Wind Power News: Asia
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.
State government to probe windmill land deals
The Maharashtra government will probe land deals by companies and individuals, who have set up windmills in various districts, following complaints that many of these transactions were illegal.
The government has received complaints that land on which many of these windmills stand was bought at throwaway prices. Among those who have invested money in this sector are multinational companies and Bollywood actors.
A three-member committee under Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue), Ramesh Kumar, will conduct the probe.
Ratho told Hindustan Times that his department . . .
Eilat to have Israel’s largest wind farm
Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company (EAPC) is initiating the construction of a wind farm for the generation of electricity in the Eilat Mountains. The wind farm will be largest of its kind in Israel.
EAPC CEO Amos Yaron says that the wind farm will generate 50 megawatts and will cost €50-60 million to build. He predicts that the project could be built within 2-3 years, unless there are unexpected bureaucratic delays.
Yaron said that EAPC wanted to build the wind farm using Israeli . . .
Wind power factories called ‘image projects’
China’s wind power factories are mostly “image projects” built largely for displaying local governments’ achievements rather than for use by ordinary people, the Beijing Times reported Wednesday, citing a top government official.
Miao Wei, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, made the remarks on Sunday at a discussion with the Hubei delegation at the ongoing annual sessions. It is not suitable for China to build too many wind power factories because wind is always accompanied by sand . . .
Wind power generation faces public opposition
Wind power generation, which uses a new energy source and is regarded as indispensable to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is facing head winds across the nation.
There is growing concern among residents about environmental destruction, noise pollution and health hazards related to wind power generation. While the government and the electric power industry are promoting its introduction, I am frustrated that neither has an accurate grasp of the actual situation.
In Higashi-Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture, where 10 wind turbine units stand along . . .
Uproar over wind power scheme
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 . . .
UN panel approves 32 China wind farms, blocks six
A United Nations climate panel approved 32 Chinese wind farms for carbon financing under the Kyoto Protocol late last week, but blocked another six after rejecting eight similar projects in December.
The approved wind farms will cut greenhouse gas emissions by some 11.3 million tonnes by the end of 2012, the year the current Kyoto pact expires, according to UN data.
Under Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), companies can invest in clean energy projects in emerging economies, and in return receive offset . . .
Azerbaijan’s first wind farm project hits snags
The wrong type of wind and low electricity prices are proving a problem for Azerbaijan’s first wind farm project.
The project to build six wind farms in Azerbaijan with an overall capacity of 13,200 MWh.is being carried out by Azerbaijan’s Temirmasin open joint-stock company and Germany’s Nordwind Energieanlagen GmbH.
Changes in the country’s climate are reducing the efficiency of the project, the Azerbaijan Business Centre (ABC) reported today, quoting an “informed source”.
“Azerbaijan does not have as many windy days as it used . . .
Dairy cattle getting wind turbine syndrome?
Click here for the full report (©Shizen to Ningen sha) in Japanese. The following is a brief summary, by the journalist Yuki Tsuruta
I visited two small islands in Nagasaki prefecture in November 2009. This is what I was told by several of the dairy farmers.
(1) Ukujima 24.9km2, population 3000. The island has one 1000 kW wind turbine, built in 2001.
(a) Farmer A (340m from cow barn to the turbine). This family has been dairy . . .
MOE to survey health impairment due to wind power generation
TOKYO, JAPAN –The Japanese Ministry of the Environment (MOE) intends to embark on its first survey ever of possible health impairment caused by wind power generation in fiscal 2010. The reason is that residents in the vicinity of wind turbines have complained of ill physical effects due to low-frequency sound emitted when the turbines turn. The MOE is going to consign execution of a fact-finding survey to a research institute. The survey results will provide the basis for studies to . . .
Sickness claims prompt study of wind turbines
Turbines used for wind power generation, pushed as a promising renewable energy source, will come under government scrutiny because of the possible impact on the health of residents.
The Environment Ministry will conduct its first field survey of possible health hazards of wind turbines, covering all of more than 1,500 units in operation across the country.
The four-year study, to start in April, was planned following complaints from neighborhood residents about noise and environmental problems as well as health issues.
No causal . . .
