Wind Power News: June 2008
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted.
Windy city
CATHKIN Braes on the edge of Glasgow is likely to be the site of Britain’s first council-run wind farm.
In February, the city council revealed plans for a £15million wind park with five turbines which would power all the city’s street lights.
Officials launched a detailed investigation into possible sites and have opted for Cathkin Braes.
The site is also where the Castlemilk and Carmunnock Community Windpark Trust wants to build its own project.
It has spent six years and £250,000 drawing up a . . .
£100bn wind farms bill a waste of cash
THE latest government decision to spend £100bn of taxpayer’s funds on wind farms shows how the government and its advisers are totally lacking in knowledge and information on renewable energy.
This decision, fuelled by the self-interest of lobbyists on behalf of the major wind turbine corporations, will be a decision that Britain greatly regrets in the years ahead.
In this respect in 2003, as an example, the actual amount of electricity that these wind turbines produced equated to a production time of . . .
Green electricity users face 'double bills'
GREENPOWER users will be double billed if changes to the new greenhouse gas reporting system are not made, says University of Adelaide climate change Professor Barry Brook.
This could cause the GreenPower national accreditation scheme to “implode” when an emissions trading scheme is introduced in 2010.
Professor Brook said the almost 750,000 households and businesses using GreenPower nationally would be penalised once an emissions trading scheme was introduced as they would be paying extra to buy power from renewable sources.
They also would . . .
Arguments for and against wind turbine
With rising oil prices and increasing global pressure to find alternative sources of energy, businesses all over the world are looking to the power of wind; and they have Northamptonshire in their sights.
Power company E.ON is investigating the possibility of installing turbines close to the historic battlefield of Naseby, Hemex LLP is looking into installing 12 turbines to the east of the M1, near junction 19 and supermarket chain Asda has applied for planning permission to build a 417ft wind . . .
Alliant utility proposes to build Minnesota wind farm
Wisconsin Power and Light Co. said Monday that it is seeking permission to build an up to 400-megawatt wind farm in Freeborn County in southern Minnesota.
In April, Wisconsin Power, a Madison utility of Alliant Energy Corp. (NYSE: LNT), executed a letter of intent to purchase the Bent Tree Wind Farm site for an undisclosed sum from Wind Capital Group LLC, a St. Louis-based developer of wind energy assets. The site has the potential to produce up to 400 megawatts of . . .
Heritage group to appeal over Kessingland wind turbines
An environmental campaign group is to launch a legal challenge over controversial plans to build two wind turbines on the Suffolk coast.
The Suffolk Preservation Society (SPS), which works to promote sensitive and sustainable development in the county, has joined forces with groups from across Waveney to begin judicial review proceedings after proposals for two 125m turbines in Kessingland were given the go-ahead earlier this year.
A planning inspector gave the green light to Lowestoft-based SLP’s plans for the two turbines, which . . .
Wind turbine plant employees say 'no' to union
Employees of Clipper Turbine Works decided not to join a union in a weekend vote that represented one of the first attempts to unionize a wind industry supplier in Iowa.
The National Labor Relations Board conducted elections Friday and Saturday at the plant in southwest Cedar Rapids on representation by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 204.
The vote was 45 in favor of the union and 125 opposed to the union, with 13 challenged votes, according to Bob Chester, district director . . .
Legal challenge on Redcar wind farm plan
A council fighting controversial plans for a wind farm off the North East coast today criticised as “unlawful” the failure of the Government to hold a public inquiry.
Lawyers fighting the case at the High Court in London said Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, John Hutton, was wrong not to direct a full inquiry.
Mr Hutton gave his consent for the construction of the farm by EDF Energy, last September, paving the way for 30 massive turbines to . . .
Wind farm madness
Indeed there will be no debate on wind power (Debate & Opinion, 27 June).
This is the month in which the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee has started to publish the huge volume of evidence it has received on renewable energy and yet, before it reports, the Westminster government has forged ahead with proposals for enormous additional numbers of turbines.
The most conservative suggestion would represent more than 10,000 megawatts maximum output on a windy day but very little on a . . .
Third big wind farm planned for Wellington
A planned third wind farm could take the number of turbines dotting Wellington’s wind-swept outer hills to more than 140 — together providing enough electricity to power every home in the city when operating at full capacity.
The proposal, which has yet to receive resource consent, would place between 20 and 50 New Zealand-made turbines in Long Gully, which runs south behind the Brooklyn wind turbine in Wellington.
State-owned Mighty River Power has signed a deal with New Zealand turbine manufacturer Windflow . . .
