Wind Power News: October 2012
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.
No Tiree Array nails latest Scottish Power Renewables manoeuvre on the Argyll Array
The indomitable and expert No Tiree Array campaign – fighting against Scottish Power Renewables’ [SPR] genuinely gross proposal for a gigantic inshore-offshore windfarm three and a half times the size of the island itself – has its eyes wide open on the developer’s latest swerve. With their proposed Argyll Array – aka the Tiree Array – now faced as well by the evidence from Scottish Natural Heritage’s 2012 survey of basking shark activity migrating to Tiree, SPR is ‘considering’ reducing . . . Complete story »
Minister signals end of the wind farm: We can’t pepper turbines across the country – enough is enough, declares energy minister
The relentless march of onshore wind farms is at an end, a minister declared last night. Insisting ‘enough is enough’, John Hayes said turbines had been ‘peppered around the country’ with little or no regard for local opinion. He said existing sites and those in the pipeline would be enough to meet green commitments with no need for more. ‘Even if a minority of what’s in the system is built we are going to reach our 2020 target,’ he said. . . . Complete story »
North turbine off while Fairhaven Wind, NStar, search for problem
FAIRHAVEN – The north turbine remained offline Tuesday as Fairhaven Wind worked with NStar to locate the part of the electrical equipment that was keeping it off. Fairhaven Wind developer Sumul Shah said the turbine automatically shut down Sunday night when sensors in electrical equipment detected an inconsistent current flowing through the electric grid. Shah attributed the inconsistency to outer bands of wind from Hurricane Sandy that arrived Sunday in SouthCoast. “You don’t want turbines to be out of sync with . . . Complete story »
Another explanation?
After reading Friday’s Enterprise, “Selectmen Will Oppose Wind Turbine Bylaw,” I wonder how more convoluted this wind turbine debacle will get. Selectmen oppose the planning board’s revised bylaw because it bans the relocation option. However, if the selectmen’s Wind Turbine Options Process (WTOP) liaisons (Mary Pat Flynn and Doug Jones) would have informed the rest of the board that the WTOP group dismissed the relocation option, this board miscommunication would have been averted. To be clear: the WTOP group agreed . . . Complete story »
West Huntspill wind farm appeal logged
Developers hoping to build a wind farm in West Huntspill have appealed against a decision by councillors to refuse permission for the project. The application by Ecotricity for four turbines on land south of Poplar Farm, known as Black Ditch, was rejected by Sedgemoor District Council’s Planning Committee in April, along with a similar application in East Huntspill by EDF Energy. The Poplar Farm application was rejected because the committee felt the wind farm, with turbines up to 120m, would . . . Complete story »
Wind farms: Row after minister says UK has ‘enough’
Tory energy minister John Hayes has been slapped down by his Lib Dem boss Ed Davey after saying the UK had “enough” onshore wind farms. A source close to Mr Davey said Mr Hayes had “totally over-egged things” and did not make the final decisions. Mr Hayes told the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph the UK was “peppered” with wind farms and “enough is enough”. He suggested reviews would be launched into the noise and impact on the landscape created . . . Complete story »
Energy minister John Hayes launches attack on windfarms
The expansion of onshore windfarms may have come to an end after a Conservative energy minister launched an outspoken attack on the technology, saying turbines have “peppered” the UK’s countryside and that “enough is enough”. John Hayes said he has asked the planning minister to look again at the relationship between these turbines and the landscape and ordered a review of evidence on the cost of wind energy systems and their effects on the surrounding environment. “We can no longer . . . Complete story »
Plan will ‘desecrate’ area
Opposition against plans for a 40-metre high turbine in rural Lancashire is mounting. The Ministry of Defence and Bowland Forest Gliding Club are among those who have added their weight to oppose the proposals for a wind turbine, 39.65m high from the blade to the tip, on land at Handlesteads Farm on Collins Hill Lane, Chipping. A group of residents has also formed an action group to fight the application and a former north west tourism officer has warned the . . . Complete story »
Zoning board hears variety of viewpoints at wind farm meeting
BELVIDERE – The Belvidere City Council meeting room was packed Oct. 23 for the second public hearing on proposed revisions to Boone County wind farm regulations. Interested men and women lined the halls inside the room and a couple of them sat on the floor. The size of the crowd, well in excess of the room’s capacity of 102 people, prompted county staff to set up chairs in the adjacent hallway. Prior to the hearing before the county zoning board . . . Complete story »
Whip Joel Fitzgibbon told to fall in line on renewable energy targets
The Greens say Labor’s chief whip and former cabinet minister Joel Fitzgibbon should “back off” from his calls for the renewable energy target to be cut. In a heated defence of the RET, Greens MP Adam Bandt said Labor needed to unite and decide if it was for or against the scheme. “The right-wing factional power brokers within the Labor party are beginning a campaign against renewable energy,” Mr Bandt said. “This will be a litmus test for the Labor . . . Complete story »
