Wind advocates like to say "The wind's always blowing somewhere" to counter concerns about the variability of wind power. This is true, and it means that wind can always be relied on to produce some power, but that does not mean that wind can always meet demand. In the United States' Great Plains wind belt, wind is typically anticorrelated with demand.

Freedomworks submitted a proposal for erect three meteorological towers on North Mountain in the George Washington National Forest. The request was in in early December, however the company's plans were known for about one year ago. The forest supervisor, Maureen Hyzer denied the request in this April 2 letter. Reasons for the denial were that the request did not comply with the forest management plan and there was no rationale specified for why the use of national forest land was necessary. The complete memo can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.

This open letter to representatives of British Petroleum and Acciona/AES appeared in New York's Watertown Daily Times newspaper in response to questionable business practices by the developers seeking to build wind facilities in Cape Vincent, New York. The full letter can be accessed by clicking on the link below.

Memorandum and order issued by the NY State Supreme Court in the matter involving a request by property owners in Prattsburgh to annul the decision by the Town Board of the Town of Prattsburgh to condemn a portion of the petitioners' property in order to create certain easements for Windfarm Prattsburgh, LLC, to place underground electricity lines for a wind farm project.

Iberdrola has proposed a wind energy facility to be erected on national forest lands in the Green Mountain National Forest located in Vermont. The Forest Service released the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) in September 2008. The full DEIS can be accessed at http://www.windaction.org/documents/17983. The US Fish and Wildlife Service submitted comments on the DEIS. These comments can be downloaded by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.

For two decades, the capacity factor of wind power measuring the mean energy delivered by wind turbines has been assumed at 35% of the name plate capacity. Yet, the mean realized value for Europe over the last five years is closer to 21% thus making levelized cost 66% higher than previously thought. We document this discrepancy and offer rationalizations, emphasizing the long term variations of wind speeds. We conclude with the consequences of the capacity factor miscalculation and some policy recommendations. Click on the link below to download the full document.

This motion was filed with the Vermont Public Service Board on Sep 22, the day hearings were to begin for the Deerfield Wind LLC proposal. Deerfield Wind LLC is seeking to erect 15 industrial scale wind turbines in the Green Mountain National Forest. In response, the Vermont Public Service Board ordered that the hearings be rescheduled to December 1, 2008.

The Deerfield Wind Energy facility is the first wind plant to be proposed for US National Forest lands. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement released by the US Forest Service can be accessed by clicking on the link(s) below. Comments will be accepted through until the end of November 2008.

The Vermont Public Service Board has issued an order regarding violation of a 2003 Certificate of Public Good issued to enXco authorizing construction of two wind measurement towers ("met towers") on Lowell Mountain. The CPG required that the towers be removed within five years of the date of the CPG. The order detailing the violation and subsequent agreements is listed below.