A proposed wind turbine outside the new East Ridge High School in Woodbury is in the planning stages. While it would mean big energy savings for the school, some nearby landowners don't want a turbine near their homes. The school, located on Bailey Road, will be open by fall of 2009. The plan is to build a 170-foot-tall wind turbine at East Ridge that would produce up to 70 percent of the school's electricity.

Overall, total revenue generated from the turbines rests at about $1.9 million, whereas total expenses on the turbines have been about $859,000, for repairs, insurance and scheduled maintenance, according to MPS documents. The remaining balance goes to paying off the turbines, Schwandt said. Moorhead spent $1.5 million to erect the two towers - the first in 1999 and the second in 2001 - on the city's northeast edge.

The first met tower will be installed this fall near Atwater. The other two will be installed in the spring. A prospectus, which will provide stock offering details for potential investors, is also in the works. Until that legal document is approved, the board of directors cannot discuss financial opportunities, Bergo said. In general, local individuals will invest several million dollars in the project, but the bulk of funding will come from large equity investors who are looking for payback in the form of a federal tax credit for renewable energy. After about 10 years, the majority ownership will revert to Lake Country Wind Energy and its investors.

Transmission problems, turbine demand threaten growth of wind-generated power. All the wind turbines in the world won't reduce the need for fossil fuels if transmission lines don't connect the power those turbines create to the energy grid. In fact, transmission difficulties - along with high demand for wind turbines - are generating concern that Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy that it might not be able to meet a 2007 request to use at least 500 megawatts of power generated by community-based wind farms.

Two more "met" (meteorological) towers for the EcoEnergy wind power company were given initial approval by the Fillmore County Planning Commission during its monthly meeting Aug. 28 and will be passed along to the Fillmore County commissioners with a recommendation for approval. ...The requests sailed through the Planning Commission process as EcoEnergy representative Don Miller, of its new Harmony office staff, explained some project details and answered questions.

The landowners group will voice its concerns Monday at a Nicollet County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. In a letter sent to area media, the group said surrounding landowners, including those who have signed land-use leases with the New Ulm Utilities Commission, have opposed the project from the start. The letter stated the landowners entered into the leases only for fear of losing large portions of their crop lands to eminent domain procedures. "There are a lot of concerns and unanswered questions," said landowners group member Jeff Franta, adding that the group will wait until the meeting to air specifics.

A company that develops wind energy projects will be allowed to put more data-collection devices in northern Mower County, which could lead to a project involving more than 170 wind turbines. The Mower County Board unanimously approved on Tuesday a request from Renewable Energy Systems America for conditional-use permits to install and operate two meteorological towers in Waltham Township, one tower in Sargeant Township and one in Dexter Township.

Four Renewable Energy Systems Americas, Inc. (RES) conditional use permit requests for meteorological towers were endorsed by the Mower County Planning Commission. However, they all came under attack by another wind energy developer. RES is a national leader in the development and construction of renewable wind energy. This summer RES was awarded five utility scale wind projects in Canada with a total capacity of 954MW. RES critic James Hartson is a Waltham area farmer who is trying to develop the state's only community-based (i.e., farmer-owned cooperative) wind project in Mower County, Green Acres Wind Farm.

A group of landowners in southwestern Nicollet County signaled Friday in a letter to the editor of The Journal that they are going to oppose New Ulm Public Utilities Commission's efforts to establish a wind generation farm in their area. The 12 landowners said they would attend a hearing on NUPUC's application to install an anemometer near one of the proposed wind turbine sites on property owned by Sharon Hacker in Lafayette Township about 5 miles northwest of Klossner. "We will voice our many concerns and unanswered questions at the Planning and Zoning meeting in St. Peter on Monday, September 15," they wrote.

The MinnDakota Wind Power Project near White is set to expand by one-third. Iberdrola Renewables, of Portland, Ore., on Friday announced a $100 million expansion, called the Buffalo Ridge Wind Power Project. It would add 50 megawatts of potential power production from about 50 new turbines. There already are 100 turbines in the original MinnDakota wind farm capable of producing 150 megawatts.

How big a deal is two cents? Well, it's a big deal if you're trying to produce wind energy. A federal production tax credit of 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour is set to expire at the end of the year. Wind energy producers generally expect lawmakers to renew the credit, but Congress has yet to act. With time running out, the wind power industry is scrambling. ...Xcel's Frank Prager said the end of the tax credit on December 31, is rippling through the wind industry. He said many U.S. companies are rushing to finish projects before the deadline.

Like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, the elements needed to put together a 5-megawatt wind energy farm northwest of New Ulm are all coming together for the New Ulm Public Utilities Commission. Giant steps were taken at the NUPUC meeting Tuesday as the commission approved the land and wind easement leases with three landowners in southwestern Nicollet County to provide space for the wind turbines needed to generate that amount of "green" energy. In all, New Ulm Public Utilities would be leasing a total of 237.03 acres just off Highway 7, about 5 miles northwest of Klossner.

State Rep. Ken Tschumper, DFL-La Crescent, hosted a community forum last week featuring a panel of environmentalists. Tschumper and others question whether the project's estimates of demand are accurate. He also is concerned that ratepayers could end up financing a project that could harm the area's environment. Other worries include possible health effects and what the potentially 150-foot-high transmission towers would do to the region's scenery. "There are decisions being made here with this high-voltage transmission line ... that are going to impact people's lives for the next 30 or 40 years," Tschumper said.

The deadline for public comment in the controversial power line project known as CapX2020 has been extended to Sept. 26. Minnesota Rep. Ken Tschumper, DFL-La Crescent, along with members of several nonprofit groups encouraged residents to take that extra opportunity to voice their concern about high-voltage power lines coming through or near La Crescent. ...Joseph Morse, a member of the Bluff Land Environment Watch based in Winona. cited risks to people's health and to wildlife. "This is my community, and I'm concerned about it," Morse said.

Residents in Anoka and 10 other cities across the state could soon be looking up to the whipping blades of a wind turbine towering over their communities. The turbines are part of a project by the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA), an electricity cooperative made up of metro and outstate cities that hopes to bring wind power off large turbine farms in rural areas and into homes. While plans for the turbines are in the early stages, the project's leaders are beginning to approach the member cities to determine appropriate sites.

Lynden Township has denied a landowner's request to erect a wind turbine. The township board voted 2-1 this week not to approve a conditional-use permit for the 120-foot tower. Russ Pearson had proposed installing the wind turbine to produce electricity for his property in the Hidden River addition.

The first several towers for the new 99-megawatt Elm Creek Wind Farm have been put up just southeast of Bergen and all 66 of the project's wind turbines are expected to be built and operational by the end of the year. Construction of the Elm Creek project, an expansion of the 100-megawatt Trimont Area Wind Farm built late in 2005, was announced July 12 at the Trimont Chocolate Festival by developer Iberdrola Renewables and electric utility Great River Energy.

High Country Energy L.L.C. is going to Minnesota investors for as much as $3.1 million to help finance the early stages of its project in parts of Olmsted, Dodge and Mower counties. Eventually, the project could take in as many as 200 turbines generating electricity from the wind. Such wind projects typically are financed by large private investors. However High Country Energy has registered an in-state public offering, which allows the company to sell shares of stock to the general public living in Minnesota.

Construction has already begun on a second 99-megawatt wind farm, which will double the size of the current Trimont Area Wind Farm, officials announced Saturday in Trimont. The Elm Creek Wind Power Project will add another 65 wind turbines and is expected to be online by the end of this year.