The German distributor E.ON admitted it caused the blackouts, by switching off a power cable across the River Ems to allow a cruise ship to pass. This meant areas to the west were left with a power deficit, while cables in the east were overloaded. Supplies cut out in Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Croatia and Italy. The EU's Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has called for the European Transmission System Operators (ETSO) to identify the problem urgently and ensure that such a blackout does not happen again.

Offshore wind farms cost significantly more to build and maintain than their onshore equivalent. And because they involve new and untested technology they also suffer from "first of a kind" costs. But the industry is confident that those costs will fall over time. It is difficult to compare the cost of electricity obtained from a wind farm rather than a conventional energy source like gas. This is because it involves assumptions about future construction costs, the cost of carbon emissions, and the cost of gas. However, right now offshore wind farms are significantly more expensive than thermal generation and require a government subsidy to make them economic.

Military and air ambulance objections could outweigh the green energy advantages of a proposed wind turbine at Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The turbine could save the hospital £20,000 a year on its electricity bill but there are fears it would interfere with radar equipment at RAF Marham and endanger landings on the helipad paid for by Lynn News readers. ...Defence Estates, part of the MoD, said: "Following trials in 2005, it was concluded that wind turbines can affect the detection of aircraft flying over or in the vicinity of wind turbines." The RAF could be unable to provide a full air traffic radar service in the area of the wind turbine.

Plans for an 80m wind turbine in the grounds of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn were thrown out by councillors this morning. Health chiefs devised the scheme with renewable energy company Ecotricity as the hospital attempts to become the first public sector organisation in the country to generate its own green energy. But an objection was received from the MoD which claimed the turbine would cause "unacceptable interference" to the air traffic control radar at nearby RAF Marham.

In its recommendation, the agency said wind farms should not be built within two kilometres of homes, citing a "growing body of evidence" that wind farm noise could have health effects, the report added.

The next meeting of the citizens’ group that has formed to combat the location of 79 massive turbines in northern Potter County will make its strongest case yet against the proposed industrial wind plant. That’s the word from Herb Miller, spokesman for Save God’s Country who calls the debate a “quality of life” issue. His organization will share its findings during a public meeting.

China is well on its way to generating more than three times its stated target and nearly 3 percent of its power from wind by 2020 - but only if the country's creaky distribution grid can keep pace with the expansion. Amid an investment boom fueled by rising coal prices and Beijing's drive for greener economic growth, China could have 100 gigawatts of wind power capacity by 2020, ten times its current capacity, experts and industry officials say. But for the moment, production from turbine makers and investment by remote generators is moving far swifter than the grid, whose frailty was underscored by a severe icy spell in January that took down power lines.

As for the notion of a 120-foot-high wind turbine at his car wash, he said: "This is a genuine lifestyle decision. I should be consistent." ...At a contentious planning board meeting this month, many of the nearly 100 people present were either wary or angry about the proposal. A handful of questions bubbled up from the crowd. Are there studies on whether the spinning blades will distract passing drivers? What if the turbine falls into the road? Could the blades kill birds? How loud will it be? Mr. Burke and his lawyer, Ken Sauter, conceded that the concerns were fair, but said they were unfounded and challenged the wording used by the planning board as it addressed potential noise pollution.

RURAL campaigners have accused a Government quango of encouraging “the industrialisation of the countryside” after failing to stand up to wind-farm developers. Natural England was set up by the Government a year ago with the aim of conserving and enhancing landscapes in rural areas, and has a £500m budget to help preserve countryside life across England. But the conservation body has come in for criticism from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which says the quango is turning its back on places, such as Northumberland, which are fighting plans to build wind farms in scenic locations. ...A spokesman for Natural England said: “We are committed to improving the environment and the aim of providing more renewable energy with the highest environmental standards. “But we will only support these developments in the appropriate place and with due consideration to their impact.

Members of the board of adjustment unanimously approved a special exemption allowance to Ulland Brothers. The company, which is based in Austin, Minn., wants to use rock from the quarry to build access roads for a nearby project to erect a wind turbines. ...Blasting and crushing can only take place from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Residents will be notified before blasting takes place. "A siren signal will sound before we start any blasting," said Valerie Raverty, aggregate manager for Ulland. "We don't foresee any problem with notifying people with phone calls, either."

Hugh Barr, spokesman for the Quartz Hill Reserve Charitable Trust, announced today that the Trust has appealed the decision of the Commissioners of the Wellington City and Regional Councils, on Meridian Energy’s 70 turbine “West Wind” windfarm at Makara.

Supervisors finalized the county's strictest wind turbine ordinance during a public meeting on Thursday attended by residents and a wind energy representative. Jeffrey Rinehart, project manager for Horizon Wind Energy, said the ordinance would affect the company's plan to build the largest wind farm in the county, some 42 turbines, in the northern part of the township. "As far as we're concerned, it's pretty tight," Rinehart said. "We have to go back and see how it impacts the useable property."

Supervisors put more than a year of work and discussion behind them by agreeing to a proposed wind turbine ordinance during Monday's meeting. The proposal goes beyond county code by imposing noise limits and extending the distance a turbine must be placed from property lines. Quemahoning will require developers to keep the nearest unit a minimum of four times the height of the turbine from the property line of a non-participating landowner. That equates to a little over 1,600 feet for a standard 2.1-megawatt turbine.

QUEBEC - The nationalization of Quebec's hydroelectric power in the 1960s was the crowning achievement of Rene Levesque, then a Liberal energy minister, who later became the first Parti Quebecois premier. More than 40 years later, some suggest the province should follow in his footstep and nationalize a booming new industry - wind power. Government-owned Hydro-Quebec has become a symbol of Quebec's pride and know-how and developed into the largest single electricity producer in North America. The utility has a virtual monopoly on the distribution of electricity in the province, most of it produced by its own dams. Quebec has been called the "Saudi Arabia of wind energy" and experts say it gives the province a bright future.

QUEBEC (CP) - The Quebec government has unveiled a new energy strategy that involves the construction of dams and investment of up to $25 billion.

Premier Jean Charest has asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper to make a case for hydroelectricity when he meets with U.S. President Barack Obama Thursday. Mr. Charest talked with Mr. Harper on the phone Saturday ahead of Obama's visit to Ottawa and pressed him to raise the issue. "We have been working very hard for the past five years to develop the American market," Mr. Charest said Monday.

Ontario's recently implemented Green Energy Act is taking some of the wind out of Quebec's claim that it is the leading promoter of wind energy in Canada, a seminar on supply-chain opportunities in the sector heard yesterday. Last month, Ontario became the first jurisdiction in North America to have a so-called feed-in tariff, which pays producers of green energy - including solar and wind - a guaranteed premium for the power they produce.

The tribe was so doubtful about the Pattern Energy survey of the site's cultural resources that it sent in its own experts with trained forensic dogs who did a quick and cursory survey and found an additional six burial/cremation sites, for a total of 12 cremation sites in this particular area, Escalanti says. The tribe still practices the sacred rite of cremation, as their tribal ancestors did before them, according to court documents. Escalanti says the tribe has asked to meet with the decision-makers.

Residents and supervisors are trying to find a wind turbine ordinance that both protects neighbors from unreasonable development and also minimizes township expense. During the Monday meeting, after discussion between supervisors, township solicitor James Yelovich and the board left open the timetable for enactment. However, the board was in agreement that something more than the current county regulations should be in place before serious township turbine development begins.

Over the last two years, researchers studied hundreds of bat carcasses found under wind turbines and dissected them to determine the cause of death. Supervised by U of C biology professor Robert Barclay, the researchers determined the majority of bats killed suffered from barotrauma­-- physical damage caused by a difference in pressure inside and outside the body. Barotraumas affect respiratory systems when air pressure suddenly drops, causing the lungs to over-expand. Only 10 per cent of bat deaths come from collisions with wind turbines.