MGE will add wind turbines

MASON CITY, IOWA - Madison Gas & Electric is adding wind power.

The Madison utility company has signed an agreement to build and own part of a wind farm planned near Mason City, Iowa.

The project, being developed by Midwest Renewable Energy Projects, of Joice, Iowa, is expected to install up to 67 wind turbines that could produce as much as 110 megawatts of electricity.

If state regulators approve, MGE will invest $56 million in the project and will own 18 turbines, capable of generating nearly 30 megawatts when the wind blows - enough to power 12,000 homes.

The cost could add about 2 percent to the average ratepayer's bill for the first year, but it should decline after that, due to depreciation, said Scott Neitzel, MGE vice president of energy supply.

Along with a 17-turbine, 11- megawatt wind farm in Kewaunee County, solar installations and landfill gas, MGE will provide about 5 percent of its annual energy demand from renewable energy sources when the turbines start running in late 2007, the utility said.

Wisconsin Public Power of Sun Prairie will buy up to 50 megawatts of electricity from the project but will not own any turbines. "It's a hedge on future energy costs and a great renewable resource for us," said Pat Connors, vice president of operations and transmission.

WPPI provides power to 44 municipal electric utilities.

MGE and WPPI signed an agreement two years ago to buy power from a proposed wind farm near Waupun. That project has been stalled because of a federal review of radar sites but was recently approved.

"It's still of potential interest to us, depending on what the prospects for completion are," MGE's Neitzel said.