Wind Watch: Industrial Wind Energy News
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 and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
NextEra denied project extension
NEW CASTLE – A wind energy project once slated to span three area counties finds itself this week having issues with two of those very counties. The Henry County Area Plan Commission, during its meeting Thursday night, effectively denied a year extension which had been requested by NextEra Energy Resources in regard to the West Fork Wind Project, along with denying a year extension for Apex Clean Energy concerning its Flat Rock Wind Project. Thursday night’s votes by the Henry County . . .
‘Cheated and very frustrated’ – Organisation of wind farm meeting leaves Necton residents angry
Residents say they have been left feeling frustrated and excluded after a workshop that was intended to give an update on how plans for two of Norfolk’s largest wind farm projects would impact their village. Vattenfall hosted the invite-only workshop in Necton on Wednesday, July 19, to show four potential site options for an electrical substation and on the following day they held an open meeting to show the public the information they had gathered. The meetings took place one . . .
Battle lines widen as plans progress for high-powered transmission line between Madison and Iowa
Battle lines are widening as the prospective paths narrow for a proposed high-powered transmission line through southwestern Wisconsin. Developers of the planned Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line from the Madison area to Iowa have shrunk the two corridors under consideration. Previously mile-wide swaths, the paths have been pared to 300 feet across and are being identified as “preliminary” routes, up for government analysis. American Transmission Co., of Pewaukee; ITC Midwest, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Dairyland Power Cooperative, of La Crosse, . . .
AWEA: Wind farms ‘do harm humans’
Peter L. Kelley, president of public affairs for the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) recently responded to a “Letter to the Editor” written by John Pickerill, a well-known U.S. Navy Commander and Montgomery County, Ind., resident. This letter is in response to Kelley misguiding the people of our county and state. Kelley states: “Wind farms are perfectly safe.” Kelley also states hundreds of thousands of people live near wind farms around the world without experiencing health issues. Kelley is leaving . . .
League of Women Voters hosts debate on benefits, detriments of wind power in Chautauqua County
In light of the controversy surrounding the growing number of wind power projects in Chautauqua County, the League of Women Voters hosted a debate on the topic at the Jamestown Community College North County Center in Dunkirk. Dr. Mark Twichell, of the group Preservation of Agricultural Land Serenity (PALS), urged caution and called for further investigation regarding the use of wind power, while David Alecea, regional organizer for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, spoke glowingly of the benefits of . . .
New power lines might bring renewable energy: Landowners, towns already wary of property impacts
CHESHIRE – Nate Plaza just sold one of his home lots on 170 acres of long-owned family land in Lanesborough, where one high-voltage transmission line already cuts through some of this property. But Plaza fears a proposed, second 23-mile transmission line – built next to the existing line, and which will run from upstate New York through five Berkshire County towns – might mess with his plans to sell at least six more lots that have already been carved out. “They’ll have the . . .
Rep. Andy Harris erects new obstacle in path of Md. wind-farm projects
At least one of two offshore wind projects approved by Maryland utility regulators in May could be in jeopardy after an amendment sponsored by Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) that seeks to push the turbines farther from the coast was approved by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee in the past week. The amendment would block the use of federal funds to conduct reviews of site assessments or construction plans for any turbines closer than 24 nautical miles from the shoreline – funding . . .
Developer succeeds in reversing planning refusal for wind farm
An England-based wind energy developer has successfully overturned a decision to refuse planning permission for three new turbines near Killeter. It comes just two months after Doreen Walker, a Jamaican national based in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, successfully overturned a bid to erect five turbines in the Scraghey area near the Donegal border. The wind energy entrepreneur had spent more than a decade seeking planning permission for the Altgolan Wind Farm before it was eventually secured at the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) . . .
State to rebuild 78 miles of power lines from Massena to Croghan
MASSENA – The state will rebuild 78 miles of power lines running from the Moses-Saunders Power Dam in Massena to a substation in Croghan in order to send electricity downstate, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. The Smart Path project, when completed, will run north to south through St. Lawrence and Lewis counties carrying hydropower from Massena and power from newly constructed wind farms, solar power projects and other large-scale renewable energy sources, from upstate to high-energy demand areas downstate, Cuomo’s . . .
Wind energy produces ‘net zero power’
Congratulations on Lincoln County’s new setback rules, and Dave Brouwer rightly examines the new parameters. While this is not a ban, it sends a message of caution to developers. However, this setback is in our view, very, very modest and might be reconsidered. To be honest, the setback Lincoln County proposes and endorses, is modest. Ontario, Canada, has a setback of just a little less, 550 meters and Lincoln County’s comparable is a mere approximately 300 meters more. Ontario, as . . .
