Better Plan, Wisconsin

CLICK ON IMAGES BELOW TO WATCH THE BBC SERIES: WIND FARM WARS

The full BBC documentary has not been available for viewing in the US. Now episodes can be seen by clicking the links above. We don't know how long the above links will be active so why not watch it now? The series follows the story of what happened to a rural community when a wind developer came to town. Spoiler Alert: It ain't pretty.

NOTE: The movies take a while to download so be patient if the screen stays black for a bit.

EPISODE 1

EPISODE 2

EPISODE 3

EPISODE 4

Second Feature

DEAD CORPORATION WALKING: When Jeffrey Skilling's predecessor at Enron left the company,  employees made what was supposed to be a funny skit about him. In this video, the real Jeff Skilling jokes about moving to "HFV" or Hypothetical Future Value Accounting. "If we do that," he says, "We can add a kazillion dollars to the bottom line."

Enron is credited with jump-starting the US wind industry by pressing for state renewable energy standards, production tax credits, carbon credits and other subsidies.

The wind farm in Monfort, Wisconsin was an Enron project. The turbines still say 'Enron' on the nacelles. Florida Power and Light picked up a lot of Enron's wind assets after the collapse of the corporation. They've since changed their name to NextEra (not 'NextEnron') and continue to develop projects in Wisconsin, most recently making inquiries regarding putting up a met tower in the Rock County Town of Spring Valley.

CLICK on the image below to see the real Jeff Skilling joke about his Hypothetical Future Value accounting scheme.

Third Feature

CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW to hear a wind developer talk about his job. Featuring Patrick Pelstring, co-founder and co-chairman at National Wind and soothing background music.