Wind Power News: Minnesota
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 and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
Township denies wind project’s road permits
GOODHUE — Belle Creek Township withdrew its moratorium on wind development in early January rather than fight AWA Goodhue in court over the moratorium’s legality. However, it doesn’t appear that the township has any intention of backing down from a new fight with the wind company. During a meeting Wednesday night, the town board denied the wind company’s request for 17 road access permits, 14 right-of-way permits and one annual transportation permit for heavy machinery. All are needed prior to . . .
Goodhue Wind Truth files motion to re-enter appeals process
ST. PAUL — Goodhue Wind Truth filed a motion Wednesday at the Minnesota Court of Appeals seeking the right to continue challenging the site permit issued for the controversial AWA Goodhue wind project near Zumbrota. The citizen group had been booted from the process last week over a mailing mistake. Carol Overland, a Red Wing attorney representing Goodhue County organic dairy farmers Bruce and Marie McNamara, says she hand-delivered the 97-page motion to the St. Paul courthouse Wednesday afternoon. In . . .
PUC delays hearing on wind turbine bird deaths
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has postponed a hearing on a plan to limit bird and bat deaths at a controversial wind farm proposed for Goodhue County. Goodhue Wind wants to build 48 turbines on about 50 square miles of land in Goodhue County just north of Zumbrota in southeast Minnesota. Some local residents have been fighting the project for years. The latest battle is over the developer’s plan to protect eagles and other birds on the site. The company . . .
Bipartisan agreement on energy conservation has disappeared at the state capitol
St. Paul, Minn. — When Minnesota Senate Republicans ousted Ellen Anderson as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission this week, it was the latest sign that bipartisan support for renewable energy sources has largely disappeared at the state capitol. Republicans claimed Anderson’s views on energy are extreme and out of the mainstream. But many of those same legislators joined her in supporting clean energy legislation not that long ago. On Monday, Senate Energy Committee Chairman Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, said she . . .
Wind power industry could lose sails if key subsidy is not renewed
Near Lake Benton, Minn. — On the crest of Buffalo Ridge in southwest Minnesota, the blades of a 300-foot-tall wind turbine can be heard better than seen as they slice through a thick fog. The machine in one of Minnesota’s breeziest locations went on line last spring, and helped boost the state to a record wind energy year in 2011. Minnesota’s wind power production capacity grew by more than 500 megawatts last year, half the output of the Prairie Island . . .
Goodhue wind farm doesn’t make sense
Even if the proposed Goodhue County wind farm never killed a bird or a bat, it wouldn’t make sense. The Prairie Island nuclear plant provides 50 times the electric power that T. Boone Picken’s 52 excess wind turbines. In 2010 and 2011, U.S. wind farms had a capacity factor of 27 percent, which suggests the Goodhue project would provide a measly and intermittent 20-25 megawatts. Our nation’s largest proposed wind project is off Cape Cod. U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., . . .
State approves deal with Hydro
The unanimous approval this week by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission of a 15-year, 250-megawatt power purchase deal between Minnesota Power and Manitoba Hydro further solidifies the building of the province’s next hydroelectric dam, Premier Greg Selinger said Friday. “It means we’ve got to build Keeyask now, and it means that we’ve got a customer,” Selinger said. “It’s a great story.” The Minnesota state regulator approved the power purchase agreement on Thursday, a deal that was first announced four years . . .
Eagle deaths could bring hefty fines to wind developer
In order for AWA Goodhue Wind to avoid facing some substantial charges in the event of an eagle death from its project’s wind turbines, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is highly recommending the wind developer acquire what’s called an incidental take permit. “We’ve been encouraging them for a while. Since last summer,” USFWS wildlife biologist Mags Rheude said. AWA Goodhue is planning a 78-megawatt wind farm in Goodhue County, and local residents have shown a great deal of concern for . . .
State OKs agreement between Minnesota Power, Manitoba Hydro
State regulators will allow Minnesota Power to buy carbon-free hydroelectricity for 15 years from Manitoba Hydro. The contract will begin in 2020. The 250 megawatt power purchase will support Minnesota Power resource planning goals of more efficiency, flexibility and diversity while lessening its dependence on coal and lowering emissions from its generation fleet, the division of ALLETE Inc. said in a news release. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s endorsement “demonstrates that cooperation in energy supply and transmission planning can cross . . .
DNR, U.S. Fish & Wildlife criticize Goodhue County wind project
ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has set the public hearing Feb. 2 for the Avian and Bat Protection Plan associated with the AWA Goodhue wind project. The news was released Friday, one day after the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service filed separate paperwork challenging or disputing portions of the 127-page ABPP. Approval of the plan is the final permitting hurdle National Wind, the project developer, must clear before it can . . .
