MARSHALL - Investors are waiting to build nine wind towers in Sodus Township in Lyon County, and they will have to wait until at least this afternoon for one key decision from the county. The county's planning and zoning committee continued its Wednesday night meeting to 1:30 p.m. today to consider four conditional use permit applications from the RAHN Group to build a total of nine wind towers in the Sodus Township. The commission's job is to make a recommendation to the Lyon County Board on whether or not to approve the CUPs. The county board meets Tuesday. County zoning administrator John Biren said Thursday the project is a large one for the county and it's OK to take some additional time. "This is new to the board," Biren said Thursday. "This is one of the first projects. It's a large one, I think." The CUP applications come as the county has revamped its wind energy ordinance. The new ordinance will take effect Monday

He doesn't want to stop the wind project, but he'd like the county to take more time to make a decision that could do more harm than good. Scott Riddlemoser lives about a mile from at least one of the wind turbines proposed as part of a nine-tower project in Lyon County, about seven miles south of Minnesota Highway 23, near Lyon County Road 2 by Russell. "I hate to see the county be reactive and that we don't look at everything that impacts people like me," said Riddlemoser, who owns about 10 acres with his house in the county. Lyon County's planning and zoning commission will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the county boardroom at the courthouse to discuss the conditional use permit applications for the four proposed projects. The county's existing wind energy project regulations do not very well address his specific concerns of setbacks, noise, wind wake and easements and visual impact, Riddlemoser said. County zoning administrator John Biren said the county ordinance does address setbacks, noise, wind wakes and other issues. Still, input from residents such as Riddlemoser will be considered by the planning and zoning board and the county, Biren said.

Minnesota’s new mandate requiring 25 percent of the state’s electricity to be derived from renewable energy sources by 2025 likely will boost wind-power development in North Dakota. The so-called “25 by ’25” initiative sends a signal to regional power providers that demand for wind energy will grow significantly, said Brad Crabtree, of Kulm, N.D., director of an initiative by the Great Plains Institute to reach consensus about how to reduce greenhouse gases. “I think the implications are large for North Dakota,” he said. Minnesota, especially the growing Twin Cities metro area, is a big export market for electricity generated in North Dakota, he said. “The political sentiments are pretty obvious in Minnesota, and we need to provide a power mix that is customer-oriented,” Crabtree said.

While President Bush has suggested using more renewable energy and Minnesota lawmakers seek to press utility companies toward that goal by 2020, a task force of metro counties is wrestling with whether members can meet that challenge on their own. Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington counties are among 22 counties weighing a plan to harness one of the cleanest forms of alternative energy and draw power from the wind.

KENYON — Hours after a state commission approved a draft site permit Thursday for a proposed wind farm in Goodhue County, local residents gathered here to question officials about it. More than 125 people attended an informational meeting at Kenyon-Wanamingo High School about the 18.9-megawatt wind project planned by Kenyon Wind LLC. It seeks to build nine wind turbines east of the city of Kenyon in Cherry Grove and Kenyon townships to generate power that would be sold to Xcel Energy. Earlier in the day, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission issued a draft site permit for the project, a preliminary step in the state’s approval process. The utilities commission has a deadline of June 15 to decide whether to issue a final site permit for the project. John H. Daniels Jr., a Minneapolis attorney and chief manager for Kenyon Wind, told the audience at the high school that the benefits of the project included clean and renewable energy, increased tax revenue and jobs related to construction and maintenance of the project. “We’re serious about wind energy,” Daniels said. “We care about this community, and we want to do this right.”

If all goes as planned, two more sections of land in this area will soon be dotted with 10 wind turbines. Both the Cottonwood and Watonwan County Board of Commissioners recently approved conditional use permits for construction of five wind turbines in each county. The entire project includes eight wind farms, which are separate Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), each with a different combination of investors. There a total of 10 investors involved in the entire project. Of these eight farms, three are in Cottonwood County with two turbines each on farms one and two, and five wind farms in Watonwan County with one turbine each on farms four through eight.

Five Wind Turbines are on their way to Odin Township this fall, after conditional use permits were approved by Watonwan County December 27 at a board meeting. These Wind Turbines are part of five separate LLCs that will each build and generate energy on a 2 megawatt wind turbine in Odin Township. The land the wind farms will be located on is corn and soybean cropland owned by Noel P. Rahn, Partner in Charge of Rahn Group Investment Firm. The land will continue to be used for farming these crops as well as wind energy.

Construction of a 63-unit wind energy farm that will stretch across four Mower County townships and provide additional energy for Austin residents received the Mower County Board of Commissioners’ unequivocal support Tuesday. Both High Prairie Wind Farm II’s environmental assessment and a conditional use permit to construct, operate and maintain a 161 kv substation and high voltage transmission line powered by wind energy were approved. A week ago, the Mower County Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the twin requests.

The New Ulm Public Utilities Commission Tuesday approved a $41.3 million budget for 2007, narrowed the water tower site selection to three sites and authorized $200,000 in pre-development costs for converting the No. 4 boiler to coal/biomass fuel and developing a nine-Megawatt wind farm.

The Mower County Board approved a permit for a new substation to be built near Grand Meadow. The new substation will allow for more electricity to be created through the use of wind turbines.

A project that will bring 86 wind energy turbines to Mower County moved closer to gaining approval Tuesday. High Prairie Wind Farm II, LLC received the Mower County Planning Commission's endorsement of an environmental assessment report on its plans to construct a 161 kv substation and a 161 kv high voltage transmission line. In addition, the petitioner received the commission's endorsement of its request for a conditional use permit for the twin items in Section 23, Clayton Township.

After an extensive discussion, the County Board agreed to hold off on approving conditional use permits for five wind farm turbines in Odin Township. The commissioners agreed to recess the meeting and reconvene to talk about approving the conditional use permits. The commissioners requested that they receive a written legal opinion that verifies it is the county’s position and not the state’s position to make the decision on permitting the wind turbines in Odin. Because a statute says any combination of wind energy systems of 5 megawatts or more must be approved by the state, County Attorney LaMar Piper did not approve having the county commissioners grant the conditional use permits for the wind turbines.

Whether you’re interested in reducing our dependency on foreign oil, saving the planet, or making a buck, sustainable energy is a hot topic on an increasingly hotter planet. This past Thursday members of Clean Up the River Environment (CURE) collaborated with the West Central Regional Sustainable Development Partnership (WCRSDP) and the Western Minnesota Clean Energy Resource Team (CERTS). Together the groups sponsored a bus tour meant to bring together representatives from a number of avenues of society with the intention of edifying them in Community Based Renewable Energy Development. In all, over 30 individuals representing local government, members of academia, private investors and landowners, public utilities, non-profit organizations went along for the ride.

Our appetite for energy is growing fast, but the supply isn’t keeping up. Now a group of power companies that serve two million Minnesota customers wants to upgrade or build new transmission lines across the state. The proposed routes are from Ortonville, Minn. north to Morris, Minn., from Ortonville east to Willmar, Minn. and from Ortonville south to Granite Falls, Minn. Now, a battle is brewing over the power line plans.

Wind power looks increasingly like a rising economic star for western Minnesota. But before the three-bladed turbines rise in their local skies, representatives from communities in Swift, Chippewa and Yellow Medicine counties went looking to the University of Minnesota-Morris for help. There, wind power research being conducted by the West Central Minnesota Research and Outreach Center is helping find the answers they seek on the economic and logistical challenges of tapping this energy source.

The road to the development of wind energy in Kandiyohi County is paved with giant tasks: Finding investors. Doing a wind study. Doing a study of energy transmission lines. Negotiating power contracts. Local organizers believe it’s feasible, however — and they’re taking initial steps to explore it further.

Purchasing wind turbines seems to be the popular move for campuses across Minnesota. Following in Macalester’s footsteps, Carleton and St. Olaf built 1.65 Megawatt turbines on their campus properties in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Macalester installed an urban wind turbine on campus April 23, 2003. In the next few weeks, David Wheaton, Vice President for Administration and Finance, will decide whether Macalester will purchase a second wind turbine that would be located in Stevens County, in western Minnesota.

"The package is what makes it work,'' said Brian Zelenak, manager of regulatory administration for Xcel Energy, contending the approach has economic and environmental advantages. Xcel would buy 375 megawatts of power from Manitoba Hydro beginning in 2015 and buy or generate 380 megawatts of wind power by 2015. Wind power, which is not always available, would complement the Manitoba Hydro power, which would be 95 percent hydroelectric and would be available during peak hours.

Storden — If you have driven down Highway 30 about two miles east of Storden you would have seen a lot of heavy equipment working in the fields both south and north of Highway 30. A new farmer owned wind farm is being built along the Red Rock Ridge. According to a contractor supervisor, there will be twenty 2.5 megawatt Clipper turbines.

CANBY — If it’s going to be approved, the people want it to include wind. During a public hearing Thursday on the conditional use permit for the Big Stone II transmission line project, a number of citizens expressed a desire to see at least some wind energy included as a requirement for the permit. The Big Stone II project would include a 600-megawatt coal burning plant added to an existing site near the Minnesota border in South Dakota. The proposal also includes a transmission line upgrade between Canby and Granite Falls.