A proposal to build a windfarm on the Waterloo range west of Glen Innes has pitted neighbour against neighbour, with several Furracabad valley residents who will be affected expressing their opposition at last Thursday's Glen Innes Severn Council meeting. Last week's meeting was the first time council had met since a two-day community information session was held in December by engineering consultants Connell Wagner and developer National Power who are proposing a 27 turbine wind farm on the Waterloo range on the western edge of the Furracabad valley about 12km from Glen Innes. ..."Are we to be ‘collateral damage' due to the decision of five landholders (who stand to financially benefit)? We should never have been put in this position," she said.

Ireland on Wednesday awarded four offshore oil and gas exploration licences to three groups, which included Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), in a bid to reduce the country's dependence on imported fuels. The licences cover block areas totalling 4,963 square km in the Porcupine Basin, off the west coast, the energy ministry said. ...The country has tried to boost the development of renewable energy by introducing government-backed guaranteed prices for offshore and onshore wind farm generation.

Hundreds of opponents of a massive wind farm on Lewis excluded themselves from giving evidence at a public inquiry because they requested confidentiality in their objections, it emerged last night. Thousands of people lodged protests against the controversial Eisgein development on Lewis. But many did not realise that ticking a confidentiality box means that they cannot make representations to an inquiry.

Plans to create a wind farm in North Devon have been rejected because of the impact it would have on the local environment. The Galsworthy Farm scheme proposed for an area of land close to Stibb Cross and Buckland Brewer, near Bideford, was turned down by Torridge District Council at a meeting. Among the reasons noted for the objection was the impact it would have on the local bats.

Lynemouth residents have been dismayed by a Planning Inspector's decision to allow an appeal and grant planning permission for three wind turbines. Two of the 110m to blade tip and 65m to hub structures will be constructed to the North of Lynemouth Power Station and close to the shore. The third wind turbine will be inland to the West of the other two and close to Woodhorn Road. They were refused planning permission by Castle Morpeth Council's Development Services Committee last year so Harworth Power, the renewable energy subsidiary of UK Coal, appealed the decision.

Two huge wind farms have been given the go-ahead by the Government, to the anger of countryside campaigners and the delight of environmental pressure groups. Applications for the turbines at Tween Bridge on Thorne Moors, near Doncaster, and at nearby Keadby, near Scunthorpe, were officially approved by Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks yesterday. ...But the Council to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and local campaigners attacked the decision, while people who will live in the shadow of the turbines spoke of their disbelief. David Patterson, who lives in Keadby, and was secretary of a pressure group which opposed the schemes at the inquiry said: "This decision is absolutely appalling.

Plans for a wind farm in north Devon have been rejected on environmental grounds. Torridge District Council turned down the scheme on the grounds of visual impact, noise and the impact on bats at the site near Stibb Cross. Developer Ecotricity is considering whether to appeal against the decision.

Representing the MOD, Ailsa Wilson said the organisation's appearance at Duns Volunteer Hall was the first time they had needed to attend a public inquiry and added that they were satisfied that the correct judgement had been made when the original application was objected to. In her closing statement Ms Wilson reiterated the Ministry's concerns that of the 48 turbines proposed, at least 37 would be in the line of sight of the RAF radar at Brizlee Wood near Alnwick. She added that a windfarm at Fallago Rig would effectively create a 'hole' in detection and said that even losing sight of an aircraft for a minute could be crucial to aviation operations and national security.

British energy minister Malcolm Wicks has given the all clear to three wind farms in England as the government tries to clear a backlog of clean energy projects and hit ambitious renewable energy targets. Two of the projects are onshore wind farms in North Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire, while the third is an offshore project planned for the Thames Estuary. "These three new wind farms will add a further 215 megawatts of green energy to the renewables revolution that is sweeping through the UK," Wicks said in a statement.

North Devon Council is to appeal against a decision to build 22 giant wind turbines in the district. Following a decision by the courts to fast track the process, the council has reaffirmed its position to push ahead and seek a full judicial review against the Secretary of State's decision to grant planning permission for the three-megawatt wind farm at Fullabrook Down. The council expects the full judicial review to be heard in late June in the High Court, London,

Councillors have decided to approve one wind farm in Denbighshire, but turned down another one. Both had previously been rejected, but the latest decision means a 16-turbine farm at Llyn Brenig, near Cerrigydrudion can now go ahead. However, councillors upheld a previous rejection of a second proposal for Gorsedd Bran. The council's planning committee had rejected both projects in January after concerns were raised by residents. The firm behind the rejected proposal, Tegni, had said it would appeal.

Campaigners are seeking a judicial review in a bid to get plans for a wind farm overturned. North Devon District Council plans to appeal against a decision by developer Coronation Power to build 22 giant wind turbines in North Devon. After a decision by the courts to fast-track the process, the council has reaffirmed its position to push ahead and seek a full judicial review of the Secretary of State's decision to grant planning permission for the wind farm at Fullabrook Down. ..."We don't want to see any wind farms in Devon. "It will cause serious damage to the landscape, while the production of electricity will be minimal."

A record number of wind farm projects were refused planning permission in Britain last year, according to new figures seen by The Observer. The average amount of time taken to decide whether to approve a project - 24 months - is also at a record high. The figures will be published by the British Wind Energy Association later this month. ...These difficulties, as well as soaring costs, seem to be putting developers off submitting new applications.

An energy firm is asking the Government to hold a joint inquiry to consider appeals into the rejection of plans for two windfarms in West Cumbria. Broadview Energy Developments Ltd on Monday appealed to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government into Allerdale Borough Council's non-determination of its plan for five wind turbines at Warwick Hall Farm, Westnewton. ...It wants a joint inquiry held into plans for that development, and for a plan by Nuon renewables for five turbines at Brownrigg Hall Farm, near Allonby.

Plans to build a wind farm less than a mile from Auchtermuchty in Fife have been dismissed after a public inquiry. Fife Council refused the five-turbine development but an inquiry was ordered after an appeal to the Scottish Government by developer EnergieKontor. Local villagers launched a campaign against the plans, saying the wind farm would ruin the area's landscape. EnergieKontor insisted that only a handful of sites were suitable for wind power.

Public inquiries into wind farm schemes across Scotland are taking place at a rate of about one a month. Figures from the Scottish Government confirm that a total of 22 developments have gone through the process in the last two years. It equates to about 14% of all public inquiries over the same time period. Seven further inquiries are already pending in Angus, the Borders, Highlands, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross and the Western Isles.

Plans to build a windfarm in south Leicestershire have been shelved, it has emerged. Consultants working for Irish company Airtricity today confirmed the company was not pressing ahead with its plans east of Kibworth. Villages from Great Glen to the Langtons were alerted in October 2006 that Welsh consultants Dulas, working for Airtricity, was looking at two potential sites in area. ...Tur Langton parish councillor Chris Weston said: "We have received a letter saying they are not going ahead at the present time and we welcome that decision with obvious pleasure." Two other wind farm projects are still being assessed in the Harborough area.

Controversial plans for a giant wind turbine - as tall as six Angels of the North stacked on top of each other - have been revived by a South Tyneside shipyard. A fresh planning application for the huge riverside scheme has been submitted to South Tyneside Council by A&P Tyne at Hebburn. If the green scheme wins approval, it would be one the biggest structures ever seen on the Tyne. But local councillors and residents in Hebburn Village, which backs on to the yard, are set to oppose the plans as strongly as they did first time round.

The Dyfnant Forest is to be developed into one of the largest wind farms in the country it has been revealed - just weeks after Rhodri Morgan told the County Times how Powys has got off scot free. During his recent visit to Welshpool, First Minister for Wales Rhodri Morgan dismissed suggestions that Mid Wales is a dumping ground for wind turbines by claiming none of the plans to lease Forestry Commission managed land for the construction of wind farms fell inside Powys. However, while claiming Powys had got off scot free, he failed to mention four sections of freehold Forestry Commission land earmarked for development ...These claims have left a sour taste among residents and organisations in the Dyfnant Forest, who are now labelling Rhodri Morgan as either 'ignorant or a liar.' ..."Thousands of pounds of European money has been invested here, but if this plan for turbines goes ahead it will become a wind farm ghetto and a place no tourists will want to visit."

Developers yesterday made a final plea to the Scottish Government to construct the biggest wind farm in Europe in the Western Isles. Lewis Wind Power (LWP) wants to build 176 turbines in Lewis, but ministers have indicated they are "minded to refuse" the project. The company was given until 5pm last night to make its case that the project can go ahead without harming the environment. ...the plans have attracted over 10,000 objections and been attacked by conservation bodies including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.