Wind Power News: Norway
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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.
Climate change plea from tribe of herders who face extinction
In another threat, wind turbines and hydroelectric dams have sprung up in reindeer herding areas that had been protected, cutting grazing and forcing the Sami off their traditional land.
Olav Mathias-Eira is a reindeer-herder. So was his father. And his father’s father. He is a member of the Sami community, one of the largest indigenous groups remaining in Europe, and his family have been herding reindeer in the same stretch of the Norwegian Arctic since the …
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Power lines deadly to migratory birds
Hundreds of swans are killed each year after colliding into power lines in Finland. So far this year, 100 swans have been found dead. Other birds as well fall victim to the lines located along migratory paths.
Transferring electric cables underground would prevent the deaths, although warning devices on power lines have been somewhat useful. According to bird watchers, birds fly into the same lines every year.
Other large structures, like glass buildings, also create obstacles for …
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Reindeer herding under pressure in Norway
New hydropower projects, windmill parks and the construction of new houses and cabin put increasing pressure on the reindeer herders in Norway. The industry might vanish by year 2050 should the developments continue, a representative of the reindeer herders says.
It is not climate changes, nor the high number of reindeers or the increasing motorized traffic which pose the biggest threat against the Norwegian reindeer herders. It is rather the big number of cabins built in …
Vindmølle tålte ikke vind [Windmill couldn't take wind]
Blad knekte rett av.
[Blade knocked right off by the wind at Havøygavelen in Måsøy commune, which is not taking any chances and asking local people to keep their distance. Police have blocked off the area.]
Den kraftige vinden på Havøygavelen i Måsøy kommune førte i dag til at et av bladene på en vindmølle i vindmølleparken knekte rett av.
- Vi er blitt informert om at en av vindmøllene våre er ødelagt. Et av bladene skal ha …
In Norway, pace of wind, gas projects slows
The pace of development for offshore wind turbines in hydrocarbon-rich Norway has slowed to a trickle, as a backlog of 100 wind-farm applications queues up for regulators.
“The uncertainty has been and is bigger for wind and gas power,” a report by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate confirmed this week.
Just four cases a year are processed by three key staff, and the torrent of applications for windpower and gas are, of necessity, also being …
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Plans for large windmill park at sea
Norwegian energy producer Lyse has presented plans for a large wind power plant to be built in the North Sea. The 200 windmills will supply electricity for 220,000 households.
The planned windmill park will cover an area of around 200 square kilometres in the North Sea, 130 kilometres south west of Lista.
The windmills will be built on seabed foundations, at a depth of between 45 and 60 metres. Height above sea level will be 90 metres.
The …
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Norsk Hydro and Siemens To Develop Floating Wind Turbines
Industrial groups Norsk Hydro of Norway and Siemens of Germany said June 26 they had reached agreement to develop floating wind turbines that could be installed on the high seas.
The goal would be to locate the turbines in areas with the strongest winds and that are less likely to mar the visual perspective, the two groups said.
Under the agreement Siemens would provide Norsk Hydro with a demonstration turbine to be tested off the Norwegian coast.
Norsk …
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Floating wind turbine may be in North Sea by 2009
The world’s first floating wind turbine could be generating electricity in the North Sea in 2009 under a research pact on Monday between Norwegian energy group Norsk Hydro and German engineering firm Siemens.
Floating wind turbines would represent a technological breakthrough for offshore power generation, which has had to rely on shallow sites for turbines installed on the seabed.
“It’s attractive to have windmills out at sea, out of sight of land, away from birds’ migration routes,” …
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Birding news: arrivals and alarms
Concern about dangers to Britain’s biggest birds of prey from windfarms came as 15 White-tailed Eagle chicks were flown to Scotland for a new comeback scheme. The youngsters, when able to fly, will be released in about two months in the first phase of a new project to restore this species to eastern Scotland where it was wiped out by human persecution almost 200 years ago. Now they [up to 80 more to be released …
Shell says keen to develop Norway wind power
Anglo-Dutch energy group Shell will apply soon for a licence to build a 60-turbine wind park in southwest Norway and will consider other Norwegian wind projects in the future, Shell said on Wednesday.
reuters.co.uk
18 April 2007
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