Wind Power News: Arkansas
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted.
GE-Mitsubishi wind-turbine fight threatens Arkansas
General Electric Co.’s effort to keep wind turbines made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. out of the U.S. may hinder Arkansas’s plan to become the “Silicon Valley of wind manufacturing.”
The state has spent two years luring wind-related manufacturers, including Denmark’s LM Glasfiber AS and Germany’s Nordex AG. In October, Mitsubishi announced plans to build a $100 million wind-turbine assembly plant that would bring about 400 jobs to Fort Smith, the state’s second-biggest city, with a population of 85,000.
“I’m confident they’re . . .
Planning Board eyes wind ordinance
FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County Planning Director Juliet Richey wants to set up rules to allow commercial wind farms in rural Washington County.
She knows it may be a long, complicated process, but she says it’s necessary to attract this type of development.
“We’ll be in for hours and hours of discussion,” Richey told county planning board members earlier this month.
Planning board Chairman Randy Laney said now is a good time to look ahead to a wind farm ordinance because the overall number . . .
Report sees potential for rural Arkansas in renewable energy
A new report suggests renewable energy could transform rural Arkansas.
Conversion to renewable energy — geothermal, biomass and, yes, even wind power — would create thousands of jobs and be an economic boost to struggling communities in rural areas of the state, according to the report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, released in support of clean energy legislation before Congress.
However, critics of the measure say it would hurt rural areas in particular by increasing fuel costs and would cost jobs . . .
Jonesboro asked to increase bond issue for wind turbine plant
JONESBORO — The Jonesboro City Council is being asked to authorize a larger bond issue to finance construction of a wind turbine plant.
Aldermen are to consider the request for Nordex USA during a meeting Tuesday.
The council originally authorized issuing up to $100 million in industrial development bonds. Nordex chief counsel Richard Casey now says the company will need to modify the agreement to $125 million.
The council will also consider a resolution to accept a $2 million grant from the Arkansas . . .
Red Barn Wind Project begins study of power generation potential
DECATUR — A small number of investors hope to turn wind into energy and cash on the rolling prairie between Decatur and Gentry.
Winds of Change LLC is the lease holding company for a proposed wind farm, dubbed the Red Barn Wind Project, of between eight and 12 wind turbines.
The wind farm could produce 100,000 megawatts of electricity that would be sold to utilities, such Southwestern Electric Company or electric cooperatives. One megawatt can provide electric energy for an average household . . .
Wind dies down
Wind power was all the thing in Arkansas last year, manufacturers announcing new wind power-related plants with startling frequency. But the boom has quieted, and may stay that way until the national economy improves, and Congress grants new financial incentives for the use of wind to generate electricity.
The Arkansas Economic Development Commission has made the recruitment of wind power plants a priority, and it lists four impressive successes in its “wind component manufacturing” file:
• LM Glasfiber opened a windmill blade . . .
Washington County Planning Board discusses dirt farm, wind power
A week after the Washington County Quorum Court overturned the Planning Board’s decision to disallow a conditional-permit for the Big Red Dirt Farm to convert its operation into a quarry, Planning Board members discussed the matter at their regular meeting.
County Attorney George Butler told board members Thursday that he has heard from attorneys for the surrounding property owners who oppose the quarry conversion that they will appeal the Quorum Court’s decision to the 4th Circuit Court.
“You’re out of it,” he . . .
Planning Board formulates wind farm regulation
FAYETTEVILLE — It will be at least three or four months before Washington County leaders first consider a draft of the proposed wind farm regulations, county planner Courtney McNair said.
That framework needs to be in place before the first windmill is erected, McNair said.
The first wind turbines could go up in about a year if two wind-testing towers installed by Chicago wind-energy company Invenergy show commercial promise in the coming months. Invenergy received approval to install the towers in January.
County . . .
Planners preparing for commercial wind towers in county
If commercial wind power becomes a reality in Washington County, county planners want to be ready.
Planning Board members for the past few months have been receiving research from the planning department on general concerns involved with commercial wind operations.
What precipitated it was the approval of conditionaluse permits for towers in the county to test the feasibility of commercial wind power.
The Planning Board plans to review staff-generated information on regulation during the April 2 regular meeting.
The staff recommendation will reflect the . . .
Wind turbine project gauges state prospects
JAY, Okla. — Gusts of wind pushed across Leon Whiteside’s property, creating a low-pitched whirring noise as it cut against taut guy-wires stabilizing a nearly 200-foot tower rising from his pasture.
Several wind-measuring devices attached to the tower spun like pinwheels as dozens of cows nibbled on the yellowed grass below.
Whiteside and more than 200 of his rural neighbors stand to gain financially if the tower confirms there’s enough wind in the area to warrant building an electricity-generating wind farm there.
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