Purchasing wind turbines seems to be the popular move for campuses across Minnesota. Following in Macalester’s footsteps, Carleton and St. Olaf built 1.65 Megawatt turbines on their campus properties in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Macalester installed an urban wind turbine on campus April 23, 2003. In the next few weeks, David Wheaton, Vice President for Administration and Finance, will decide whether Macalester will purchase a second wind turbine that would be located in Stevens County, in western Minnesota.

The largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere will be built in south-western Victoria, with backers claiming it will generate enough power to run more than 220,000 homes.

Macedon Ranges Shire Council says it is yet to form an opinion on the development of wind farms in the municipality. The council is drawing up a wind farm policy and will seek public comment soon.

EAGLE HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Miscommunications may have helped to widen a potentially irreparable rift this week between Keweenaw County officials and Lowell, Mich.-based Mackinaw Power, LLC. The county has been in contract negotiations with the power company regarding possible wind turbine use on the north face of Mt. Horace Greeley in Eagle Harbor Township.

Lisa MacLeod, the incumbent for the riding, told the Citizen editorial board that her stand was not only because of her constituents' adamant opposition to the project, but stemmed also from a fundamental objection to Liberal clean energy plan, which she claimed was contributing to high hydro rates in the province.

Jeanette Dodds still believes Macon County's wind energy ordinance contains inadequate setbacks from homes to protect citizens from wind turbines. After failing to persuade county board members before they revised the ordinance May 13, Dodds raised concerns about potential noise pollution at the board's next meeting June 10.

"The greatest hurdle we have in the wind business is getting people to be able to be comfortable with it," says Randy Male, a senior wind developer at Citizens Wind who heads up the company's East Coast development activities. ...If the people of Waitsfield don't want the turbines, Male says, then Citizens Wind doesn't want Waitsfield.

Farmers and landowners should be aware that changes in the way green electricity will be funded mean there is currently strong demand for wind farm sites. The current system, that beefs up the income from onshore wind farm sites by up to 50%, is due to be changed in 2010 or soon after to favour offshore wind farms as they are considered more acceptable to the public rather than on shore ones. "Wind farm companies are going hell for leather to find onshore sites and agree terms with landowners during 2007," notes head of Fisher German's renewables team Mark Newton. "It's a lengthy planning process to get a site approved which normally takes three to five years, and they need to get a project agreed and built before the system changes. Otherwise the site will not be as profitable for the landowner and the wind farm company."

"We wanted to be upfront and clear with E-on on the roads to be used during construction," Madison County Commissioner John Richwine said. "The roads are clearly marked, which are to be used for wind farm traffic and which are not."

The wind energy race is on in Madison County. Three companies are vying to put up towers to test the wind near Norris Hill, a first step toward building wind farms. But although the county is strongly supportive of developing wind energy, commissioners this week unanimously denied two requests to waive an ordinance requiring local, state and federal agencies to sign off on towers higher than 100 feet.

Supervisors say chairman conducted backdoor negotiations. Members of the Madison County Board of Supervisors are up in arms over what they say amounted to covert efforts by Chairman Rocco J. DiVeronica and others to grab a piece of the pie in a windmill project underway in the towns of Stockbridge, Madison, Eaton and neighboring Oneida County’s town of Augusta.

At a Special Meeting of the Madison Town Council, with about 75 members of the public in attendance, Councilmen Bradley Dixon, James Lundrigan, and Gregory Reuter, and Town Supervisor Ron Bono voted unanimously to adopt a resolution enacting Local Law #2 of 2012, Town of Madison Moratorium on Wind Power Facilities Law.

The Madison Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to impose a six-month moratorium on the construction of any wind turbines in the township.

Police in Italy have seized Mafia-linked assets worth $1.9 billion – the biggest mob haul ever – in an operation revealing that the crime group was trying to "go green" by laundering money through alternative energy companies. ...Investigators said Nicastri's companies ran numerous wind farms as well as factories that produced solar energy panels.

It is not just Italian criminals, however, who have spotted the potential for corruption. Recent research by Kroll, the international corporate security firm, has discovered examples all over Europe of so-called "clean energy" schemes being used to to line criminals' pockets rather than save the planet. Some involve windmills that stand derelict or are simply never built, while others are used to launder profits from other crime enterprises.

In Italy, power from wind farms is sold at a guaranteed rate of €180 ($253) per kilowatt hour - the highest in the world. ...Nicola Angelo, a Sicilian businessman, said: ''Why get up early every morning to work the land, and run the risk of not being able to sell your crops for a good price, when you can sit at home and take €10,000 a year in rent?''

Italian finance police have arrested two prominent businessmen - including one with ties to a former investor in the Cape Wind project in Nantucket - in the wind energy sector on charges of fraud, reports the Financial Times. Arrested were Oreste Vigorito, head of the IVPC energy company and president of Italy's National Association of Wind Energy, and Vito Nicastri, a Sicilian business associate, according to the article. According to the European Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, Oreste Vigorito has ties to Brian Caffyn, a former investor in the Cape Wind project, which has been criticized as a poor investment for taxpayers, reports Dakota Voice.

Senator Costantino Garraffa, of the parliamentary anti-Mafia committee, said the Mafia was trying to break into the "new economy" of alternative energy as it sought to launder money earned from crime. The seizure of Mr Nicastri's assets "confirms the interest that organised crime has in renewable energy.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has demoted David Parrish as Magic Valley regional supervisor a month after he publicly criticized an estimated $500 million wind project south of Twin Falls. Parrish's comments prompted a high-ranking legislator to contact Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and express concern that Parrish had violated the governor's office's media policy. Fish and Game announced the demotion Monday to state employees - but did not do so publicly.

A Mahanoy Township supervisor is asking Schuylkill County commissioners for help in finding out how to get tax revenue from a wind farm. Supervisor Vice Chairman James Stevens on Wednesday told commissioners the county, township and Mahanoy Area School District have seen no tax revenue from Green Energy Products Inc., which began operating in November 2006.