Canadian investors looking for exposure to the booming alternative energy sector have a handful of domestic players to choose from, but the local pickings are pretty slim and most of the companies are small. So why not look overseas, to one of the green behemoths that has sprung up on the international scene? ...The fast-growing U.S. wind power industry, driven by favourable government tax policy, is Vestas' largest current market. ...Some analysts are also urging caution over Vestas' high price. "We find the shares are fundamentally overvalued," said analyst Christian Nagstrup of Jyske Bank, a Danish financial institution. The biggest risk he sees at Vestas is a bottleneck in getting parts to build the turbines. Subcontractors have been slow in delivering key components, and that could slow delivery of complete turbines, Mr. Nagstrup said in a recent report.

The CORUS Centre, the Ion Beam Laboratory (LAFI) and LM Glasfiber have formed a research partnership to develop a surface treatment process to reduce the formation and build-up of different types of ice on the external parts of wind turbines. ..."The build-up and spread of ice on the blades cause the blades to be less aerodynamic and also cause many other problems such as increased vibrations, mechanical stresses and fatigue. Depending on the frequency of ice build-up and the severity of the icing, these phenomena can cause significant production losses".

After the industry's recent boom years, wind power providers and experts are now concerned. The facilities may not be as reliable and durable as producers claim. Indeed, with thousands of mishaps, breakdowns and accidents having been reported in recent years, the difficulties seem to be mounting. Gearboxes hiding inside the casings perched on top of the towering masts have short shelf lives, often crapping out before even five years is up. In some cases, fractures form along the rotors, or even in the foundation, after only limited operation. Short circuits or overheated propellers have been known to cause fires. All this despite manufacturers' promises that the turbines would last at least 20 years.

Denmark still leads the world in wind power per capita but experts are worried that its position is starting to weaken. Statistics continue to support Denmark's claim to being one of the world leaders when it comes to wind energy, but experts are concerned over failure to erect new wind turbines, reports financial daily Børsen.

Stalled plans to build new high-efficiency wind turbines could get a jump start thanks to a new proposal to pay residents compensation if wind turbines placed near their homes depreciate for decreased property values

The world's leading wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas, is puffing up the global wind power figures overnight, receiving an order Monday from BP Alternative Energy North America. The order from the oil giant's subsidiary is worth over DKK 2 billion, according to financial daily Børsen. Figures indicated that the order had significant affect on the world wind energy market and demonstrated the might of the industry's largest players. Analysts also say the order represents a breakthrough for Vestas and the turbine industry as a whole, showing that global companies with deep pockets are now banking on wind energy.

The US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Denmark's Risø National Laboratory, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), signed an agreement to cooperate closely on improving wind energy technologies.

The world's largest offshore wind station, in the south Baltic Sea off the Danish coast Nysted, is offline, perhaps for several months, following a serious transformer failure on June 9. The transformer feeds the production of the four-year-old 165.6MV Rodsand plant of 72 Siemens 2.3 MV turbines into the Danish grid network. Located ten kilometers south of the large island of Lolland, the 140 ton transformer is being brought ashore for repair, probably in Germany or Sweden. It was supplied by Italian company Tironi. The reason for the failure is not yet known, but a short circuit is probably to blame.

Denmark, a world leader in wind energy production and consumption, has built the world's largest offshore wind park in the North Sea as it aims to generate 75 percent of its electricity needs with wind power by 2025.

Danish utility Dong Energy has announced that it is to proceed with the development of the Horns Rev II offshore wind farm in the North Sea off Esbjerg. The new site will be situated to the north of the existing Horns Rev facility, and will require an investment of approximately DKK3.5 billion.

Since the oil shocks of the 1970s, governments around the world have paid plenty of lip service to renewable energies such as wind and solar power. But only a few governments have been able to engineer policies that have begun to bring alternative energies into wider use. Renewable fuels provided 18% of the world’s total electricity supply in 2004, according to figures from the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based intergovernmental organization. Almost all of that, though, came from hydropower, a source with limited growth potential because of geographic constraints. The use of wind and solar power is growing, but they still generated only 1% of global electricity production in 2004, the latest year for which figures are available.

Wind power lessons in the North Sea paved some of the road to a proposed 200-turbine wind farm off Delaware’s shoreline. One of the most important findings recently shared from offshore projects in Denmark: Big wind farms can operate with few environmental risks to birds, fish and other aquatic creatures “under the right conditions.” “Appropriate siting of offshore wind farms is an essential precondition for ensuring limited impact on nature and the environment,” the Danish Energy Authority reported in November. Denmark released its report after plugging in what is now the world’s largest offshore wind operation: Two sites with 152 turbines located up to 12.4 miles offshore. “Appropriate” is the key word to Susan Nickerson, a Massachusetts environmentalist who attended a conference in Denmark to mark release of the report last year. “The big discussion that’s unfolding here is: How much data do you need preconstruction, and how much should this concept of ‘adaptive management’ be relied upon,” Nickerson said.

The government’s plan to increase the nation’s reliance on green power could expand a black hole that already sucks nearly two billion kroner out of consumers’ pockets annually. In order to promote construction of wind turbines, the government has agreed to purchase the electricity they generate at a minimum price. The guaranteed prices have had the desired effect: some 5300 wind turbines dot the Danish countryside, producing 18.5 percent of all electricity generated. The practice has its downside, however. The guaranteed prices for wind power results in an overproduction that cost the state an excess DKK 21.6 billion between 2001 and 2005, according to figures from the National Audit Agency. Due to the uncertainty of whether the wind will blow, Energinet.dk, the organisation responsible for ensuring that the country can meet its electricity demand, has to keep a reserve of conventionally produced electricity in case the wind dies down. The extra cost is typically passed on to consumers in the form of higher electric bills.

The country’s energy companies are not convinced that wind power is the way of the future................. The companies believe that coal-powered electricity will still be the largest supplier of the nation’s energy, despite the trend toward environmentally-conscious sources. ‘Wind energy can’t solve the energy problem in the near future because it’s too unstable and possibly too expensive,’ said Anders Eldrup, chief executive of Dong.

A sweeping plan to dramatically increase the European Union’s use of renewable energy sources by 2020 has Danish politicians and exporters looking towards a greener future. Renewable energy use in the EU currently sits at 6 percent, but, according to Børsen financial daily, the European Commission’s forthcoming proposal for a common energy policy would increase that level to 20 percent within two decades. Much of the increase will rely on sources such as wind and bio-ethanol, areas where the nation is already strongly represented on the world market. Exporters are seeing the proposal as an opportunity to increase their share of European sales.

Both supporters and opponents of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm are hailing the findings of recent research on the environmental impact of Danish offshore wind turbines. Supporters of Cape Wind Associates' plan to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound say the research released last week at an international conference supports their contention that wind farms pose little threat to wildlife. But Cape Wind foes say the Danish research highlights the need to carefully study the environmental impact of offshore wind turbines on a case-by-case basis.

The nation that leads the world in wind-farm development is going cool on the environmentally friendly source of power. Since the boom year of 2000, when as many as 748 turbines were erected, the number being built in Denmark has steadily fallen. So far this year, only six new wind turbines have been put up. While many countries around the world are clamouring to buy Danish wind turbines, Denmark’s government is finding it difficult to convince its own population to accept an increase in the domestic use of the green technology. Describing turbines as “poorly located, noisy and unsightly”, a number of local authorities, backed by grass-roots campaigners, are rejecting plans for new wind farms.

The country’s pioneering role in wind energy is threatened unless local governments ease building codes, warns the minister of the environment. Strict zoning codes have virtually halted the construction of new wind turbines in Denmark, according to Marianne Bender, the chairperson of the Organisation for Sustainable Energy. While 748 turbines were put into operation in 2000, that number fell to a mere 6 in 2006. ‘Protests from citizens and lobby organisations have hindered the building of wind turbines many places in the country,’ she told daily newspaper Nyhedsavisen. ‘At the same time, one of the government’s first actions was to remove subsidies so turbines had to compete on market conditions.’

A twin national focus on renewable energy and reduced consumption - combined with North Sea oil reserves, have helped to make Denmark the only EU country not reliant on imported energy, according to the latest statistics from Eurostat.

PARIS As recently as two years ago, few energy analysts believed that ocean power - harvesting electricity from tides and waves - had a future. Offshore conditions seemed too harsh, the costs too high. The International Energy Agency, a Paris-based research body that advises western governments, dismissed the technology in one paragraph in a 570-page study of energy resources that it published in 2004, saying it was "still in its infancy." But with crude oil heading to $80 a barrel, interest - from both investors and researchers - has surged.