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.

If state regulators follow through with an administrative law judge's recommendation to reject the Sunrise Powerlink, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. still has other options to get the transmission line it seeks. The California Public Utilities Commission decision may be appealed to the courts, or SDG&E could ask the federal government to override state regulators and authorize the big line. A 2005 law allows utilities and other power-line builders to go to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission if they want to build a line rejected by state authorities in areas where federal officials believe there isn't enough electric transmission.

On a day of big decisions around the country - election day - the Shasta County Board of Supervisors will be weighing approval of a 6 1/2-mile long string of wind turbines atop mountains overlooking Burney. While the Shasta County Planning Commission approved the 100-megawatt Hatchet Ridge Wind Project with a 5-0 vote on Oct. 3, a pair of appeals the following week now has the supervisors reviewing the plans. The appeal hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

A draft decision released late Wednesday by a California Public Utilities Commission judge would authorize the use of tradable renewable energy credits in efforts to comply with the state's renewable mandate. The decision, crafted by administrative law judge Anne Simon defines rules for a tradable REC market. ...With an eye on protecting ratepayers from excessive payments for tradable RECs, a transitional price cap of $50/REC used by investor-owned utilities would be implemented, the plan says. This means an IOU could not use for RPS compliance a tradable REC for which it paid more than $50 on a levelized basis.

The permit allowing windmills to go in didn't say they could sit there broken. Palm Springs is getting tough. If windmills are going to exist in the city they must be operational. A city that has welcomed windmills since it was first approached about them in the early 1980's is finding that many of those windmills are no longer working and it wants them fixed. The question is who's responsible for fixing them? Florida Power and Light (FPL), the owner of the inoperable windmills, was allowed to install and operate local windmill farms under a conditional use permit (CUP) stipulating if the windmill does not run for six months, it's declared a public nuisance and without a hearing, must be abated. ...So far FPL is all talk and no action as it has not been able to satisfy the city's or landowners' concerns.

Unless the DWP moves quickly to lock in contracts with alternative energy providers, it risks paying exponentially higher rates for green power to meet a 2010 deadline to double its renewable energy supply. Despite assurances from the Department of Water and Power, some city leaders are skeptical the utility will be able to meet and sustain the 20 percent renewable energy mandate set by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. ...customers are already paying more to cover the transition to green power. The DWP can and has tacked on a surcharge of as much as 4 percent a year to customer bills to cover renewable energy and natural gas expenses.

In California, the titles given to ballot initiatives can mean everything to their success or failure. Which may be why Proposition 7, which goes by the name "The Solar and Clean Energy Law of 2008," seemed like a surefire winner in summertime polls. ...But renewable-energy companies, environmental groups and the Democratic Party - virtually every constituency pushing to wean the state off fossil fuels - have joined hands with the major utilities, the business establishment and the Republican Party to oppose it. They argue that it is loaded with loopholes and upends a system that is already working, replacing it with one that is problematic at best.

Two appeals have been filed against the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission's approval of the Lompoc Wind Energy project, according to county staff. Residents who live near the proposed project, George and Cheryl Bedford, and the California Department of Fish and Game appealed the Sept. 30 decision.

Residents in the East County are sounding an environmental alert about future wind farms in their community. The battle is heating up over plans to build hundreds of wind turbines near Boulevard. ..."And we're talking over 500 to 600 turbines for now, over 400-feet tall silhouetted on that ridge line," she said. That ridgeline to the south is in Mexico, where Sempra Energy - the parent company of SDG&E - Is planning on building a massive wind farm. So big, in fact, it will be visible from San Diego County.

The Shasta County Planning Commission unanimously approved plans for a string of wind turbines atop Hatchet Ridge near here at its meeting tonight. Commissioners approved the electricity-generating project on a 5-0 vote after listening to three hours of testimony ...Opponents of the 100-megawatt project said they plan to appeal the decision to the Shasta County Board of Supervisors.

"While we are gratified that the Court of Appeal reaffirmed the traditional public trust ownership of wildlife, we are disappointed that it rejected the possibility of a lawsuit directly against those who are illegally killing wildlife," said Rick Wiebe, the attorney representing the Center for Biological Diversity. "A lawsuit against those who are killing wildlife is the most direct and effective means of protecting wildlife and vindicating the public trust in wildlife."

ACCIONA wants to build up to 65 wind turbines near Vandenberg Air Force Base. Supporters of the project said it would be an historic move to bring new forms of energy to the Central Coast. ...But opponents are not sold. The landscape around the proposed area is mostly rural agricultural land. Some want it to stay that way. "We bought here because of that beautiful view that we see," said homeowner Jane Fasold, who opposes the project. Among other concerns: birds and bats killed because of these windmills. The cattle ranch owned by Jennifer Cruz's parents sits right where the turbines would be built. Her neighbors are worried about noise and a drop in property value.

"Our little community is under such an assault from all these wind energy corporations," Boulevard Planning Group Chair Donna Tisdale said. Tisdale is one of the property owners who was approached by a wind farm company called Invenergy. She says Invenergy offered her more than $20,000 per year for the rights to build wind turbines on her property - this on land that is not zoned for a wind farm.

Even though an alternative energy project near Lompoc will most likely kill an unknown number of birds or bats, the Santa Barbara County planning staff has recommended that it be approved Tuesday. ...The project, which comprises 65 wind turbines, onsite collector power lines, electrical substation operations and maintenance building and other facilities, would pose several environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated. ...Although the final environmental report concluded that a downsized project would be environmentally superior, county planning staff disagreed. "The benefits of the full, proposed project far outweigh the adverse environmental impacts associated with it," the staff report stated.

A $400 million renewable energy project could begin construction next month and would power roughly a quarter-million Southern California homes. The plan has received no criticism during a public-input phase that ends Oct. 6. An open house Thursday in Milford introduced Beaver County residents to the plan that would put 159 wind turbines - each 262 feet tall - across 40-square miles on public and private land located 10 miles northeast of town.

A lawsuit contending the whirling blades on the hundreds of windmills in the Altamont Pass area are killing birds has been rejected by the First District Court of Appeal. "Permitting the action to proceed as presented would require the court to make complex and delicate balancing judgments without the benefit of the expertise of the agencies responsible for protecting the trust resources and would threaten redundancy at best and inconsistency at worst," the appellate court decision says.

Two of the world's richest men bankroll alternative-energy initiatives on the November ballot. Each is opposed by some of the very champions of those alternatives. Adding to the confusion, both measures carry "renewable energy" in their titles. Political commentators aren't helping much, naming Proposition 7 "Big Solar," and Proposition 10 "Big Wind." But the former promises more power from renewable sources generally, not just the sun. The latter would actually invest more public money in natural gas than wind farms.

Californians will vote on two ballot initiatives this fall that at first glance would seem shoo-ins for approval in a state long associated with environmental activism. The first would require utilities to generate half their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar. The second would provide rebates of up to $50,000 for the purchase of alternative-fuel vehicles through a $5 billion bond.

The final environmental impact report for a proposed "wind farm" near Lompoc that could power up to 50,000 homes was released Monday and will be subject of a public hearing Sept. 30 in Santa Maria. An application for a major conditional use permit was filed in February 2006 by Pacific Renewable Energy Generation, which proposes to build 65 wind turbines about 390 feet high on approximately 2,950 acres of coastal ridges southwest of Lompoc, according to the county staff report.

Growers and ranchers in the southern reaches of California are posing the latest obstacle to the state's push for green power. Facing the possibility of losing land to power transmission lines, they have urged state commissioners to avoid their property when selecting a route for a project linking consumers on the coast to renewable energy operations in the Southern California desert. ...The dispute is part of a growing conflict between farmers and utilities, as California's mandate for power providers to boost their use of renewable energy prompts new projects across the state.