Posted on 07/17/2013 7:29:49 PM PDT by TurboZamboni
Xcel Energy on Tuesday announced its single largest increase in wind generation in the Upper Midwest, saying it will add three large wind farms in Minnesota and North Dakota. The additional 600 megawatts of electricity, enough to serve 180,000 homes, is a 33 percent increase over the Minneapolis-based utility’s existing wind capacity of 1,800 megawatts in the region. Xcel, which serves 1.2 million electric customers in Minnesota, said new wind generation is priced so competitively right now that customers will save $180 million during the 20-year life of the projects compared with electricity generated from existing power plants. The new wind power is equivalent to the output of one large power plant. “It’s a huge announcement...
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
The idiot State is driving them to it. There are actually democrats striving to make it a goal to be 100% renewable.
Insanity.
Its a government mandate
The Birds, the Birds, all the poor dead birds.....LOL.....
“In many ways, Minnesota has been the birthplace of the renewable energy movement,” Governor Pawlenty said. “Today, we are leading the nation on the path to a better, cleaner, more independent energy future. I want to thank all of the legislators and stakeholders who worked together to achieve this milestone in a positive, productive way.”
The bill signed by the Governor requires energy companies to provide 25 percent of power from renewable sources by 2025. Xcel Energy, which supplies approximately half of the electricity in the state, is required to provide 30 percent from renewable sources by 2020.
An additional 5,000 megawatts of energy from renewable sources would be added to Minnesota’s electricity resources, roughly eight times more than currently comes from renewables. Future renewable energy would include electricity produced by wind turbines, biomass, hydrogen and solar power.
Senator Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul) and Representative Aaron Peterson (DFL-Appleton) were chief authors of the legislation.
http://mn.gov/commerce/energy/media/newsdetail.jsp?id=207-31194
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I believe the take permits are much bigger here along the river valleys since so many live there in the vicinity. IIRC, the permits allowed something like 30/year - of course this is based on recollection. I heard the info on the Jason Lewis show, he mentioned it.
“Every year, wind turbines at the Altamont Pass Wind Farm in the Bay Area kill approximately 75 to 100 eagles, according to the Audobon Society. Some are decapitated. Others lose their wings, or are cut in half, suffering a painful and sometimes tortuous death.”
Not sure how reliable the source is, but even the lower estimates are not good.
Here’s another local source: http://www.startribune.com/local/137803668.html - they discuss a MN wind farm considering getting a take permit.
I can’t find take permit numbers because they are all tailored to the wind farm operator’s assessment and requested take allowance based on such.
At ~100 acres/MW, that’s 180,000 acres covered with these eagle-chopping, landscape-blighting, noise machines that have piss-poor capacity factors. That’s a square 17 miles per side.
An 1,800 MW coal plant takes up nothing compared to that!
If I am not mistaken. Tpaw signed the bill.
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