Jefferson County's Board of Legislators slowed down its consideration of the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement for the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm. ...Chairman Barry M. Ormsby, R-Belleville, said representatives of the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency and Galloo Island's developer, Upstate NY Power Corp., would come to the meeting. Mr. Ormsby said they also would allow the public to speak during privilege of the floor, though no public hearing is required.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski ordered a hurry-up review Tuesday of Oregon's incentives for renewable energy companies in the face of ongoing criticism of the tax breaks. ...The governor's request comes on the heels of an investigation by The Oregonian that revealed state officials downplayed the estimated cost of the incentives before they were expanded by the 2007 Legislature at Kulongoski's urging.

Wyoming lawmakers will soon take up the thorny issue of whether to impose new taxes on wind energy development, a proposal that developers say could stunt the fledgling industry's growth in Wyoming. Supporters of a new tax say it's only fair for wind projects to contribute to state and local governments equal to other energy industries. Opponents say Wyoming taxes are already high compared to surrounding states and any new tax would be premature. The Joint Revenue Committee will consider two proposals to tax wind electricity generation at a Wednesday meeting in Cheyenne.

The payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement for the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm would take some money that normally would go to the school district and give it to the town. The PILOT would send 50 percent to Sackets Harbor Central School District, 15 percent to the town of Hounsfield and 35 percent to Jefferson County. The three are splitting a $2.14 million pie, which will increase 2.5 percent each year for 20 years.

Early work on a unified wind turbine policy was met with many questions at Thursday's Burleigh County Planning Commission meeting. Bismarck City Planner Gregg Greenquist said the policy should be split between "household wind energy systems" and larger wind farms. Greenquist said a large expansion is planned for a wind farm near Wilton into the Burleigh County jurisdiction.

This is the first in a series of stories about wind turbines and their impact on the rural landscape. Future articles will look at projects coming to Nobles and Jackson counties and the impact wind farms have on our region's transportation system. A couple of years ago, Murray County collected more than $1 million in production tax revenue from the wind turbines that span the horizon along the Buffalo Ridge.

The proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm is ready to agree to spend more than $2 million per year as part of a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, but it stands to save nearly $23 million in other tax abatements. Officials from the town of Hounsfield, Sackets Harbor Central School District and Jefferson County are firming up their division of a property tax PILOT, which will generate $2.14 million per year.

A handful of people from outside Hounsfield commented on the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement Monday night. The PILOT considered at the hearing, held by the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency, only covers the 84 turbines and ancillary structures on the island and the underwater transmission line in Hounsfield. There will be PILOT negotiations and a public hearing sometime in the future for the part of the 50.6-mile transmission line that runs from Henderson to the town of Mexico.

Britain's biggest developer of offshore wind farms has hired Rothschild to sell stakes in its projects because it cannot afford to build them. The move by Dong Energy, the Danish power giant, casts fresh doubt on the government's carbon-reduction plans just six months after it ramped up subsidies to keep the offshore wind sector afloat. ..."The issue is that these projects require enormous amounts of capital and it's getting very difficult to justify," said an industry source. "The enthusiasm there once was has diminished."

The Obama administration should bar a $1.5 billion wind-farm project in Texas from receiving U.S. government stimulus funds because most of the power turbines would be made in China, Senator Charles Schumer said. "The idea that stimulus funds would be used to create jobs overseas is quite troubling," Schumer, a New York Democrat, wrote in a draft of a letter he said yesterday he would send to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. ...Schumer said he would pursue legislation if necessary to prevent stimulus funds from being used for the Texas project.

A Democratic senator is calling on the Obama administration to reject an expected request for federal economic stimulus money as part of a $1.5 billion West Texas wind energy project because he says it will generate Chinese, not American, jobs. The U.S.-China venture, announced last week, would erect 240 huge Chinese-manufactured wind turbines on 36,000 acres in West Texas, with the Export-Import Bank of China committed to handle most of the financing.

News that $450 million in federal stimulus money might go toward installing Chinese-made wind turbines in Texas prompted criticism on Thursday, with Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, calling on the Obama administration to deny federal financing. According to partners in the deal, the proposed 600-megawatt wind farm, announced late last week, would be built on 36,000 acres in West Texas using 240 wind turbines manufactured by A-Power Energy Generation Systems of Shenyang, China.

State officials deliberately underestimated the cost of Gov. Ted Kulongoski's plan to lure green energy companies to Oregon with big taxpayer subsidies, resulting in a program that cost 40 times more than unsuspecting lawmakers were told, an investigation by The Oregonian shows. Records also show that the program, a favorite of Kulongoski's known as the Business Energy Tax Credit, has given millions of dollars to failed companies while voters are being asked to raise income taxes because the state budget doesn't have enough to pay for schools and other programs.

There are much cheaper ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions than subsidizing renewable energies. CO2 abatement costs of PV are estimated to be as high as $1,050 per ton, while those of wind power are estimated at $80 per ton. By contrast, the current price of emissions certificates on the European emissions trading scheme is only 13.4 (Euro) per ton. ...Moreover, the prevailing coexistence of the EEG and emissions trading under the European Trading Scheme (ETS) means that the increased use of renewable energy technologies generally attains no additional emission reductions beyond those achieved by ETS alone.

Many people in North Dakota are thrilled that wind turbines are dotting the state. It is an alternate source of energy, and financially, it is good for the state's economy. But there are two sides to every story, and state legislators heard both sides on Wednesday in Valley City. The Energy Development and Transmission Committee first listened to NextEra Energy Resources representatives on wind facility construction and operation.

Just Wind asked the Stutsman County Commission to lower the application fee for a wind farm zoning permit during the commission's regular meeting Tuesday. The fee was set at $500 per wind turbine when the wind farm zoning ordinance was passed this spring. ..."According to your figures, a 250-turbine project will cost about $1.5 billion," said Noel Johnson, chief operating officer of the county. "And you're saying the $125,000 permit fee would kill it?"

KU and sister company Louisville Gas and Electric Co. plan to purchase wind power from the breezy prairie of northern Illinois to help meet what they expect will be federal requirements to increase their use of renewable energy. Last month, they asked the Kentucky Public Service Commission for permission to add a "renewable resource clause" to customer bills so they can recover the costs of the pricier wind power and transmission.

The main point of contention in the contract talks between National Grid and Deepwater Wind is the price of electricity generated by the proposed wind farm off Block Island. Deepwater has quoted a price of between 20 and 25 cents per kilowatt-hour. National Grid has calculated the cost, with adjustments over time, to be closer to 30.7 cents per kilowatt hour. Either price is much higher than the 9.2 cents per kilowatt-hour that National Grid pays for power mainly from natural gas plants. So far, the utility has refused to pay the higher cost for wind energy, saying it's simply too much.

The Morton County Commission heard a new pitch for a wind farm at its Oct. 8 meeting. In 2010, Nextera Energy of Juno Beach, Fla., wants to place 33 wind turbines between west of Mandan and New Salem. Thirty-three will be added for the next project. ...The company has submitted a letter of intent to the North Dakota Public Service Commission and a permit application to the Morton County Auditor's Office.