The $150 million, 26-turbine Glen Innes Wind Farm project has been approved by the NSW Department of Planning, despite a campaign by some neighbours for a 2km setback and an ongoing State Parliament inquiry into rural wind farms. ...Due to "unacceptable visual and noise impacts" one of the 130m turbines was removed from the plan, Ms Keneally said.

Walter Wiersma considered introducing a photo of his children - 5-year-old Spencer and 3-year-old Rianna - into the written record of Wednesday's Public Service Commission of Wisconsin hearing to illustrate his opposition to electricity-generating wind turbines in northeast Columbia County. Wiersma, of Friesland, was one of many people at the standing-room-only hearings who said worries about the health effects, safety and noise from wind turbines, in a 17,300-acre area in the towns of Scott and Randolph, should lead the commission to reject the We Energies proposal for Glacier Hills Wind Park.

The Albany County Commission approved in its first meeting of the month on Tuesday part of a wind farm that will straddle the Albany County-Carbon County line. The commissioners approved a permit for 28 1.5-megawatt wind turbines for the North Rim Wind Energy Conversion System, which will be owned and operated by AES Wind Generation ...In addition to the permit for 28 turbines in Albany County, AES plans to install nine turbines on the Carbon County portion of the project for a total generating capacity of 55.5 megawatts of electricity.

Six California renewable energy facilities proposed by AES Corp. (AES), FPL Group Inc. (FPL), BrightSource Energy Inc. and Germany's Solar Millennium (S2M.XE) are being fast-tracked for government permits needed to start construction, a federal official said Thursday. Together, the renewable power plants would generate nearly 2,500 megawatts of electricity, and occupy more than 28,000 acres of land, said U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. ...To be eligible for federal stimulus funds renewable energy developers must begin construction by December 2010.

FALLAGO Rig wind farm developers appear to be optimistic of a positive outcome to the re-opened public inquiry into their planning application and have started pre-investigation work on site. Scottish Borders Council's planning department confirmed that they are "currently investigating allegations in respect to works commencing in advance of a determination in relation to the Fallago Rig Windfarm", local people describing how the heavy plant, toilets etc that had been on the site suddenly disappeared like 'Brigadoon'.

It might seem like federal regulators are fast-tracking the development of Nevada's first commercial wind farm. But the 160-megawatt Spring Valley Wind project has actually been in the works for over four years, as the developer gathered additional information sought by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). A private contractor is currently putting the finishing touches on the draft Environmental Assessment for the 66-turbine project, which would be located on BLM-administered lands between State Route 893 and U.S. Highway 50 as it veers north toward Sacramento Pass.

The Colorado State University Research Foundation announced Nov. 2 that it could not reach agreement with Wind Holding LLC on a path forward for development of the Maxwell Ranch wind farm. Given the expiration of the Oct. 31 deadline for Wind Holding to cure problems in its lease, the foundation has found the private company officially in default.

A proposed wind farm on Lowell Mountain will be the subject of a public meeting on Thursday night, November 5, at the Lowell school. The meeting, organized by the project's would-be developers, has no official status, and thus won't affect the permitting process the project would ultimately face, if the developers and the voters of Lowell agree to proceed.

Voters in the town of Lowell will get to decide whether they want a wind power development on the Lowell ridgeline. The Lowell Board of Selectmen will conduct a referendum by Australian ballot about Kingdom Community Wind at town meeting in March, board Chairman Richard Pion said Tuesday. And Green Mountain Power officials said Tuesday that they will abide by the will of the Lowell voters.

A group against a proposed Neebing wind farm is gaining momentum, and is now asking citizens to sign a petition to help fight the Horizon Energy Inc. plan. More than 200 people packed the large meeting room at the Nor'Wester Resort Hotel Tuesday evening. The crowd was led to the meeting by the newly formed group called the Nor'Wester Mountain Escarpment Protection Committee. ..."Wind turbines need to be placed far away from people," McGillivray concluded, adding that there is a need for more studies examining the potential health hazards of wind turbines. The presenters that followed McGillivray warned about the potential harm the project could have on tourism and the environment - a destruction of forestland and an increased fatality rate of certain animal species.

Harvard inked a deal yesterday to purchase 10 percent of annual electricity consumed on its Cambridge and Allston campuses from a leading wind provider in New England. This agreement, in which Harvard will acquire over 30 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy, slates the University to become the largest institutional buyer of wind power in the region, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. ...Harvard will purchase 50 percent of the energy produced from First Wind's soon-to-be constructed wind farm in northern Maine for the next 15 years.

A company that builds upscale vacation condos has brought at least a temporary halt to the Brodie Mountain wind turbine project in the Berkshires, in which the town has a 6 percent stake. Texas-based Silverleaf Resorts was recently granted an injunction in connection with a lawsuit it filed two years ago, alleging that a permit for an access road to the project had expired.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his department will "hopefully" decide by the end of the year whether to approve plans for what may be the nation's first offshore wind farm along the coast of Massachusetts. The Interior Department is working toward an "expeditious conclusion" of the approvals needed for Cape Wind in Nantucket Sound, Salazar said today. "We'll have a final decision to be made hopefully by the end of this year," he said.

The Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority has been given the OK by the state Department of Environmental Protection to go out to bid for construction of a 380-foot-tall, energy-producing wind turbine, officials said. ...The project price tag is estimated around $7.7 million. ...Union Beach officials have opposed the project, and they sent a formal objection in writing to the DEP in September.

Delays in sealing new orders forced Indian wind power company Suzlon Energy Ltd to cut its sales forecast, but the company will still see full-year profits near last year's level, an executive said on Saturday. The wind power industry has grown rapidly over the past decade, but the financial crisis that hit many of the world's biggest banks has choked off financing for many new clean energy projects over the past year.

In a Oct. 22 letter from Nixon Peabody LLP, Rochester, which represents developer United Wind Energy, Mahwah, N.J., the law firm told the town they were pulling out of the development. "Based on the town's serial re-enactments of a moratorium prohibiting wind energy projects, stony wind has decided to direct its resources to other prospective projects elsewhere in the state," the letter states.

After attending his share of town meetings, Steven Moultrup felt the need to serve its residents. ...Among other issues, he cited how the town's comprehensive plan addresses wind turbines. "It was very clear in the comprehensive plan that the town board would specify the locations of wind turbines," he said. "But what's specified in the comprehensive plan was never done, and I question that. I had some concerns about that."

Bluewater Wind expects a controlling interest in the firm to be sold in the next few weeks, and sources familiar with the plan say the company is in serious negotiations to sell to NRG Energy Inc. In selling a majority stake in the offshore wind farm company, Bluewater would get the immediate financial help it needs to keep its projects moving forward, and the backing of a large energy company that should ease the financing of billion-dollar wind farms.

A week after the Black Creek Township Zoning Hearing Board gave more time to a Sunbury firm looking to build wind turbines on Tomhicken Mountain, dozens of residents attended a township supervisors' meeting to both speak for and against Penn Wind's plans. Supervisors, however, discussed very little about Penn Wind's plans during the Friday meeting, which was rescheduled from Oct. 6. ...Sean Purdy of Penn Wind did not speak during the meeting. His company wants to install four turbines in Black Creek and 18 in neighboring Beaver Township, Columbia County.

One issue disputed by Deepwater Wind and National Grid in their negotiations over a power purchase agreement has been resolved by an amendment to a state renewable energy law. Both chambers of the General Assembly approved new language in the law late Thursday night. The change will allow Deepwater to install up to eight 3.6-megawatt turbines off the coast of Block Island rather than the six machines that National Grid argued was the maximum number allowed under the original version of the law.