Wind Power News: Idaho
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.
14 new wind farms planned for southern Idaho
Officials with Boise wind-farm developer Exergy Development Group say the company plans to build 14 new wind farms this year in southern Idaho.
Exergy spokeswoman Holli High says the company is partnering with local landowners for each of the 14 parks.
Some of the wind farms are planned for the Bell Rapids area, and near Burley and Shoshone. In total, the farms will include 152 wind turbines providing a combined 228 megawatts of electricity. They are expected to take seven months to . . .
Boise wind developer to return to Magic Valley
A Boise wind-farm developer plans to build a number of new farms this year in southern Idaho — a sign that the winds seem to still favor Idaho’s renewable-energy industry.
Boise-based Exergy Development Group’s last Idaho project — Fossil Gulch — was the state’s first “utility-scale” wind farm when it was built near Hagerman in 2004. Now, the company plans to start construction this summer on 152 wind turbines providing a combined 228 megawatts of electricity, scattered in 14 wind parks . . .
FERC deals setback to NWE transmission line
Federal regulators are slowing down NorthWestern Energy’s proposed transmission line from Montana to Idaho.
NorthWestern says it is still trying to digest the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order that took issue with the way NorthWestern structured the deal. The company wants to use the line to send wind power electricity to bigger markets in the West.
A FERC order says it doesn’t like the way that NorthWestern was conducting “open seasons” that looked for new customers.
Another utility, PPL Montana, asked FERC to . . .
Many hands draw maps showing renewable lodes
On one map they look like bubbles. On another they’re more like hot dogs.
These shaded circles and oblongs in Nevada and across the West could one day be clusters of solar power plants, wind farms or geothermal energy projects.
The growing number of maps drawn by groups hoping to guide the expected explosion in renewable energy show there is no firm agreement on where such projects will be concentrated.
The latest plan examining where renewable energy projects should be located was . . .
Whitten: Wind turbine ordinance
In addition to protecting the public health, liability is a good reason to add the following language to the County’s wind turbine ordinance: “Residential property shall not receive a noise level of greater than 50 dBC between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., and 40 dBC between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. No wind turbine or group of turbines shall be located so as to cause an exceedance of the pre-construction/operation background sound levels by . . .
Birds, bunnies and power; Sensitive species butt heads with energy needs in the battle for sagebrush
Somewhere, out in the Lemhi Basin of northern Central Idaho, a small rabbit is nestled in its burrow beneath the gnarled and twisting sagebrush. In Boise, someone is turning on the air conditioning on a hot summer day. The two events hardly seem linked, but that little high desert bunny might just be the next touchstone in the battle to balance the needs of industry and development and Mother Nature.
Decades ago, the thousands of square miles of sagebrush ecosystem in . . .
Wind for a generation: From humble start to mega ‘what ifs’
Bob Lewandowski may have been among Idaho’s greatest do-it-yourselfers. As a farmer on 20 acres between Boise and Mountain Home he saw his seeds blown from the ground by a seemingly constant wind. Finally, after years of kicking and scratching at the soil, he realized if he couldn’t raise a crop from the earth, then maybe he could harvest something from the sky: electricity.
Betting the farm on wind power, Lewandowski invested a total of more than $120,000 to purchase, ship . . .
PUC: Idaho Power must sell energy credits
BOISE, Idaho—After complaints by Idaho Power Co.’s largest customers, regulators have ordered the state’s biggest utility to sell about $2 million worth of renewable energy credits and use the money to benefit ratepayers, instead of retiring or banking the credits in expectation of new federal laws requiring more renewable energy generation.
The recent decision by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission reverses its Jan. 28 ruling to allow Idaho Power to hold on to the credits.
Idaho Power wanted to take the . . .
Wind turbine law's passage may be a breeze
REXBURG — June 15 will mark the passage of the new Madison County wind turbine ordinance (Zoning Ordinance No. 357) — provided that no objections are filed by county residents prior to that date. On May 15, Madison County Commissioners adopted the findings of fact by the Madison Planning and Zoning Commission. The adoption means that unless public protest is given, the ordinance will be passed.
But judging from the lack of public interest at the Planning and Zoning public hearing . . .
Don't trample sensitive ecosystems in rush to alternative energy
As the U.S. tries to reduce the climate change spurred by the warming of the atmosphere because of increasing carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, alternative forms of energy production will be necessary.
And yet, it doesn’t make sense to trample sensitive ecosystems in the new rush to develop alternative energies. It would be an oxymoronic case of destroying the Earth in order to save it.
To develop wind, solar and geothermal alternatives, Americans will have to make hard decisions . . .
