Demonstrations will show the strength of feeling against the growth in the number and size of windfarms coming to Mid Wales and the massive turbines that will be brought through the centre of the town on their way to sites. Planning the demonstrations began on Wednesday night when the town council's planning and development committee opened its meeting to the public.

Australia's electricity is about to be greened-up big time - but not without a fight first. Laws to ensure that a fifth of energy comes from renewable sources by 2020 have been tabled in federal parliament. ...Power prices will rise to pay for the Renewable Energy Target (RET), which will be a huge boon to wind, solar and geothermal power. But there's a hurdle to be cleared: whether big polluters should be largely exempted from paying for it.

A group of Pacific Northwest and California power companies has joined utilities from the Southeast and other regions to oppose widespread cost-sharing for transmission expansion to carry wind and solar power to distant markets. A letter from 14 power companies and organizations in the Northwest, sent Feb. 19 to Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), calls for developers and customers of new renewable power to pay for transmission connecting their projects to customers.

HOW long will it be before a big wind farm is built in Cambridge- shire - and where will it be? In recent months the county has become a battleground between residents and developers keen to put up turbines in rural locations, and the war is heating up.

Even Canada's leading promoter of wind power admits that the industry has to learn from its critics and work with them. Sean Whittaker, policy director of the Canadian Wind Energy Association of Ottawa, says public concerns can be expected with any new technology. "Their concerns are definitely legitimate and something we have to take seriously," Mr. Whittaker said recently in Halifax. ... Ms. Betts and 450 other members of the Gulf Shore Preservation Association oppose a developer's plan to build 20 to 27 large wind turbines in the area. Last summer, Ms. Murray wrote a commentary in The Chronicle Herald, saying many people want to build their "dream home" in the area. A wind farm would be catastrophic, she said. Ms. Murray said she supports the idea of wind-generated electricity but opposes the location of the turbines in an area close to where people live and said there are too many unanswered questions concerning the effects of noise, vibration and shadow flicker.

The Upland Landscape Protection Society yesterday was the first group to officially lodge an appeal against Meridian Energy's Project Hayes with the Environment Court. Meridian was given resource consent to build its 176-turbine windfarm this month. Project Hayes, a $1.5 billion development, is proposed to be built south of Ranfurly on the Lammermoor Range, about 70km north-west of Dunedin, and be capable of generating 630MW of power. Yesterday, society chairman Richard Reeve said the group's appeal was on the basis it felt the wind farm was a grossly inadequate industrial development proposed for an outstanding natural landscape.

The controversial proposal could create more than 80 temporary jobs during the construction phase, along with a handful of permanent jobs. It could also add as much as $1.26 million to the region's economy, but opponents have raised concern with the safety of the project, and argued the proposed turbines are too close to homes in the project's footprint.

Fast food giant McDonald's has sparked protests by bidding to build a wind turbine next to one of its restaurants ...The energy firm that is working with McDonald's on the project said it would "broadcast a positive environmental message to the local community". But residents and community leaders have accused McDonald's of using the scheme to maximise publicity - and say that having a wind turbine at a drive-through restaurant sends out conflicting signals on the environment.

NorthWestern Energy's Mountain States Transmission Intertie would carry 1,500 megawatts, much of it wind power, from central Montana to Midpoint, Idaho. But to do it, the 500-kilovolt line, known as MSTI, must cross a 430-mile mishmash of lands owned by residents, ranchers, farmers, counties, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Energy Department. The proposal has stirred a fierce debate in the state.

Most New Yorkers could care less about a ruling that an administrative law judge could make on the Iberdrola-Energy East merger as early as Friday. But the decision could have huge implications for upstate New Yorkers and their energy usage. ...Staff at the department, who provide guidance and recommendations to the five-person Public Service Commission that must ultimately approve or deny the merger, have argued that the deal does not provide the public with enough benefits and that it could cause disruption to the state's wholesale electric market. Agency staff believe Iberdrola will hold too much sway over the state's wholesale electric market if it owns a substantial amount of generation in the state, which is why the company has been pushed to sell Energy East's power plants and divest itself of its wind business in New York.

The fight over whether Brown County should be home to Wisconsin's largest wind farm continues as state regulators debate rules over such energy-producing facilities. "Our purpose is to give our towns a voice," said Steve Deslauriers, who lives in the town of Holland. He also is a member of the Brown County Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy, a volunteer group fighting the proposed widespread installation of turbines.

A fight over renewable energy and biofuels led to a temporary shutdown of Pennsylvania's state government and, despite a compromise being reached, the opponents will resume battle in September. At issue is Governor Edward Rendell's energy independence strategy to promote renewables, energy conservation and biofuels. The Democratic governor hoped to fund an $850 million effort through a surcharge of 0.05 cents/kWh on utility bills, but Republican Senate leaders who oppose taxes resisted the idea. They also objected to measures requiring utilities to opt for conservation and renewables when customer load grows. And they opposed requiring utilities to install 'smart' meters that allow customers to see time-of-day prices and cut usage accordingly.

Travelers headed north on Highway 52 near Zumbrota will have noticed a new billboard this week. It depicts Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens holding a bag of money as a grinning Gov. Tim Pawlenty stands by. ...It’s part of an ongoing debate over who ultimately benefits from the 78 MW, 12,000-acre wind project proposed by Goodhue Wind.

ALBANY — To some upstate residents, massive windmills are "a blight on the landscape." To environmentalists and energy companies, they are a low-cost energy source that can reduce society's dependence on oil and gas.

Many utilities, environmental groups and lawmakers from both parties are cheering the news that the PTC was extended by one year as part of the fiscal cliff deal. But the bruising fight over the last year doesn't bode well for the sector as it must now agree on how to ramp down the tax subsidy that was first created 21 years ago.

Furious residents fighting plans to put the region's first wind farm in Cannock Chase have set up a core group of campaigners to draw up their battle plan.

Daventry District councillors voted to refuse plans submitted by electricity firm E.ON to build several wind turbines close to the Battle of Naseby site on Wednesday night, after planning officers recommended it should be rejected. Numerous bodies voiced serious concerns or objected to the plans.

A COUNCIL has conceded defeat in its battle against a large wind farm in Essex - after being advised there would be insufficient grounds for an appeal to the High Court. Energy giant Npower's plan for 10 turbines close to Bradwell-on-Sea had been rejected by Maldon District Council in a bid to protect the "peace and tranquillity" of the surrounding area. But the company took the case to a public inquiry and it was announced last month its appeal had been successful. ...Frank Delderfield , chairman of the planning and licensing committee at the council, said: "This is the end of the road for any challenge to the wind farm application from Maldon District Council.

A hearing before the State Corporation Commission, which would have examined the wind farm's encroachment on a nearby Civil War battlefield, has been postponed indefinitely. The delay was requested by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, which in August complained that Highland New Wind Development had failed to consult with the agency about the project's effect on the Camp Allegheny battlefield.

But without the mandate, wind power would be at a severe disadvantage against an energy grid designed around coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants that were bought and paid for decades ago, industry experts said. Thomas Casten, chairman of Recycled Energy Development, said that without the renewables mandate "we wouldn't have any wind here because it can't compete with a dirty old coal plant." Even with the mandates, not everyone considers wind the optimal choice in limiting greenhouse gas emissions.