Wyoming is working to prevent low-flying aviators from crashing into the hundreds of towers that wind-energy speculators have erected to measure development potential. ...This spring, the state began requiring all new met towers over 50 feet tall, or those that change ownership or lease, to be marked so they're visible in daylight.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District's withdrawal this week from a major Northern California power-transmission project complicates its transition to renewable energy. SMUD planners foresaw using the new high-voltage lines to carry power to Sacramento from new wind, solar and geothermal energy projects envisioned for Lassen County and northwestern Nevada. SMUD cited financial uncertainties for the pullout.

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."

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to grant no more extensions to NYRI, a group of investors who want to build an electrical transmission line from Oneida to Orange counties. In April, New York Regional Interconnect Inc. withdrew its application to the state's Public Service Commission to build a $2.1 billion power line ...NYRI has asked FERC to review its case, trying to keep the project alive.

One of the largest public works projects in the West - 600 miles of high-voltage power lines through Northern California - is on life support after its biggest player abruptly pulled the plug. A magnet for opposition from both owners of properties the transmission lines would cross and environmental activists, the project was promoted as vital to the region's clean-energy future.

The Kakanui Mountains in North Otago are being investigated by a new company for a wind farm to generate electricity. Waitaki Wind, set up recently by former Meridian Energy Ltd chief executive Keith Turner and former Waitaki mayor Alan McLay, is negotiating with landowners on the Kakanui Mountains to get access to start monitoring, according to evidence at the Environment Court yesterday.

Talk about a bad Internet connection. Operators and engineers at a wind turbine off Interstate 55 near Farmersville said Thursday they hope the blades are turning for good after a weeklong shutdown caused by an interruption of high-speed Internet connections, among other problems. ...A faulty generator wire had been repaired Thursday, and adjustments also were being made to equipment that protects the turbine from lightning.

Ever since the passage of Ohio Senate Bill 221 in May of 2008, which requires all utility companies to purchase a portion of their energy from renewable sources, Ohio has been opened up as a new market for wind energy developers. Tuesday night at ONU, JW Great Lakes Wind LLC held a public meeting to discuss their development of a wind farm west of Dola.

The installation of a massive wind turbine atop Grouse Mountain has been delayed after the lifting device intended to carry the blades -- a kind of giant sling -- did not perform well in tests on Thursday.

Wind turbine makers around the world reported 50 percent fewer orders in the first half of 2009 than a year earlier and the market won’t improve until the last three months of the year, an industry consultant said. Manufacturers have made “widespread” job cuts and prices for turbines in Europe and the U.S. have fallen 5 to 25 percent in the same period.

Construction work on a windmill as tall as a 20-storey building on the peak of Grouse Mountain was halted Friday because of safety concerns about lifting the massive blades. A Skycrane helicopter was expected to lift the three 37-metre-long blades up to the mountain ski resort from a barge.

A controversial power transmission line project faces a major setback. ...Thursday night, Action News learned that a major participant in the project has pulled out. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has withdrawn from the $1.5 billion dollar project. SMUD was expected to fund a large share of the project.

A controversial wind farm near Yarm has been approved at the second time of asking. Stockton Council's planning committee gave the green light yesterday for three 125-metre wind turbines to be built on land between Seamer and Hilton.

Renewables trade body the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) said that offshore wind farm construction had gathered pace, matching that of onshore projects for the first time. "But this progress has been accompanied by a sharp increase in capital costs which is a concern for continuation of that success story.

Six hundred miles of high-voltage power lines would mar farms and country homes simply because that's cheaper than a less disruptive option, a Stanislaus County leader charged Tuesday. A claim of pursuing renewable energy options "is just a front to sell power up and down California," Supervisor Bill O'Brien told energy officials, prompting vigorous applause from landowners upset at the proposal at a county Board of Supervisors meeting.

A newly formed alliance of landowners in southeast Wyoming says its has more than 6,000 megawatts of wind energy resources, but not enough power line transmission to finalize deals with developers. ...The alliance went before the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority board last week to advocate that more electrical transmission capacity be made available to independent generators.

A Canadian energy company and an arm of the U.S. Energy Department are working on a deal to complete financing for a proposed Montana-Alberta power line that would span 214 miles and carry power from the region's emerging wind industry, officials said Tuesday.

Members of the Alternative Energy Initiative Committee are disappointed that town meeting voters rejected a request for $55,000 to study possible sites for wind energy. ...The request was for up to $55,000 to study two places believed to have enough wind velocity to harness energy.

Town council has scheduled a public meeting on genGrowth's application for the South Side Wind Farm but area residents have not waited to once again voice their concerns. A number of residents turned out Monday night with two delegations appearing before town council expressing opposition to the genGrowth proposal.

Two wind-testing towers came down this week after Taos County threatened to prosecute Taos Wind Power if it did not remove them. One located on private property approximately 8.2 miles southeast of Tres Piedras and another 3.5 miles north of Tres Piedras, the towers were approved by the county Dec. 4, 2007.