To apply for an anemometer tower, go to www.energy.utah.gov, or call, Nykole Littleboy, 801-538-5413. Past and current information collected by anemometers is available on the Internet at: www.energy.utah.gov/wind/anemometer.htm.

CEDAR CITY - Is there power in the wind?

Of course. But several Utah cities, parks and industries want to know if that wind can be harnessed to produce enough power to keep residents and businesses out of the dark.

They are participating in a state program to gauge that possibility.

The southwestern Utah community of Hurricane is the latest. It plans to erect an anemometer - a device for measuring wind speed and direction - on a 165-foot tower sometime this week, next to the city's aptly named "Hurricane Power Co."

The Washington County city, northeast of St. George, obtained the tower and measuring instrument through a loan program sponsored by the Utah Geological Survey and U.S. Department of Energy.

The state has purchased four towers to lend to cities interested in discovering whether they have sustainable wind-power generating capability.

Also available are a dozen, 66-foot towers to be lent to industrial and residential producers, according to Nykole Littleboy, a UGS environmental scientist.

Under the program, Hurricane will pay $5,000 to have a contractor erect the tower, probably this week.

Information will be collected for a year to measure wind at certain times of the year and hours during the day.

"For large-scale [wind turbines] you need an average wind speed of 13 mph," said Littleboy.

She says any person or city who believes they have a decent wind resource should apply for the program, adding that there is no installation fee for the smaller towers.

Cities, individuals or industries also can also sell the power generated from turbines that range in generating capacity from just 10 kilowatts to 5 megawatts, says Littleboy. To illustrate, 1 megawatt of generating capacity can serve up to 500 homes.

Hurricane Power superintendent David Imlay says the utility's board of directors decided to join the state program two months ago.

"People are always asking with a name like Hurricane, how come we're not using wind generation for power," said Imlay. "So the test will tell us not only if we should address generating power from the wind, but will also provide documentation to answer why we are not."

Imlay says the tower will have anemometers at three different levels.

Utah Power spokesman David Eskelsen says that producers of wind-generated power can sell to utilities through several programs.

Consumers also may purchase power from the Utah Power's Blue Sky Program.

It offers electricity generated from renewable resources, including wind, solar and hydro.

He says Moab buys a lot of its power through the program and has won awards for encouraging residents to participate.

Utah Power generates electricity from company-owned wind turbines located at two Wyoming sites.

It also buys from independent providers in Oregon and Washington. The Salt Lake City-based utility soon will begin buying power from a new wind-turbine site in southeastern Idaho.

The utility gets less than 1 percent of its electricity from wind turbines, but Eskelsen predicts the amount - from renewable resources of all kinds - will increase over the next 10 years to about 3 percent.

"It's a growth area for electric generation," said Eskelsen. "Federal tax credits mean it can compete with other generation methods."

In addition to Hurricane, there are 11 other sites around the state participating in the state anemometer program, including Tooele, Cedar Ridge, Collinston, Hooper, Garrison, Manti, Cedar City, Alton, Promontory Point, Yuba State Park and Camp Williams in south Salt Lake County.

mhavnes@sltrib.com