Wind Power News: October 2018
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.
Falmouth looking at $5.7M profit if wind turbine relocated
FALMOUTH – Relocating a wind turbine could earn Falmouth a $5 million profit. Stephen Wiehe, an associate from the engineering firm hired to seek a new location for Wind II, Weston & Sampson, said the Town of Falmouth would profit $5.7 million dollars over the next 20 years if the town moves one of the two turbines it owns to another spot on the wastewater treatment plant property. The move would make the turbine operational once again. The town would . . . Complete story »
Industrial wind turbines do kill birds
Apex Clean Energy is distributing a postcard in New York posing the question: “Do Wind Turbines Really Kill Birds?” Unfortunately, there is no doubt: They do. American Bird Conservancy has major concerns about Apex’s plan to build thirty 585-foot tall wind turbines, with blades measuring 180 feet long, on Galloo Island in Lake Ontario. The island is a breeding area for Bald and Golden Eagles and other raptors, including Osprey, and is along a major bird migration route. The postcard . . . Complete story »
Boulevard Planning Group to vote on wind turbine health study and sexual predator placement Nov. 1
The Boulevard Planning Group will meet Thursday, November 1st at 7 p.m. in the Backcountry Resource Center (39919 Ribbon Rd., Boulevard behind the old fire station). Action items include Chair Donna Tisdale’s request to respond to a letter from County Planning Department Director Mark Wardlaw in which Wardlaw advised that the County Health and Human Services Agency is preparing a report on human health effects of wind turbines. The group will also vote on opposing placement of Alvin Quarles, a . . . Complete story »
Letter: Good reasons to vote ‘no’ on Question 6
Nevada’s goal of achieving 50% of electricity from renewables, according to recent Harvard engineering estimates, requires 16.65% of the state’s landmass (18,409 square miles) to be covered by solar/wind turbine facilities, which equals every square foot of Clark, Washoe, Douglas, Storey and Lyon Counties, plus Carson City region and all major towns in other counties combined! Pro Question 6 propaganda states, “Thirteen states, including Colorado and Oregon, have renewable energy standards stronger than Nevada’s …” Notice the omission of California, . . . Complete story »
Maine environmental commissioner stepping down
Mercer is the latest member of the governor’s controversial Wind Energy Advisory Commission to leave office just as the group begins its controversial review of the wind power industry’s impacts in Maine. Complete story »
Letter: Wind, solar farms set for Allen County
Is anyone aware that Invenergy is planning the “largest hybrid renewable energy project in the world” just outside of Lima, in Allen county? The project will feature 175 MW of wind power and 150 MW of solar. According to an article in CleanTecha, “Vahan Gevorgian, a chief engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, tells Inside Climate News, “It will create economic opportunities for wind in parts of the U.S. where wind [farms are] not present.” More utility companies are . . . Complete story »
Report maps potential environmental impacts of offshore wind energy
A four-year study of planned wind energy areas off the East Coast found that building and operating offshore wind energy arrays could affect some of the region’s most commercially valuable fish species. The report by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was written to help the federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management to evaluate development plans for eight offshore wind energy leases issued by the agency. Those areas, extending from the largest proposals to date off southern New . . . Complete story »
CAQ government mulls future of Apuiat wind-farm proposal
QUEBEC – The Coalition Avenir Québec government has asked Hydro-Québec to come up with a possible Plan B to replace the Apuiat wind farm project near Port Cartier on Quebec’s North Shore. But the partners in the project, wind power giant Boralex and the Innu Nation, are furious, saying the new government did not give them a chance to explain the plan before moving to put it on ice. They say if the government does kill it, Quebec will be missing . . . Complete story »
Can Colorado get to 100 percent renewable energy? It’s complicated, utilities say
With one of Colorado’s gubernatorial candidates promoting 100 percent renewable energy by 2040, utility executives were asked during a summit Monday if that’s an achievable goal. The answer: It’s complicated. Democratic Congressman Jared Polis has set a goal of having all the electricity on the state’s grid come from renewable sources by 2040. His Republican opponent in the Nov. 6 election, state Treasurer Walker Stapleton, has criticized the plan as too expensive. Kent Singer, executive director of the Colorado Rural . . . Complete story »
Refugio County ranch land could transform into wind farm
A company is rushing to start a wind farm in Refugio County before a federal tax credit expires. E.On Climate & Renewables said it will produce 220 megawatts of electricity there by Dec. 31, 2019, the date the Renewable Electricity Production Tax Credit is expected to expire, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT. Two years ago, the Germany-based company leased about 18,000 acres of land about 7 miles south of Woodsboro and west of U.S. 77 . . . Complete story »
