Updated: 2010-03-11 00:49:26
Over the past 14 months the state has received about $25,000 from companies considering putting up wind farms on the state-owned land that is set aside for funding education.
That’s the beginning of a pot of money Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm would like to use for improving teacher salaries across the state.
No one knows how big that pot could grow. “I’m hoping for a zillion dollars,” Haar said in jest during debate.
But the fund likely would bring in more than . . .
Updated: 2010-03-11 00:45:10
Plans on a wind farm in eastern Adams County have been slowed following an Adams County board meeting Tuesday night.
The board will hold a special meeting of the Transportation, Building and Technology Committee. In the meeting, the revision of an ordinance that was passed early this year allowing a wind farm will be reviewed. Residents say they wanted more time and information before a decision was made.
Jeff Rasche, a concerned citizen commented, “This is one of those huge decisions . . .
Updated: 2010-03-11 00:42:20
GOODHUE— With the 78-megawatt Goodhue Wind wind farm proposed for the area, several Goodhue County townships approved resolutions seeking to limit wind farms.
Belle Creek Township Clerk Steve McNamara said a resolution supporting a one-year moratorium on wind farm construction in the township was considered during the township’s annual meeting Tuesday night.
Voters approved the resolution 15-5, but the board is still trying to determine what it means legally, McNamara said. The resolution is likely to come before the township board soon, . . .
Updated: 2010-03-11 00:41:46
RICHMOND, Va. — Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law Wednesday offshore drilling legislation intended to realize his goal of making Virginia the East Coast’s energy superpower.
The bills supporting offshore oil and gas exploration and directing royalties from drilling back to Virginia each hinge on actions by the federal government and Congress.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to announce his decision soon whether the government will move forward with the sale of oil and gas leases in a triangular tract 50 . . .
Updated: 2010-03-11 00:33:16
Puerto Rico’s government has approved a plan to build 25 wind turbines capable of generating electricity for 20,000 households in the U.S. territory.
Planning Board President Hector Morales said Wednesday the wind farm will be built by the Puerto Rico-based Windmar Renewable Energy Inc. and is designed to produce an estimated 120,000 kilowatts a year.
The Caribbean island of nearly 4 million people now gets nearly all of its electricity from oil-burning plants. The government-owned power utility is planning to boost investment . . .
Updated: 2010-03-11 00:26:08
A wind farm has been approved for the south-east of South Australia.
Grant District Council’s development assessment panel has approved a $170 million wind farm for Allendale.
Energy company Acciona will put 46 turbines just east of Allendale.
One further turbine was rejected because the panel said it would be too close to housing.
Leith McEvoy from the council says the project will boost the local economy.
“The project will generate jobs during the construction phase and then obviously in the operation of the wind . . .
Updated: 2010-03-11 00:24:37
On Jan. 27, county staff gave the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors a draft of a new zoning ordinance, which, if approved, would give a special use permit to two wind companies. The companies, Solaya Inc. out of Massachusetts and Dominion Utility out of Richmond, want to put large wind turbines on a private mountaintop near Criders. There are a number of problems with wind farms.
Loss of property values: If you can see these turbines from your home, your . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 19:17:25
Hundreds of residents gathered in Belwood on Tuesday night for a public meeting into a proposed wind farm project.
Many chose the meeting as an opportunity to protest. Opponents say they’re worried about the landscape as well as the possible health hazards and economic impact of the turbines.
Invenergy held the public meeting in hopes of easing tensions.
The proposal calls for up to 35 wind turbines to be constructed.
[visit the CTV website for video]
Updated: 2010-03-10 18:37:06
HARWICH – A site visit to the Massachusetts Military Reservation in Bourne to observe and learn about the operation of a large scale wind turbine brought a measure of détente between some local residents and town officials on Friday.
The town-sponsored trip provided the opportunity for seven residents who live near proposed sites for two wind turbines and nine local officials to better understand how turbines operate and ways noise and other potential annoyances can be mitigated. But the residents of . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 18:37:00
Not many years ago, there wasn’t enough wind power coming from the Great Plains to worry about. Now there is, and lots of people are worrying.
A group of mostly East Coast utility companies calling itself the Coalition for Fair Transmission Policy fears that the prime conditions in the Great Plains will make the region’s wind power too cheap for its members to compete with, unless developers there are made to pay the costs of moving wind power eastward.
Influential natural gas . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 18:18:36
Westmeath County Council has received 336 objections to the planning application lodged by the Cavan firm Galetech for permission to build a 12 turbine windfarm at Gaybrook.
A massive number of objections came in on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, as residents from a large swathe of south-east Mullingar, but from other parts of the county and further afield, rushed to ensure they had their objections in and fees paid before Thursday evening’s deadline.
A decision on the Galetech application is . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 18:17:37
Open letter to the voters of Ontario:
I live in rural Ontario.
I have been labeled by our premier and other politicians as a NIMBY and by others as “anti-green,” an “opponent,” a “detractor” to wind energy. Why? Because I am concerned about the risk to health of Ontario families.
These statements are lobbyist language and more suitable to a playground bully. It is unbecoming for a leader who was elected to look after the wellbeing of our democratic society to dismiss legitimate . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 17:45:53
WATERTOWN – Jefferson County legislators voted against offshore wind power development in Lake Ontario.
The 14-0 vote came after officials from New York Power Authority, the state government’s entity promoting a possible offshore wind power project in Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, argued the benefits of having a development in the area.
“I believe community leaders and people who live in the waterfront communities have spoken about the importance of having the lake remain what it is today,” Legislature Chairman Kenneth D. . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 17:45:18
The installed capacity of wind and solar energy projects approved in the Czech Republic is nearly four times what can be safely fed into the country’s electricity grid, energy distributors said on Wednesday.
The Association of Czech Regulated Electro-Energy Companies (CSRES) said the installed capacity of all projects approved by the end of January was 8,063 MW.
The limit from solar and wind projects that won’t overload the grid is 1,650 MW until 2012, which corresponds to installed capacity of 2,200 MW, . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 17:15:43
Alliant Energy has asked state regulators for a 14 percent rate increase for its 525,000 customers in eastern, northern and southern Iowa to pay for a new wind farm and transmission upgrades.
The utility said in a statement that the request “seeks to increase annual revenues by approximately $163 million, or 14 percent. The impact of the proposed change in electric rates will vary depending on customer class.”
Alliant president Tom Aller said the money would be needed to recoup costs for . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 17:11:12
The Public Utilities Commission began hearings Tuesday on the Power Purchase Agreement signed by Deepwater Wind and National Grid for the eight-turbine demonstration wind farm proposed for within three miles of Block Island.
PUC commissioners and staff sharply questioned witnesses about how the negotiated price of 24.4 cents per kilowatt-hour was arrived at and whether it was “commercially reasonable.”
Calling the wind farm and the transmission cable to Block Island “inextricably linked, like love and marriage,” PUC Chair Elia Germani asked how . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 17:04:50
OTTAWA — In its fight to ensure that a proposed development of industrial wind turbines is located a safe distance from hundreds of homes in the North Gower-Richmond area, the North Gower Wind Action Group has retained the services of an environmental lawyer in the Ottawa office of Fogler, Rubinoff LLP.
The group has asked the developer to share documents related to the development process with the community.
“As a member of Wind Concerns Ontario, we hear reports every day of people . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 17:01:33
WATERTOWN, N.Y. — It’s pretty windy in Lake Ontario, and that means both opportunity and opposition for its use as an energy source.
“We need wind to expand in this country if we want to get away from OPEC and our reliance on fossil fuels,” said Richard Kessel, New York Power Authority CEO.
“I’m adamantly opposed to it, and I just think the long term impacts would be paid for a long time after the potential for the temporary jobs,” said Barry . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 17:01:28
A campaign group’s spending could top £100,000 after they announced they will go to the High Court to challenge the Bradwell wind farm development.
Battle (Bradwell and Tillingham Tackling Lost Environment) have already fought two planning applications, two public inquiries and sought Judicial Review in a five-year fight against the wind farm.
Lawyers acting on their behalf are now seeking Judicial Review, of the planning inspector’s decision to grant RWE npower renewables permission for ten wind turbines at Hockley Farm, for a . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 17:01:22
A 10-turbine wind farm development in Essex has been given the go-ahead after a second public inquiry.
The development will be on land close to the villages of Bradwell and Tillingham where local residents have formed a campaign group.
They are to seek a High Court judicial review of the planning inspector’s decision to approve the project.
Developers RWE Npower Renewables said the campaigners’ challenge was a disappointment but not a surprise.
Lawyers for the campaign group Bradwell and Tillingham Tackling Lost Environment (Battle) . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 17:01:11
A wind farm would “utterly destroy” an open rural landscape making life unbearable for local residents, a planning inquiry has heard.
An inquiry opened today over proposals to build four giant wind turbines on farmland between Fewcott and Fritwell, just outside Bicester.
The packed council chamber, at Cherwell District Council’s headquarters, in Bodicote, heard from district councillors, Ardley with Fewcott Parish Council, and Bolsterstone, the firm behind the proposal.
The Chesterfield-based company forced a public inquiry after Cherwell councillors unanimously voted against plans . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 13:24:40
Ante la insensible y nefasta decisión de la Junta de Planificación de Puerto Rico de aprobar el Proyecto Windmar y ceder ante las presiones del industrial y desarrollador Víctor González Barahona, la Coalición Pro Bosque Seco Ventanas Verraco reafirma su posición de proseguir luchando por la conservación de Punta Ventana, Cerro Toro, Punta Verraco y el Bosque Seco. El Proyecto Windmar se fundamenta en la mentira y desinformación. El notorio Víctor González Barahona presidente de Windmar Renewable Energy, es . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 13:13:34
(Host) A new potential roadblock has been raised to a commercial wind farm that developers want to build in Ira and Poultney.
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says the ridgelines being considered for the project are rare and irreplaceable natural areas that should be protected.
VPR’s Nina Keck reports.
(Keck) Eric Sorenson is an ecologist with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. He says if you look around, you’ll see much of Vermont is still forested.
(Sorenson) “But one of the . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:43:56
WARWICK — Some of Rhode Island’s largest users of electricity have come out for the first time in opposition to a proposed power-purchase agreement between National Grid and the developer of an eight-turbine wind farm in waters off Block Island.
The executive director of the Energy Council of Rhode Island, a nonprofit organization known as TEC-RI that represents 35 of the state’s biggest manufacturers, universities and hospitals, testified on Tuesday against an agreement under which Deepwater Wind would sell power generated . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:43:26
Aaron Curtis’ recent story on the Oswego County’s Economic Development and Planning Committee’s vote on offshore wind power omitted several items that are pertinent and important to understanding the con game going on, in respect to windpower on Lake Ontario.
These proposed wind farms cannot survive or be feasible unless they receive stimulus funds (30 percent of the cost up front, $200 million plus), and PILOT agreements (also our taxes) from affected towns and municipalities. The companies in question, the developers, . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:42:40
Wind farm protesters have been given a boost after council chiefs urged planning officials to consider the development’s impact on the ‘beautiful county’.
Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet has taken the step of clarifying its position on wind farms which came after ‘around a dozen’ applications were being considered by district planning authorities.
Mike Maryon, the authority’s cabinet member for highways and environment, said: “We have become aware that some of the companies submitting planning applications to create wind farms have been citing . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:42:26
People who want to tell a board of inquiry what they think of the redesigned Turitea Wind Farm proposal will soon find out if the board wants to hear from them.
Of 225 submitters on Mighty River Power’s adjusted proposal, 103 people said they wanted to speak to the board, but the board is unlikely to give all of them a slot at the hearing, which resumes in Palmerston North next week.
Mighty River Power wants to build up to 104 . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:42:00
The FAA recently overturned its original ruling that Gamesa’s proposed 404 foot tall wind turbines on Shaffer Mountain would pose a hazard to aviation.
What is questionable is that it did so without debate, without explanation and without any input whatsoever from either the Bedford or Johnstown – Cambria County Airport managers or authorities. I confirmed this with them last week. The press release from Gamesa announcing the unexplained FAA flip-flop referenced an “aeronautical study” that allegedly showed the turbines would . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:41:07
Plans for a possible windfarm in Reedley were met with fierce opposition at a meeting of Brierfield and Reedley Committee.
The public gallery was full at Brierfield Town Hall as councillors discussed an application from BT to put a wind measuring device at Moor Isles Farm, Woodend Road, Reedley.
If approved, the 60m high anemometer mast would measure wind speeds and patterns for three years.
The information gathered would determine whether the site is suitable for wind turbines, used to produce sustainable . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:40:32
A massive new wind turbine measuring a staggering 540ft could be on the way for the Hartlepool skyline.
A Dutch firm could be on the verge of building the innovative structure on land at Heerema in Hartlepool.
It could be the first stage in the development of a new type of wind farm which would use two rotors and fewer parts.
The firm, called 2-B Energy, has launched talks with Hartlepool Borough Council for permission for the giant structure to be placed . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:40:09
ALLEGANY – More than 40 people who attended Monday’s Town of Allegany Planning Board meeting to hear comments about the proposed wind-turbine farm ended up waiting outside in the cold for close to half an hour while an executive session was held inside.
At the opening of the meeting, planning board chairman Bob Phillips asked the audience to step outside as the board and town officials needed to hold an executive session with consulting attorney Dan Spitzer of Buffalo. The session . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:39:54
Wind Prospect has lodged an objection to the conditions placed on the erection of a wind monitoring mast on the Camel’s Hump Ranges near Clare.
The wind farm developer lodged an application for the temporary 50m tall monitoring mast with the Clare and Gilbert Valleys council’s Development Assessment Panel last month.
The proposal attracted strong community opposition and resulted in panel members making a site visit to see the proposed location of the mast for themselves.
To preserve the integrity of a locally . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:39:33
A green energy company has announced plans to build six towering wind turbines on farmland near Fakenham.
Hertfordshire-based Renewable Energy Systems (RES) wants to construct the proposed Jack’s Lane Wind Farm on land between Syderstone, Stanhoe and South Creake.
The scheme’s designers said the proposed 400ft turbines would provide enough clean electricity to meet the average demand of more than 8,000 homes.
RES will hold a series of public exhibitions in surrounding villages beginning on March 30 to answer questions and present the . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:38:09
The Adams County Board plans to revisit its newly adopted wind energy ordinance to determine if changes are needed in setback rules and public-notification provisions.
The board Tuesday directed its Transportation, Building and Technology Committee to take another look at the wind energy ordinance to review concerns voiced by residents since the ordinance was adopted in January.
Board member Lyle Nichols, R-7, who made the motion to send the matter back to the committee, said he felt the ordinance needed more review . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:37:35
DAWN-EUPHEMIA — Two years after hundreds of local residents and the township’s council vehemently opposed a large wind farm, plans are moving forward to start construction.
Officials with the Sydenham Wind Energy Centre say they will start building their $160-million farm in 2011 if Ontario Power Authority (OPA) approval comes through and once an environmental assessment is complete.
The farm will have 29 to 37 wind turbines capable of producing about 70 MW, enough to power 20,000 households, says Sherra Zulerons, national . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:37:18
Opposition against a plan to build a large electricity sub station near Little Dunham has increased, attracting political support.
If the proposal – put forward by green energy company Warwick Energy – is passed by Breckland Council the development will be built in a 42-acre field near the small village.
But more than 150 letters of objection have been received by the council – which has not confirmed when the decision will be made – and more than 1,200 people have . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:37:09
LUDINGTON — The Mason County Board of Commissioners concluded Tuesday that a decision on a proposed offshore wind farm in Lake Michigan should be made after a joint meeting with the Oceana County Board.
Chairman Michael Schneider reminded fellow board members that this is the first written and signed proposal they’ve had from Minnesota-based Scandia Wind LLC and Havgul Clean Energy AS of Norway.
The proposal calls for 100 wind turbines to be installed four miles off the coast of Mason and . . .
Updated: 2010-03-10 11:36:46
The wind industry will hit Congress this week in a lobbying blitz aimed at securing a national requirement that utilities generate some power from renewable sources and stopping a Senate measure that would prohibit federal grants from going to companies that manufacture outside the United States.
About 120 executives and others from companies tied to wind power will meet with lawmakers and their aides. The group is in town for its annual industry meeting but also sees the need to advocate . . .
Updated: 2010-03-09 23:13:46
Darlington, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British countryside residents who live near wind farms are asking the government to address the effect the turbines have on human health. One in six wind farms is receiving complaints because of the excessive noise it creates, which causes residents to lose sleep.
The complaints and analysis of experts on the impact of wind farms were heard at the weekend WindConf 2010 held in Darlington.
Addressing the health concerns are vital because of a plan to . . .
Updated: 2010-03-09 22:53:49
Senator Lamar Alexander expressed concern on Tuesday over the siting of renewable energy projects during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, of which he is the ranking member.
“We’ve spent more than a century and billions of dollars of public and private money protecting certain landscapes and scenic areas,” Sen. Alexander told Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “For example, the Appalachian Trail runs 2,178 miles from Georgia to Maine, and if we were . . .
Updated: 2010-03-09 22:52:31
A March 6 meeting, outlining the downside of wind turbines, drew close to 200 people to Creemore’s Station on the Green.
Only six or eight people would have shown up 18 months ago, said one speaker, concluding that the groundswell of opposition to wind turbines is gaining momentum.
An area just north of Creemore is proposed for the tower installations as well as a smaller area to the west of the village.
The meeting was organized by WAIT, an acronym for Warning About . . .
Updated: 2010-03-09 22:50:52
Villagers in North Yorkshire claim trucks travelling past their homes to get to a construction site are causing structural damage to their properties.
A wind farm is being built at Newland, Selby and vehicles have been accessing the site via a narrow lane.
Resident Pamela Emmerson said: “Most residents have felt shaking… like there’s been an earthquake.”
Selby District Council said it was “monitoring the situation closely”, following the complaints raised.
The concerns centre on a variation to the access route to the site . . .
Updated: 2010-03-09 22:49:23
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Engineers Union has accused the Sustainable Energy Authority of involving technically unqualified companies in an ambitious project to produce wind power.
Engineers told The Island that the CEB had come under heavy pressure to finalise agreements with those companies and carry out necessary changes to ‘take in’ wind power.
They said that their representatives had raised that issue with Power and Energy Minister W D J Seneviratne.
Sources said the minister had been asked to look into the . . .
Updated: 2010-03-09 22:47:50
FENNER — Engineers probing the collapse of a 190-ton turbine in rural Madison County have a lot of work ahead of them because the type of crash that occurred at Fenner Wind Farm appears to be unprecedented, officials from the wind farm operator said.
The turbine that crashed at about 4 a.m. Dec. 27, 2009, on the wind farm located northeast of Cazenovia became dislodged from its foundation.
That’s an unusual situation, said Hank Sennott, a spokesman for Enel North America, the . . .
Updated: 2010-03-09 22:44:09
ST. PAUL — A Red Wing lawmaker’s bill to give counties more regulation of proposed wind turbines was rejected by a House committee Monday amid fears it would hurt the state’s wind industry..
Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing, sponsored the bill, which would allow county boards to impose stricter siting requirements for wind turbine projects. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission oversees siting of large wind turbine projects, but Kelly told members of the House Energy, Policy and Finance Committee that counties . . .
Updated: 2010-03-09 22:41:14
The visual impact of a new nine-turbine wind farm in the East Riding has been raised as a major concern at a public inquiry.
Renewable Energy Systems (RES) has appealed the decision by East Riding Council’s planning committee to throw out proposals to build a wind farm near Roos in Holderness.
The reasons for refusing the plans included visual impact, the effect on the character of the rural area and the cumulative impact.
The inquiry began today at County Hall in Beverley.
In her . . .
Updated: 2010-03-09 22:39:05
Councillors have approved an extension to a Stirlingshire wind farm despite the recommendation of planning experts to scrap the project. Nine new turbines will be built in the planned extension
Officials opposed the building of nine turbines at the wind farm near Fintry because it would have an adverse impact on the landscape.
There were also worries the view from Stirling Castle would be affected.
But 36 letters were received in support of the Falck Renewables scheme, which had considerable local backing.
Seven letters . . .
Updated: 2010-03-09 22:37:18
Hundreds of Yorkshire Dales residents in the Gargrave area were celebrating today over the decision by a Government planning inspector to reject plans for a major windfarm which would have dominated the scenery for some 40 miles around.
The inspector, Mr John Braithwaite, turned down the appeal by a German energy company to erect five wind turbines higher than Big Ben on Brightember Hill, a beauty spot on the borders of the Yorkshire Dales and the Forest of Bowland, one of . . .
