Tower by 260-foot tower, blade by 125-foot blade, a manmade forest of wind turbines is rising in a roughly 48-square-mile area between Zearing and Colo. The 100-tower wind farm will eventually generate 150 megawatts of electricity, to be fed into the Mid-Iowa power grid, according to Florida Power and Light spokesman Anthony Pedroni. ..."We'll work our way south, from Zearing toward Colo, at the rate of 10 to 14 turbines a week for the next six to seven weeks," Pedroni said.

Questions remain, but it appears Navitas Energy will proceed with its wind farm project near El Paso using only 36 wind towers. The Woodford County Board last month approved a special use permit for the Minneapolis-based company, but stipulated that six towers remaining within 1 ½ miles of El Paso be removed. The company earlier agreed to move six other towers near U.S. 24 and Interstate 39 to a southern part of the 3,000-acre site. Wanda Davies of Navitas said the company likely will proceed with a reduced number of towers, but using larger turbines - 2.2 megawatts instead of 2.

Sierra Club Atlantic has asked the Energy Board of Canada for proof that green energy generated in Nova Scotia is used in the province, and not exported to the United States. Their six page submission makes several references to the Digby Neck wind farm and statements made by Barry Zwicker, developer of the project. ...Mark Dittrick, the club's conservation chair, says the New England states are eager to purchase green energy, and right now Nova Scotians have no assurance wind power and tidal power won't be exported from the province.

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.

The closely watched Midwest ISO (MISO) queue reform proposals recently approved by FERC are expected to move wind energy generation projects through the interconnection process faster, but the queuing reforms are also underscoring the need for further regional-level policies to boost transmission infrastructure development. ...To tighten the criteria for projects to enter the queue and move forward, MISO proposed to replace its "first come, first served" process with a "first ready, first served" process that relies on projects meeting "milestones" before they can advance.

Many property owners were outraged earlier in the summer when letters from Mesa suggested T. Boone Pickens' company might use the power of eminent domain to seize land for placement of water and power lines. But the language at the Thursday meeting was more palatable to most. The project originally called for building above-ground electricity lines and underground water lines from Roberts County in the Panhandle to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. But landowners affected by Mesa's plan recently received a second letter advising them the water project had been suspended for the time being.

"Make no mistake, this is all about the production and the money," said Greg Adams, a technical consultant who develops wind farms for Edmond-based Chermac Energy Corp. "I can build a wind farm anywhere in the state of Oklahoma. To make it profitable is another story. None of these wind farms get built unless they have a return on investment. That's what investors are looking for." What makes a good location?

But without the mandate, wind power would be at a severe disadvantage against an energy grid designed around coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants that were bought and paid for decades ago, industry experts said. Thomas Casten, chairman of Recycled Energy Development, said that without the renewables mandate "we wouldn't have any wind here because it can't compete with a dirty old coal plant." Even with the mandates, not everyone considers wind the optimal choice in limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

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.

It's up to a judge to settle a dispute over a plan to build wind farms in the town of Prattsburgh. When completed, the wind turbines would be similar to the ones now being built in Cohocton. Friday lawyers for people opposed to the eminent domain proceedings went before a judge to try to stop it. Their lawsuit says the town supervisor, whose vote allowed the project to go forward has a conflict of interest, because he helped First Wind buy some land.

Rhode Island's top energy official said yesterday that proposed federal rules for leasing offshore ocean space to wind-farm operators will not conflict with the state's own plan to select a developer to build a wind project off the coast. Andrew Dzykewicz, chief energy adviser to the governor, said the rules are "unlikely to interfere" with the state's plans. But he said the state's Office of Energy Resources plans to file its own comments about the rules to make sure there won't be any potential conflict.

Hamilton is proposing a wind turbine farm on Bureau of Land Management property along the ridgeline of the Virginia Range, just east of Washoe Valley and west of Virginia City. The 72 turbines would be placed where the wind is strongest, beginning at McClellan Peak and extending northward to Geiger Summit, touching Carson City, Washoe County and Storey County. The whirlwind, if it comes, could be from officials and residents of Storey County, especially the Comstock Historic District, who aren't crazy about modern wind turbines being in view of the 1860s-era communities of Virginia City, Gold Hill and Silver City.

Cohasset could be on its way to getting its two biggest fans - wind turbines, that is. This coming Monday, Sept. 8 at 8p.m., the Planning Board will begin what will likely be a series of public hearings on an application proposing two wind turbines on the Graham Waste site off Route 3A. The project application, put forth by a private developer, proposes the installation of two 1.65-megawatt sized wind turbines. ...The public hearings, essentially a site plan review for the project, will include an in-depth look at all aspects of the project and its potential impacts. The application includes a 70-page feasibility study, which outlines the project from a wind analysis to potential noise, shadow flicker, visual and avian impacts to estimated energy outputs.

Cheryl Wagner, a URW member and a vocal opponent throughout the process, says she can only speak in general terms. Wagner said a proposal was given to Horizon, which the energy company is currently reviewing. The proposal was drawn up by Porter and agreed upon by URW. Neither Wagner nor Porter would disclose what was in the proposal, but an appeal may hinge upon whether or not it is accepted. "Horizon said they really want to do this (project)," said Wagner. "But, they're not willing to give a property value guarantee."

Harvard is planning to install small-scale wind turbines on top of the Holyoke Center and a parking garage, according to a media report. While the wind turbines are not expected to generate a significant amount of electricity for Harvard, they will function as "outward symbols of our commitment to renewable energy and sustainability here on campus," James Gray, associate vice president for Harvard real estate services told The New York Times. ..."It is important to realize that [the turbines] are symbolic, and are not an alternative to doing something more substantive," Schrag said.

Despite the national and global focus on energy sources and costs, Worcester County might not pursue an ordinance allowing small wind turbines in rural areas until at least next year. ...Commissioner Bobby Cowger felt there was no rush to draft an ordinance, saying it could wait until the comprehensive rezoning is complete. Wind power guidelines could be started in the winter and then be finished sometime next summer.

Washington Township, Lehigh County, officials see wind power as a potentially clean and affordable source of energy. They also worry that it could be ugly and unneighborly. Earlier this week, township supervisors voted to limit where residents can set up wind turbines on their properties and restricted their height. The new ordinance also limits turbines to one per property, and requires the energy from them to be used only by the owner, although excess power can be sold back to PPL Electric Utilities.

Town Supervisor Thomas K. Rienbeck began the wind law committee's meeting on Thursday afternoon by clearing up some mistakes and misconceptions about the draft amendment to the zoning law. "No one was ever interested in it being in anywhere but the agricultural-residential district," he said. To that end, the committee agreed to add a setback from the riverfront and lakefront district boundaries of one and a half times the height of the turbine.

N.C. State University was selected by the National Science Foundation to lead a $28.5 million research initiative to transform the nation's century-old power transmission system into a "smart grid" network that will be able to store energy from solar power, wind farms and other alternative resources.

Suburban DeWitt is the latest town to grapple with how to handle wind turbines. The planning board is proposing an ordinance that would ban from residential properties the tall, bladed turbines most typically in use, chair Michael Lazar said. But the ordinance would allow another, less common type of wind conversion generator - a vertical axis wind turbine, he said. Typical wind turbines or windmills would be permitted only on land zoned for industrial or high-tech use, Lazar said.