Highland New Wind Development (HNWD), the self-touted "Greenest Wind Farm in the World," has initiated clearing, road work, and excavation for its 19-turbine project in the remote Allegheny Mountain, Laurel Fork area along the Highland County-Pocahontas County, Virginia-West Virginia border. ...The SCC has scheduled a hearing to be convened on September 23, 2009 to receive evidence and testimony from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) and HNWD concerning the wind energy developer's compliance with the SCC's December 2007 order

The University of Ballarat has begun investigating noise levels near Waubra Wind Farm, with residents claiming low frequency turbine sound is affecting their health. Some say they have experienced headaches, nausea and sleep deprivation since the turbines began operating. The tests will be done at various locations

Wind farms may be good for the environment, but are they good for people living right next to them? Farmers living near Australia's biggest wind farm in Waubra in north western Victoria claim it's making them sick. But the State Government and the wind farm company say there's no evidence to prove the turbines are the cause of the problem. Cheryl Hall reports.

A group of Manitoulin Island residents is taking on a Toronto-based energy company, accusing Northland Power Inc. of fast-tracking a wind farm project without proper consultation. The dispute is the latest sign of a groundswell of unease over wind power projects in the province, fuelled by groups such as Wind Concerns Ontario, which have been highly critical of the effects of such development on local communities. ...one of the project's most vocal opponents, says Northland has essentially "bulldozed" its plan over the community with little opportunity for a meaningful public response.

An engineering expert has started testing noise levels at properties near the Waubra wind farm. Some residents close to the farm say low frequency noise from the turbines is damaging their health. Ballarat University engineering lecturer Graeme Hood will do the tests.

If the vast creosote-covered plain that is California's Mojave Desert represents to some the grand potential of America's renewable-energy future, Jim Harvey sees something else. "Their model is 'You must kill land to save land,' " said Harvey, a Web- page designer and homegrown activist who sees the Obama administration's push for green energy here as a destructive force poised to swallow his beloved desert. "How does that make any sense?"

A wind farm company has refuted claims by Waubra residents that 128 turbines are causing excessive low-frequency noise. ...However, a University of Ballarat engineer has cast doubt on the tests. Graeme Hood said sound measuring equipment purchased by Mr. Dean, showed low-frequency sound measured at 70 to 80 decibels in Mr. Dean's home.

Demand for power from homes and businesses will exceed supply from the national grid within eight years, according to official figures. The shortage of supplies will hit the equivalent of many as 16 million families for at least one hour during the year, it is forecast. Not since the early 1970s when the three-day week was introduced to preserve coal has Britain faced the prospect of reationing energy use.

Either way, the sound of wind turbines is making more ears perk up as a bill moves forward in the Legislature that would empower the Public Service Commission to create statewide rules governing wind power and pre-empt local government control over their placement. The rules would govern the distance between turbines and homes along with their noise and the flicker effects of shadows from their turbine blades.

The Victorian Government is being called on to investigate whether wind farms can cause people to get sick. A family from Waubra, west of Ballarat, recently moved out of their house because they say a low frequency hum from the Waubra wind farm was giving them headaches.

The Clayton Town Council agreed to keep the sound limitations and most of the setback recommendations from the Wind Committee and forward them to the town attorney to begin writing a new zoning law for wind power development. The council, meeting Wednesday night, held voice votes on all 16 recommendations forwarded from the committee. The only point dropped by the council was a recommendation to site turbines so there would be no flicker effect falling at road intersections.

People will complain about wind-farm noise no matter what restrictions are put in place, a board of inquiry has been told. As the wind wailed outside Palmerston North's FMG Stadium yesterday, inside, the board continued to hear about noise issues relating to the proposed Turitea Wind Farm. Environment Minister Nick Smith appointed the board to decide if the 121-turbine proposal from Mighty River Power should go ahead.

Epsilon Associates, Inc. of Massachusetts will be conducting a noise study at the Michigan I Wind Park next month, and the study was a focal point of conversation during the Huron County Wind Energy Subcommittee meeting. Russ Lundberg, Huron County Building and Zoning director, said he and Kurt Damrow, Huron County commissioner and head of the subcommittee, met with Rob O'Neal of Epsilon Associates earlier this month. The company was hired by John Deere Wind to complete the wind turbine noise study.

There were a flurry of opinions either in favor or opposed to the Thumb becoming a designated wind energy resource zone given Monday during the first of two public hearings that will be held in the state this month. There was standing room only at Monday's meeting, which was held at the Expo Center in Bad Axe. The meeting is part of an effort to receive comment from four regions in the state identified as having the highest level of wind energy harvest potential in a June 2 proposed report by the Wind Energy Resource Zone Board.

People who find themselves living next door to a wind farm are unlikely to have their land compulsorily acquired, despite some residents complaining that the turbines are hurting their health. Michael Pickering, an expert on compulsory acquisition with LAC Lawyers in Melbourne, said there is no straightforward legal process open to landowners who believe their properties should have been acquired before energy companies were permitted to erect large turbines.

Ministers are considering whether to establish a "conservation bank" to help overcome planning objections to wind farms and other renewable-energy projects. Planning problems have held back British onshore wind farms. Vestas blamed nimby (not in my back yard) objections for its recent decision to shut Britain's only wind-turbine plant, on the Isle of Wight (see panel below). Vestas and other energy groups say planning delays and uncertainties make it riskier to invest in Britain than in other countries.

Makara residents have complained of constant thumping, ka-thunk-type noises and swooshing and swishing coming from the West Wind wind farm and warn a similar development will be just as noisy. Makara Ohariu Community Board chairwoman Ruth Paul said complaints came from 20 households to the Meridian Energy noise complaint hotline in just two days last month.

Community development director Bob Joseph told the Estes Valley Planning commissioners Tuesday night that a public meeting held last Thursday night regarding residential wind turbine regulations has led to some useful discussions. "We're starting to see people's opinions form," he said. "We're hearing them. We will continue with this effort to get some kind of code adopted during the moratorium."

The request by a group of residents upset over a wind turbine they say impacts the quality of their lives was granted at the Libertyville Village Board's last meeting when a moratorium relating to the construction, installation and operation of wind turbines was approved. The 180-day moratorium was approved in conjunction with a referral from the board to the Plan Commission to review possible amendments to the zoning code pertaining to wind turbines.

Block Island voters and homeowners support wind power, including both on- and offshore wind farm installations, according to the results of a Roger Williams University survey. ...63.3 percent of the voters and 56.4 percent of the homeowners said they would support a wind installation - land-based or offshore - that was visible from their homes, with the proviso that the wind farm be far away enough to be "impossible to hear."