qualify for the commission-posted rates that utilities must pay generators of small renewable power projects. It lowered the size of wind projects that qualify for the posted rates from 10 megawatts to 100 kilowatts. Having completed their studies, Idaho Power, Avista Corp. and PacifiCorp are recommending that the published rate for wind-generated power be discounted to allow for wind intermittency and that the size limit of projects that can qualify for the rate be brought back to 10 megawatts.

FAIRHAVEN - While an agreement for the construction of two wind turbines in town is yet to be finalized, the state is paying for one more study required by the project. The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative is providing $114,000 for an electrical interconnection study of the Fairhaven project, said Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny, D-New Bedford, on Tuesday. The study will determine how to connect the two 1.65-megawatt turbines to the waste-water treatment plant off Arsene Street, Town Secretary Jeffrey W. Osuch said. The MTC will hire a consultant to conduct the study, provide technical support contracting and construction oversight.

A program aided by the U.S. Department of Energy seeks to place small wind turbines at several rural Kansas high schools in the next three years. Wind for Schools is a national outreach effort of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, where organizers hope to familiarize rural America with a cheap local source of power. The program will help selected schools construct a 1.8-megawatt wind generator on a 60-foot tower. In addition, they'll provide educational support for all school levels to create lessons based on the turbine.

As the legislature pushed past its weekend budget deadline, the state's power industry squared off with Gov. Rendell over energy proposals he says are crucial to keeping electricity prices from skyrocketing as decade-old caps expire in the years ahead. Dozens of lobbyists representing utilities and power generators were working the Capitol's anterooms last week, pulling legislators off the floor to urge changes in the package of bills that Rendell calls his "Energy Independence Strategy." The fight helped derail efforts to pass a 2008 budget by this weekend's traditional deadline, as Rendell repeated his threat to hold up the budget unless his energy package was approved.

Measures that will affect 2008 tax returns:......... • An income tax credit of up to $12,500 to offset the cost of buying and installing systems that produce electricity from solar or wind energy.

Turning algae into fuel? Building a windmill on Tangier Island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay? Setting wind turbines miles off the Virginia Beach coast? The ideas might sound futuristic, but they are the primary alternative-energy projects that the state will support with $1.5 million in research grants, to be awarded next week.

The Energy Department announced Monday it will provide $4 million to two projects in Texas and Massachusetts for research into designing and building the next generation of large wind turbine blades.

The benefits that wind-farm operations could bring to Franklin County will be shared next week during talks on whether property taxes will be waived in favor of negotiated payments. The Franklin County Industrial Development Agency is bringing together the parties impacted by the wind-farm projects in the eastern portion of the county, called Noble Chateaugay Wind Park LLC and Noble Bellmont Wind Park LLC. The meeting, set for Wednesday at the IDA Office on Elm Street, will include the developer, Noble Environmental Power of Connecticut, and representatives from the Town of Bellmont, the Town of Chateaugay, Chateaugay Central School and IDA Executive Director Brad Jackson. Noble plans to build 72 towers in Chateaugay and 14 more in Bellmont on 8,623 acres south of Route 11 and east of Route 374.

Senate Democrats' efforts to impose $29 billion in taxes on oil companies as part of larger energy reform bill collapsed Thursday when they failed to break a Republican-led filibuster. Hours later a mandate that utilities get 15% of their energy from renewable resources by 2020, apparently also was out of the bill. Jude McCartin, spokeswoman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., the provision's lead sponsor, said time to add the renewables provision had run out now that the overall bill was headed towards a final vote, expected late Friday. The provision had drawn opposition from Republicans who claimed it was tilted toward wind power and would hurt Southern states not suited for it. The Senate did approve a compromise deal on raising fuel economy standards late Thursday.

A panel chaired by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus on Tuesday approved an energy-tax package designed to boost alternative energy production and conservation - partially at the expense of big oil-and-gas producers. "This is a significant victory in our efforts to become more energy independent," said Baucus, D-Mont., who chairs the Senate Finance Committee. "We have more to do to address climate change, lower gas prices at the pump and wean America off of foreign sources of energy." The Finance Committee approved the $28.5 billion, 10-year tax package, which is expected to become part of a larger energy bill before the U.S. Senate this week. The package includes tax credits to encourage production of wind power, solar power, gas-electric hybrid cars, biodiesel fuel and "cellulosic" ethanol, which is produced from agricultural waste products.

Washington (AP) Senator John Thune is pushing provisions that would promote the development of wind energy as the Senate debates a new energy bill. The Senate today passed a Thune amendment that would promote the development of energy transmission infrastructure. It would promote the creation of "energy corridors" that would make it easier to transfer wind energy to high-demand areas. Thune says South Dakota already has the wind energy and that the missing link is the way to deliver the energy. Also today, the Senate Finance Committee passed energy legislation that would extend a production tax credit for wind energy. That bill will be added to the energy legislation being considered by the full Senate.

Montemuro wants to build a 28-foot turbine to generate electricity for his store and for his home. He figures the turbine will cost about $30,000, but he expects to recoup that through electricity savings and a reimbursement from a state incentive program, such as the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, which encourages the use of alternative energy sources.

The most expensive of the tax breaks would reimburse businesses for half the cost of wind farms, biofuel plants and other renewable energy plants or equipment. Deckert said that break will create good jobs and make Oregon more prosperous.

U.S. Senate Democrats, pushing to pass a broad energy bill next week, have developed a package that would take about $25 billion in tax breaks and other benefits from the oil industry and use the money for a vast expansion of renewable energy sources.

Farmers and landowners should be aware that changes in the way green electricity will be funded mean there is currently strong demand for wind farm sites. The current system, that beefs up the income from onshore wind farm sites by up to 50%, is due to be changed in 2010 or soon after to favour offshore wind farms as they are considered more acceptable to the public rather than on shore ones. "Wind farm companies are going hell for leather to find onshore sites and agree terms with landowners during 2007," notes head of Fisher German's renewables team Mark Newton. "It's a lengthy planning process to get a site approved which normally takes three to five years, and they need to get a project agreed and built before the system changes. Otherwise the site will not be as profitable for the landowner and the wind farm company."

Melancthon Township Council has accepted an "amenities agreement" with Canadian Hydro Developers, and has voted to support the company's position on the Melancthon II wind farm project at the Ontario Municipal Board pre-hearings and main event. The double-barrelled motion carried in an unrecorded vote at the last meeting of the council. The decision does not affect zoning, as that issue is before the OMB.

A tax break that has helped spur the development of windmill farms in Washington state could be extended for five years as part of the new Senate energy bill, Sen. Maria Cantwell said Wednesday. But the ability to carry that power from turbines in some of the wind-swept regions of the Northwest to the customers who need it isn't part of the proposal at this time.

GENESEO - The city could have a new landmark in coming years. Aldermen Tuesday voted to accept a $1.385 million Illinois Clean Energy Grant to help pay for a 2.5 megawatt wind turbine, to be built on the northwest side of Geneseo, outside the city limits.

LIVINGSTON - Some local governments in Montana are having second thoughts about entering the wind energy business despite the incentive of interest-free financing from the federal government. While some cities and counties remain enthusiastic about the idea, others are bailing out. Almost half remain uncommitted and the clock is ticking. The Park County Commission dropped out of the program this month, saying it involved too many unknowns. "It doesn't look like something we ought to hang our hat on right now," Commissioner Jim Durgan said. Similar sentiments reign in Carbon County.

This year Fort Collins Wind Power Program will hand over more than $1 million to Platte River Power Authority to help the city reach its goal of having 15 percent of its energy come from renewable sources by 2017. Of that money, some $366,000 will be used to purchase what are called renewable energy credits (RECs) from out-of-state projects that cannot-or will not-detail how the money is being used to help reach that goal. Without such accountability, it is unclear how Fort Collins' wind power dollars are helping to create new renewable energy, which is the ultimate goal of these credits.