Water district officials hope a test will show that the eastern bank of Lake Auburn is a prime spot for an energy-generating wind turbine. The district has applied for a grant to place a wind gauge along the lake behind the pump station buildings, on a plot north of Central Maine Community College. "The way it looks on paper, we'd be an ideal spot for a wind turbine," said John Storer, assistant water district superintendent. "But people have run into that problem before, and places that look like they should get plenty of wind are not generating enough power. So we need to test it, to see if it's even feasible for our site." The grant would be managed by the University of Maine.

A federal clock is ticking on an ambitious Texas Public Utility Commission plan to build transmission lines to funnel wind energy from West Texas to metropolitan areas. The wind energy industry revolves around a production tax credit that expires Dec. 31. After more than one false start, there is no guarantee Congress will extend it. Expansion will halt, some warn, if lawmakers don't take action this summer. "We don't want lines to just be standing out there," Sweetwater Mayor Greg Wortham said of the planned transmission lines. Wortham is also director of the West Texas Energy Consortium. Until a turbine is producing juice -- no credit.

The Evans Town Board has delayed discussion on three wind energy laws that would regulate both commercial and noncommercial facilities. ...Although the board received communications from the town Planning Board indicating strong support of the proposed laws, two residents voiced concerns over their language. ...Frank Hotchkiss of Waterman Road supported Henry, saying that ambiguity in the law's language could deter wind energy manufacturers from doing business in Evans.

National security, not renewable energy, will win the day in a battle being fought over two pending wind farm applications, the Gazette has been told. A decision from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is looming on 18 turbines proposed by npower renewables at Middlemoor, which was subject to a public inquiry last November. And a further hearing is about to launch into more at neighbouring Wandylaw ...But according to a well-placed source, both are doomed to certain failure because of Ministry of Defence (MoD) concerns over the effect of the turbines on both early warning radar systems and low-flying fast jets.

The transmission problem is so acute in Texas that turbines are sometimes shut off even when the wind is blowing. "When the amount of generation exceeds the export capacity, you have to start turning off wind generators" to keep things in balance, said Hunter Armistead, head of the renewable energy division in North America at Babcock & Brown, a large wind developer and transmission provider. "We've reached that point in West Texas." ...The exact route of the transmission lines has yet to be determined because the state has not yet acquired right-of-way, according to Mr. Withrow of the utility commission. The project will almost certainly face concerns from landowners reluctant to have wires cutting across their property.

Officials figures indicate that the wind energy sector did not produce enough power this winter. ...During some weeks in autumn, Meridian Energy's Te Apiti wind farm produced only one sixth of its installed capacity. Energy experts say the problem could intensify in future dry autumns if the Government presses ahead with additional renewable energy schemes.

County officials are pushing forward to find an independent consultant to review Florida Power & Light Co.'s environmental impact study on wind turbines and expect to have a proposal in hand by the end of next week, said County Administrator Doug Anderson. The county has a contract with Taylor Engineering Inc. of Jacksonville. Anderson said Taylor Engineering would contract with consultants who can review FPL's studies on its wind turbine project and can provide the county with its own expert view on wind turbines. County officials estimate the independent review could take up to three months to complete. Once the consultant's findings are complete, FPL's proposal would go to a public hearing.

Spain-based NaturEner, a renewable-energy company that recently entered the North American market, officially broke ground Thursday on the first phase of a 210-megawatt wind farm on the hills between Cut Bank and Shelby. The electricity produced from the $500 million wind farm, which will be the state's largest, is bound for California, company officials said. Construction began in the spring, but Thursday was the official debut of the project for the public. The fanfare brought NaturEner officials to northcentral Montana from the company's international headquarters in Madrid.

Pecos County Commissioner for Precinct 3 Jay Kent speculated aloud about how much money the county was losing, but after a discussion the Commissioners Court approved unanimously Monday a tax abatement for the Sherbino II Wind Farm LLC, a development venture of British Petroleum Alternative Energy. The court approved the agreement with amendments. One removes a clause that requires an invoice be sent to BP each year, placing the onus for payment by Jan. 31 of each year of the abatement upon BP; the second specifies a public notice to other taxing entities.

[Rockford attorney Rick] Porter, who represents nine owners near the Emden area, said he expects the decision to be overturned. "We intend to file an appeal, and we believe the courts will see that there were mistakes made in the zoning process," Porter said. "More than anything, though, our clients wanted some sort of guarantee that the property values would not suffer, and the board wasn't willing to include that as a condition of the permit." The permit allows using land zoned for agricultural use for a wind farm.

Financial industry executives are mustering on Capitol Hill to head off a congressional effort to rewrite the rules for the nation's energy markets, saying it could unsettle already nervous markets and push more energy trading abroad, beyond the reach of domestic regulators. The primary focus of Wall Street's concern is a bill entitled the Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act of 2008, introduced on Tuesday by a group of Democratic senators led by Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. The bill would substantially broaden U.S. regulators' authority ...Since the bill's introduction, lobbyists for the futures industry and other institutional interests in the energy markets have significantly bolstered their efforts in Washington.

Plans for a wind farm near El Paso have been stalled for nearly a year because of township road issues, but now an agreement and final vote may be a month away. Paul Lewis, attorney for wind farm developer Navitas Energy of Minneapolis, and Robert Lenz, representing commissioners in El Paso and Palestine townships, say progress has been made on an agreement on maintenance of township roads. A stipulation from the Zoning Board of Appeals a year ago required an agreement between township road commissioners and the company before a special-use permit could be granted.

A supplier of turbines for a planned wind farm at the Turitea Reserve is yet to be signed up, but Mighty River Power has confirmed three-bladed turbines will be used if the project goes ahead. The state-owned enterprise announced this week it will seek resource consents to build up to 131 turbines in the Turitea water catchment and neighbouring properties, 11 kilometres south-east of Palmerston North. Three independent commissioners are expected to hear the case.

The size, height and number of proposed turbines has not been finalized. Michelman, whose firm, Boreal Renewable Energy Development, was hired under a $50,000 study grant, said they were favoring one or two, a little larger than the one installed at Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay. The tower supporting the turbine would be 65 feet taller at 229 feet and the height to blade tip would be 390 feet. ...Trees would block views from most of North Eastham, but the turbine would be seen from the Nauset Light Beach parking lot, from Fort Hill and by properties bordering the school athletic fields.

It's unlikely a commercial-sized wind farm will be churning in Caledon after council decided to support the requests of several citizens at a council meeting July 8. Town council approved a minimum set-back for windmills from residential dwellings of 500 metres, lower than the 800 metres petitioners were asking for, but higher than Ministry of the Environment (MOE) standards.

On July 2, the department issued a superseding order of conditions affirming the original order of conditions approved by the town's Conservation Commission. In the cover letter for its decision, the department said, "In the Department's opinion, the project as proposed and conditioned herein adequately protects the interests of the Wetlands Protection Act." An appeal of the Conservation Commission decision was filed two months ago by 14 town residents. In their appeal, the group questioned the accuracy of the wetlands delineation done by developer CCI Energy.

Visibility was the top concern amongst Mayor and City Council members this week, as they heard the latest updates on the potential offshore wind farm off the coast of Ocean City. Bluewater Wind came before the Mayor and Council this week in an effort to keep the community updated on the potential offshore wind park, one they hope will come to fruition no later than 2013. ...Council member Jim Hall questioned the stability of residents' energy bills, pointing out that only 10 percent of energy bills would be affected by wind energy. "We would still have 90 percent, at least, of fluctuation in our bills," he said.

By a 17-4 vote with three abstentions, board the 155-turbine project proposed by Spanish wind farm developer Iberdrola Renewables. It will be built on sites scattered across 15,000 acres between Saunemin and Odell. ...Supporters of the project have said the wind farm would be a financial boon for farmers who will rent space for the turbines and taxing bodies that collect property taxes. Dissenters have said the turbines will block other economic development around them and could reduce property values.

The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council announced it will conduct a public hearing 7 p.m. Aug. 6 at Central Washington University to examine a request to expand the acreage of the Wild Horse Wind Power Project and add 26 wind turbines to the wind farm located 17 miles east of Ellensburg.

Kittitas County commissioners have selected attorneys with a Wenatchee firm to provide land-use hearings examiner services that will begin when a contract with the firm is signed. ...The hearings examiner will conduct public hearings on subdivisions or plats, rezones when they are connected to a subdivision project, cluster plats, development agreements, planned unit developments, resorts and wind farms when they are proposed within the east-county wind resource zone. These hearings are now conducted by the county Planning Commission. The examiner will then make a recommendation to county commissioners who make the final decision on the proposals. The Planning Commission will continue to make recommendations on changes to the county comprehensive plan and land-use codes and on proposals from the three citizen advisory committees and rezones not connected to a subdivision.