Energy-generating wind turbine blades spin against a blue sky. Soon, more blades may be seen in Barnes County if the large wind farm planned east of Lake Ashtabula is built.

By Jay Stephenson
Valley City Times-Record

    A Florida energy company intending to build a wind energy facility near Valley City  wants to speed up the application process.
    FPL (Florida Light and Power) Energy sent a letter to the North Dakota Public Service Commission Monday asking that a requirement to have a letter of intent filed one year prior to the actual application be waived.
    “The commission has done that in the past, but I can’t say what the commission’s going to do on this,” said Public Service Commissioner Susan Wefald.
    Even if the one year requirement for the letter of intent is waived, FPL Energy will still have more hurdles to cross before they’re allowed to build a wind energy facility, Wefald said.
    “If the commission waived the letter, then I would anticipate FPL Energy would file their application for sighting on or about Feb. 5, 2008,” Wefald said. “And that means there has to be a hearing in the county in which the project is being proposed.”
    In the letter sent to the Public Service Commission, Project Director Scott Scovill stated the construction would cover 35 square miles of leased private property and consist of about 133 wind turbine generators that would provide up to 200MW of renewable energy.
    In a phone interview, Scovill said there are customers interested in the project, but commercial agreements are still in progress. He says the application will be filed within the next couple of weeks.
    Scovill says anticipated date of construction is expected to begin in July and be completed by the end of the year if the company receives timely approval by all government agencies.
    “They have to get all the permits not just from state government, but from federal agencies, counties, and local government before a project can be started,” Weefalt said.
    Tina Wagner with the Barnes County Highway Department said FPL Energy hasn’t applied for any permits. She said county officials haven’t made a decision on how the wind energy facility would be permitted since they haven’t come across a similar facility proposal in the past.   

    BISMARCK (AP) — Days after North Dakota’s biggest wind farm began operating near Langdon, a developer has filed plans to construct a larger one in Barnes County, east of Lake Ashtabula. The company hopes to finish the project by year’s end.
    North Dakota’s Public Service Commission was notified this week of FPL Energy’s intentions to construct a 200-megawatt wind farm, which would include 133 turbines.
    The Langdon project, which FPL developed with Minnkota Power Cooperative of Grand Forks and Otter Tail Power Co. of Fergus Falls, Minn., has 106 turbines capable of generating 159 megawatts of power.
    The turbines are located between six and 12 miles south of Langdon in Cavalier County in northeastern North Dakota. The wind farm became operational last Saturday.
    FPL Energy, which is based in Juno Beach, Fla., also operates wind farms near Kulm and Edgeley in southeastern North Dakota, and at Wilton, in the west-central part of the state.
    The Public Service Commission will be in charge of siting the Barnes County wind project. FPL Energy said in a letter to the commission that it hopes to file a formal permit application by Feb. 5.
    It wants a permit by May 1, and to finish work on the wind farm by year’s end, the letter says. The turbines would be located on 35 square miles northeast of Valley City.
    Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer said FPL Energy has already obtained the needed leases to place its wind towers. A zoning change is needed for the property, which Barnes County officials are considering.
    FPL Energy needs to finish the project by Dec. 31 to qualify for a federal tax break for the wind farm, Cramer said.
    The company’s letter does not say it has a customer for the electricity, but wind power is in demand from area utilities.
    Last month, Xcel Energy Inc., which supplies electricity to Fargo, West Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot, requested proposals from developers to buy 500 megawatts of wind energy. The proposals are due Feb. 29.