Even with clouds threatening overhead and a chilling breeze at his back, Gov. Deval Patrick felt heat last night as he addressed a crowd of about 300 on the Dennis Village Green. Undeterred by the winter-like temperatures, speakers pressed Patrick on the economy, health care, insurance rates and other issues in the town hall-style meeting. But no issue drew more interest during the 90-minute session than Cape Wind, with speakers in favor and against the proposed wind farm exchanging questions and passionate pleas.

The Alternative Energy Committee is returning $63,400 in unused wind turbine funds to the town to help cover the budget shortfall. Chairman David Dionne said the committee will now look into grant opportunities for building a much larger wind turbine at a different location. The turbine has been stymied by the Board of Selectmen ever since it was approved at Town Meeting a couple of years ago. As a result, although the funds were appropriated, it has never been built.

Seeking to reverse the state's reputation as a difficult place to build wind farms, legislators are refining a plan to fast-track turbine developments through local and state boards. The proposed legislation, introduced in January by Rep. Brian Dempsey of Haverhill and Sen. Michael Morrissey of Quincy, would create local wind siting boards in areas with significant wind resources, enabling developers to go to a single board for all necessary permits.

The council is also negotiating a conservation restriction for the 750 acres, preventing any future development on the land including wind turbines. Much of the land falls just west of ridge line in Florida and Monroe, where 19 windmills are proposed as part of the long delayed Hoosac Wind Project. The restriction would remain in place even if the land was sold in the future. "Our goal is a goal of public access for recreational purposes, not for energy production," Schroeder said.

If the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm is built, local officials want a say in how it affects their roads and wetlands. Selectmen and other town officials met last night with Cape Wind representatives to hear the latest on plans to connect the proposed wind farm to the electric grid. The meeting at the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School auditorium was public but not a hearing, so public comment was not allowed.

The state's Energy Facilities Siting Board voted unanimously today to approve a bundle of permits for the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm, marking another milestone for the controversial project. ...The board voted 7-0 to approve the so-called "super permit," after three hours of deliberation at Boston's South Station Transportation Center, siting board spokesman Tim Shevlin said this afternoon.

In 2008, Town Meeting voted unanimously to establish a wind energy conversion facility bylaw. Now, in 2009, with one project denied under the bylaw, citizens have come forward to call a Special Town Meeting to consider placing a temporary moratorium on the wind bylaw. More specifics will be coming forward next week when a citizen's petition, an article signed by 100 residents, is expected to be submitted to the Town Clerk.

With the town needing cash, the Alternative Energy Committee has voted to give back $63,400 set aside two years ago to build a wind turbine for Town Hall. The project would die if voters at Town Meeting approve moving the money back into the general fund.

With all this talk about wind power, it may seem tough to believe that state officials have had a difficult time finding a buyer for two wind turbines. That's because it is tough to believe. But it's also true. Let's hope that state officials are more successful with plans for a wind turbine testing center in Charlestown - which is getting an infusion of $25 million in federal stimulus funds - than they've been with finding a home for these two wind turbines.

US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is expected to disclose the funding today during a visit to the state. The money comes on top of a $2 million US Department of Energy grant awarded to Massachusetts for the proposed facility two years ago, as well as $13.2 million in grants and loans from the state's Renewable Energy Trust. Construction of the center is scheduled to get underway in September.

Town Meeting last night delayed a vote that could have set up guidelines for wind turbines, electing to table the measure. Town Meeting member Tom O'Neil, who served on the committee charged with crafting the bylaw that would set rules for turbines, made the motion to table the proposal. During a break in the proceedings, O'Neil said the bylaw Article 25 on the warrant was not ready to be approved.

A new ocean management plan being prepared for the state leaves waters on three sides of the Vineyard wide open for development, raising the prospect of large-scale commercial wind generation as close as one mile off shore, the head of the Martha's Vineyard Commission said yesterday. MVC executive director Mark London said maps which formed part of a presentation made by state officials at a workshop in Woods Hole last weekend showed waters to the east, south and west of the Island open to unregulated development. "Theoretically, they could have a continuous belt of wind turbines . . . most of the way around the Island," Mr. London said.

A judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed last year by the Town of Barnstable against Cape Wind and the state's Energy Facilities Siting Board. The lawsuit claimed the Cape Cod Commission had exclusive jurisdiction over permitting transmission lines necessary for the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm. The commission refused to issue a permit for the transmission line portion of the project in 2007.

There will be no wind turbines erected in Cohasset, at least for the time being. On Wednesday night, the Planning Board effectively denied the project in its entirety when all four voting members failed to reach a consensus. An hour and a half of debate had some board members contemplating the ‘what ifs' of lawsuits and appeals and discussions over how to frame an approval.

The Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved height and use variances for 13 wind turbines last night, after the board, American Pro Wind LLC and their respective legal teams reached agreement on the variances. The decision wraps up one of the initial approvals necessary for the project, Douglas Woods Wind.

The Zoning Board of Appeals, American Pro Wind LLC and their legal teams debated the conditions for approval of variances for hours last night, the major sticking point being minimum setback requirements for the 13 wind turbines. Though no formal approval for the height and use variances was taken for Douglas Woods Wind by deadline last night, both sides were haggling over setback requirements.

After months of debate and public discussion, the Cohasset Planning Board has effectively rejected a proposal to build two wind turbines on Route 3A. The board voted 3-1 on Wednesday to allow the proposed 450-foot turbines to be built near Hingham Lumber. But the project needed four affirmative votes to go forward. Board member Stuart Ivimey, who voted "no," said he thought the wind-power bylaw's limits on noise would be exceeded.

A Barnstable Superior Court judge threw out a lawsuit filed last year by the Town of Barnstable against Cape Wind and the state's Energy Facilities Siting Board. The lawsuit claimed that the Cape Cod Commission had exclusive jurisdiction over permitting transmission lines necessary for the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm.

The planning board will vote tonight on Cohasset's first wind turbine project, seven months after it began a public hearing and more than a year after a wind bylaw was passed. But the proposal, which calls for two 450-foot turbines, measured from base to blade tip, appears unlikely to get the unanimous support it needs.

Cohasset's first green project under the town's new wind turbine bylaw may soon be dead, after nearly two years of discussion and planning. Planning Board vice chairman Stuart Ivimey said last week he will not vote in favor of a special permit for a pair of commercial wind turbines proposed by a Plymouth company, leaving the project one vote short of approval.