While South Dakota currently only has 288 megawatts of wind power capacity installed, the state is experiencing the benefits of the wind industry, explains South Dakota Wind Energy Association Executive Director Steve Wegman in a interview by the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.
Jim Boyd coordinates a wind working group in Grand Marais, Minnesota on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Windustry has been working with the group for over the past year to explore the possibility of a Community Wind project there.
Melissa Peterson, program analyst at Windustry, was quoted in the article "Lawyers, non-profits shed light on wind industry" in The Journal [New Ulm] after speaking to farmers, landowners, city and county officials at the Springfield Community Center.
"We've seen these documents range from the good, bad, and ugly," Peterson said.
Peterson added that landowners that form their own wind energy group with local investors can create projects faster and easier than by private firms dealing with individual landowners.
"It's inevitable, as the money really starts to flow into infrastructure programs, particularly green projects, there will be job growth here over the next year," says John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement company based in Chicago, in an article on "Now Hiring: Green-Collar Workers" in Business Week.
The State of Minnesota has a legislative mandate that utilities purchase or generate 25 percent of their electric power from renewable resources by 2025; and in the case of Xcel Energy, 30 percent by 2020. The majority of this new renewable energy is expected to come from wind energy, and a new study by Minnesota 2020 Fellow Nathan Paine outlines what some of the benefits of this expansion of wind power would mean for the state.
Each year, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council recognizes individuals and organizations that have implemented innovative projects during the past year that promote and accelerate the adoption of renewable energy technologies.
This year, IREC will present awards in the following six categories:
* K-12 educational initiatives
* Workforce development
* Colleges & university renewable initiatives
* Local government leadership
* State government leadership
* Non-profit leadership
June 15, 2009 is Global Wind Day, an event designed to raise worldwide awareness of wind energy. The campaign builds on the success of the European Wind Day 2007 and 2008, in which over 20 countries participated with hundreds of public events.
“When farmers, schools, and businesses develop and own wind projects, that's power by the people, for the people,” says Lisa Daniels, executive director of Windustry, in a Character with a Cause video on the USA Network as part of NBC Universal's Green is Universal environmental campaign.
“Why can’t we own it ourselves?” is the question that Randy Joseph asked five years ago as he pondered Oregon's commercial wind farms with hundreds of megawatts of electric power capacity. Now that Oregon has well over a thousand megawatts of commercial wind power, Joseph is reviewing construction bids for his own 3 MW Lime Wind Energy Project
"This year could be the start of a growth spurt for community wind, thanks to growing interest from developers and new financing options," reports Leslie Brooks Suzukamo in the article "Riding the Wind" in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
