Wind Power News: Utah
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Wind park moving ahead
sPower is moving ahead with plans to install a 27-turbine wind park north of Monticello. sPower officials state that construction is set to begin this month (July), with at least partial completion of the estimated $136 million project by the end of 2015. The massive turbines in the wind park will be located primarily on three ridges immediately north and west of Monticello. The project was initially developed by Wasatch Wind and was recently purchased by sPower. sPower officials estimate . . . Complete story »
Wind project blows back in
The proposed Wasatch Wind project, a 62.1 megawatt wind facility set to be located just north of Monticello, has been purchased by sPower, a renewable energy provider based in Salt Lake City, UT. Three separate wind energy companies have pursued the development of projects in the area for the past 15 years, but a series of complications delayed the projects, until now. sPower officials state that construction on the project is scheduled to begin this summer and should start generating . . . Complete story »
Final environmental analysis released on huge transmission line
What could someday be the nation’s second-largest transmission line of its kind is nearing the end of a lengthy environmental review, including what route it will take through Utah and three other Western states. The TransWest Express would deliver enough Wyoming wind energy to power about 2 million homes in growing metropolitan areas such as San Diego, Las Vegas and Phoenix, crossing 725 miles of mostly federal land. Proposed by the Denver-based company in conjunction with the Western Area Power . . . Complete story »
Op-ed: Stop dumping billions into unreliable wind power
During George W. Bush’s administration, the Department of Energy set a wildly unrealistic goal to have 20 percent of the nation’s electricity come from wind by 2030. Now, the Obama Administration wishes to fulfill that goal by passing permanent subsidies for wind power. Wind power has gained a reputation as the future of energy generation, but few wind power advocates seem willing to answer the pertinent question, “What happens when the wind doesn’t blow?” Honestly answering that question means we . . . Complete story »
Toquerville OKs wind farm annexation
TOQUERVILLE – City Council members have approved a proposed annexation of land north of Toquerville’s Anderson Junction that will open the way for a set of wind turbines that will supplement the city’s energy grid. The council’s unanimous vote Feb. 12 pulls about 3,157.96 acres into the city limits, subject to the town surveyor’s final review of the Wind Song Annexation plat to ensure the boundaries. City Attorney Heath Snow said no formal protest was expressed to the city during . . . Complete story »
Seeking more protection for sage grouse
DENVER Two environmentalist groups filed suit Tuesday seeking stronger protection for a bird found only in Colorado and Utah, reaching that legal step ahead of state officials who counter the federal government already has gone too far. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project said in court papers that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should go back and produce an “adequate finding” on the status of the Gunnison sage grouse, whose habitat has been encroached on . . . Complete story »
Toquerville annexation could open way for wind farm
ST. GEORGE – Toquerville may be paving the way for a wind energy farm in Washington County. The city received a petition to annex more than 3,100 acres between the city’s northern boundaries and the Pinto exit on Interstate 15 earlier this month, and a wind power-generating company is reportedly interested in building turbines along the highway corridor if the land is annexed. “We’ve got wind, so it should be a good thing to have that developed there,” City Recorder . . . Complete story »
Pacificorp sues to block release of bird-death data at wind farms
Pacificorp is seeking an injunction in U.S. District Court in Utah to block the government from releasing information to The Associated Press about how many birds are found dead at its wind farms. The Portland-based utility [a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy] operates at least 13 wind-energy facilities across three states, including Oregon. The injunction would prohibit the Interior Department from releasing information that the company considers confidential. A PacifiCorp lawyer told the AP the company does not . . . Complete story »
Letter: Wind energy
Relative to the wind energy project involving the Delta salt caverns, one has to wonder why American taxpayers should celebrate the transfer of $8 billion of their hard-earned money into the pockets of wealthy green-energy industrialists, particularly since the rest of the world is abandoning wind energy as a technical failure, an ecological disaster and a financial boondoggle. Michael Cosman South Jordan Complete story »
Cavern would store excess wind energy
A proposal to export twice as much Wyoming wind power to Los Angeles as the amount of electricity generated by the Hoover Dam includes an engineering feat even more massive than that famous structure: Four chambers, each approaching the size of the Empire State Building, would be carved from an underground salt deposit to hold huge volumes of compressed air. The caverns in central Utah would serve as a kind of massive battery on a scale never before seen, helping . . . Complete story »
