A proposed wind farm in northern Young County took a major step toward reality Monday when commissioners voted to approve a tax abatement plan for British Petroleum. After more than two hours of negotiations between BP and representatives from Young and Archer counties, Young County legal counsel Alan Carmichael announced an agreement had been reached.

The passage of a resolution by the Legislature last Wednesday established Herkimer County's negotiating position regarding payment in lieu of taxes agreements for wind projects: Closing an interconnected effort amongst affected municipalities and school districts over four years in the making. Ongoing proposals by Iberdrola Renewable Energies to build wind turbines include: The Hardscrabble Project in the towns of Norway and Fairfield, with Owen D. Young Central School District; and the Jordanville Project in the towns of Stark and Warren, with West Canada Valley Central School District. The resolution sets a PILOT payment of $8,000 per megawatt.

If California expands its renewable power generation to be a third of electricity delivered in the state by 2020, it may cost $60 billion, the state's utility regulator said in a report issued on Thursday. It is more costly to make electricity with renewable power -- solar, wind, geothermal and other sources that emit no or low amounts of global-warming greenhouse gases -- than with natural gas, nuclear and coal power plants. ...On Tuesday, California voters overwhelmingly -- 65 percent of the vote -- rejected a statewide ballot measure that would have required 50 percent of power to be generated from renewables by 2025.

The group behind what is said to be Australia's first community-owned wind farm says the global financial crisis has affected fundraising for the project. Hepburn Wind wants to build two turbines at Leonard's Hill near Daylesford. It has spent the past three months trying to raise $5 million from investors, but it has only received share applications worth $2 million.

A deflating economy has taken the wind out of a massive Panhandle alternative energy project. Tight lending stalled a $2 billion wind farm project headed by billionaire oilman and alternative power proponent T. Boone Pickens. Pickens' BP Capital delayed work on a state permit to build 170 miles of transmission lines carrying enough wind energy to power 300,000 homes.

A wind tower manufacturing company, facing construction costs that were significantly higher than expected, received a shot in the arm Tuesday. Members of the Development Corporation of Abilene voted to approve Tower Tech Systems Inc.'s request for additional money -- up to $700,000 more -- to help cover nearly $7 million in unanticipated building costs.

An Industry Ministry official said the energy watchdog would check how many wind and solar power plants were installed in time to receive full subsidies before official aid was cut. "There are some signs that there may be fraud in the installation and functioning of wind and solar parks," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

Higher than expected construction costs has a wind-tower manufacturing company asking for more money -- $700,000, to be exact -- from the city of Abilene's economic development arm. According to Development Corporation of Abilene records, Tower Tech Systems, Inc., now estimate construction and equipment costs will reach $27 million, or about $7 million more as was estimated in DCOA's original assistance package.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office has declined to give an opinion about the legality of expanding a jointly-owned enterprise zone in Tazewell County, State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz said Friday. Umholtz requested an opinion from Madigan's office several months ago ...But Umholtz said the issue isn't quite over for him. "This is an issue of statewide importance," he said. "I'm still trying to encourage state government to follow state law."

Financing for wind farms has disappeared and fewer companies will be able to develop the kind of "mega projects" needed to feed the growing demand for energy, said Reyad Fezzani, CEO of BP's wind and solar operations, at the Dow Jones Alternative Energy Innovations conference Wednesday. In just the last month, money that typically would be available for building renewable-energy projects has "completely dried up," thanks to the financial market crisis, Fezzani said during a keynote and on-stage interview with Yuliya Chernova, editor of Dow Jones' Clean Technology Insight.

Young County commissioners will continue to discuss a potential wind farm in northern Young County during a regular meeting of commissioners court at 9:30 a.m. Monday at the county courthouse.

The nation's severe credit crisis is dimming the appeal of a long-awaited extension for renewable-energy tax credits. After months of delays, Congress finally passed the extension Oct. 3 - just in time for the alternative-energy industry to face the full brunt of the upheaval in financial markets that has sharply reduced commercial lending. Some wind- and solar-energy projects are moving forward under the impetus of the renewed tax credits. But many others are on hold as developers compete for a trickle of available financing.

[A] BP representative explained that the project could be phased in with 60 windmills possibly becoming available next year, and the remaining 40 coming some time later. Of the 60 windmills, David Gonzalez said, the majority are planned in Archer County.The change in the proposal was not met with enthusiasm by commissioners. ..."The prospect of an abatement has been based on a 250 megawatt buildout," Precinct 2 Commissioner John C. Bullock said. "The prospect of a phase in was not mentioned. If we had know that, it likely would have been different."

KTVO has discovered a conflict of interest in the Sullivan County wind project. Commissioner James Howard is on the list of landowners that stand to profit financially from having a wind mill on their property. Plus, KTVO has obtained an eight-pages of document show that Howard and his wife Linda signed a lease option agreement on the Shuteye Creek Wind Project. Howard confirmed that he has an interest in the project.

Senate leaders hoping to salvage the $700 billion financial bailout package accepted a higher limit for insured bank deposits - and tax breaks for businesses and alternative energy - in a bid to win House approval and send the legislation to President George W. Bush by the end of the week. ...The lawmakers were gambling that the tax package would appeal to lawmakers who helped sink the measure in the House on Monday, without driving off Democrats who have opposed extending tax incentives without offsetting spending cuts elsewhere.

In the past two years, solar energy has become an especially hot spot in the clean energy sector. In 2007, solar energy start-ups raised the lion's share of new investments in the sector, or roughly $600 million in capital raised in 39 deals. And then came the credit crisis. Already companies have pulled IPOs, and worry is growing that the nascent industry could be choked off just as it is starting to take off. The question now: How bad will the hangover be? Or, more important, how long will it last?

So are federal subsidies still a life-or-death question for the industry? Maybe not anymore. Richard Morrison, chief executive of Molded Fiber Glass Companies, which makes wind-turbine blades for General Electric, told us: "The failure of the U.S. Congress to extend the production credit is not a good thing. Now how bad of a thing is it? It's hard to predict because things are a little bit different now in 2008 than back in the 1990s when it was a fledgling industry. There is a real business here and a big business and a growing business."

A tax credit driving the wind industry seemed to be on its way when the Senate approved it overwhelmingly this week, but a measure to extend it hit a speed bump Thursday in the House. The fate of the wind energy production tax credit expiring Dec. 31 is uncertain as lawmakers wrangle over two versions of the latest bill including an extension. An industry advocate found lawmakers' arguments over paying for the legislation absurd in light of billions spent to shore up crumbling Wall Street titans and a $700 billion proposal to stave off economic collapse.

The Democratic-led House today approved a $60 billion tax package designed largely to spur investment in renewable energy, and funded in part by assessing higher taxes on oil and gas companies. But by refusing to go along with a carefully crafted Senate bill, the House has thrown into question whether a final tax package will be approved before lawmakers recess this weekend until after the November elections.

Officials in Sullivan County agree a wind farm would be a positive addition, but they don't agree on how much they should do to accommodate the company that would bring it there. The county commission wants to create an enhanced enterprise zone to give Tradewind Energy the tax incentives they say they need. County Clerk Mike Hepler and Assessor Karen LaFever say the enhanced enterprise zone would leave the county short changed. "To sell out too cheap is not representing the public interest, it's representing the private interest. I was elected to represent the public interest," Hepler says.