First it was a lorry park for 3,000 trucks. Then there was the small issue of a sludge recycling centre. Now locals have been left stunned by plans for a wind farm too. It never rains on a site between Aldington and Sellindge, it seems, but it pours. However, the latest plans for a wind farm have been mocked...because, say residents, there is not enough wind to power them.

Local Plaid Cymru AM for Aberconwy, Gareth Jones, has described the decision by the Westminster Labour Government to approve the construction of the huge Gwynt y Mor windfarm, off the coast of Llandudno and Colwyn Bay, as a slap in the face and an affront to the democratically-expressed wishes of the people of Wales. ..."The scale of the Gwynt y Mor development cannot be overstated. The 250 turbines will be visible for many miles around.

Xcel Energy has asked regulators to increase the amount it can charge consumers to help recover the cost of renewable-energy generation. ...If approved, the increase would take effect Jan. 1 and increase typical residential bills by 33 cents a month.

The West of Duddon offshore wind farm will provide 500MW of electricity, enough to nearly double Britain's existing offshore electricity-generating capability. Around 370,000 homes will be powered by the wind farm. Edmund Brooks, the Chamber of Shipping's deputy director general, told politics.co.uk the government's approval for offshore wind projects was problematic for shipping firms. "To use the famous analogy, you wouldn't put a wind farm in the middle of the M1, would you?" he said.

People objecting to wind farms were today told like it or lump it. The warning came as Glasgow councillors met and approved a 410ft wind turbine on Cathkin Braes, on the south of the city. The turbine will be just 49ft lower than the Glasgow Science Tower, which is Scotland's largest freestanding building. However, the move has sparked concerns about the impact on birds and on an area popular with walkers.

Residents were left fearing for their safety after shards of melting ice fell on homes and gardens from the blades of a giant wind turbine. For about four hours people in King's Dyke, Whittlesey, had to take cover as huge lumps - some two feet long - showered them from the 80 metre high tower on Saturday morning. Resident Peter Randall, whose son's house lies a stone's throw away from the turbine, said: "Somebody is going to get killed. There was huge lumps of ice shooting off and landing everywhere.

Residents have expressed fears over the size of five huge wind turbines after their first view of how they would appear on the Derbyshire landscape. West Coast Energy, the company behind the scheme, said the 126m (413ft) turbines proposed for Matlock Moor at a cost of £16m ...

KS Titan 1, one of two vessels to be used in the construction of 25 wind turbines at Rhyl Flats, was en route to Liverpool Bay from the Gulf of Mexico when the accident happened at the end of October. The huge three-legged vessel with two onboard cranes was set to install a series of 3.6-megawatt Siemens wind turbines on Constable Bank, lying five miles off the coast of Llandudno and Colwyn Bay.

RSPB Scotland put in written objections and supported Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) in giving evidence to a public local inquiry which finished this week, opposing what could be enormously harmful impacts of the proposed 14 turbine windfarm at Stacain, near Dalmally, in Argyll. RSPB Scotland believes the area is entirely inappropriate for a wind farm, and ministers should reject the application. The importance of the area for golden eagles, which are synonymous with Scotland's wild beauty, is such that it is almost certain to soon be proposed for designation as a Special Protection Area (SPA). If this goes ahead it will then be strictly protected under Scots and European law.

Hundreds of giant pylons connecting the English border to the Welsh coast will be needed to link huge new wind farms to the National Grid, campaigners warned yesterday. ..."Developers can be given planning consent for the turbines without consideration of the power transmission element, which can also have a huge impact on the environment.

The building of an offshore windfarm has had to be halted because of bad weather and the sinking of cranes in the Atlantic. It means the Rhyl Flats project will now be delayed by up to three months. It comes after a barge carrying giant cranes to build the turbines sank en route from America in October.

Proposals for a controversial wind farm that could be viewed from across East Lancashire have been thrown out by planners. ...German firm Energiekontor put forward the proposal for land at Brightenber Hill between West Marton and Bank Newton in Craven, North Yorkshire. The decision was greeted by loud cheers by around 270 people who attended a special meeting of Craven's planning committee in Skipton.

In a much anticipated report that could affect every Floridian's pocketbook, a consultant hired by the state says solar power could be a competitive source of electricity by 2020 in many scenarios, but it will cost considerably more than new nuclear power and natural gas, the main sources of power for present customers of Florida Power & Light. Biomass -- things like plant waste, wood chips and garbage -- will be a financially viable source in all scenarios, but wind isn't likely to be much of a factor in Florida.

The Scottish Government has overturned a council's rejection of a 22-turbine wind farm in south east Scotland. Scottish Borders Council turned down the PM Renewables development at Drone Hill near Coldingham a year ago. However, the company appealed against that decision and a public inquiry was held in August this year.

Homes and businesses risk being left in the dark if governments get too sidetracked by wind power. A House of Lords report yesterday warned that over-reliance on wind power could prove risky and costly. It said that nuclear energy was a much cheaper and more effective, low carbon solution. ..."Current policies would take the UK into uncharted territory, with a dependence on intermittent supply unprecedented elsewhere in Europe.

Protesters waving placards will greet councillors tonight as they meet to discuss plans for a wind farm at a beauty spot in the Yorkshire Dales. Dozens of objectors are expected at a Craven Council planning meeting which will rule on proposals for five 100ft high turbines at Brightenber Hill, near Stainton Hall, about three miles from Gargrave. The council's planning officers are recommending the plans be approved, despite more than 600 letters of objection and a 720-name petition.

A bid to extend a controversial windfarm near a historic Banffshire castle has been criticised by Historic Scotland officials and council planning chiefs. ...Historic Scotland had raised concerns that the two turbines would have a "severe" visual impact on the unoccupied castle. ...The proposed turbine would be some 3,700ft from the castle, while the other two would be closer, around 2,600ft away.

The controversy surrounding wind farms will be reignited this week when the government agency charged with protecting the environment reveals plans to build up to 80 wind turbines along some of the nation's most picturesque rivers.

Energiekontor Uk Ltd wants to put five 328ft (100m) turbines at Brightenber Hill near Gargrave, Skipton. A 250-strong group of residents have formed Friends of Craven Landscape and are campaigning against the plans. Craven Council has received 600 letters of objection and a 600-signature petition, but its planning committee has been asked to approve the plans.

An area the size of Wales would need to be covered in wind turbines to meet just a sixth of the nation's daily energy needs, according to a new study that has cast doubt over the Government's push for wind energy. Professor David MacKay, a physicist at Cambridge University, said ministers would have to look at other forms of alternative energy, like tidal power, if they were to meet their ambitious renewable energy commitments.