It must be the time of year to think about wind leases, because they've been coming up in the media a lot lately. Last Friday a piece was published in the Worthington (MN) Daily Globe about landowners who have been approached in SW Minnesota by a wind development company.

This April 2008 report from the New Rules Project discusses how simple changes to the federal production tax credit (PTC) and SEC registration process for cooperatives could significantly reduce barriers to community ownership of wind.

Download the report from the New Rules website here: http://www.newrules.org/de/ptc-wind-ownership.pdf

We just wrapped up the second day of Community Wind Energy 2008 in Albany, New York. The conference has been a great success, with people from 36 states, 4 other countries, and all parts of the community wind world in attendance.

Tomorrow we head to Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts to learn about their community wind project.

We're pleased to announce the addition of a new tool in the Community Wind Toolbox: a chapter all about Power Purchase Agreements.

Click here to go to the report.

This guide from the National Association of Counties was released in November, 2006. According to the NACO website, "this publication is designed to provide county commissioners, planners,
and other local county government officials with a practical overview
of information required to successfully implement commercial wind
energy projects in their county."

Click here to download the guide from the NACO website.

According to the AWEA website, "The Wind Energy Siting Handbook was developed by the AWEA Siting Committee to inform wind energy developers and other interested parties about environmental siting issues relevant to land-based commercial-scale wind energy project development in the United States.

The 2XtM (To Cross the Moon) snowkiting expedition is setting off across North Dakota today. The expedition is using their adventure to bring awareness of the state's amazing wind resource to the communities that stand to benefit from ND wind development.

This January 2008 policy brief from the New Rules Project of ILSR highlights how several European countries, and more recently the Canadian province of Ontario, have adopted a simple yet powerful strategy to expand renewable energy and benefit local economies. It is called a feed-in tariff: a mandated, long-term premium price for renewable energy paid by the local electric utility to energy producers. Evidence shows that a feed-in tariff achieves greater results at a lower cost than do other strategies like tax incentives or renewable electricity standards.

Click here to go to the New Rules Project website and download a copy of the report.