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 and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
Proposed R-Project transmission line runs into challenges
Beyond concern for historic sites, Harms cited new information about the number of whooping cranes – also an endangered species – which use the area. And he mentioned landowners’ concerns that the line could encourage building wind turbines in the Sandhills, which many residents say would scar the land and spoil the view. So far, wind energy projects generating more than 1,000 megawatts of electricity, and requiring hundreds of turbines, are on a list of potential tie-ins to the R-Project. Complete story »
County panel to eye wind energy regulations, possible changes
A committee of Adams County Planning and Zoning Commission members will look at possible changes to the county’s wind regulations. The creation of that committee came out of a discussion about wind regulations during the commission’s regular meeting on Monday. Zoning Administrator Judy Mignery said the county started discussing in December 2017 changes to wind power regulations. For Monday’s meeting she provided commissioners with the existing Adams County regulations as well as regulations from Custer, Merrick, Lincoln, Antelope and Knox . . . Complete story »
R-Project puts too much at risk
Is it OK to kill an endangered species and destroy a Nebraska treasure unique to the world so a handful of people can make money off the federal government? We’re about to find out. According to the Audubon Society, there are about 603 whooping cranes left in three different flocks, two of which stay in the southern United States and do not migrate. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 431 whooping cranes are in the one flock that . . . Complete story »
Towers, turbines topics during comprehensive plan hearing
A public hearing for the Planning and Zoning comprehensive plan, in the works for about a year according to director Lyle Weber, was held at the June 26 Board of Commissioner’s meeting. The hearing was held just after three metrological towers were approved just outside of Tobias. The towers are being built by APEX Clean Energy in order to gather wind pattern data in hopes that a wind farm may be built within Saline County. Seven residents of Saline or . . . Complete story »
Liability of road damage questioned
Misuse of a county road by a 1.5 million pound crane and a subcontracted payloader carrying 25,000 pounds resulted in a patchy road, with crumbled shoulders, and upwards of $500,000 in damages. That’s how Road Boss Casey Dittrich explained what happened to a two-mile stretch of 519 Avenue, two miles north of U.S. Hwy. 275, not included in a road use agreement between Invenergy, LLC, and Antelope County, during the Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, June 26. But the question . . . Complete story »
Madison County wind regulations still up in the air
Members of the Madison County Joint Planning Commission have been given some homework – Study the county’s proposed wind energy regulations and visit a wind farm. While it appeared Thursday evening that many members already had done so, commissioners were reminded that they probably could never read and review all of the information available pertinent to the proposed regulations. On April 3, the Madison County commissioners voted to establish a six-month moratorium on accepting wind farm applications to allow time to . . . Complete story »
Wind turbines will change ecological dynamics in Sandhills, but could add economic incentives
For more than 50 years, Carolyn Semin has treasured the black nighttime skies in the Nebraska Sandhills dotted with twinkling stars. “People come from all over the world to look at it, especially at Merritt Reservoir for the annual Star Party,” she says. Thinking about that dark, twinkling sky being replaced with bright flashing lights is only one of many reasons Semin is against the wind energy projects that are proposed for the Sandhills, and especially Cherry County. In January . . . Complete story »
Tower considered by planning board
A 197-foot meteorological tower has been requested in Saline County, just outside of Tobias. The Planning and Zoning board will hold a public hearing June 19 in the assembly room of the Saline County courthouse at 7 p.m. to discuss further permission of the structure. If approved, the tower will be built just outside of the Tobias area. Such towers are placed to study wind patterns of areas that have potential to house a wind farm. APEX Clean Energy out . . . Complete story »
Cherry County Commissioners address tax dollars for wind energy
The Cherry County courtroom was packed as residents learned whether their tax dollars were used as the foundation to build a proposed 30-turbine wind facility in Cherry County. Carolyn Semin of Kilgore spearheaded Tuesday’s Cherry County Board of Commissioners meeting. Semin says she set out to find the answer after questions from landowners about the project went unanswered, including hers. She spent about seven hours doing research of her own and discovered $13,188 was used from the inheritance tax fund . . . Complete story »
Western part of Madison County considered for wind energy
MADISON – Once Madison County gets its regulations updated, expect there to be some interest from developers in pursuing wind energy. On Tuesday, the county board met with Ned Porter, a land agent for Invenergy, which has an office in Neligh. Porter said his company built Prairie Breeze I, II and III wind farms, primarily in Antelope and Boone counties. His company also will be constructing the Upstream Wind project north of Neligh, which should be completed and running by the . . . Complete story »
