The bill calls for wind-power developers to get 20 cents per kilowatt-hour for the power they send to the grid; solar-power developers would get 25 cents. Lawmakers said the disparity was due to the differences in costs faced by those setting up the systems. An official with the state's largest power company, Brian Keefe of Central Vermont Public Service Corp., said he remained concerned about how the legislation would affect customers, due to the relatively high cost of the power.

Plans for a wind farm atop Georgia Mountain are coming together rapidly and the project-which would establish three to five turbines along the ridge-could be operational as soon as 2011, said consultants for the Georgia Mountain Community Wind LLC. The consultants testified before the Milton Planning Commission on March 17, as part of the project's permitting process.

Three days after announcing a deal with Burlington Electric Department, Vermont Wind LLC said Thursday that Vermont Electric Cooperative, Inc. has agreed to buy 50 percent of the Sheffield wind farm's power. Under the 20-year agreement, the utility will also purchase renewable energy certificates from the 40-megawatt wind project.

The Burlington Electric Department announced Tuesday that it will buy 40 percent of the power and renewable energy certificates from a Sheffield wind farm at a fixed price for the next 10 years. The agreement with Vermont Wind moves BED toward its goal of generating electricity through renewable sources within the next "four or so years," BED general manager Barbara Grimes said.

Wind energy advocates want the Douglas administration to lift its ban on large-scale wind projects on state-owned land. The advocates say Vermont needs to explore all options as it looks for new energy resources. But Governor Jim Douglas remains opposed to the idea VPR's John Dillon reports:

The state has many choices for electricity other than the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, but they may be more costly and could increase the state's carbon emissions, an energy consultant told lawmakers. Vermont does not need to develop its own power sources to replace the Vernon reactor, because utilities could get the power from outside the state.

The Supreme Court ruling said the Public Service Board had proven its case at every turn, and that the claims of the Ridge Protectors were without merit in most instances, and did not offer evidence to cause reconsideration of the certificate's issuance. Paul Brouha of Sutton, one of the lead members of the Ridge Protectors, said Friday, "We're disappointed, that's certainly true. ...if they can put them in this pristine area, they can put them anywhere. So, we're really concerned with that."

The Vermont Public Service Board was right to issue a certificate of public good for a 16-turbine wind project on a Sheffield ridgeline, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled Friday. In its decision, the court said the board acted within its jurisdiction when it issued the certificate for the project being proposed by a company now called Vermont Wind LLC.

In a decision issued Friday, the court says the Public Service Board acted properly when it issued the certificate for the project being proposed by a company now called First Wind.

The Vermont Public Service Board has denied Ridge Protectors Inc.'s request for discovery and hearings on the certificate of public good being issued for a wind generation facility in Sheffield. ...The case relates to the Aug. 8, 2007, Public Service Board's issuance of a certificate of public good which granted conditional approval of a wind generation facility by Vermont Wind.

Massachusetts and Vermont wildlife officials are asking the public to help identify bats affected by a mysterious illness known as white nose syndrome. This time of year, bats are normally hibernating in caves and in abandoned mines across the Northeast. But researchers are getting reports of bats weakly flying around in broad daylight or dying on decks and in backyards.

Green Mountain Power and Vermont Electric Cooperative are jointly exploring the construction of a wind power facility called Kingdom Community Wind on Lowell Mountain. ...Lowell Mountain's ridge lines, which rise above farm land west and south of Jay Peak, is within the co-operative's service area. VEC has been talking with Wileman about investing in a wind project on Lowell Mountain for at least several months.

A company working to install a wind-power project on Grandpa's Knob in Castleton is closing its Rutland office. ...In October, the Connecticut company laid off workers in New York and stopped work at two wind farms in that state in conection with the failure of Lehman Brothers, one of its chief backers.

Replacing the energy supplied by Vermont Yankee with 100 percent renewable energy sources could cost Vermont more than $1.2 billion ..."This portfolio of renewable resources would cost approximately $73 per megawatt hour (MWh) to develop and operate and would be more expensive than (building a) new fossil fuel generation plant," stated Scott M. Albert, a principal of GDS Associates and the region manager of the firm's Northeast office, in Manchester, N.H.

The Select Board decided, on a 3-1 vote, to take no position Tuesday on a small-scale, temporary wind research project being proposed for Little Equinox. The project, which is before the state's Public Service Board, would construct an 80-foot residential wind turbine on the mountain for two years for testing purposes.

After more than an hour of discussion at Tuesday's meeting, the Select Board voted to take no position on a proposal to extend by two years the life of a wind measurement tower on Little Equinox. ...Select Board member Michael Kilburn moved that the Select Board take no position because during a vote taken on Town Meeting Day in 2006, the board was directed to oppose a proposal from Endless Energy to build five 390-foot high wind turbines to produce electricity commercially.

Bears and foreign conglomerates were among some the concerns citizens from in and around Readsboro brought to Green Mountain National Forest officials Wednesday night. ...The open house for receiving public input on the Deerfield Wind Project's Environmental Impact Statement was held at the Readsboro Central School's gym. National Forest officials had released a draft if the statement for public review and comment.

The proposed Deerfield Wind project, an expansion of the state's only existing wind energy facility in Searsburg, could have a big effect on the bear population in the area. But exactly how big is a matter of dispute, with the U.S. Forest Service hedging its bets until the Vermont Public Service Board makes a decision on whether construction of the 17-turbine project would be in the "public good." The state technical hearings on the project, postponed from September, are due to start in early December. ...Forrest Hammond, a wildlife biologist and bear expert for the state of Vermont, said the bear habitat on the western ridge was so important to the regional bear population that the agency had gone on record against the western part of the project.

A Georgia family is preparing to seek state approval for three 400-foot wind turbines atop Georgia Mountain, the first commercial wind project to be proposed for Chittenden County. ...If all goes as planned, Georgia Mountain Community Wind will file an application with the state Public Service Board by Jan. 1. If the project wins approval, the turbines would be installed in 2010. The Harrisons' proposal differs from most of the dozen other wind projects in the Vermont pipeline.