While many residents may like the feel of Estes Park wind in their hair and the "feel-good" idea of wind turbines used to generate power, many others do not like the idea of whirling wind turbine blades in their neighborhoods. They said as much to the planning commission at its special meeting concerning regulating small wind energy conversion systems last week. However, as much as they objected to the idea of wind turbines in their back yards, the opponents seemed to favor the concept of creating a wind farm in Estes Park.

To add to the hot/cold air swirling around the subject of wind turbines in Estes Park, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) said last month there are challenges in making small residential wind turbines workable here. ...There is currently a moratorium on wind turbines, until Dec. 9. The public is invited to attend and comment at the meeting, as commissioners consider draft regulations on small-scale residential wind turbines, based on input received in a recent public survey.

A Wyoming wind power developer, Wind Holding LLC, has lost its $500 million contract with Colorado State University to build a wind farm at Maxwell Ranch near the Wyoming-Colorado border. Wind Holding was to finance and build the wind farm on land leased from the university. CSU and Wind Holding would then sell the power to recoup construction costs. Wind Holding was not chosen through a competitive bidding process, but instead had approached the university.

The Colorado State University Research Foundation announced Nov. 2 that it could not reach agreement with Wind Holding LLC on a path forward for development of the Maxwell Ranch wind farm. Given the expiration of the Oct. 31 deadline for Wind Holding to cure problems in its lease, the foundation has found the private company officially in default.

A weak market for wind turbines in the U.S. will slow job growth at Vestas Wind Systems' four Colorado plants, Ditlev Engel, the company's chief executive, said Tuesday. "When the world's biggest market takes a breather for a year, it's tough," Engel said in a telephone interview.

Entegrity Wind Systems Inc., a wind turbine manufacturer that based some of its operations in Boulder, has gone bankrupt after failing to develop a plan to tackle millions of dollars of debt. The business was declared bankrupt pursuant to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act of Canada, where it was incorporated, according to a document posted to the front door of Entegrity's locked offices.

CSU's developer in building a wind farm north of Fort Collins to help power the university will have to fix several "problems" with its project lease, including "outstanding financial obligations," by the end of next week after CSU held the company in default over the summer. But Bruce Morley, the CEO of Wind Holding LLC, said last week that the contract it has with the university, which he said "is self-extending for things that are out of our control like the financial crisis," makes CSU's deadline obsolete. "The international financial crisis has caused a delay of the project," Morley said.

Lisa Billings and her neighbors in the Red Mountain area of north Larimer County were thrilled when Wind Holding LLC missed its deadline last summer to start work on a wind farm on nearby Maxwell Ranch. “This is great news,” said Billings, president of the 54-member Greater Red Mountain Protection Association. “A lot of people are really concerned about this.” ...Billings and her neighbors are holding their breath and hoping the project first announced in March 2007 may still fall completely apart. And it’s not because they aren’t fans of alternative energy.

The developer of a $500 million wind farm slated to be built at CSU's Maxwell Ranch now has until the end of October to solve problems with its lease agreement with the university. The Colorado State University Research Foun-dation on Friday voted to extend a 60-day deadline by a month for Wind Holding LLC to get the wind farm project back on track.

The developer of a wind farm slated to be built at CSU's Maxwell Ranch now has until the end of October to solve problems with its lease agreement with the university. The Colorado State University Research Foundation on Friday voted to extend the deadline for Wind Holding, LLC to Oct. 31 because the company said it is making progress.

Vail Resorts Inc. said Monday it will not renew its three-year commitment to purchase wind-energy offset credits. ..."going forward, we intend to channel our efforts on more comprehensive projects, which help protect the climate and also offer habitat and watershed benefits to local communities, such as the Hayman Restoration Project," Katz said.

The private developer partnered with CSU to build a $500 million wind farm near the Wyoming border is "actively" working to get the project back on track after being given 60 days to sort things out, CSU officials say. Wind Holding LLC was notified in July that it was in danger of seeing its deal with the university's nonprofit development arm cancelled.

On a drive to the Pawnee Buttes overlook in Weld County, the slowly rotating turbines of the new Cedar Creek Wind Farm spread east from Grover across the Chalk Bluffs, providing a decidedly postmodern backdrop to one of northeast Colorado's most famous natural scenes. ...Birdwatchers, she said, are concerned the windmills might harm birds. One of the bird enthusiasts concerned about the Cedar Creek Wind Farm is Ken Strom, interim director of the Audubon Society's Colorado branch.

Debtors are knocking at their door and time is running short for promoters of a $500 million wind farm to deliver or lose their lease. The Colorado State University Research Foundation on July 23 voted to give Wind Holding LLC 60 days to pay vendors who are threatening to take legal action to recover the cost of goods and services provided. By the same deadline, Wind Holding must begin construction of the wind farm and secure an agreement with a transmission provider.

Public interest is catching up to a fast-moving plan to build a major electrical transmission line from Pueblo to the San Luis Valley. ...Another federal mandate seeks to fast-track the transmission lines needed to move renewable energy. Some of the nation's best wind and solar sites are remote areas. A decision on the San Luis Valley route could come by early next year. Others say, not so fast.

The would-be developer of a $500 million electricity-generating wind farm at CSU is financially "overextended," facing construction liens from its vendors and in danger of seeing its deal with the university cancelled, officials said Tuesday. ...According to its contract with CSU, Wind Holding is to build a wind farm at the university-owned Maxwell Ranch near the Wyoming border. But Wind Holding has not yet submitted its construction permit application to Larimer County and has already made a $50,000 payment to CSURF as a result of delays. The company also paid CSURF $50,000 when the lease was first signed.

The would-be developer of a controversial $500 million wind farm to serve CSU has been notified it's in default of its agreement with the university, officials said today. ...Wind Holding has 60 days to remedy the default, although CSU did not immediately specify the exact nature of the problem. Under its contract with CSU, Wind Holding is to build a wind farm at the university-owned Maxwell Ranch, near the Wyoming border.

Wind farms and solar power plants may offer free fuel costs and no carbon-dioxide emissions, but don't assume there's universal support from environmentalists, according to industry observers. "The world is changing," said Andrew Spielman, a partner at the Denver office of Hogan & Hartson LLC who works on renewable-energy projects. ..."There are more complexities with renewable projects," he said, "and it's no longer an assumption that the environmental community will approve and support renewable projects."

A wind turbine manufacturer with sales offices in Boulder has been ordered to pay its former Canadian employees the back wages they're owed, according to Prince Edward Island's labor department. Entegrity Wind Systems, which operates two manufacturing plants in Canada, laid off 35 employees in June, the majority of its workers.

But the project -- which comes with a $400 million to $500 million price tag and is pending large amounts of research to determine its viability -- is not without skepticism. Jackson and the 35 other local residents formed the group to protest the initiative because, they say, preliminary preparations for the project herald a largely unattainable goal, pitting the university's contractor against a mychallenges. The group cited a number of problems that threaten the legitimacy of the project.