GREAT FALLS – The nation’s credit crunch could slow the planning of brand- new wind farms in Montana this year but shouldn’t stop facilities that are further along in the planning process, developers and state regulators said.

Enough wind energy to power up to 37,800 homes hit the electrical grid in Montana in 2008, and planned expansions and new projects already under way could double that over the next year.

“Traditionally, wind energy development has been pretty financially secure,” said Chantel McCormick, a senior energy development specialist with the state Department of Commerce’s Energy Promotion and Development Division. “So I think we’
re going to be OK.”

“We’re just hoping to build what we’ve already started,” she said.

Wind generation still accounts for just a fraction of the state’s electricity output, with coal-fired production making up 64 percent of production.

Montana ranks 15th in the nation in wind production.

In 2008, 126 megawatts of new wind generation occurred in Montana, bumping the state’s total to 271.5 megawatts.

A single megawatt is enough to power between 250-300 homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
In October, NaturEner USA completed the 106.5-megawatt first phase of the 210-megawatt Glacier Wind Farm in Glacier and Toole counties north of Great Falls, and it began selling the power to a California utility.

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2009/01/06/news/mtregional/news17.txt