KU and sister company Louisville Gas and Electric Co. plan to purchase wind power from the breezy prairie of northern Illinois to help meet what they expect will be federal requirements to increase their use of renewable energy. Last month, they asked the Kentucky Public Service Commission for permission to add a "renewable resource clause" to customer bills so they can recover the costs of the pricier wind power and transmission.

Nova Scotians may face higher electricity costs in the short term as the province moves toward cleaner and renewable energy, says the man in charge of overseeing Nova Scotia's renewable energy strategy. Dalhousie University's David Wheeler said Monday it is inevitable Nova Scotia Power customers will face a jump in prices ..."If we end up with a global carbon energy tax, then producing energy from coal is going to be very expensive for Nova Scotia consumers," Mr. Wheeler told reporters.

The main point of contention in the contract talks between National Grid and Deepwater Wind is the price of electricity generated by the proposed wind farm off Block Island. Deepwater has quoted a price of between 20 and 25 cents per kilowatt-hour. National Grid has calculated the cost, with adjustments over time, to be closer to 30.7 cents per kilowatt hour. Either price is much higher than the 9.2 cents per kilowatt-hour that National Grid pays for power mainly from natural gas plants. So far, the utility has refused to pay the higher cost for wind energy, saying it's simply too much.

New global investment in clean-energy companies fell 22 percent in the third quarter as government financing was offset by tight credit markets, according to new research released Friday. From July to September, new global investment totaled $25.9 billion, down 22 percent from a year ago and off 9 percent from the second quarter, according to London-based New Energy Finance, a global research firm.

You may need to brace yourself for thicker sweaters and thinner wallets next year, as Rochester Gas & Electric and New York State Electric and Gas are seeking sizable rate increases. If approved by the state Public Service Commission, the higher rates could go into effect by August 2010 and raise the average bills of households served by the utilities by roughly $400 to $450 a year. ...The PSC has an 11-month deadline for ruling on the request. No dates have been set for hearings.

The firm must apply to the Scottish Government rather than the local authority because of the scale of the plan. But Moray Council must be consulted and, if it objects, a public inquiry will be held. The government is due to make a decision on September 29.

California's push to supersize its renewable energy standards could drive electricity rates higher for Northwest consumers, strain the west's transmission and hydroelectric systems, and create a host of thorny policy issues. The California Assembly passed a pair of bills Friday to create the nation's most aggressive renewable energy mandate. It would require utilities to meet one third of their customers' needs with green energy such as wind, solar and geothermal by 2020.

Land values have fallen on properties near wind turbines built as part of the largest wind power projects in the state, a study funded by wind-power critics says. The study found property values have fallen by at least 19% for sales of land near the We Energies wind farm in Fond du Lac County, and at least 12% for sales of land near Invenergy LLC's Forward Wind project in Fond du Lac and Dodge counties, a report by Appraisal Group One says.

This may be a better time than ever for renewable energy. The climate for passing laws that would create subsidies for it are promising: last year, the Production Tax Credit for wind power was extended, along with a hefty longterm-Investment tax credit for solar power. ...But Bruno Mejean isn't feeling the winds of change just yet. The managing director and deputy general manager of Nord/LB, New York, a German financial institution, ...anticipates obstacles for the wind-energy sector in particular, and the biggest drag on developing renewable-energy projects, he says, is the prospect of a longterm low price for natural gas.

Council is poised to hire Richard La Capra of La Capra Associates to serve as consultant regarding Deepwater Wind's proposed wind farm installations near Block Island and its potential effects on island electricity ratepayers. The council will take a formal vote on a contract at its Tuesday meeting, First Warden Kim Gaffett said Wednedsay. La Capra's scope of service will also be outlined at that meeting.

The Arizona Corporation Commission has a mandate in place requiring that at least 15 percent of the state's energy come from renewable sources by the year 2025. But despite its intention to wean the state off fossil fuels, the move has drawn vocal criticism from free-market advocates such as the Goldwater Institute, which claims the mandate will cost utility customers billions over the next 15 years.

Transmitting electricity over hundreds of miles to market constrains wind energy development, speakers told 600 participants at a conference at the University of Wyoming last week. So do local, state and federal regulation; and taxation issues, they said. But Laura Ladd, energy economics advisor to Gov. Dave Freudenthal, noted a major omission to that list. "Nowhere in here did we hear of economics as a constraint," Ladd said.

A start-up wind company official said with federal stimulus funding and state permits, the doors to the former Bayliner plant at Mexico Farms could have local people back to work by the holiday season. John Congedo, president of AC~Wind, listed online with a Grantsville address, told the Times-News Tuesday that AC~Wind has contracted with Brunswick Corp., parent company of Bayliner, to use its facilities in Cumberland and Salisbury.

Freedom residents who hoped the wind turbines on Beaver Ridge would bring a lower tax bill got a surprise this year as other factors sucked up most of the windfall. ...Freedom town officials, with help from the state, valued the Beaver Ridge development at $9.7 million and the Central Maine Power transmission lines running up the ridge at an additional $480,000. But the value added to the town made barely a dent in the mill rate, which went from 17 to 15.5.

Among the first Indiana residents to experience life near industrial wind turbines, Buchanan has yet to arrive at a final judgment of his 260-foot-tall neighbors, which went operational in March. "They growl at you," he says. "The quiet of the rural area I have enjoyed most of my life, I probably will not be able to experience that again." ...Financially, "it's enormous," says Buchanan, who farms several thousand acres with family. "If you offer me the opportunity to have four towers that generate $30,000 to $40,000, that's a lot of corn and soybeans."

Only 15 months ago, Duluth-based Minnesota Power asked for its first rate increase in 14 years. Now, it wants another one. In seeking a new rate increase before the end of 2009, the utility is citing, in part, the cost of increasing renewable-energy generation; under 2007 state legislation, utilities must generate a quarter of their energy from renewable resources by 2025.

This economy, proponents say, promises to rebuild communities abandoned by bankrupt manufacturers, restore jobs lost by the busted housing market and reinstate America as a global leader. Not so fast. Although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says renewable energy has the potential to create "tens of thousands of jobs" in Nevada and more than a million nationwide, little research has been done on actual job creation in such an unchartered area.

Cistercian nuns are moving from Prairie du Sac, but a site for a new monastery in the Town of Ridgeville is no longer one of several considered by the religious community. According to Sister Roberta Boyer ...the Ridgeville site, land owned by Ryszard Borys, was taken off the table because of the wind farm situation in the township.

Get ready for a series of major investments and associated rate increases by Portland General Electric Co. ...The Portland-based utility told financial analysts Thursday that it was pulling the plug on a near-term plan to add 218 megawatts of new wind power because of financial market conditions. The company still plans, however, to complete the ongoing expansion of its Biglow Canyon wind farm and add another 300 to 400 megawatts of wind or other renewable power to meet Oregon's renewable energy standard by 2015.