The permit application for the offshore wind farm slated for the North Sea has been approved. Now the partnership Evelop International and Ballast Nedam Concessies has the exclusive right to develop Scheveningen Buiten. Rijkswaterstaat Noordzee announced the approval includes the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The wind farm, Scheveningen Buiten, which will be built outside the 12-mile zone off the seaside resort of Scheveningen, approximately 30 kilometers (km) from the coast, is expected to be finished by 2011. It will generate more than 300 megawatts (MW).

While most members of the European Union have joined in the push for wind energy, some, like Italy, face resistance. Anti-wind groups are pushing for a moratorium on new wind-power projects, claiming the wind turbines negatively affect the landscape and surrounding wildlife. They also say developers take advantage of residents in small towns with bad deals, and they question the reliability of a power source that is highly variable.

The European Commission on Wednesday called for a “new industrial revolution” via increased investment in renewable energy and nuclear power to combat climate change and curb Europe’s energy dependency. The proposals come as concerns over Europe’s energy security are making headlines as a bitter dispute between Russia and Belarus has disrupted the transit of oil supplies to Europe. The commission’s proposals are based on a forecast that the region’s energy imports will jump to 65% of consumption by 2030, when 84% of gas and 93% of oil will come from overseas, and sets out ways to reduce the block’s dependence on Russia and other suppliers. As its main measure, the paper proposes a 20% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions from the European Union’s energy consumption by 2020 and calls for a sharp increase in the use of renewable and biofuels.

LISBON (AFX) - The Economy Ministry said it plans to press ahead with talks with shortlisted bidders for new wind farms, on the grounds that the public interest outweighs the objections of Iberdrola SA, which last week won a court order suspending the auction, Diario Economico reported.

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain: Spain will cut subsidies to wind-power plants following an overhaul of the way it calculates aid for renewable power sources, hurting earnings at utilities including Iberdrola, the world's largest producer of wind power.

MILAN, Italy, May 10 New technologies are making an effort to mitigate environmental concerns over bird fatalities caused by wind turbines in Europe. A new monitoring program called WT-Bird has passed preliminary tests and will enter the next phase of testing. The WT-Bird, created by the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands, uses several techniques to monitor bird collisions.

Stocks of companies that generate electricity from solar or wind power -- or make the equipment to do so -- soared during the last three years. But the global credit crunch, higher prices for raw materials like polysilicon used in solar panels, and cuts in government subsidies to consumers, such as in Germany last month, have made investors much warier. High oil prices, analysts say, can't compensate for all that. "Some months ago, it was still true that a rising tide lifts all the boats," said Thomas Germann, an analyst at Zuercher Kantonalbank. "But investors are now scrutinizing what's going on at the company level, because cost efficiency has become more important." ..."The easy money has been made," said Jean Ryan, who oversees three funds with about €2 billion in assets at KBC Asset Management International Ltd., a unit of Belgium-based KBC Group NV.

This response to the Dti’s consultation has been prepared by Hugh Sharman of Incoteco (Denmark) ApS, and The Renewable Energy Foundation, working in collaboration.

Hugh Sharman is an energy consultant, based in Denmark. Most of Incoteco’s work is done for and with large energy companies seeking innovative environmental solutions to practical problems. An example is its leading role in the formulation and development of the “CO2 for EOR in the North Sea” (CENS) project during 2001. During 2004, Incoteco (Denmark) ApS completed a wind-energy related study for the Danish Energy Agency that was also supported by a number of important Scandinavian energy companies. Its purpose was to find more effective uses for the large wind power surplus that is generated in West Denmark.

The Renewable Energy Foundation is a newly created foundation which has arisen from widespread and growing public concern that the current renewables energy policy is in itself unbalanced, and causing subsequent imbalances in the rest of the energy sector. REF encourages the development of renewable energy and energy conservation whilst safeguarding the landscapes of the United Kingdom from unsustainable industrialisation. In pursuit of this goal, REF highlights the need for an overall energy policy that is balanced, ecologically sensitive and effective.

Some 55 metal wind turbines visible from the local coastline could be in place by 2008 if Oriel Windfarm’s proposal to develop an energy generating facility get the go-ahead. The turbines will be visible from 45 separate locations along the coastline. The tubular wind turbines will be 86m, made of steel and generally painted light grey. Their finish is matt, to reduce reflected light, and the developers claim they ‘they will only appear as small pins on a corner of the horizon on a clear day’.

Twenty-eight of the schemes are being developed by private companies including oil company Shell, wind energy firms Hibernian Wind Power and Atlanticwest Energy and the newly formed Liffey Cable Car Company. The remaining 25 schemes so far submitted to the planning board are being developed by State agencies including Bord Gáis, Bord na Móna, the Railway Procurement Agency, the Dublin Airport Authority, the ESB and several local authorities.

The green energy sector has a lot riding on 2009. Policymakers from Washington to Beijing have pledged billions of dollars in "cleantech" investment to jump-start the depressed global economy and create millions of new low-carbon jobs. ...As with the solar industry, wind power has been hit by a sudden slowdown in private sector investment as credit has dried up and the price of oil has fallen from its mid-2008 high. The industry hopes public spending will help fill the gap until the global economy gets back on its feet.

Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs inaugurated last Friday the first European Wind Day, a pan-European awareness campaign, which aims to celebrate the power, popularity and effectiveness of wind energy in the European Union. This campaign, coordinated by the European Wind energy Association (EWEA), will include events taking place simultaneously in Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Athens, Vienna and other major cities.

Extracts from the attached promotional piece. The full report may be purchased from ABS.

A failure in one of the wind turbines owned by the Iberdrola company in the Pedregal Mountains, Esteiro (Muros), resulted in a forest fire that razed a hectare of the mountain.

As energy costs continue to soar, and an increased reliance on traditional oil and coal is questioned, alternate sources of energy are examined more closely. Many in the five largest countries in Europe and in the United States like the idea of renewable energy, but do not want to pay any more for renewable energy sources. A majority of adults who have some form of responsibility for paying household energy bills in Great Britain (54%) and Germany (50%), pluralities in Italy (44%), France (42%) and the U.S. (40%), as well as just over one-third of adults responsible for paying household energy bills in Spain (35%), all say they would be willing to pay nothing more for energy if it was from renewable sources.

This document authored by Acoustic Ecology Institute provides a comprehensive overview of noise issues pertaining to utility-scale wind energy development. This AEI Special Report will be continually updated, incorporating new research, more recent reports, and suggestions/comments from readers. Planned topics to be added over time include: effects of noise on wildlife and habitat, offshore wind energy, and the health effects of chronic noise exposure.

Residents who oppose the installation of a wind farm in Ahenny, Carrick-on-Suir, have called on the minister for the environment to protect their area against what they call “the blatant vandalism of one of the country’s most ancient landscapes.” The call comes less than a fortnight before councilliors are due to vote on the issue. The Ahenny Action Group insists that it should not be left up to local people to protect designated heritage regions from industrial development. They have written to Minister Dick Roche to demand a guarantee that no wind farm be erected in the area.