Wind Power News: South Dakota
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.
A push for wind power; Buffalo Ridge II backers stake claim in state's energy future
A 306-megawatt wind farm proposed for 77 acres in Brookings and Deuel counties would nearly triple the state’s total production of wind energy — adding enough capacity to power 148,000 Midwestern homes.
Oregon-based Iberdrola Renewables Inc. wants to build Buffalo Ridge II close to its two existing farms near White. Buffalo Ridge II would join the 54-megawatt Minn-Dakota farm that came online in April and the 55-megawatt Buffalo Ridge I, which should be completed in early 2009.
“It’s a $700 million project, . . .
Coal plant supporters pressure wind supporters
The latest squall to blow through Minnesota energy developers is a letter to wind projects in the western part of the state — from the agency that controls the power grid — saying it would be in their best interests to support a new coal plant in South Dakota.
“I confess to complete puzzlement as to why they’re sending this to us,” said Brent Olson of Ortonville, a director of Big Stone Wind, a proposed 20-megawatt, community-owned wind farm in . . .
Native American tribes see profit in wind power
ROSEBUD, South Dakota: The wind blows incessantly here in the high plains; screen doors do not last. Wind is to South Dakota what forests are to Maine or beaches are to Florida: a natural bounty and a valuable inheritance.
Native American tribes like the Rosebud Sioux now seek to claim that inheritance. If they succeed in building turbine farms to harness some of the country’s strongest and most reliable winds, tribal officials like Ken Haukaas believe, they could create a . . .
U.S. to study effects of wind energy industry on habitats
The Great Plains region, often described as the Saudi Arabia of wind energy, has caught the eye of so many wind developers that the federal government is launching an extensive environmental analysis of the alternative energy source.
The review is being fueled by the competing demands of habitat protection and energy exploitation in the Upper Great Plains, where some of the nation’s largest tracts of intact native prairie and densest concentrations of wetlands are found.
The region involved — eastern . . .
Study to gauge impact of wind projects
Two federal agencies — one a manager of wildlife habitat, the other of high-voltage power lines — are teaming up to study the impact of wind development in six states, including Montana.
Public meetings are planned next week in North Dakota, South Dakota and Billings.
A growing number of wind projects is driving the joint environmental study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Western Area Power Administration, said Randy Wilkerson, a Lakewood, Colo.-based WAPA spokesman.
Environmental, . . .
PSC may fine new wind farm
BISMARCK — While the builders of the Tatanka Wind Farm in Ashley, N.D., were holding a dedication ceremony Wednesday morning at the site, a state agency was issuing the company a complaint for breaking state regulations.
The Public Service Commission, which regulates and approved the wind farm’s associated transmission line, could end up fining the company as much as $200,000, said commissioner Susan Wefald, president of the commission.
The issue is that the company had gotten PSC approval last year . . .
Wind project might face fine
A wind farm on the North Dakota-South Dakota border could be facing a fine of as much as $200,000 from North Dakota regulators.
Public Service Commission President Susan Wefald says that in 2007, the Tatanka Wind Farm moved 50 transmission towers without PSC approval.
The company has been given 20 days to file a response to the complaint.
The $381 million wind farm was built by Acciona Wind Energy. GE Energy Financial Services invested $141 million. Sixty-one wind turbines are . . .
Governor Doyle announces regional initiative focused on wind energy support
From Governor’s Office: Governor Jim Doyle and four other Midwest Governors announced Thursday the creation of a regional transmission planning effort that will promote regional electric transmission investment and cost sharing.
The Upper Midwest Transmission Development Initiative will identify wind generation resources, transmission projects and infrastructure needed to support those resources in a cost-effective manner.
Over the next 12 months, participants will determine a reasonable allocation for the costs of the region and will lead . . .
Green groups divided on power line project; Environmentalists, citizens worry about cost, scope of Xcel-led plan
A major high-voltage transmission project that could help bring more electricity — including wind-generated power — from remote parts of Minnesota closer to the Twin Cities drew its first organized opposition Tuesday from a citizens group and environmentalists.
The project, called CapX 2020, calls for construction of three 345-kilovolt lines that could cost between $1.4 billion and $1.7 billion and a fourth, smaller line farther north to be added later.
The lines would run between Fargo, N.D., and the St. . . .
Wind power irregular, expensive to transmit
You have heard what T. Boone Pickens says, now read what William Tucker says in his new book “Terrestrial Energy.”
Wind power has, among other faults, two major drawbacks: Most wind power will be generated in the middle of the country although most of the power is needed in the more densely populated areas near the coasts. This requires long transmission lines. Engineers tell us that normal transmission lines of 138 kilovolts or 345 kV lose 10 to 15 percent . . .
