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.

The transmission project "will likely require more than 1,000 miles (1,610 km) of new extra-high voltage transmission lines at a cost of between $5 billion and $10 billion," AEP said. The Midwest Independent System Operator, which manages transmission lines in the region, must approve the project. The new lines would connect 2,000 megawatts of wind power in Hartland Wind Farm project in North Dakota, near the western terminus of the proposed lines, AEP said.

Minnkota and Square Butte also would underwrite $5 million in renewable energy development projects, including wind power projects in North Dakota and Minnesota to save energy and cut pollution further.

WASHINGTON — Southern California and the urban centers from Northern Virginia to New York face the most critical power grid problems, but such remote areas as Montana and the Dakotas may need new transmission lines in the near future, an Energy Department report warns.

The grass around Minot may not be the only thing that's green in a few years, as Basin Electric Power Cooperative is looking at two potential sites near town on which to build a wind farm.

BP Alternative Energy North America Inc. expects to begin construction on five U.S. wind power generation projects in 2007 across four states, including Texas. The projects — also located in California, Colorado and North Dakota — are expected to deliver a combined generation capacity of 550 megawatts.

The howling prairie gales that blow almost continually across this flat and empty state could, it has been estimated, light up a quarter of America. If there was one industry whose bright future looked assured, it was green energy, and particularly wind, which is widely regarded as the most promising alternative to fossil fuels. However, just as its fortunes soared last year, so they are on the wane now.

The Stutsman County Commission heard information from one of the leading wind farm developers in the nation during its regular meeting Tuesday. ...A principle point of contention in the proposed Stutsman County wind zoning ordinance is a requirement that all wind turbines be set back a distance of five rotor diameters from property lines unless neighboring property owners have signed waivers.

North Dakota's Public Service Commission is holding a hearing next month on the location of a proposed wind farm. It's south of Langdon in northeastern North Dakota. Public Service Commission President Susan Wefald says the hearing will be held at 10 a-m on May 8th. The site will be determined later. The proposed wind farm will include 106 wind turbines. It will be capable of generating up to 159 megawatts of power. It represents an investment of more than 225 (M) million dollars. Wefald says the hearing will allow people who are affected by the project to voice any concerns they may have about it. The commission has jurisdiction over the siting of the wind farm including where individual wind towers will be placed. The farm is being developed by F-P-L Energy L-L-C of Florida, Minnkota Power Cooperative of Grand Forks and Otter Tail Power Company of Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Minnkota and Otter Tail Power will be buying the wind farm's electric output.

The Ashtabula Wind Farm becomes one of the largest in the state with 131 turbines with a combined electrical generating capacity of 196.5 megawatts. The farm is owned by NextEra, a division of Florida Power and Light, with the electricity generated purchased by Otter Tail Power and Minnkota Power Cooperative. "We have an ownership share of 48 megawatts or about 32 of the 1.5-megawatt turbines," said Chris King, director of public relations for Otter Tail.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission has filed a complaint that Tatanka Wind Farm changed the location of some transmission towers without notifying the commission. A possible fine of up to $200,000 is by no means a certainty. "We are just putting the company on alert that our staff is concerned about this," commission President Susan Wefald told the American News on Wednesday.

A transmission company that wants to take North Dakota's wind energy to Eastern markets says its plan hinges on a federal change in how transmission facilities are paid for. Representatives of ITC Holdings in Novi, Mich., joined officials with Denali Energy, a company involved in the proposed Hartland Wind Farm northwest of Minot, at a meeting in Minot with landowners Wednesday.

A Colorado company with backers in Britain has leased more than 5,000 acres in northwestern North Dakota to mine salt and store wind. Denver-based Dakota Salts LLC says it wants to use voids created by mining in Burke County to store compressed air to be sold to wind farms to generate electricity. The mining caverns also could store carbon dioxide from North Dakota's coal-burning power plants or natural gas from the state's oil fields, the company said.

Construction on a new 149-megawatt wind farm in north central North Dakota should begin this fall, a company spokesman said, almost three years after state regulators approved the project's location north of Rugby. The Public Service Commission voted Wednesday to reissue siting certificates for the Pierce County project to Iberdrola Renewables Inc., a unit of Iberdrola Renewables S.A. of Madrid. The commissioners first approved the certificates in October 2005. The wind farm was initially developed by PPM Energy Inc. of Portland, Ore.

CHICAGO - Illinois Democrats Dick Durbin and Barack Obama are among six U.S. senators who sent a letter Friday to two federal agencies expressing concern after the federal government stopped work on wind farms while it studies whether the giant turbines could interfere with military radar.

Renewable energy sources will continue to grow and are an important part of the country's energy future, but are only part of the equation because the nation is far from reducing its dependence on fossil fuels. ...Despite forecasted growth in renewable energy forms like ethanol, wind power, biomass and nonpetroleum-based fuels, the nation will continue to depend largely on fossil fuels and electricity generated by coal power plants, the committee was told. One reason is the country's forecasted increased consumption of fuel and electricity. “The key to our country's energy future is a mix,” said Gerald Groenewold, the director of the EERC. “Fossil fuels are a part of that.” ...Another wind challenge is the need for future transmission line capacity, said Chris Zygarlicke, the EERC's deputy associate director of research.

A representative from the energy company that built the Peak Road wind farm asked the Barnes County Commission for permission to run some heavy loads over the road next spring. ...FPL in North Dakota will receive deliveries of wind tower components originally intended for other states, and needs a place to store them until new project locations are chosen.

North Dakota's wind-power industry has grown dramatically in recent years and shows signs of continuing the upward trend. However, the industry also faces increasing obstacles in exporting electricity because of transmission bottlenecks. That was a message industry figures made in presentations Wednesday to the Empower North Dakota Commission, a new board that will help steer state energy-development policy, at North Dakota State University.

North Dakota's biggest wind developer is proposing a $2 billion wind turbine farm in the west-central part of the state. It would be capable of generating 1,000 megawatts of electricity. FPL Energy wants to build the wind farm over 250 square miles in Oliver and Morton counties. Its 667 wind turbines would be located in a region of North Dakota that is better known for coal mining and coal-fueled power plants.

North Dakota ...has abundant resources in coal and wind, making it a logical place to produce energy for its less resource rich neighbors. ...Because the state is far away from the metropolitan areas that demand a lot of electricity, any extra power produced here will require a lot of transmission capacity to get it to its potential buyers. ... the main challenge is that many different interests have to come together and agree on terms before new power lines can be built. For even the most basic transmission construction projects, the different power companies that will utilize the lines have to agree how to split the costs of paying for the project. Also, some of the landowners along a route may object to the lines crossing through their property.