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France
30 Nov 2009
France’s former president tilts at windmills
Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the former president who championed France’s dependence on nuclear power, may seem a modern Don Quixote as he leads a fierce battle against the expansion of wind power turbines. But unlike the fictional knight charging at windmills, Giscard’s quest may not be futile. Growing political opposition, a lack of government support, and changes in the regulatory framework mean that France is in danger of missing its ambitious wind power capacity target, set by the European Commission. Giscard, president ...

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Massachusetts
03 Dec 2009
Headwaters residents protest town wind turbine plans
HARWICH – Opposition is fermenting in the Headwaters area against town plans to locate a 390-foot wind turbine in the neighborhood. Despite a unanimous vote on town meeting floor last month, several residents spoke out against the proposal before selectmen Monday night. Close to a dozen people raised issues of health and safety as well as adverse financial and wildlife impacts as they stood one by one to speak ...

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West Virginia
03 Dec 2009
Groups try to slow wind energy project over potential harm to bats
A federal judge is expected to rule on a case that could change the course of a wind farm in Greenbrier County. The Animal Welfare Institute and Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy say the Beech Ridge wind energy project has the potential to harm the endangered Indiana bat and the groups are suing the developer, Invenergy, LLC, to stop the project. The project has been controversial and opposed by some Greenbrier County residents. Greenbrier County Commissioner Brad Tuckwiller says the wind ...

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Massachusetts
03 Dec 2009
High school floats wind balloon
Nantucket Public Schools will be floating a large balloon over the next two weekends, between the football stadium and Sparks Avenue. This balloon indicates the location where Nantucket High School is proposing to place a wind turbine to defray its electricity costs. The balloon will be floated to give the community and the Historic District Commission an idea of the height and location of the proposed wind turbine. You can see the balloon Dec. 4-6 and Dec. 11-14, weather permitting. The public ...

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Oregon
03 Dec 2009
Kulongoski changes course, supports phase-out of wind energy tax credit
Gov. Ted Kulongoski bowed to mounting criticism Wednesday and said he’s ready to pare Oregon’s tax subsidies for green energy projects — especially wind power — after vetoing a similar plan earlier this year. The governor offered his support for a proposal to phase out the incentives given to wind energy projects, worth up to $11 million each. The proposal is part of a set of changes recommended by state energy and economic development officials for the Business Energy Tax Credit, ...

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New York
03 Dec 2009
Town of Dunkirk WECS law requires revision
With the moratorium to expire in February 2010 and many months invested in creating the legislation, the town of Dunkirk is trying to finalize a local law on wind energy as soon as possible. The Dunkirk Town Board, Zoning Board Association and Planning Board met at the town hall Tuesday for a wind energy workshop, in order to continue discussion of a proposal for a WECS (Wind Energy Conversions Systems) local law. After several weeks of back-and-forth between the zoning board, ...

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Scotland
03 Dec 2009
Website warns of windfarm damage to Lammermuirs
A community website has been set up by residents in the Oldhamstocks area in protest at plans to triple the size of nearby Aikengall windfarm – with the deadline for objections to the new development just days away. Proposals being put forward by Community Windpower Ltd have prompted a group of residents who live/work in or near to the Lammermuir Hills to set up an opposition website, entitled ‘Save the Lammermuirs’ . Objections to the windfarm extension must reach local authority officials ...

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Massachusetts
03 Dec 2009
Savoy speaks out on wind project
SAVOY — The newly reformed Zoning Board of Appeals held it’s first public hearing since reforming in October and heard public input on Minuteman Wind’s proposed five-turbine wind farm proposed for West Hill. Since the proposed 290-acre wind farm has been a topic of hot debate in the past, Chairwoman Billie Bushika-Alcala laid down some ground rules involving the public input portion of the hearing. She told the roughly 30 people in attendance that any information presented by the public had ...

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Maine
03 Dec 2009
Buckfield postpones wind moratorium vote
BUCKFIELD — The special town meeting to vote on a wind power development moratorium has been rescheduled to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6, in the Buckfield High School Auditorium. Lively, yet polite discussion filled the selectmen’s meeting room Tuesday night as James Parker pleaded the case for a moratorium on wind power projects until the issue could be studied more completely to ascertain the amount of health problems for those living near wind turbines. “I don’t think it’s right to run people ...

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Colorado
03 Dec 2009
Summit County creates renewable rules
SUMMIT COUNTY – Planners in Summit County have been drawing up regulations governing solar panels, wind turbines and other types of small-scale, renewable energy in unincorporated areas. The general rule seems to be no solar collectors in front yards, and nothing more than 10 percent higher than the building height. Ditto for wind turbines. Whether this is enough to attract much wind might be debatable, as generally wind turbines need to stand much taller than other obstructions, including houses and trees, in ...

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Scotland
03 Dec 2009
Legal action threat against charges to export island energy
Western Isles Council warns it may take legal action if the UK government agencies persists in making it more expensive to export electricity ...

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Ontario
03 Dec 2009
EZT supports freeze on wind turbines
EZT councillors have added their voice to a call for an embargo on industrial wind turbine projects until more studies on their health effects become available. In a recorded vote, five of the six EZT councillors voted in favour of the carefully worded resolution designed to show their support for a moratorium. Coun. Clive Lawry was the only councillor to vote against the resolution. The resolution requested the Province of Ontario “impose a moratorium on all industrial wind turbine projects currently being considered ...

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Massachusetts
03 Dec 2009
Wind knocked out of project
NORTH ATTLEBORO – World War I Memorial Park will not be home to a wind turbine, after all. Businessman Michael Bedard, who initially approached the park commission with a proposal to build a 250-foot wind turbine near sunrise hill, told the board Wednesday that the site on Sunrise Hill is not right for the project. “My conclusion is: Great idea, wrong location. It’s not going to fit there,” Bedard said. The hurdle was the amount of space needed to construct the wind turbine’s ...

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Kansas
03 Dec 2009
Plan aims to protect tallgrass prairie
A conservation initiative seeks to preserve up to 1 million acres of tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills — some of the last stands of tallgrass in the nation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering buying voluntary conservation easements in 14 Kansas counties. Participating landowners would have control over day-to-day operations on their land, and be able to pass it on or sell it. The easements would prevent landowners ...

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Maine
04 Dec 2009
Stop-work petition withdrawn after wind project halted due to low energy prices
AUGUSTA — A petition filed last month with the Maine Board of Environmental Protection to halt construction of a $120 million wind farm in Roxbury was withdrawn Thursday at a board hearing at the Holiday Inn Ground Round restaurant. The reason? Developer Record Hill Wind LLC had already decided last month to stop construction, citing low energy prices that will delay by a year the purchase of 22 wind turbines. Construction will resume after mud season in 2010. That made the petition moot, ...

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Maine
04 Dec 2009
Voters enact 6-month moratorium on wind farm development
RUMFORD — In less than 10 minutes and without discussion, voters at Thursday night’s special town meeting enacted a 180-day moratorium on commercial wind farm development. By a show of hands, a majority of the slightly more than 100 people decided they wanted the opportunity to understand and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of wind development before any project come to town. Former Town Manager Len Greaney, spokesman for the Wind Power Education Committee that is behind the citizen-initiated petition, said the ...

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Massachusetts
04 Dec 2009
Harwich neighbors oppose wind project
HARWICH – About a dozen residents living near a proposed municipal wind turbine project turned up at the board of selectmen’s meeting Monday night to voice their dismay. The project ““Seems like something that was put under the radar,” said Sheila Bowen of West Tupelo Drive about the town’s plans to erect two, 400-foot tall wind turbines on town land in West Harwich. Special town meeting recently authorized further planning for the project. “I would like to know why we were not ...

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Vermont
04 Dec 2009
Forest service pitches land purchase to town
READSBORO- A representative ...

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Massachusetts
06 Dec 2009
Opponents blast wind turbine laws
State aims to expedite wind farm construction, but communities lament loss of local control A west wind is blowing against proposed state laws that would govern siting of windmills — at least gauging ...

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Australia
08 Dec 2009
Vandals cause $100,000 damage to wind testing tower
Wind farm opponents are believed responsible for the destruction of a wind testing tower at a Clunes property at the weekend. Damage to the meteorological wind mast has been estimated at $100,000 and was caused when several of the steel cables anchoring the 80m tower were severed on Friday night, bringing it to the ground. The tower is part of a feasibility study for the proposed Waubra North wind farm being considered for the site. Owned by Acciona, the tower had been collecting ...

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Ontario
08 Dec 2009
Proposal revised for potential wind farms
The developer behind two potential wind farms in Oxford has revised its proposal for both, increasing the wattage and changing how the turbines might be laid out across the landscape. The information ...

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Denmark
08 Dec 2009
Onshore solution for offshore wind
Danish utility installs a static VAR compensator to prevent voltage instability. In 2003, the Nysted Offshore Wind Farm, with an Installed Capacity of 165.6 MW, was commissioned on the island of South Zealand in southern Denmark. The wind turbines are equipped with asynchronous generators with squirrel-cage rotors. Studies supported by operational experience have confirmed the wind farm was the source of unacceptably large and frequent voltage fluctuations on the 132-kV transmission system. The voltage disturbances were due to a combination of a ...

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Press releases, Puerto Rico
08 Dec 2009
Reacción a la Resolución de la Junta de Planificación que deja sin efecto la aprobación de la Consulta para la ubicación del Proyecto Windmar
{See "Planning Board takes back eolic plant approval"} La Resolución emitida por la Junta de Planificación de Puerto Rico, dejando sin efecto la aprobación la Consulta Numero 2006-61-0536-JPU para la construcción del Proyecto Windmar, refirma las objeciones, denuncias y la evidencia presentada oponiéndose a este proyecto por parte de la Coalición Pro Bosque Seco Ventanas Verraco y otras organizaciones. Claro, esta decisión no es final y firme, ya que el asunto se encuentra bajo consideración del Tribunal Supremo de Puerto Rico, ...

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Minnesota, U.S., Transmission
08 Dec 2009
FERC sticks it to Midwest ISO wind developers
In what could dramatically alter transmission and wind energy development in the Upper Midwest, a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruling last week shifts virtually the entire responsibility of paying for transmission network upgrades to wind developers in the footprint of the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (Midwest ISO). The FERC ruling requires that Midwest ISO wind generators pay 90% of the cost of transmission upgrades for network upgrades for projects rated 345 kV and higher. This ruling applies to all ...

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West Virginia
09 Dec 2009
Federal judge halts Greenbrier wind project
A federal district court judge in Maryland placed a huge roadblock in the path of a planned industrial wind facility in northern Greenbrier County, saying construction of the wind turbines would violate the Endangered Species Act. Judge Roger W. Titus issued an order Tuesday afternoon granting an injunction, which halts the project in its tracks. Two organizations and an individual filed suit in June to stop construction on the project, which would include 119 turbines along several miles of ridgelines in northern ...

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New York
09 Dec 2009
Court halts wind farm action
A state Supreme Court restraining order will delay any action on a wind farm dispute in the town of Prattsburgh for at least a week. Prattsburgh Town Board members were ready Monday to respond to a lawsuit filed by Ecogen on Nov. 16. In the suit, Ecogen alleges the board, specifically councilmen Steve Kula and Chuck Shick, have prevented the developer ...

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New York
09 Dec 2009
Hammond wind law challenged in court
CITIZENS GROUP SUES: Lame-duck council criticized on SEQR HAMMOND — The anti-wind farm group Concerned Residents of Hammond has quickly challenged the legality of the wind law a lame-duck Hammond Town Council passed Monday. The decision to pass the law brought a swift response in a lawsuit filed Tuesday afternoon in the St. Lawrence County clerk’s office, Canton, by the residents group. “We fully expected this action by the present board,” said Mary D. Hamilton, the group’s president. “We were hoping the outgoing ...

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Hawaii
09 Dec 2009
First Wind offers plan for second Maui site
Newton, Mass.-based First Wind is planning a second wind farm on the slopes of Kaheawa in the West Maui Mountains. First Wind has submitted an environmental impact statement to the state for approval of a 21-megawatt wind farm on about 135 acres next to its existing one at Kaheawa Pastures above Maalaea. The first project, built in the summer of 2006, is a 30-megawatt project using 20 General Electric turbines (generating 1.5 megawatts each). Together, Kaheawa I and II would generate 51 ...

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England
09 Dec 2009
Norfolk substation fight gets under way
Homeowners in mid-Norfolk are gearing up to fight plans by a green energy company to build a huge electricity substation on the edge of their village. Residents in Little Dunham, near Swaffham, agreed to form an action group to create detailed objections to a proposal by Warwick Energy to build a sub-station on 42 acres of land little more than 100m ...

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Mexico, Netherlands
10 Dec 2009
Van wie is de wind? {Who owns the wind? ¿Quién posee el viento?}
{Click here for computer translation to English, here for Spanish.} Ik heb altijd gedacht dat Nederland het land was met de meeste wind van de wereld. Ik heb me vergist, en dat komt misschien omdat ik een trouwe volger van Erwin Kroll ben en hem zo vaak enthousiast de stormen in Nederland heb horen aankondigen. In zijn boek: “Het weer is onafwendbaar” schrijft Erwin dat in Nederland de wolken altijd met de wind mee drijven. Maar in Juchitán drijven niet alleen ...

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Ontario
11 Dec 2009
Possibility of wind turbines still making wind at council
MANVERS TWP. – The topic of wind turbines was still creating wind at the regular meeting of city council on Tuesday. Council passed a motion put forward by Ward 16 Coun. Dave Marsh to forward a letter written by Pontypool resident Heather Stauble to the Trillium Lakelands District School Board. It suggests that the school board should request an independent study regarding possible health effects where windmill projects are fully operational before the issuance of permits, completion or continuation of any new ...

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Letters, Massachusetts
11 Dec 2009
Consider funding of polls to unearth hidden bias
My wife and I own a house in West Yarmouth and I’ve been vacationing at the Cape since the 1950s. Thus, I follow this wind farm issue fairly closely. I also happen to be an internationally known expert in survey research and public opinion. Although there may be other sources of bias in the poll featured in your front-page Dec. 3 report, I cannot tell as I do not have access to the details of the survey’s methodology. However, when I see a ...

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Scotland
11 Dec 2009
Clydesdale windfarm plans
Douglas Valley residents have been hearing about plans for the proposed Galawhistle windfarm. Details of the latest windfarm in the area were given at a series of exhibitions held last week. The events held in Coalburn, Lesmahagow, Muirkirk and Douglas, were well attended, and gave members of the public a chance to find out more about Infinis’ proposals and discuss the plans with members of Infinis’ development team. Keith Hobbs, head of estates at Infinis, commented: “We have now met with a variety ...

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England
11 Dec 2009
Park opposes wind farm
Wind farm protesters in Wingates have been given a boost after the Northumberland National Park Authority added its opposition. The organisation’s Development Control Committee has formally objected to the proposed six-turbine wind farm over concerns about the visual impact. Members viewed the site ...

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Massachusetts
12 Dec 2009
Zoning panel KOs windmill; Stop Shop considers options after proposal shot down
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co.’s vision of a large wind turbine spinning above the East Gloucester salt marshes may have become the shortest lived of Cape Ann’s yet-unrealized commercial wind power projects. Plans to build a large windmill in the grocer’s Bass Avenue shopping center were dealt a serious blow Thursday night by the Zoning Board of Appeals, which rejected a bid for zoning relief at the site, the first hurdle in local permitting. Yesterday, Stop & Shop officials said the ...

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England
12 Dec 2009
Planners rap turbine plans
Protesters trying to stop a controversial wind farm being built near Stocksbridge are set to receive the backing of a key planning board next week. Planning officers have recommended councillors refuse permission for five 125-metre wind turbines at Sheephouse Heights, overlooking the Langsett Valley. Barnsley Council received 1,350 objections ...

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England, U.K.
13 Dec 2009
Officials cover up wind farm noise report
Civil servants have suppressed warnings that wind turbines can generate noise damaging people’s health for several square miles around. The guidance ...

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Blogs, Opinions
14 Dec 2009
Le mythe éolien {The wind energy myth}
Je ne crois pas aux éoliennes. Je ne crois pas. L’expression a quelque chose de sacré. Croire ou ne pas croire, le choix vous place d’emblée aux côtés de Nicolas Hulot le gentil ou de Claude Allègre le méchant. Le combat est idéologique, quasi religieux. Le bon protecteur d’un côté, l’hérétique de l’autre. Je ne crois pas aux éoliennes. Ah !! Le fou !! Il veut donc détruire le monde, il nie le réchauffement climatique, il ne pense pas à ...

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France
14 Dec 2009
Arrêt nocturne des éoliennes. Seulement en rêve?
{Stopped wind turbines at night: Only a dream? — The Appeals Court of Rennes has ordered a nighttime stoppage of the eight wind turbines in Cast-Plomodiern. "A recognition of our suffering", residents said. But execution of the order may never see daylight.} La cour d’appel de Rennes ordonne l’arrêt nocturne immédiat des huit éoliennes de Cast-Plomodiern. «Une reconnaissance de nos souffrances», estiment les riverains. Mais la mise à exécution ne verra peut-être jamais le jour. La centaine d’adhérents que revendique l’association pour ...

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Germany, Fire
14 Dec 2009
Windkraftanlage defekt – Leuchtfeuer in 130 Meter Höhe
{Wind turbine fault — Fire at 130 meters} Ein Windkraftanlage in Uelzen ist in Falmmen aufgegangen. Die Feuerwehr sperrte den Brandort weiträumig ab und ließ das Feuer ausbrennen. Uelzen. Ungewöhnliches Leuchtfeuer: Nach einem Defekt im Generator ist eine 130 Meter hohe Windkraftanlage im Kreis Uelzen in Flammen aufgegangen. Die Anlage zur Erzeugung regenerativer Energie brannte weithin sichtbar wie eine riesige Fackel. Eine Mischung aus Öl, Schmierstoffen und Plastik, die zudem brennend an der Stahlkonstruktion herunterfloss, gab dem Feuer immer wieder Nahrung. Nach ...

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England, Letters
15 Dec 2009
Isle of Wight Council Planning Committee throws out wind application
Last night {3 December} the UK’s Isle of Wight Council Planning Committee discussed, at a public meeting, the fate of the planning application ...

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China, Video
14 Dec 2009
Are Rare Earth Minerals Too Costly for Environment?
Lindsey Hilsum of Independent Television News examines how mining rare earth minerals — considered to be an obscure yet profitable industry, is causing a major environmental dilemma in China. {Originally broadcast on World Focus, Dec. 9.} “Green campaigners love wind turbines, but the permanent magnets {in} a 3-megawatt turbine contain some two tons of rare earth.” LINDSEY HILSUM: It doesn’t look very green. Rare earth processing in China is a messy, dangerous, polluting business. It uses toxic chemicals, acids, sulfates, ammonia. The workers ...

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Wales
16 Dec 2009
Fears quarter of Wales’ largest woodland will be felled for wind farm
A quarter of Wales’ largest woodland will have to be felled to make way for a wind farm with turbines standing almost as high as Blackpool Tower, it emerged last night. Protesters believe plans for Clocaenog Forest, in North East Wales, would see a vast swath of the woodland cleared to make way for up to 48 gigantic 145m or 475-ft-high turbines. By comparison Blackpool Tower, at 158m or 518ft, stands only marginally higher than the proposed turbines. RWE Npower Renewables, the company ...

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Opinions, U.K.
16 Dec 2009
Governed by the ill wind of deception
There are, it seems, two categories of lying in public life. There is the personal, self-serving lie, designed to advance a career, cover up a scandal, to make some extra cash ...

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Wisconsin
17 Dec 2009
Grassroots effort shares experiences with wind farms
As Governor Jim Doyle continues his push to achieve what he calls energy independence, a big part of that could come ...

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Ontario
19 Dec 2009
Paradise lost for many rural dwellers
Wendy Deavitt remembers the day in 2001 when she spotted her dream home in the country. At the end of a tree-dotted gravel driveway stood the farmhouse and adjacent horse barn that turned her fantasy about rural living into a reality. “This is heaven,” she recalls thinking. But at the end of September, Ms. Deavitt fled the property, her five horses and one donkey in tow. The erstwhile small corner of heaven in Eastern Ontario, an eight-acre hobby farm, turned into ...

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Denmark, Opinions, U.S.
19 Dec 2009
Denmark is “energy smart”? Think again.
Promoters of “green” energy love Denmark. On Earth Day, President Barack Obama pointed out that the northern European country now “produces almost 20 percent” of its electricity with wind turbines. Last year, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman visited Copenhagen, where he marveled at the Danes, declaring, “Oh, if only we could be as energy smart as Denmark!” Given that world leaders are now meeting in Copenhagen to discuss drastic cuts in global carbon dioxide emissions, it’s worth separating the hype ...

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England, U.K.
19 Dec 2009
Wind turbine noise danger ‘hushed up’
Civil servants have suppressed warnings that wind turbines produce noise which can damage people’s health, it has been claimed. The alleged revelation could help Cumbrians protesting about the march of windfarms across the county’s landscape. The Times newspaper claims a report by the Hayes McKenzie Partnership (HMP) in 2006 found that the sound level permitted ...

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Mexico, Netherlands, Video
21 Dec 2009
Groene energie niet altijd schoon {Green energy is not always clean}
{Spanish video with Dutch, English, or French subtitles} In Juchitán, in het zuiden van Mexico waait het altijd. En erg hard. De windmolenparken schieten er als paddestoelen uit de grond. Tot groot ongenoegen van de locale Zapoteekse boeren. {In Juchitán, in southern Mexico, the wind always blows. Very hard. Wind farms are springing up like mushrooms. To the great displeasure of the local Zapotec farmers. In Spanish with Dutch subtitles: In Spanish with English subtitles ("Wind industry takes over Zapotecan lands" — Wind power ...

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Minnesota
22 Dec 2009
State regulators reject New Ulm wind energy project
Worthington, Minn. — For the first time, the Minnesota Public Utilities has denied a draft site permit for a wind energy project. The PUC voted unanimously to block the city of New Ulm’s planned wind farm in Nicollet County. The city had planned to put up five wind turbines to help meet the city’s electricity needs. Farmers opposed the project, saying the land should be used for agriculture, not wind turbines. PUC staffer Tricia DeBleeckere says the no vote was a first ...

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New Mexico
22 Dec 2009
County denies wind farm plan on appeal
A year after it was granted preliminary approval, a proposed wind farm near Tres Piedras met with denial by the Taos County Commission. The commission heard an appeal Dec. 8 of the preliminary approval for the energy-generating wind farm; the Planning Commission approved the plan, along with height and landscaping variances, Dec. 9, 2008. The plan called for 40, 400- foot-tall wind-generating turbines on nearly 2,000 acres 25 miles northwest of Taos. About a month after a January filing of the commission’s ...

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New York
22 Dec 2009
Opponents challenge wind farm plans
GALLOO ISLAND: Environmental studies, turbine placement under fire at Hounsfield Planning Board hearing SACKETS HARBOR — Opponents of the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm challenged the schedule, environmental studies and placement of the on-island facilities Monday morning during a public hearing on the site plan. The hearing, held by the Hounsfield Planning Board, attracted about 50 people. Upstate NY Power Corp. is seeking site plan approval for the 252-megawatt, 84-turbine project. Thirteen people spoke on the $500 million plan for infrastructure ...

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Minnesota
22 Dec 2009
Wind site permit denied
ST. PAUL – By a 5-0 vote Monday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) denied the New Ulm Public Utilities Commission (NUPUC) application for a large wind energy conversion system site permit variance in Nicollet County. The project included five 1.65 megawatt V82 Vestas wind turbine generators, a electrical collection system, substation, permanent meteorological tower, plus an operations and maintenance building about five miles northwest of New Ulm in Sections 17-20 of Lafayette Township. To date, NUPUC has lease and easement agreements ...

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Minnesota
22 Dec 2009
Proposed wind turbine for Gustavus Adolphus College also hits a setback
A proposed wind turbine for Gustavus Adolphus College also hits a setback tonight. The Nicollet County Board of Adjustment and Appeals voted tonight to deny the college’s request for a variance to build a wind turbine on property west of St. Peter. They’d asked the county to reduce the half-mile setback ...

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New York
23 Dec 2009
Lewis County tells Maple Ridge to pay up
Lewis County lawmakers are telling the people who run the wind farm to pay up. The county and the Maple Ridge Wind Farm had an agreement. The wind farm was supposed to pay the county about $9 million in December. Maple Ridge recently lost some state tax credits and incentives and now it’s unclear how much the wind farm will pay. WWNY TV 7 www.wwnytv.com 22 December 2009  ...

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Massachusetts
23 Dec 2009
No decision on wind turbines in Dartmouth
DARTMOUTH — The Select Board delayed a decision on two, 328-foot wind turbines proposed for construction at the wastewater treatment plant off Chase Road until at least Jan. 4, after meeting Monday night for four hours. The board, acting as the town’s Special Permit Granting Authority for wind turbines, decided to resume discussion when it meets at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 4 in Town Hall. The Select Board adjourned Monday night’s public hearing at about 10:50 p.m. Only Select Board member William J. ...

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Ontario
23 Dec 2009
Municipalities work on wind farms together
West Grey is joining neighbouring municipalities in a bid to come up with a common approach to proposed industrial wind energy development. Mayor Kevin Eccles, along with some West Grey councillors, met last week in Chesley with representatives ...

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Letters, Massachusetts
27 Dec 2009
Dangers of Wind Siting Reform Act
Few people can argue with the need to develop alternative and renewable forms of energy. However, the Eagle is wrong in favoring passage of the Wind Siting Reform Act. There are simply too many instances of towns regretting decisions to fast-track plans to be in the forefront of the green energy movement, and this act would further hasten giving the OK for such projects without townspeople knowing all the facts. Well-meaning members of town energy committees have been shown to be ...

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New York
27 Dec 2009
Turbine impact studies conflict; Local opponents say wind farms harmful
Opponents of wind farm development in Jefferson County have touted property value decline as a possible harm. But that argument, or any counterclaim, is getting little support ...

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New York
28 Dec 2009
Enel hires consultant to help probe Fenner turbine collapse
Fenner, NY — Enel North America has hired a forensic engineer to look into why a 187-ton turbine at the company’s Fenner Wind Farm fell over early Sunday. The engineer is expected to be joined by a team being put together by General Electric Co., the turbine’s manufacturer, to look into the cause of the collapse, Enel spokesman Hank Sennott said. A security firm also is expected to be hired to take over from company officials who have been taking turns keeping ...

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New York
28 Dec 2009
Turbine collapse draws concern from other proposed project areas
FENNER, N. Y. — Local residents are wondering if one wind turbine could collapse in Madison County, then it is very possible for a turbine to fall anywhere. Fairfield resident Jim Salamone thinks why couldn’t it happen in his back yard. Salamone, who is opposed to the proposed wind turbine projects in Fairfield says he was not surprised when he woke up to find out a wind turbine had collapsed in Fenner. He says the meteorological tower that used to be right across ...

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New York, Opinions
28 Dec 2009
Rethinking wind tower safety
Another wind tower has collapsed, this one in the Madison County Wind Farm in the town of Fenner. The nine-year-old tower collapsed Saturday night, apparently when power was lost to the tower. This is the second such collapse in upstate New York this year; in March, a tower collapsed in Altona, Franklin County, when it, too, lost power. Clearly, this issue is one that needs further study and one that should be giving pause to towns in the north country ...

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Australia
28 Dec 2009
Raised fire danger: crop system, wind farms ‘hinder’ access for CFA crews
Volunteer firefighters are at greater risk with raised-bed crops taking over the south-west, local farmers have warned. And the problem will be exacerbated if massive wind turbines are approved across the district, hindering aerial attacks on blazes. “We live in a very fire-prone region,” Berrybank farmer Cathy Keating said. “We witnessed the 1977 fires so we’ve got some understanding of the rolling sea of fire that comes towards you and the haste that it comes.” Mrs Keating’s husband Graeme is a second-generation farmer whose ...

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Press releases, U.S.
28 Dec 2009
Extended outage at Seabrook plant and poor wind resource will affect FPL Group’s 2009 adjusted earnings
JUNO BEACH, Fla. – FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE: FPL) said today that an extended outage at the company’s Seabrook Station nuclear power plant and a continuing poor wind resource are exerting downward pressure on the company’s expected 2009 adjusted earnings. In its third-quarter earnings call this year, FPL Group indicated that its revised 2009 adjusted earnings per share expectations were in a range of $4.10 to $4.20. The Seabrook Station nuclear plant underwent a planned refueling outage in October. The outage ...

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Australia
29 Dec 2009
Lash for $350m wind project
The opposition has accused the Government of being foolhardy in pressing ahead with a $350 million wind farm. Liberal energy spokesman Peter Gutwein also queried yesterday why $30 million had already been spent since April to begin construction work on the wind farm at Musselroe in Tasmania’s North-East. The State Government said on Sunday the massive project had been quietly given the green light to go ahead despite the business case for final project approval being unlikely to be finalised for several ...

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Ireland
29 Dec 2009
Council approves wind farm for Donegal
Donegal County Council has approved a major new multimillion-euro wind farm near the village of Inver. Saporio Limited, with a Dublin address, received the go-ahead to erect four 2.3 megawatt turbines at Clogheravaddy. The turbines will be among the most powerful in Ireland, with a maximum hub height of 64m and a rotor blade diameter of 71m. Significantly, the turbines will be in addition to another proposed four turbines for which planning permission has already been granted. Permission is valid for 10 years ...

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New York
29 Dec 2009
Safety oversight lacking at turbine collapse site
FENNER — As officials continue to investigate what could have caused a 200-foot-tall wind turbine to collapse in Madison County, it was not at all clear Monday what agency, if any, is responsible for overseeing turbine safety issues at Fenner Wind Farm in this town northeast of Cazenovia. State officials said the farm does not produce 80 megawatts of energy annually, and therefore, is not large enough to fall under their jurisdiction. Madison County officials also don’t believe they’re responsible for ...

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Maine
29 Dec 2009
Jackson selectmen to address moratorium on wind power
JACKSON, Maine — The town’s Board of Selectmen will meet tonight to consider extending a moratorium on wind energy projects for another six months. Town Clerk Brenda Dennison said the board believes it needs additional time as it weighs a proposed ordinance regulating wind energy projects as well as two petitions dealing with the process. The moratorium was put in place last January and was extended for 180 days in June. It is scheduled to expire next month. The moratorium’s intent was ...

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California
29 Dec 2009
Turbines are careful fit in desert; Projects to generate energy collide with delicate landscape and endangered species
Some of the biggest windmills in the nation could begin popping up on the Mojave Desert landscape late next year. One plan would put more than 30 turbines — each with blades that would reach 429 feet in the air — on a ridge southeast of Barstow. The wind farm would generate enough power for 50,000 homes or more. The titanic turbines are the preferred choice among energy companies that have filed 63 applications to develop wind farms on public land ...

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Illinois
29 Dec 2009
Gerdes: ‘People are just devastated’
Some Walnut area residents are eagerly anticipating the creation of the Walnut Ridge and Green River wind farms. Last week, the Bureau Valley School Board approved a resolution in support of the Green River Wind Farm project, which calls for the construction of 190 wind turbines spread over 50,000 acres. But there are others who are not … “I guarantee you two things,” said Walnut landowner Larry Gerdes. “Within three to four years, these turbines will become technologically obsolete; they will be ...

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Editorials, Ontario
29 Dec 2009
Time for turbine investigation
To fully satisfy the public, the province should commission an independent study to find out if there are any health effects related to wind turbines. Recently, an industry-funded review concluded that the sound coming from wind turbines is not harming the public’s health. Dr. David Colby, the acting medical officer of health for Chatham-Kent, was one of seven members of a “five-star, internationally known” panel that reviewed “substantial” existing scientific literature on wind turbine sound and possible health effects for ...

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Indiana
29 Dec 2009
Legislature to tackle wind energy bill
INDIANAPOLIS — Legislation that could bring more wind turbines and solar power projects to Indiana has a good chance of passing in the upcoming legislative session after failing in the last session’s closing hours, two state lawmakers say. While the General Assembly seems unlikely to require Indiana utilities to generate a specific amount of electricity from renewable energy sources, it may expand the state’s so-called net-metering policy. That rule allows some customers of investor-owned utilities to send excess electricity produced by wind ...

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Massachusetts
29 Dec 2009
Ashburnham explores wind-power options
ASHBURNHAM — Town officials met recently with a consulting group and have scheduled a meeting with another developer to advance a proposal for wind and renewable energy in Ashburnham. Selectmen Chairman Ed Vitone, Stanley Herriott, manager of the Ashburnham Municipal Light Plant, and Town Administrator Douglas Briggs met with a representative of New England Expansion Strategies earlier this month to discuss the possible development of a wind turbine in town. “It’s purely exploratory,” said Vitone. “Stan (Herriott) knows of another developer that ...

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England
29 Dec 2009
New claims over wind farm noise
Campaigners against the recently approved Den Brook wind farm have discovered some “rather worrying revelations” that might have affected the outcome of the public inquiry. Mike Hulme, of the Den Brook Judicial Review Group (DBJRG), which opposed the wind farm, said the revelations had come to light since the inquiry closed and resulted from a Freedom of Information request he lodged more than two years ago. Recently released documents show that the Government department concerned with renewable energy development suppressed recommendations from ...

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England
29 Dec 2009
Wildlife blow to wind farm plans
Campaigners battling plans for a wind farm at Aston by Stone are celebrating after being given “extra ammunition” for their fight by conservationists. Land at Aston Hall Farm, adjacent to a site earmarked for three turbines by Severn Trent Water, has been classified as a Site of Biological Importance (SBI) following surveys carried out by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. The designation means the site is now officially recognised as one of the most important semi-natural habitats in the county – which could offer ...

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Wales
29 Dec 2009
Plans for more wind turbines for the North Wales coast
New plans to develop a much larger wind farm off the North Wales coast are likely to come a step closer next month. The Crown Estate is expected to reveal details in early January of the winning consortiums bidding for use of the seabed for renewable energy projects. The Round Three projects cover nine sites – one of them in the Irish Sea roughly between Anglesey and the Isle of Man – which together would have the potential to generate 25,000 megawatts ...

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Letters, Washington
29 Dec 2009
Blowin’ in the wind
The windmills sprouting everywhere are a mystery. On a per-megawatt basis, it seems that the installation cost of wind generation is about two to three times the cost of nuclear power, and operation seems to require five to seven times as many people. The wind machines last about 30 years. Nuclear plants are initially licensed for 40 years and then extended for 20 years, for a total lifetime of 60 years. Not only that, but the wind capacity factor is a ...

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Massachusetts
29 Dec 2009
City told: Think bigger
WORCESTER — A local environmental advocate is calling on the City Council to think even bigger when it comes to zoning and wind turbines. Richard Kerver, chief information officer of the Worcester Energy Alliance, has filed a petition with the council asking it to help speed the use of renewable energy by increasing a proposed height restriction for wind turbines. While a zoning amendment now before the council allows wind turbines to be up to 265 feet tall, Mr. Kerver contends ...

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Letters, Wyoming
29 Dec 2009
Wind power isn’t the answer
Re: “Wind farms waste tax dollars,” Letters/Dec. 24. While Sam Fleetwood had an excellent response to Jack’ Walts wind letter, there are a few additional points to consider. First, if wind power is the answer, then the question must be “How can we do the most environmental damage, with the least results and for the most cost”? Mr. Walts says he drives by the industrial wind electrical generation site (they are not farms and bear no resemblance to agriculture — “farm” is a ...

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Letters, New York
29 Dec 2009
Legislators, reject Galloo Wind PILOT
The Jefferson County Board of Legislators should not approve the Galloo Island Wind Farm PILOT. This project is just the first step of a large scheme to develop offshore wind farms in lakes Ontario and Erie. Commissioner Richard Kessel of the New York Power Authority announced that the authority will be taking bids for offshore wind turbine farms this spring. The state’s Environmental Quality Review Law requires that there be a review of the combined projects, but so far this ...

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New York
29 Dec 2009
Wind project reviewed during workshop
Middleville, N. Y. — A workshop was held Monday night to address issues pertaining to the proposed Hardscrabble Wind Project so that draft documents may be drawn up for review. Bernard Melewski, the attorney representing the towns of Fairfield and Norway, said the results of the session will give him direction as he prepares a PowerPoint presentation to be presented during a second workshop scheduled for Monday, Jan. 4, 2010, at 6 p.m. at the E. W. Corey Hose Co. Among the topics discussed ...

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New York
29 Dec 2009
Investigation of windmill collapse in Fenner could take until mid-January
It could take several weeks for engineers to figure out what caused a 187-ton turbine to collapse at the Fenner Wind Farm on Sunday. Enel North America spokesman Hank Sennott said structural engineers and a crew from the turbine’s manufacturer, General Electric Co., will put together reports on the incident by mid-January at the earliest. Turbine 18 fell between 3 and 4 a.m. Sunday, according to neighbors. The tower is one of 20 that dot the ridges of the rural community just ...

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England, Letters
30 Dec 2009
Turbine is today’s totem
In America Native Indian tribes of the north-west coast used the totem pole as a way of communicating stories, myths and legends. The modern wind turbine bears some resemblance to these artefacts. Stuck in the ground as allegorical gestures, wind turbines represent an illusion whereby the world is saved from the ravages of a changing climate through the communication of a fairy story. The fable they are meant to convey is that by generating energy from the wind this will prevent toxic ...

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England
30 Dec 2009
Campaigners in legal move to block wind farm in Leicestershire
Anti-wind farm campaigners are turning to the law to stop an 11-turbine scheme being built near their homes. Earlier this month, Communities Secretary John Denham gave the go-ahead for the green energy scheme at Swinford, near Lutterworth. It could pave the way for nine other projects in the area which could see a total of 57 masts erected. Following a public inquiry into the Swinford plans, Mr Denham ruled the need for renewable energy outweighed the impacts of masts on the countryside and ...

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Scotland
30 Dec 2009
Move to block windfarm plans
Aviation safety body lodges objection to north-east councillor’s scheme for three turbines Air traffic bosses have moved to block a north-east councillor’s plans to build a windfarm near his home. Albert Howie, who re- presents Central Buchan on Aberdeenshire Council, is seeking full planning permission to build three 275ft turbines at West Knock farm, near Stuartfield. Earlier this year, the National Air Traffic Service (Nats) lodged an initial objection to the scheme based on the “limited information” it had received. It said it ...

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Editorials, New York
30 Dec 2009
Fallen turbine: More information needed on collapses
New Yorkers need to understand why a 300-foot tall wind turbine weighing 187 tons collapsed in a Madison County cornfield. The collapse is not an isolated incident. However just because such a failure is uncommon provides no excuse not to aggressively pursue the reasons why. All across the state communities are facing pressure to site wind turbines. As these local governments proceed they must know why the turbine fell. The turbine near Fenner in northern Madison County came crashing to the ground ...

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Letters, U.K.
30 Dec 2009
Danger from icy turbines
The Severn Bridge has been closed for the second time this year, due to the risk posed by huge, dangerous chunks of ice falling from the towers and cables. The previous incident was last February. However, do people realise the icing of wind turbine blades is even more dangerous? There are only two Severn bridges, but there are thousands of gigantic wind turbines across Britain. In very still, frosty weather, wind turbines are motionless and do not generate any electricity when it ...

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Wyoming
30 Dec 2009
Wind farms take center stage
CHEYENNE — Wind energy development in Wyoming garnered unprecedented attention this year as the state wrestled with regulation, taxation and environmental protection issues. Developers brought online about 400 megawatts of wind-generated energy in Wyoming in 2009, pushing the state’s wind industry past the 1,000-megawatt capacity mark for the first time. Karyn Coppinger of the Wyoming Power Producers Coalition, a trade group, said 2009 was a pivotal year for the industry because of the state’s attention to wind policy questions. During the 2009 session, ...

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Illinois
30 Dec 2009
Illinois Commerce Commission OKs plan to buy power from wind farms amid some price concerns
The Illinois Commerce Commission has approved a plan that would allow the agency that buys electricity on behalf of utility customers to seek proposals for long-term wind-power contracts. The commission on Monday voted 3-1 to allow the Illinois Power Agency to negotiate the long-term deals with renewable power developers for up to 3.5 percent of the utilities’ electricity needs. But the commission also wants the Illinois Power Agency to meet with interested parties to discuss concerns that renewable energy contracts could drive ...

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England
30 Dec 2009
Firm bids to raise height of turbines
An energy firm is looking to increase the height of the turbines at a new wind farm due to be built near Morwenstow next year. The planning inspector rejected local opposition and granted West Coast Energy, on appeal, permission to build three turbines at Crimp. A previous bid to increase the height of the wind turbines failed earlier this year and the company has now submitted a new planning application for a three metre increase in the turbines which would take them ...

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Massachusetts
30 Dec 2009
Deal between utility, Cape Wind moves ahead
The state Department of Public Utilities yesterday approved a plan by National Grid to negotiate to buy power from the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm. The state agency must still sign off on any deal reached by Cape Wind Associates LLC and the utility, which provides electricity to customers on Nantucket, other parts of New England, and in New York. Earlier this month, Gov. Deval Patrick, a strong proponent of the wind farm Cape Wind wants to build in the sound, announced ...

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New Zealand
30 Dec 2009
Another threat to electricity network
Power companies’ intentions to build new power stations have collapsed over the past year, with potential for electricity shortages re-emerging from 2013 onwards unless more new projects are committed in the next 12 months, says the Electricity Commission. In the meantime, a variety of factors are significantly raising the risks to electricity system security for the winters of 2010, 2011 and 2012, although the commission does not believe the risk is enough to procure emergency reserve energy over the next three ...

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Michigan
30 Dec 2009
One more chance to review wind ordinance
LIVINGSTON TWP. — Townships will have one more opportunity to review and comment on proposed revisions to the current wind turbine ordinance (WTG) before the final version is sent to the Otsego County Board of Commissioners for adoption. After reviewing citizen comments generated from an October public hearing and incorporating them into the proposed changes to the ordinance, Otsego County Planning Commission chairman Randy Stults said the board decided at its Dec. 21 meeting to send the revisions back to the ...

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Oregon
30 Dec 2009
Recent study adds to wind turbine debate
A group of researchers found “no evidence” that wind turbines’ sounds have any adverse physiological effects on people who live close by, according to a recent study – but that goes against some local residents and strong testimony suggesting otherwise. The study was commissioned by the American and Canadian Wind Energy Associations, both outspoken proponents of wind energy. The two organizations also hand-picked the panel of researchers who released their findings earlier this month. Among the report’s findings: The sounds emitted by ...

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New Brunswick
30 Dec 2009
Power pact foes fear for project’s future
BATHURST – Energy Minister Jack Keir says the wind farm near Bathurst that was completed this month is the first of many such projects in the province’s north, but observers argue the proposed takeover of NB Power by Hydro-Québec will limit the prospects of similar ventures in future. Caribou Wind Park, located 70 kilometres northwest of Bathurst, is joining the grid with a generating capacity of 99 megawatts – enough electricity to power some 19,000 homes. GDF SUEZ Energy North America invested ...

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Letters, Massachusetts
30 Dec 2009
Wind farm would be socially inhumane,
As a colonial-rooted Cape Cod native who firmly believes in the sanctity of our maritime heritage, I am writing to ardently express my steadfast support for the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. Based on sensible logic, data and reasoning, I am also conversely opposed to the controversial Cape Wind project, which seeks to despoil and rob us of the pristine nautical legacy bestowed by our forefathers. Because of the likely profound damaging regional, financial, ecological and public safety consequences Cape Wind ...

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Australia
28 Dec 2009
Doubts don’t stop wind farm
Tasmania’s $350 million Musselroe wind farm is finally under construction, after more than four years of delays. An advertisement in the Mercury on Boxing Day by Tasmanian renewable energy company Roaring 40s advises that the Musselroe wind farm on Tasmania’s far northeast tip has “substantially commenced”. It warns summer visitors to the North-East that some access tracks have been closed near Lemons Beach and the Cape Portland Wildlife Sanctuary. So far, new roads into the vast Cape Portland farm estate have been constructed, ...

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