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.

MINOT, N.D. Wind towers south of here are undergoing repairs. The wind generators on the east side of U.S. Highway 83, about 10 miles south of Minot, have not been spinning to produce electricity for the last couple of months. Crews have been working to replace gear boxes.

"If it's difficult for me [Public Service Commissioner Susan Wefald] to figure out who's doing what (in wind development), the average person doesn't have a chance," she said.

BISMARCK, N.D. -- Two utilities and a pipeline company have dropped plans to build a wind farm in southeastern North Dakota, in part because of rising wind turbine prices, officials said.

Suddenly wind farms are beginning to pop up across North Dakota, and two new projects have been announced this week in northwestern North Dakota.