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Wind Watch: Industrial Wind Energy News
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These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Local opposition to renewable energy projects ‘widespread and growing’
Dive Brief: A report from Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law analyzed local and state opposition to renewable energy projects and found it has significantly increased in the last year, with 55 new local restrictions since last May. The Sabin Center assessed local restrictions spanning back to 1995 and found a total of 395 restrictions severe enough to block projects across 41 states. The center’s last report on the issue, published May 2023, found 340 restrictions. Severe state-level . . . Complete story »
Wind farm in scenic West Cork location is refused permission
Proposals to construct a wind farm in a scenic location in West Cork have been refused on appeal to An Bord Pleanála. The application from Ballybane Windfarms Ltd sought permission to construct a wind farm consisting of seven turbines of heights up to 150m on a site east of Ballydehob, close to the N71 national secondary route. The company initially applied to Cork County Council in March 2023 and the local authority refused permission in May 2023. The development would . . . Complete story »
Mackinaw City’s wind turbines come down
Two structures that have stood tall in Mackinaw City for more than two decades have been dismantled and sent to be recycled. During the month of May, the two, 230-foot, wind turbine generators just south of the Mackinac Bridge, were decommissioned, taken apart, and removed. Mackinaw City Manager Patrick Wyam says Crystal Flash did the work extraordinarily well. However, he says, the skyline will not be the same. “Without those landmarks in there, along with the bridge, it is a . . . Complete story »
Hermanville wind turbine demolished, 3 others being repaired
One of the turbines at the wind farm in Hermanville was demolished Tuesday in earth-rattling fashion after a wind storm late last year compromised its foundation. Another turbine at the eastern P.E.I. wind farm is being refurbished, and two more are running at half-capacity to fix common, but “long-standing systemic issues,” provincial officials said. Blair Arsenault, operations engineer for the P.E.I. Energy Corporation, said part of the repair work is called “root-facing,” a common refitting that involves flattening the blades . . . Complete story »
ABC Four Corners pushed government narrative
The ABC Four Corners program last night [“Wind Wars”] makes you want to go into Politics. We need more people in politics to speak the real narrative. The questions were obviously a setup – so the ABC could cherry-pick the narrative to demean the real story. It smelt of bias. It seems that ABC would prefer to perpetuate the cliché rhetoric rather than get to the guts of the real story. The impression they want to portray – that people . . . Complete story »
Wind turbines threaten birds and bats. Developers urged to plan for wildlife.
Terry Husted lives in DeWitt County, a major pathway for migrating birds in central Illinois. After a company submitted plans to construct a wind farm in his area, Husted said he grew worried about the potential for collisions. “The birds hunt, so they focus on the ground and what they’re looking for, and don’t really focus on where they’re going,” Husted said. “So they accidentally hit wind turbines, and it kills them.” Illinois is the fifth-largest state for wind energy, . . . Complete story »
The green movement are in “la-la land” over windfarms
Deep in coal country, a lifelong environmentalist and one-time Greens candidate is feeling the applause. It’s Thursday night at a Gladstone pub and Stephen Nowakowski has won over sceptical locals. His message is a simple one; he believes a wave of new windfarm developments threatens to smash hilltops and turn koala habitat into “industrial zones”. The green movement, he says, are in “la-la land” over windfarms, a comment that draws nods and knowing smiles from the audience. But its only . . . Complete story »
After being ‘misled’ by appearance of wind turbines, seaside residents awake to nightmare as houses begin to shake
A wind turbine project off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia, is whipping up some trouble for local homeowners. Dominion Energy is in the process of developing a 176-turbine project off the coast of the vacation community. But residents say the project is not making life any better. “It’s interfering with our lives every day—2 a.m. the other morning, I was awoken by the room shaking,” Julie Brown of Virginia Beach said, according to WTKR-TV. “It wasn’t the noise, it . . . Complete story »
Newly released data reveals record number of cetacean deaths in UK waters
Shocking: 3000 dead whales, dolphins and porpoises in just 3 years. After months of asking the UK Department for the Environment, Defra, to share the data for cetacean strandings, at last some information is emerging. I’ve been calling on Defra to share the data for some time, and now I’m pleased to see that the 2019 and 2020 reports have been published. At the time of writing this, we are still awaiting the 2021 and 2022 data, but already the . . . Complete story »
Idaho AG appeals FAA decision on Lava Ridge wind turbine project
Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced an administrative appeal with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding the Lava Ridge project, a proposed wind turbine development on Bureau of Land Management property in Idaho’s Magic Valley. The appeal requests the FAA to reconsider its determination that the project poses “no hazard” to aviation in the area. The majority of power generated at Lava Ridge would be sent to California, with hundreds of wind turbines planned for federal lands adjacent to irrigated farms . . . Complete story »
