The finalized version of the long term land lease is in the hands of our land owners now. Our goal is to come to an agreement in the coming weeks over the terms in the contract by May 16th, earlier if possible. April 17th, 2008

Land owner A said he would call us before our meeting with Land owner B that afternoon. I did my best to be as patient as possible as I watch the time window narrow as the morning went on. But, like promised, he called and we set up a meeting. This meeting followed by the other both went very well. We presented the project, what it is out to accomplish and the high level points of the land contract. I think both potential partners came away with a good impression of the project and will consider signing a deal with us. Financially it is lucrative for the land owners, but it is a multi-decade long contract, so it's not a decision to be made lightly. All we can do is communicate our goal, present the opportunity, be as transparent as legally possible, and invite them to join our project. We will see what they decide in the coming weeks.

April 16th, 2008

Today was the video game day come to life. We literally heard that if we wanted to talk to a potential land owner, we should go to a specific gas station and ask for Phil (names have been switched to protect anonymity). Phil would be able to tell use where our land owner might be. Well it turns out Phil wasn't working today, but they had seen our land owner that morning. We made a few more stops talking to people in the know in town and discovered many potential locations as well as a vehicle description.

While on our search, we found the man in question, not in the aforementioned vehicle and pulled a U-turn mid road in an obvious attempt to follow him. Does that count as stalking? Well it worked out nonetheless. We ended up having a pleasant conversation with him in his front yard and made an appointment to discuss our project with him tomorrow before our meeting with the other land owner.

Tomorrow is going to be an important day.

April 15th, 2008

This was a real work day for us, up at 4:00am in Colorado Springs to make an 8:30am appointment at the county courthouse in Wheatland, WY. We made it with 15 minutes to spare, which is quickly turning into the benchmark for promptness for this trip. Anita and Marlin Johnson were incredibly amiable and helpful as always. These two are the county gatekeepers to Wind developers in Platte county. Much of the information we rely on for key business decisions comes from them. They kindly helped us to all of the anemometer locations in the county so we can start considering potential partners by the end of the year.

This meeting was followed up by a council meeting where a variety of issues came up. One of which was a new Uranium mine than a company wants to start in the county. Mineral rights to a property are separate from surface rights, so any company once licensed can go dig a mine, in this case Uranium. Two land owners came to the county to plead that some restraint be put on mining until more regulation could be considered. No one really knew what regulations the county could legally apply, as this was the first uranium mine that had come up to this body. The land owners, fearing the worst got a 3 week freeze on any new mining permits for the county, not even knowing if they could legally do so for mineral rights that are federal. More on this later...

In between sessions I was able to talk to one of the councilmen who also happens to be a land owner for some property that would make our wind project more viable. I was able to secure a meeting with him on Thursday. One small success at a time.

After that recess, we talked to one of the land owners concerned about the uranium mine and she was able to fill us in on her fears and the details of what was happening. At this point no one is digging, but they did receive a letter indicating the intent to mine. Unfortunately I didn't have any advice to offer, but that changed only a few hours later.

The next stop on our agenda today was a meeting with TRC, and environmental and permitting consultant in Laramie. This group was on a list of possible vendors to do this work for our project, and since they were so close, I figured we might as well go visit them in person. They were very accommodating and knowledgeable. They have a client list of big wind power producers a full page long and seemed to know exactly what was required. I won't divulge any other companies or there merits here, but I will say the meeting went well, and afterwards I felt this company could definitely get the job done, not to mention they are in Platte County, and the more business we can bring to the local community the better.

This is where the blessing occurred. Being an environmental consulting firm, they also know quite a bit about uranium mines and what it takes to get one built. There are evidently several layers of federal licensing and permitting that must be satisfied before anyone can start digging such a mine. Plus the latest technologies for mining uranium are far far safer than open ground mines from the past. The footprint is often a small building on the surface that leaves behind no more radiation that was detectable before the mine is drilled. In fact, much less earth removal is required than with previous methods. I know that doesn't do much to make you feel better about having a uranium mine in your back yard, but the federal permitting required means that who ever is trying to build it has at least a few years of red tape to go through which will buy enough time to educate the community and put precautions in place to make such a mine as safe as possible.

Ultimately the land owners will probably not be able to stop such a mine, but being informed about it and mitigating risks early will certainly help. I was able to pass this along to both the county and the land owners in question. Hopefully it will be of some use.

Our final meeting of the day was with our original land owners that we've been working with for over a year. We enjoyed tea and ice cream over proposed changes to legal documentation for land contracts. It's kind of dry reading, but there is a big future of clean power in them. They have been real partners to us and so friendly as well. The project is still moving forward, and I really do think that we have a good shot at giving our land owners a good deal that will be good for them financially and the world ecologically.

April 14th, 2008

The week started out on a bad foot missing my 6:05am flight today. The good side of getting up for a flight that early was that was plenty of time to catch a new one and get to Denver before the 2:30pm MST Wyoming Colorado Intertie stake holders meeting. The irony is that I paid to have that flight bumped up from 2:30pm to 6:05am, only to miss it and purchase a last minute ticket for about double the original price of the ticket. Yes, a financial waste for not getting out the door 15 minutes earlier, but the potential dividends for making the meeting will be large and well worth the expense.

So I made it to Denver in time to grab lunch, a rental car, and make it to the Adam's Mark Hotel with about 15 minutes to spare before the meeting started. Mission accomplished. The meeting was very informative, and all of the questions I had prepared to spray at the power line provider were mostly answered in their presentation. The remaining ones were cleaned up in the Q&A session afterward. The atmosphere in the room was rather guarded in my experience. Questions came from people on the phone and people attending, most of which came from AWEA reps, and some people from the utility. I got the impression that no one wanted to reveal anything about their project out of fear that it may jeopardize their project. That fear may be well founded, but at this stage of the game, we're all trying to buy space for the land we have locked up. Even if everyone laid out their projects in full disclosure, it would seem difficult to me for a competitor to move in on any of that data in any significant way without being obviously unscrupulous. That may be entirely to my naivety, but I went ahead and asked the questions I needed answers to for the West Wind Energy project.

Afterward, meeting and greeting new people is the norm. It's really my favorite part too as you get to connect with other people in the industry, share stories and aspirations. I was fortunate enough to run into Loyd Drain from the Wyoming Infrastructure authority who I find to be a very enthusiastic man about wind energy. It's very nice to have such an ally on your side representing the state we are working in.

I also met a representative from Trans West Express who is working on a similar transmission line that goes from Wyoming to Nevada, and from Nevada into New Mexico and Arizona. They are watching the WCI project closely to see if there is anything they can learn from the process for their new line. If West Wind Energy's Chugwater project is successful, that line will immediately become a potential area for us to put together a new project. Relationships that we have enjoyed for over a year now started out just as simply.

April 8th, 2008

We are officially past data being an issue. It looks great as we expected. All manner of new obstacles are front and center. The primary one being land and scale. Our current project could tightly fit 30 MW. In order for the project to scale well, we need to get to around 75 MW. There is a magic ceiling that will trigger a whole new set of permitting if the project exceeds $170.3 Million. I do not know where this figure comes from, but keeping it under this will save a lot of project development expense. Over that amount, and you need to file for a Wyoming Industrial Sitting permit.

So that leaves us with roughly two months until the bidding clock begins. Between now and then we hope to secure some more land and get a capital partner that can meet the qualified bidder requirements. They're big challenges, but not impossible. Next week, we will be in Chugwater communicating with the community and gathering support as well as feedback.

We currently have 600 acres of great resource that should be close to the new substation. We'll add more to the project or partner with someone who can use the space.

March 23rd, 2008

Winter is just about over and the wind speeds for the year have actually started to drop a bit from their winter highs. This is great news because it means we made it through the winter without freezing equipment or a malfunction. We only had two days in December where the instrumentation froze yielding a data recovery rate of over 98%. The wind speeds are terrific, and will be highly competitive with most wind farms in the country.

The power line bidding stage is our next big milestone. That occurs in June, 2008. We've recently hired Evergreen NRG as a consultant to help us make a successful bid for space on this line. We'll probably be attending some more power line meetings soon. Commodities prices are influencing the price of just about everything, especially steel, copper, and concrete. These are the key ingredients for building power lines and wind turbines. Add a weakening dollar and everyone's numbers are going up. Unfortunately this will all just mean more expense at the consumer level as there is no where else to pass along that cost. Even coal is getting expensive because the US is exporting it to China to meet their increasing demand for the resource. Canadian natural gas exports to the US are dropping as they are using more of it to refine tar sands into oil, especially at $120 a barrel, it's far more profitable to refine tar sands than it is to export natural gas at less than $10/btu.

The biggest problem I see with our project is that given the timelines, it's simply not aggressive enough. I'm very glad there are bigger players also expanding their renewable holdings, but the ultimate place to make a difference is going to be in China. American renewable penetration targets are big, and if they are met, it will be a huge step in the direction of clean power. Meanwhile, China is building a new coal plant each week for at least the next year and probably longer.

It's my best hope that clean power leadership in Europe, and now the US will drift overseas albeit a decade or more later.

December 31th, 2007

It's been a while since we made an entry here. Getting the anemometer up is pretty exciting, but once that happens you pretty much wait for the data to roll in. Well that has been happening. We have six months of nearly uninterrupted data now. The big numbers are coming in now with the winter season which is always good to see.

Earlier in the month we attended a wind developer's meeting in Denver. The audience was a group of concerned parties who were either providing or potentially consuming power line space on the Wyoming Interconnect Line formerly known as the TOT 3 line. We learned a lot about the state of affairs in the Colorado power market. It also updated our to do list.

We've put together a prospectus and a pro forma for the project now which we are showing to potential investor and credit backers. We're also moving ahead with firming up our land lease contracts and finishing the necessary title reviews. Hopefully all of this will lead up to a successful bid for space on the Wyoming Interconnect power line in early 2008.

July 29th, 2007

We've collected almost a full month of data now which is falling right in line with the Wind Logics predictions. If this keeps up, we'll be very pleased. While we're waiting for the data to come in, we'll be putting feelers out for more project funding and starting to put together a proposal for soliciting a power purchase agreement.

July 3rd, 2007

It's up and running! Today was the most exciting day by far. This thing is huge, it's even bigger once it's up in the air. It's been almost a year since our idea was born and four months since we came to Wyoming. Our largest milestone yet is now complete. The weather was nice and windy to celebrate. Our first numbers at the top came in at 16.5 meters/sec which is a terrific wind speed, well within high yield performance range of most commercial turbines.

We'll need to fence it in before cattle are moved to this pasture in October, but there's plenty of time for that and it's much easier than putting a 60m tower in the air. The KB Energy team was very proficient and experienced at installing our hardware. They double checked everything, made very tidy instrument packages at all the elevations we indicated, and were very prompt with their schedule. We're very glad to have hired them, and will probably be putting up another one within the year.

It's really a unique and powerful feeling to see part of your dream come alive in front of you. There are miles to go before this project is complete, but today has given us a huge boost, and we're psyched to see what kind of data rolls in.

Oh, and our first full day's worth of data will be collected on July 4th, 2007. Happy Independence Day!

July 2nd, 2007

The tower is completely assembled by the end of the day. KB did a test raise successfully and mounted all of the anemometers and weather veins. The tower is painted for visibility, and the ground anchors are all wired in. The logger is working, and the cellular account is established. KB Energy has done an excellent and very professional job of setting this thing up. They do over a hundred towers a year, so they really know what they're doing. We're very happy to have them doing our install.

Jason and I are suffering from some sunburn. Our pasty Seattle skin doesn't know what to do with all of this Wyoming sun. Mental Note: Bring a hat tomorrow.

We'll be doing the final lift tomorrow morning around 6:30am.

July 1st, 2007

Our flight lands in Denver at 12:30, and we'll be setting up the foundation in Chugwater at 5:30pm. We'll construct the tower on the ground for raising tomorrow.

June 19th, 2007

We're approved! The meeting went smoothly and we have a green light to install our anemometer. Our tentative date is July 2nd. We also had a great meeting with our land owners who are excited to see it go up as well. In the mean time we've been enjoying the beautiful Wyoming countryside.

June 13th, 2007

The county planning meeting went very well. We met and talked to a neighboring land owner about a few concerns he had regarding access to the property, and our application was recommended for approval with no public criticism of our plan. The next meeting will be the County Commissioners meeting on the 19th where the application will get it's official approval or denial.

Our NRG Systems met tower also shipped out today from Vermont and should arrive here next week.

May 7th, 2007

The land lease contract is complete! The zoning application request is submitted and our review will be on June 13th and 19th. We'll be planning to put our anemometer up on June 20th and 21st. The first major milestone of this project is approaching rapidly.

April 15th, 2007

The lease contract for the anemometer study is getting close to being complete. We will be filing for a special use permit on our land owner's property this month, after which we will need to wait a month for the community to be notified. The zoning hearing will be in May after which if there are no objections we can put up our anemometer.

In the mean time we are exploring wind analysis options using Wind Logics.

March 15th, 2007

We stayed a little late to catch a Platte County zoning meeting on Wednesday which turned out to be a fortuitous event. We met the zoning board and several other wind developers in the area, one of whom was having their special use permit approved that evening. Paul Bowman is the project manager for Horizon Energy's project in the area. He has been very professional and encouraging about our project. I have a good feeling that we will be working cooperatively in the future. Hopefully we can share some connectivity costs.

The most amazing event we lucked out on was finding out about a meeting for the proposal of a new connectivity line that is going to be built into the region specifically for wind developers. That meeting occured on the morning before our flight back to Seattle. I've been plesantly surprised at how generous and cooperative everyone has been. Jason and I rose at the early hour of 5:00am to make this meeting where we were able to meet other developers and talk to the project developers of this line. It sounds like it will serve many interested parties in the region. The event was the cherry on top of our trip.

Now we're down to the final strech in negotiating our land lease contract for doing the wind study. We'll have to apply for the special use permit which should be approved within a month and then the tower can go up. So now we're looking at sometime in April. The delays haven't been too bad. We're building good relationships with land owners in the mean time. It's going to take a community effort for this to work, and we want to respect the land owners considerations as they control the fate of many of these projects.

March 7th, 2007

The town hall meeting in Chugwater went as well as we could have hoped for. Our 15 minute presentation went about 20 minutes but the QA session lasted the rest of the hour. The audience had lots of really good questions, and I think we did a pretty good job of answering them. There was a lot of interest in Wind Power and everyone at the meeting seemed to be pro wind harvesting. The town owns several acres a few miles away which they showed an interest in having our research occur there.

However we still have tentative dealings with one of the land owners that we are going to follow up on before considering moving the site of our project. We were able to visit with the land owner on Tuesday to inspect the potential site you see above. From our semi-trained eye it looks pretty good. It's on a ridge line and there are nice sloping hills that would increase the wind speed on the site. Power lines are about two to three miles away. There is some concern that those lines are at capacity, but there is so much wind development in this region and such a large demand for renewable power, it makes a compelling argument for increasing that infrastructure.

This Saturday our wind consultant from Secor will visit the site. It looks good on paper so we should get our "Go"/"No Go" then. If that works out, we'll have to do some zoning paperwork, and then we can order the anemometer. The install date is still undetermined at this point, but the broad target is the end of the month or early April.

February 19th, 2007

We are engaged with a community in Wyoming and have found land owners who want to explore the possibility of a wind farm on their land. We are going to be making a presentation to the town of Chugwater, Wyoming on March 5th, 2007 to describe the details of our research project and listen to the concerns of the community where the project will take place. It's very important to us that the community be able to take a stake in our vision.

If the community support is present, we will be deploying wind measurment instrumentation in the month of March. First we'll user a sodar station and if the wind shear peak is 60 meters or less we will deploy a fixed research tower for the term of at least one year.

The US Farm Bill was recently completed and proposed to congress at the end of January. The bill has not been signed into law, but once it is the application process for research grants will be available. We expect this to happen soon.