Parts for New Hampshire's first commercial wind farm are arriving by truck and train. The 400-foot-tall turbines will be built on a ridge on Lempster Mountain in Lempster ...The parts that sit atop the 12 towers and hold the turbine blades weigh 64 tons each.

Alliant Energy is using the rail yard as a staging point for moving the large wind-tower components from rail to truck for the final leg of a trip that started in Europe. ...Wisconsin Power & Light, a subsidiary of Alliant, is building a 41-tower wind farm in the towns of Eden and Empire, southeast of Fond du Lac. Scott Reigstad, a spokesman for Alliant, said it will be the company's first fully owned and operated wind farm. The 41 wind generators have capacity to produce 68 megawatts of electricity.

The farm would be located in Unorganized Territory at a decommissioned U.S. Air Force radar site nearly ten miles north of Columbia Falls amid a web of dirt roads, blueberry barrens and cranberry bogs. The tribe already owns 1,060 acres of blueberry barrens adjacent to the 1,000 acres that the U.S. General Services Administration is offering for sale.

We asked Governor Romney if he would consider letting the next governor rule on Cape Wind should this amendment pass, allowing the issue to be debated during the governor's race. He said no. If he gets the power to do so, he plans to make a decision before he leaves office next January.

In years past, environmental and aesthetic concerns have topped the list of objections to the wind farm, but increasingly opponents are challenging the costs of the array. ...an NStar officer, in testimony to the DPU, had said the price suppression effect had already been taken into account in figures that showed $4 billion in excess costs to consumers stemming from operation of the wind farm.

Today, only a couple of small mining areas in the county still are listed as active by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' Office of Mines and Minerals. It's the mines no longer in use, however, that have the attention of future energy providers. ...The problems that can occur when building over a mine exist in a few places in southern Vermilion County. ...and the ground underneath has sunk.

Gov. George Pataki is expected tomorrow to sign legislation that would throw up a major obstacle to a huge power transmission line proposed from central New York to Orange County, according to sources.

Officials announced this week that construction of the Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline, also known as PATH, will now be completed by June 2014. The deadline is nearly two years later than one suggested when the project was initially discussed. "The economy is really the main driver," Doug Colafella, a spokesperson for Alleghany Energy, said of the delay.

Upstate NY Power Corp. will soon apply for a state certificate for a greatly revised transmission line to connect the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm to the state grid. Upstate NY Power ran a public notice in the Watertown Daily Times on Monday, a required step before submitting an application for a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need from the state Public Service Commission. The notice said the application would be filed on or around Dec. 31.

Several hurdles remain regarding the proposed St. Lawrence and Cape Vincent wind farms and their future connection to the regional electrical system. One of them is a route to the grid. Acciona Energy North America, developer of St. Lawrence Wind Farm, has taken the lead on a possible route that would follow the abandoned New York Central Railroad corridor. But that corridor also contains the regional water line operated by the Development Authority of the North Country.

According to a survey in Patrick County, 73.3 percent of responders support a permanent ban on tall structures in the county, a ban that may be put into place next month. About 14,500 real estate tax bills were sent out in September along with the survey questions, according to officials at the Patrick County administrator’s office. The Patrick County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in September to approve a new ordinance that “prohibits the erection of structures over 100 feet tall,” thus keeping wind turbines from being built in the county for at least six months.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick reaffirmed his support for what he called the “complicated” Cape Wind energy project yesterday, saying he wants to create jobs in the Bay State by encouraging growth of the clean-energy industry.

The administration of Governor Deval Patrick ...said yesterday that it would be a mistake for President Obama to grant US Senator Paul G. Kirk Jr.'s request to delay federal approval of the Cape Wind project. In a letter to Obama earlier this month, Kirk, who has largely shied away from divisive issues during his two months in office, urged the Obama administration to hold off on a decision until a federal panel can devise comprehensive guidelines for development in the nation's waters. But officials from the Patrick administration said the governor strongly disagrees with Kirk's request and urges quick approval.

It was one of Deval L. Patrick’s more memorable claims during his campaign: If the state could develop new industries based around advances in alternative energy, “the whole world would be our customer.” Now as he structures a new administration and its agenda before taking office next month, the governor-elect is facing the task of translating his big idea into green kilowatts and jobs, turning energy crises into economic opportunity.

Audra Parker, director of strategic planning of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, said the controversy surrounding Cape Wind "shows that public involvement in siting is essential." In the absence of that, Parker said, sites are chosen by developers motivated solely by profit. Parker said the Alliance suggests four recommendations to Patrick -- take a closer look at alternative sites for Cape Wind, establish publicly-owned renewable energy projects, designate certain areas off-limits to offshore wind turbines and aggressively pursue deep-water projects.

"Wind energy is a part of the agenda and should be, but it's not a central part of the agenda," he said ...The blustery winds around Cape Cod and the Islands have drawn the state's attention as Patrick looks to renewable energy projects to create jobs, combat climate change and stabilize electricity rates.

Wind power developer Patriot Renewables, which plans to build towers in Woodstock, has offered to make an additional, one-time payment of $80,000 to the town as part of a "tangible benefits" package agreement. Patriot has applied to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to place 11 towers on Spruce Mountain.

Opposition to the project was intensified because Molokai Ranch, which has a history of tension with the community, was supporting Pattern Energy. "Personally, I don't think this project will go forward if Molokai Ranch has any part of it," Karen Holt, executive director of the Molokai Community Service Council, told PBN.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty wants Minnesotans to draw a quarter of their power from renewable sources by 2025, and he suggested the state punish utilities that fall short. Pawlenty sketched out his energy goal Tuesday in a speech to an agriculture and energy summit and delved into more detail later at a legislative session preview forum organized by The Associated Press. “We intend for it to have teeth in the form of financial penalties,” Pawlenty said. Without getting specific, he said he wants the fines to be “significant.”

At the turbine's current rate of power production, it would take the county 33.70 years to recover its $201,924 investment ..."We needed to get a payback in 25 years because that was the expected life of the unit," Commission Chairman Joe Briggs said. The turbine currently is idle because of a parts malfunction, which isn't helping matters.