| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Wind Power News: September 2014
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.
Hassan, Havenstein paint different pictures of N.H.’s energy future
Gov. Maggie Hassan and her Republican challenger, Walt Havenstein, each painted a very different picture of New Hampshire’s energy future at a summit on the topic in Concord yesterday. Havenstein focused on the importance of rolling back government energy regulations. Hassan emphasized energy diversification and the state’s role in setting efficiency targets. “Conservation and energy efficiency are the cleanest and cheapest fuel,” Hassan said at an annual New Hampshire Energy Summit, hosted by consulting firm The Dupont Group. “The cheapest . . . Complete story »
No shortage of challenges for new president of Board of Public Utilities
With a new president taking the helm tomorrow at the state Board of Public Utilities, the agency that regulates gas, electric, water, and other monopolies faces many challenges on how it reacts to rapid changes in those sectors. Probably most pressing is how the BPU juggles the need to upgrade an aging infrastructure, which proved vulnerable in storms like Hurricane Sandy, without spiking bills to residents and businesses. There also are questions about how much the state will contribute to . . . Complete story »
Villagers fighting wind turbine plan
Furious villagers are fighting plans to install a wind turbine in Bagworth over safety concerns. Angry residents say that plans for a turbine in the village are not safe because the site, which is based on former mining land, is prone to caving in. Villagers have set up a protest group, called Villagers Against the Turbine, to fight the plans, which would see a 100m high turbine installed just off Barlestone Road. However, residents say that there is “real concern” . . . Complete story »
Outlander writer attacks ‘tragedy’ of Rannoch wind farm proposals
The writer behind the popular Outlander books and television series has branded plans to build a wind farm near a loch as a “tragedy” and a “disaster”. Author Diana Gabaldon’s comments came as she joined objectors to building the turbines in the wilderness near Loch Rannoch, where scenes from the hit show were filmed. Talladh-a-Bheithe Wind Farm Ltd, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Eventus BV, wants to build 24 turbines, each 410ft high, on designated wild land in Perthshire between Loch . . . Complete story »
Outlander author’s plea to protect Scottish landscape from wind farms
The creator of TV show Outlander has joined the fight to stop a controversial wind farm. The £50million fantasy epic is based on US writer Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling time travel novels, set during the Jacobite rising. Some scenes for the TV adaptation were filmed on Rannoch Moor in Perthshire, where the wind farm is proposed on the Talladh-a-Bheithe Estate. Mountaineers and conservationists say the 410ft tall turbines between Loch Rannoch and Loch Ericht will spoil a place special to many . . . Complete story »
Windfarm plan rebuffed over eagle impacts
Prospects may have dimmed for a major new wind farm 60 miles east of San Diego after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected a permit to address fatal collisions between golden eagles and spinning turbines. Seizing on the spurned permit application, the San Diego County-based environmental group Protect Our Communities has accused the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its parent agency, the Interior Department, of violating federal bird protection laws in authorizing construction of the Tule Wind power plant, . . . Complete story »
Farmer rejects wind turbines – and $30,000 carrot
Marilyn Garry has rejected wind farm proponent Epuron’s offer of $30,000 a year for hosting three turbines and other infrastructure on her family’s grazing property near Binalong. Wind farm hosts generally welcome an opportunity to host turbines because the cash flow counters drought and volatility in agriculture. Epuron proposes a $700 million wind farm with more than 130 turbines on the peaks of Coppabella hills and Marilba hills. The two ranges sit on either side of Mrs Garry’s property “Mylora”. . . . Complete story »
Size of proposed Highland windfarm is halved following objections
The number of turbines planned for a Highland windfarm has been almost halved after locals objected to the scheme during public consultation. Renewable energy company RES initially wanted to build 25 of the 443ft machines on Culachy Estate, between Invergarry and Fort Augustus, above the A82 Inverness to Fort William road. It today revealed that its latest plans include increasing the height of the remaining turbines, but it has not said by how much. One of the main concerns raised . . . Complete story »
Ranchers band together to preserve foothills land
It’s being hailed as the largest swath of Alberta land to be preserved and the second-largest in Canada. The Waldron Grazing Co-Op has agreed to a conservation easement of more than 12,000 hectares of land south of Calgary. Bob DeMulder is regional vice president of the Nature Conservancy of Canada and says the land is located 40 kilometres south of Longview at the top of the pass on Highway 22 and extends towards the Oldman River. He says there’s always . . . Complete story »
Turbine application refused
An application to site a 76 metre high wind turbine at Corhulloch Farm near Mochrum has been refused. The planning committee of Dumfries and Galloway Council binned the application by renewable energy firm RES at their meeting in Dumfries last Wednesday. A total of 76 parties submitted objections to the proposal. In a report, council officers recommended that the elected members on eh committee refuse the application on the grounds that a wind turbine at that location would have a . . . Complete story »
