If the installations are judged to benefit everyone because they improve stability, the cost might be spread among all ratepayers. But if Bonneville decides that they mainly benefit the wind generators because they never have to unplug their turbines, the agency could try to charge that industry. Either way, the agency will have to come up with a solution to "the cranky nature of wind."

North state opposition to a proposed high-voltage power line stretching from Lassen County to the San Francisco Bay area is still fully charged. The day after the biggest municipal utility among those planning the 600-mile Transmission Agency of Northern California (TANC) line pulled out of the project, those opposing it said their fight is long from over. ..."We deserve our meeting," Caldwell said. "TANC should not cancel our meeting because one entity pulled out."

According to the loyal opposition's attorneys, the proponents "slipshod" application was short on facts and long on "trust us" promises. Due to the major development status of the projected $150 million wind turbine field and a lack of information and time to digest it, the P&Zers voted to continue the hearing until Dec. 9.

Plans for a wind farm in northern New Mexico hit some turbulence Tuesday as the Taos County Planning Commission postponed a decision in the face of local resistance. The Taos News reports that it was standing room only at the commission meeting Tuesday night where a proposal by Taos Wind Power to install 65 wind turbines outside Tres Piedras was to be voted on. The company, represented by attorney Eliu Romero, needs a variance to put up the towers, each of which is 284 feet high.

Town Supervisor Tyler Sawyer said the company was looking at a site on the west side of Grafton Lakes State Park at the end of Agan Way on land owned by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "We told them there are still a lot of environmental issues to sort through, but we have to be looking at alternative energy sources these days," Tyler said.

The Land and Environment Court has rejected an appeal against a wind farm development in the southern New South Wales village of Taralga. Handing down the judgement this morning, the chief judge of the court, Justice Preston, said a wind farm was a difficult concept for some people to accept. "The insertion of wind turbines into a non-industrial landscape is perceived by many as a radical change which confronts their present reality," Justice Preston said in his ruling. "However, those perceptions come in differing hues. To residents, such as members of Taralga Landscape Guardians Inc (the Guardians), the change is stark and negative. It would represent a blight and the confrontation is with their enjoyment of their rural setting." "To others, however, the change is positive. It would represent an opportunity to shift from societal dependence on high emission fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. For them, the confrontation is beneficial – being one much needed step in policy settings confronting carbon emissions and global warming." "Resolving this conundrum - the conflict between the geographically narrower concerns of the Guardians and the broader public good of increasing the supply of renewable energy - has not been easy," he said. However, I have concluded that, on balance, the broader public good must prevail." RES Southern Cross plans to build 62 wind turbines near the village of Taralga. It was originally to be 69, but the company failed to secure the consent of the landowner where the turbines would have been placed.

Fledgling power generator New Zealand Windfarms has confirmed a joint venture with two Australian partners for what it hopes will become a 97 turbine project in the northern Tararua Ranges.

A $3 billion Australian finance company, Allco, says its New Zealand subsidiary is considering whether to appeal against constraints on its proposed windfarm in the Tararuas. Allco Wind Energy NZ (AWE) was last night granted approval to build a windfarm in the Tararua Ranges on the overlap of the Manawatu and Horowhenua districts, but on a much smaller scale than it had hoped. The company's technical director, Bernhard Voll, said today that it was looking at the details of the decision and considering whether to appeal the resource consent granted for just 75 of the 127 turbines it had sought.

Half-a-billion dollars worth of wind farm projects in south-west Victoria have been shelved because of a delay in the introduction of a renewable energy target. Pacific Hydro says the Federal Government must introduce the target before it can build 100 new turbines near Portland and Ararat.

Officials in Colleyville and Southlake have heard from residents interested in installing turbines on their property to reduce their electric bills and carbon footprints. Both cities are now looking at ways to regulate the structures before they begin transforming neighborhood landscapes. ...The turbines typically cost $9,000 to $15,000 to purchase and install - money that may take 15 years or more to get back through energy savings, according to several turbine dealers.

A new assessment group says Tasmania's wind farms are not as controversial as the ones interstate. The Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT) and the Australian Wind Energy Association (AusWEA) are working together to create a national plan for wind farm development. The coalition will assess the impact of wind farms on the landscape and community attitudes about the infrastructure. Study team director Mike Scott says Tasmanian wind farms are not a politically charged issue. "Farms that you have at the moment have been located in areas that aren't highly publicly accessible," he said. "That's probably the reason why they haven't become a hot issue so far."

Teton Wind recently filed an application with the BLM for a second-phase expansion of its county-permitted, 36-turbine White Mountain Wind Energy Project. White Mountain is a popular scenic recreation area that lies northwest of Rock Springs and north and east of the city of Green River, just north of Interstate 80. The project would be located on approximately 13,140 acres of federal, state and private lands on White Mountain.

Responding to counties and towns that are restricting development of small wind farms, one lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that would call for similar standards to be enacted for wind turbines across Wisconsin. The proposed bill was among the initiatives recommended by the state's Task Force on Global Warming. ... Local ordinances that restrict wind power could make it harder to reach the goal, required by state law, for Wisconsin to generate 10% of its power from renewable energy by 2015, the task force said.

There was never a mandate for the task force to examine the relative merits of wind power development in Maine. Instead, members started from the assumption that wind power should be developed in Maine, and the sooner, the better. "We felt we were in somewhat of a race with other states and Canadian providers" to build wind energy generation, said Sen. Phil Bartlett, D-Gorham, a task force member and co-chairman of the Legislature's Utilities and Energy Committee.

Prior to a December 18 Town Council meeting devoted to the Deepwater Wind wind farm project, members of the Electric Utility Task Group met with New Shoreham Town Council members to address their questions around projected future costs for maintenance and decommissioning of the farm, perceived island benefits once the system is in place, and environmental considerations.

A new task force wants to know if Cuyahoga County's energy future is blowing in the wind. The county commissioners this week appointed a 17-member body to craft an alternative-energy policy that will focus initially on the promise of wind power.

Specifically, the Task Force on Wind Energy has been asked to consider reforming the state's eminent domain laws, but only as they pertain to electrical "collector" lines -- those lines needed to connect wind farms to major intrastate and interstate transmission lines. The challenge also forces lawmakers to delve into the complexities of interrupted viewsheds that are both public and private.

Once the pats on the back subsided Thursday, the people involved in crafting a law pushing Minnesota to the nation’s renewable-energy forefront took stock of the task ahead. By the time today’s newborns reach adulthood, utilities must generate a quarter of the state’s electricity from sources like the wind, sun, running water and burned manure. Only about 5 percent of Minnesota’s present power would meet the standard. If the entire burden fell to wind, for instance, it would mean 3,000 additional turbines jutting out of the Minnesota prairie.

The Tasmanian Greens today said the deaths of a breeding pair of Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagles, a critically endangered species, at the Roaring Forties Woolnorth Bluff Point wind farm during the last fortnight, is deeply disturbing. They have called on the responsible Minister to investigate the deaths and ensure the public are informed of the outcome of that investigation.

Long standing plans for a major Tasmanian wind farm have been revived, thanks to the increase in Australia's renewable energy target. ..."The Rudd Government's policy was to bring in a 20 per cent renewable energy requirement by 2020" he said.