Dec 18 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Frederick Melo Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

In Dakota County, two wind turbines are expected to go online this week -- a symbolic first step, say county officials, toward generating "green" energy across the metro.

Administrators at the School of Environmental Studies in Apple Valley will host a ribbon-cutting today for a 20-kilowatt wind turbine standing about 160 feet tall. The turbine and two solar panels will generate enough energy to power at least an average-size home or two.

The ribbon-cutting will take place at 1 p.m., with a question-and-answer session with Dakota Electric, a leading sponsor, from 6 to 7 p.m.

The project is expected to generate more learning than revenue. But county officials are applauding it -- and copying it. This week, the county will install a 39-kilowatt wind turbine at the Spring Lake Park Reserve near Hastings capable of generating enough energy to power the new 3,500-square-foot Schaar's Bluff Gathering Center.

It is the largest turbine that can be built without officially becoming a utility company.

The center will also have a thermal-mass wood stove and a V-shaped roof to reuse rainwater. It will open to the public in the spring with a three-quarter-mile loop trail and year-round meeting space for up to 75 people.

Dakota County Commissioner Thomas Egan called the turbines "somewhat symbolic." Eight metro-area counties are negotiating to purchase wind energy from small "wind farms," which would be located in 15 rural counties in southwestern Minnesota.

To promote such partnerships, the county is supporting legislation to create a statewide Renewable Energy Board.

"Ideally, what we really want is not to become a utility, but to enter into contracts with the producers of wind energy," Egan said. "There's a question of ownership."

Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a bill in February mandating energy companies obtain 25 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2025.