Wind Power News: Puerto Rico
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.
Guayanilla dijo ¡NO! al Proyecto Windmar
Exitosa Marcha contra el Proyecto Windmar
[Successful march against the Windmar project]
[Scroll down for English translation and photos.]
Guayanilla — El pasado sábado 2 de agosto se llevó a cabo la Marcha Contra el Proyecto Windmar en Guayanilla. La misma partió del Complejo Deportivo hasta la Plaza de Recreo donde el Padre Pedro de la Iglesia Episcopal del Pueblo ofreció la invocación. Cientos de personas se congregaron en Guayanilla y marcharon en defensa de Punta Ventanas, Cerro Toro, Punta Verraco y el . . .
Activists protest proposal to build windmills in Puerto Rico
Plans to build 25 windmills near a protected forest in southern Puerto Rico are drawing outrage from activists who warn several endangered bird species will be stripped of their pristine habitats.
The wind farm, to be built by the Puerto Rican-based company Windmar to produce electricity, would sit atop three isolated mountains in the coastal town of Guayanilla, home to the sprawling Guanica State Forest, where endangered nightjars and other birds breed and nest.
Windmar president Victor Gonzalez said the project would . . .
Wind farm: eyesore or godsend?
“Block Island could become the first totally green municipality in the nation,” says Danny Mendelsohn, a member of the team that conducted the Rhode Island Wind Siting Study.
Mendelsohn, who works for Applied Technology and Management in Newport, Steve Weisman, of the Peregrine Energy Group, and Rhode Island Commissioner of Energy Resources Andy Dzykewicz visited the island Thursday, November 8, and Saturday, November 10, at the request of Town Council member Peter Baute. They answered questions about the state’s proposal to . . .
Bird lovers balk at windmills in Puerto Rico
Biologist Miguel Canals gazed over the majestic cliffs at Guayanilla Bay with a child’s delight, pointing out trees hundreds of years old and rare birds whose songs only resonate in this corner of Puerto Rico.
Landowner Víctor González looks at that same scenic shoreline, feels the gusts of coastal wind and envisions the answer to a global crisis: renewable energy.
Where Canals, manager of the nearby Guánica State Forest, and other local environmentalists want to extend a nature reserve, González wants to . . .
Guayanilla Windfarm EIS: species-area relationships
The proposal by WindMar RE to build a windfarm at Punta Verraco, Cerro Toro and Punta Ventanas in southwestern Puerto Rico has generated controversy (see my first post on the issue) on a number of issues. One of the things that bothers me most is the sloppy Environmental Impact Statement. I have not read the whole thing, but the biological aspects are disturbingly bad.
One of the most fundamental issues in ecology is the species-area curve. Species richness increases with area . . .
Guayanilla Windfarm
As power generation schemes go, I have mixed feelings about wind farms. Obviously they have huge advantages over fossil fuel-powered plants. They also don’t involve damming rivers. But they are not without impacts - they tend to be death traps for birds, and they are visually unappealing.
There will always be trade-offs, and given how serious an issue climate change is I am probably willing to tolerate compromises that I would otherwise consider totally unacceptable (nuclear power being one such). But . . .
Windfarm permit "seriously contradicts" Endangered Species Act
A proposed windfarm in the Karso del Sur Important Bird Area (IBA), Puerto Rico, could wipe out five percent of the global population of the Critically Endangered Puerto Rican Nightjar Caprimulgus noctitherus.
The proposal, which has been strongly condemned by Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña (SOPI, BirdLife in Puerto Rico), is the latest in a series of windfarm proposals around the world which threaten bird populations of conservation importance.
The Karso del Sur IBA is the most important remaining stronghold for Puerto Rican . . .
