Exelon Corp. is using its clout in Springfield to fight the Illinois wind energy industry - and winning. Opposition by the Chicago-based nuclear power giant has killed legislation to extend an expiring state law that gives preference to Illinois green energy projects as part of the state's push to purchase more electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar.

Carkulis said he decided to halt the projects after it became clear Exergy would not get them done by the end of the year, which the company had to do to obtain an up-front payment of a federal investment-tax credit that is due to expire Dec. 31.

Wind energy developer Enertrag hosted a public exhibition on Wednesday on its plans to build three 140m high turbines at Tivetshall St Mary. ...Enertrag said it was pleased with a turnout of about 80 local people and said they received a mix of views. Visitor and Tivetshall St Mary villager Ian Henson, who is a member of the Tivetshall Action Group, opposing the development, said: "I would still be concerned about the health issues, being so close to residential properties.

In an attempt to protect the moor the society has called for National Park status to be extended at the south west corner towards Brayford, Molland and West Anstey which are all in an area referred to as Greater Exmoor. The report states: "Protecting the landscape is a major concern." Recent proposals for a series of windfarms in the area surrounding Knowstone have caused particular unrest.

The power firm behind a plan to build nine 360ft-high turbines on the fringes of Exmoor has begun to outline its proposals to people living in the area. The firm npower renewables submitted an application to build the turbines at Batsworthy Cross last week and over the coming week will be delivering newsletters to 4,500 homes in the area to explain the details. The four-page document contains a photomontage of how the proposals could look.

Setbacks for wind turbines should be as much as twice the current 550 metres to avoid affecting so many people, Grey Bruce medical office of health Dr. Hazel Lynn said Tuesday. ..."we should have longer setbacks, and if you can't have longer setbacks, well, then maybe we shouldn't be having them (more wind turbine developments) right now."

People who want a 360-square-mile expansion of a proposed east-county wind farm zone made their point Monday that the zone will only be effective if it is expanded along the east-west high-voltage power-line corridor across the county. Their comments came during a hearing examining recommended changes in the county's development code, which includes zoning designations and related rules. Some are opposed to expanding the county-proposed wind farm zone saying it takes in rural residential homes and future home sites. County commissioners earlier proposed establishing a 500-square-mile zone on the county's east end, along the Columbia River, that would be pre-identified as an area compatible for wind farm development.

Wind could replace coal and natural gas for 20 to 30 percent of the electricity used in the eastern two-thirds of the United States by 2024, according to a study released Wednesday by the Energy Department. But doing so would require a reorganization of the power grid and a significant increase in costs. And it would have only a modest impact on cutting emissions linked to global warming, the study found.

The prospect of thousands of endangered bats flying to their deaths in West Virginia wind turbines soon could get consideration in federal court because of Judy Rodd. The 63-year-old is the president of Friends of Blackwater Canyon, which recently joined 10 other groups in filing a "notice of intent" with the Fish and Wildlife Service to sue a wind company on Endangered Species Act grounds. The organizations warned of potential turbine kills of the Indiana bat, Virginia big-eared bat and Virginia northern flying squirrel. "Yes, we're concerned about climate change," said Rodd in a phone interview. "But that doesn't mean they can't build the turbines somewhere else and let the bats live."

Whether turbines should be in the Flint Hills - and it appears they mostly will not be - is part of the dialogue over how best to leverage the sprawling, environmentally sensitive tallgrass prairie that Brownback has called "an ecological jewel."

Madison, Wis.-based RMT Inc. says it laid off some workers and reassigned others because of the delay.

STREATOR - An energy company based in Portland, Ore., wants to build 375 wind turbines in LaSalle and Livingston counties. PPM Energy Inc. representatives discussed the proposed Streator-Cayuga Ridge wind farm at Wednesday's City Council meeting. City Manager Paul Nicholson said the council must decide whether to extend the city enterprise zone, which will provide PPM Energy with a sales tax exemption in Streator on materials needed for construction. Nicholson said that if the proposal is approved, the city would receive compensation as well. Nicholson said agreement may be reached in time for the council's July 18 meeting.

The energizing of a new transmission line from the Bruce Peninsula to Milton will only lead to more surplus power in Ontario being sold at a loss, Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli charged today. "This line will accommodate more expensive wind power energy that we don't need on the grid," Fedeli said.

"It's not new blades," said Baker. "They're applying these serrations to the trailing edge of the blades. They look like sharks teeth. We're going to have the meanest looking turbines on the East Coast." Baker said the Vinalhaven installation is only the third application of the LNTE system, worldwide.

Nevil Hegley, of Hegley Acoustics, was called to give further evidence in rebuttal of submissions made by project opponent Sean Cox and spent much of his 90-minute address discrediting Mr Cox's statements. He concluded there was no valid noise-related reason to decline the application. "You will never hear the turbines under any conditions in Raglan," he said under questioning from the commissioners. However, his assurance didn't impress opposing submitters.

An environmental expert from Rockefeller University in New York says renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and biomass are environmentally destructive.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy released $1 million to measure how fast, on average, the wind blows coming off the river. The measurement is part of the Wyandotte Green Windpower on Brownfields Project, an initiative through which wind turbines could be installed on contaminated property.

"Despite important announcements on new wind and biomass capacity in recent weeks, it is still not clear if Scotland will meet its target for 50% electricity consumed coming from renewable sources by 2020 and if we do hit the target, we need to know what this will mean in terms of costs. "The growth of renewables brings huge opportunities for Scotland, but there are massive barriers ...Equally, there are questions that need answered about the cost and reliability of wind power and the likely contribution from wave and tidal power before 2020."

A Government planning expert says the county is currently on course to achieve less than 20% of its target for generating electricity from renewable sources by next year. ...Now Government planning inspector David Cullingford says the actual working capacity is only likely to be about 40 megawatts - less than a fifth of the target set out in the emerging Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS).

John Constable, director of policy and research at the Renewable Energy Foundation, told a conference in Swaffham that the current mechanism is a very expensive way of reducing carbon emissions. He said lavish subsidies and high electricity prices have turned Britain's onshore windfarms into a moneyspinner, with a single turbine capable of generating £500,000 a year. According to industry figures, a typical 2 megawatt (2MW) turbine can now generate power worth £200,000 on the wholesale markets - plus another £300,000 of subsidy from taxpayers.