The Public Service Commission is holding a hearing in Ashley this week on a proposed transmission line for a new wind farm in North Dakota. Tatanka Wind Power is planning a project across the North Dakota-South Dakota border. State regulators say the company wants to build a ten-mile power line to connect the turbines to North Dakota's electrical grid. Tatanka is planning to build about 120 wind turbines, capable of generating about 180 megawatts of power.

The Public Service Commission has scheduled a hearing here on a proposed transmission line for a new wind farm in North Dakota. Tatanka Wind Power LLC is planning a project across the North Dakota-South Dakota border. State regulators say the company wants to build a 10-mile power line to connect the turbines to North Dakota’s electrical grid.

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.

North Dakotans can’t count on the wind blowing every day, but extending a federal tax credit for five years would put a steady breeze in the sails of the state’s booming wind industry, Rep. Earl Pomeroy said Monday. Pomeroy, D-N.D., visited the DMI Industries manufacturing plant in West Fargo to announce a bipartisan bill to extend the production tax credit for wind and other renewable energy projects until 2014. “This legislation … we think produces a very significant level of stability, providing the assurance that those contemplating moving in this area are going to be able to complete their projects and invest in future projects,” he said.

FPL Energy announced plans to submit a proposal for a large wind farm in Cavalier County, North Dakota. The proposal was mentioned in Gov. John Hoeven’s address to the state legislature Wednesday, the Grand Forks Herald reported. The application will be for a 160 megawatt wind farm, according to the North Dakota Public Service Commission.

Other renewable energy legislation is in the wind, now that North Dakota's wind energy development is firmly established with commercial wind farms in Burleigh and Oliver counties in this region and others elsewhere in the state. The North Dakota Renewable Energy Partnership has outlined a concept to restore wind farm siting authority to the Public Service Commission for wind projects of more than 20 megawatts. The oversight would include the issues of landowner compensation and perimeter setbacks. The PCS's authority was stripped of anything under 100 megawatts in the last session.

A company that is planning a wind power project across the North Dakota-South Dakota border wants to construct a 10-mile power line to connect the turbines to North Dakota’s electrical grid, state regulators say. The Public Service Commission on Wednesday accepted Tatanka Wind Power LLC’s letter of intent to build the Dickey County power line, which the company hopes to begin constructing in March. Company filings estimate the project’s cost at $7.3 million.

Economic development officials in Grand Forks and Fargo agreed this week to oppose the City 20/20 renewable energy initiative, which has also come under fire from elected leaders. In a joint resolution, the Grand Forks Region and Greater Fargo Moorhead economic development corporations said they support the growth of the renewable energy industry but prefer that it come about by market forces or federal incentives. "The bottom line for us is we don't think it should be mandated locally," said Grand Forks EDC president Klaus Thiessen.

Tax incentives were put into place in 2005 to help bring in more renewable energy industries, but North Dakota’s tax commissioner says the state needs to do more. Cory Fong announced today that he will be working with the 2007 legislature to introduce a new tax credit. Fong is running for the tax commissioner seat to which he was appointed last year.

North Dakotans strongly favor higher electric bills and mandates for ethanol-blended fuel and biodiesel to support renewable energy, says a poll commissioned by the industry's backers.... The poll was conducted by the University of North Dakota's Bureau of Governmental Affairs, using telephone interviews with 600 North Dakota residents. They were conducted from June 13 to July 12. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

If you think that North Dakota is one of the windiest states in the nation, you`re right. A study proves it. And with the encouragement of that Department of Energy study, the wind industry in the state is growing.

"Obviously there has to be a backup system because sometimes the wind just doesn`t blow or it`s very calm. There`s always a need for that baseline electricity," says Kim Christianson with the North Dakota Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.

FARGO - A requirement that at least 20 percent of electricity sold in this city come from renewable energy sources by the year 2020 is headed for a vote in November. Representatives of the South Agassiz Resource Council have turned in 3,677 signatures to the city auditor's office to get the issue on the Nov. 7 election ballot. About 2,850 signatures were needed, Auditor Steve Sprague told city commissioners in a memo.

Separately, the commission on Wednesday gave regulatory approval for FPL Energy to build an electric substation and 532-foot stretch of new power line in Oliver County. The utility is developing a wind turbine farm near Center. When completed, the wind development will use 22 turbines to generate 50 megawatts of electricity, which is being sold to Minnesota Power of Duluth. The power line and substation are needed to transmit the energy east, Commissioner Susan Wefald said.

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.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - An upgrade of the state's power grid would include a $600 million high-voltage transmission line from the South Dakota border to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area - and that's just part of the plan proposed by a coalition of utility companies. The plan also calls for a second high-voltage line from Fargo, N.D., to the St. Cloud area, a third line from the Minneapolis-area to Rochester and then to La Crosse, Wis., and a smaller fourth line in the Bemidji area.

A provision in a federal military spending bill is holding up wind farm development in some states, but Public Service Commission President Tony Clark says he doesn`t know of any North Dakota delays.

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.

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.

BISMARCK, N.D. - Minnkota Power Cooperative will install $135 million worth of anti-pollution equipment at its Milton Young electric power plant to settle a dispute with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, officials said. The EPA says the plant is one of the dirtiest in the upper Great Plains.