The top executive of a Warren-based wind-turbine blade maker said the decision to build a new manufacturing facility in Iowa, rather than in Rhode Island, was based on that state's proximity to the market in which the blades will be used. The blades made by TPI Composites are typically 35 meters to 40 meters long, and can weigh 10,000 to 20,000 pounds each, said Steven C. Lockard, chief executive officer of the company. Transportation costs for these blades, which are typically shipped by truck, can run into the "tens of thousands" of dollars, he said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "In this case, there really wasn't an option for this particular factory to be located in Rhode Island," he said.

Technology General Iowa Rhode Island

Land acquisition for the 100-turbine wind farm proposed by Crystal Lake is complete but the project still must jump through some regulatory hoops before construction can begin. Steve Stengel, director of corporate communications for FPL Energy, said the company is waiting to hear about a request for utility permits for overhead and underground utility lines in Hancock County.

General Iowa

Iowa is currently the third largest producer of wind energy. One land owner is standing in the way of a proposed project in our area. Dave DeBoe lives north of Ventura. He's in the path of proposed power transmission lines. They would stretch from a 100 turbine wind farm west of Crystal Lake , all the way to The Lime Creek Power Sub-Station south of Manly. This summer DeBoe found surveyors working on his property. He was surprised to find out they were marking the path for a row of 85 foot tall power lines going across his land. Now he's fighting to get the company to move the project somewhere else.

General Iowa

Land acquisition for the 100-turbine wind farm proposed by Crystal Lake is complete but the project still must jump through some regulatory hoops before construction can begin. Steve Stengel, director of corporate communications for FPL Energy, said the company is waiting to hear about a request for utility permits for overhead and underground utility lines in Hancock County.

General Iowa

McEowen says landowners are often concerned only with how soon the turbines will be put up and how soon they'll get paid. He says, "and they don't really pay much attention to the detail of these agreements and frankly, they should." McEowen, who's a professor of agricultural economics at I-S-U, says in many cases, the agreements need a lot of work and negotiation. He says some of the wind energy lease agreements being "peddled" around southwest Iowa are for up to 50-years, which could be detrimental to future generations of family farmers.

General Iowa

CEDAR RAPIDS - Officials will soon consider plans to build two coal-fired power plants that critics argue would offset some of Iowa's efforts to cut air emissions and reduce global warming. A proposed 750-megawatt plant, led by LS Power Group, would be built on farmland near Waterloo. Alliant Energy has filed an application with the Iowa Utilities Board to build a 630-megawatt unit in Marshalltown......... Developers of new coal-fired plants in Iowa say coal has been the best choice because it allows them to make electricity at the reasonable and predictable costs their customers want. Soaring prices have made natural gas undesirable. In addition, wind energy is not viewed as an option because wind speeds are seasonal and unpredictable.

Energy Policy General Iowa

Developers of new coal-fired plants in Iowa say coal was the best choice because it allows them to make electricity at the reasonable and predictable costs their customers want. Soaring prices have made natural gas, the fuel of choice for the last two decades, undesirable. Wind energy is not viewed as an option for the kind of ``always-on'' demand that coal plants serve, because wind speeds are seasonal and unpredictable.

Energy Policy General Iowa

Officials with California-based Clipper Windpower are announcing plans to create one of Iowa's largest wind farms near the western Iowa town of Adair. A second company, Invenergy of Chicago, wants to construct another wind farm nearby in Adair and Cass counties. Invenergy development manager Ben Hach says they already have easements from landowners near Casey, south of Interstate 80.

General Zoning/Planning Iowa

California-based Clipper Windpower Inc. is working on plans to create Iowa's largest wind turbine farm, producing up to 300 megawatts of electricity near Adair. The company already has other wind energy operations in Iowa, including a 200-employee wind turbine assembly plant in Cedar Rapids. Clipper's announcement is the latest example of Iowa's growing wind energy industry, including wind farms and the manufacture of wind turbine generators. Alliant Energy, for example, announced plans in April to develop the state's largest wind farm, a 200-megawatt operation, also near Adair. Clipper's project, however, would be larger in terms of electrical generation. Newton is hoping to become the site of a 723-employee factory run by a company that manufacturers wind-turbine blades and other products. Currently 967 megawatts of electricity, or about 5 percent of the state total, are produced by about 950 wind turbines in Iowa, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Clipper, in a statement, says it has secured more than 2,000 acres in the Adair area under Windpark Easement Agreements that provide royalties for each wind turbine placed on a property owner's land. Clipper is still seeking additional land.

General Zoning/Planning Iowa

MidAmerican Energy Co. plans to expand its wind energy site in Pocahontas County and establish new wind farms at six other locations, including two more in western Iowa. The Iowa Utilities Board gave MidAmerican the go-ahead to add up to 540 megawatts of new wind energy generation. In conjunction with the regulatory approval, MidAmerican said it would add 75 megawatts, or 50 turbines, to a project under construction near Pomeroy, MidAmerican spokesman Allan Urlis said Tuesday. It originally called for 123 megawatts. The project, being built by enXco Development Corp., is scheduled for completion by the end of this year. MidAmerican officials also are scouting for potential wind energy sites near the cities of Carroll, Spencer, Adair, Charles City, Orient and Walnut, Urlis said.

General Zoning/Planning Iowa

State regulators have given Iowa's largest utility the green light for boosting its capacity to generate electricity using wind power. Allan Urlis, spokesman for MidAmerican Energy, says Iowa's quickly becoming a national leader in harnessing the blowing breezes to power our homes and businesses.

General Zoning/Planning Iowa

ORIENT - Landowners in Adair County may be better equipped to understand MidAmerican Energy's efforts to install wind turbines on their land. An informational meeting at Orient-Macksburg High School Thursday evening included presentations from Wind Turbine Specialist Tom Wind; Iowa State University Agriculture Law Professor Roger McEowen and MidAmerican Energy General Manager of Wind Development Tom Budler. Budler said there are five meteorological towers up in the area, which are being used to study the feasibility of installing wind turbines in Adair County. He said the studies, which began this month, should conclude by mid-August.

General Zoning/Planning Iowa

The Coralville City Council directed the mayor to submit a letter to the Johnson County Board of Adjustment recommending a wind turbine not be placed in an open area north of Coralville at its meeting Tuesday. Todd Hammond of Iowa Energy Alternatives had planned to install the turbine near the First Christian Church on Lincolnshire Place, off North Dubuque Street.

General Zoning/Planning Iowa

A major component of Alliant Energy's New Energy for a New Generation plan first announced in January has attracted a long list of critics. By last week's deadline to petition against Alliant Energy's proposal to sell all of its Interstate Power & Light Company electric transmission assets to Michigan-based ITC Midwest LLC, 23 businesses, organizations or associations had filed an intervention with the Iowa Utilities Board. Alliant leaders said the sale is hoped to help defray the $1 billion cost of the proposed power plant in Marshalltown, another component to the plan alongside new wind farms in the state.

General Zoning/Planning Iowa

Wind turbines are a very real possibility for Adair County in the near future. MidAmerican Energy will be erecting six meteorological towers immediately to measure wind velocity and to gather information on wind patterns in Adair and Union counties. Representatives from MidAmerican met with Adair County residents at Orient-Macksburg High School May 24 to discuss plans for installing wind turbines. Brian Rohrig of rural Orient attended the meeting and said MidAmerican's plans seemed well-received.

General Zoning/Planning Iowa

The state's Public Service Commission today approved construction of Madison Gas and Electric's "Top of Iowa Wind Farm" in northern Iowa. It will have 18 turbines capable of producing about 30 megawatts of power.

General Iowa Wisconsin

Negotiations for placement of power lines for a proposed 100-turbine wind farm near Crystal Lake are about 90 percent complete, according to a energy company spokesman. FPL Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Florida Power and Light based in Juno, Fla., wants to install 161-kilowatt transmission lines to bring power from the wind farm to the Lime Creek Power Station, which is located south of Manly.

General Iowa

Dallas Center residents who want a firsthand account of how a proposed $200 million power plant would affect their community will have that opportunity Thursday. That's when Kent Holst, who oversees an Iowa municipal utilities energy plant project, and his associates will give a presentation on the project to store wind energy in the form of compressed air in an underground rock formation. The officials will take questions from the public following their presentation at 7 p.m. Thursday at Dallas Center Memorial Hall, 1502 Walnut St.

General Zoning/Planning Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)--Alliant Energy plans to buy and develop a wind energy farm that could become the largest in Iowa, producing up to 200 megawatts of electricity. Key parts of the farm's wind turbines would be assembled at a factory in Cedar Rapids, according to the announcement April 25 by a Cedar Rapids-based division of Alliant. Alliant's plan is the second major Iowa wind energy project to be announced this month.

General Iowa

CHARLES CITY - Mid-American Energy is considering Floyd County as a possible site for a 50-turbine wind energy farm. The energy company, which already has wind turbines in Wright, Hamilton, Crawford, Carroll, Crawford, Pocahontas, Buena Vista and Sac counties, is planning to put another 300 to 400 turbines at various sites in north-central, northwest and/or west-central Iowa to produce an additional 540 megawatts of wind energy, according to Allan Urlis, a spokesman for Mid-American Energy.

General Iowa