Wind Power News: Nebraska
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.
NPPD moving forward with Broken Bow wind farm
BROKEN BOW – Plans for an 80-megawatt wind farm facility east of Broken Bow will become a reality in 2012.
Nebraska Public Power District announced in a press release today it is working on a 20-year power purchase agreement with Midwest Wind Energy of Chicago and Edison Mission of Irvine, Calif..
“They get what we call federal production tax credits-roughly 2 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. Nebraska Public Power doesn’t get that,” said Mark Becker, spokesperson for NPPD.
“We put out bids . . .
Timeline laid out for Laredo Ridge Wind Farm near Petersburg
During a presentation last week before the Boone County Board of Supervisors, a representative from Midwest Wind Energy (MWE) laid out a time line for preliminary work to begin on the proposed Laredo Ridge Wind Farm.
To be located northeast of Petersburg, the wind farm is moving closer to reality with a number of important steps to be taken soon.
Patrick Dalseth, MWE project coordinator, informed supervisors that a power purchase agreement has been completed with the Nebraska Public Power District and . . .
Bill allows wind, solar power on Neb. school land
Some Nebraska school trust land might soon be used to produce electricity.
State Sen. Lavon Heidemann of Elm Creek introduced a bill (LB916) on Tuesday that would allow school trust land to be leased for wind or solar power development.
The Nebraska Board of Educational Lands and Funds would be responsible for authorizing any leases for power projects on the 1.3 million acres of land it manages for the benefit of the state’s schools.
The 1.3 million acres is what’s left of a . . .
Needs more study
I am writing in response to the Journal Star editorial Jan. 5 (“Wind energy deserves priority”) supporting the development of wind energy in Nebraska.
The editorial makes several good points, but it seems the cart may be well forward of the horse. Before landowners, who would most probably jump at the chance to reap the benefits from royalty payments, are solicited to participate and before tax laws are changed to promote the spending of money on projects, it would seem logical . . .
City limits windmill sound to just above a library conversation
Government officials in Nebraska City are developing ordinances to regulate wind energy that include a limit on wind turbine noise.
The windmills are not to exceed 65 decibels during the daytime hours measured from the closest inhabited dwelling. The sound limit is reduced to 55 decibels at night.
So how much noise is that?
NC news-press.com sent out its crew to find out.
A whisper in a quiet library is 30 db, while normal conversation is from 60 to 70 db.
A train whistle at . . .
County looking at wind energy regs
YORK — The county continues to look into whether zoning regulations should be changed to accommodate future wind energy operations while protecting property owners and farming operations.
Last year, the county added references to wind energy towers to the zoning regulations, for the first time. Now, they say those should possibly be modified.
York Zoning Administrator Orval Stahr told the commissioners during a public hearing this past week it is being proposed that wind energy systems be included in the county’s commercial . . .
Many Neb. state senators want more wind-power incentives but some question them and their cost
The idea of expanding wind power remains popular among Nebraska lawmakers, but concerns about cost and preserving the strength of the state’s public power system could limit any new wind-power incentives.
In a survey, many senators appeared reluctant to do anything that might jeopardize the state’s relatively low electricity rates and some expressed doubts about whether Nebraska’s electricity grid is ready to deliver wind power from rural areas, where it would be generated, to urban areas, where the demand is higher.
Plus, . . .
With development up, area counties add wind power regulations
As two Central Nebraska counties prepare for proposed commercial wind farms, several others are adding zoning regulations to cover wind turbines.
Most of the counties have not been approached by private wind developers like the ones who are planning wind farms near Petersburg in Boone County and Broken Bow in Custer County, though they have had residents ask about installing small-scale wind turbines.
The new regulations are being driven instead by a desire to be prepared should significant requests for wind development . . .
Search for purchasers leaves wind project short
COLUMBUS — Nebraska Public Power District has commitments for only half the energy it hoped to sell in order to go ahead with a wind energy facility near Broken Bow.
NPPD’s Board of Directors gave contingent approval in August to a proposal to build an 80-megawatt facility east of Broken Bow if purchasers could be found for half the total energy produced there and at a planned 80-megawatt facility near Petersburg.
As of this . . .
County considering wind energy system regulations
Two 197-foot tall ‘meteorological towers’ erected recently on the Nebraska-South Dakota border northwest of Chadron could be the harbingers of a wind energy boom for Dawes County, but one landowner involved with the development says not to expect to see big turbines going up anytime soon.
“One thing they told us-’If you are in a hurry, forget it,” Dawes County Zoning Commissioner Ed Perrine said at a zoning meeting last week. “It can take up to five years after they set . . .
