The Windy City earned the nickname from blowhard politicians, not its weather conditions, but the winds that blow across the vast expanses of farmland throughout Illinois may soon help power the energy-hungry Chicago area. A Texas company will formally present a $500 million wind power project at a Tuesday hearing in Bloomington of the McLean County Zoning Board, the latest step in a process that began more than three years ago. The result -- in terms of energy produced -- would be the country's largest land-based wind farm.

David Cameron wants one; Malcolm Wicks, the energy minister, has applied for one and this week there is a full-scale Commons row about miniature wind turbines, among other forms of do-it-yourself energy generation.

Advocates of tidal energy say it is more reliable than the other marine technology, wave power. Unlike wave - and wind - farms, tides are predictable. The devices use technology similar to wind farms or hydropower, with underwater turbines being driven by the force of the tide to generate electricity.

Ishpeming, Michigan [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Construction is currently under way this month on a rare wind energy project, a 200 kilowatt (kW) vertical-axis wind turbine outside a large residential complex in Michigan.

If wind energy converters are located anywhere near a residential area, they must never become too noisy even in high winds. Most such power units try to go easy on their neighbors' ears, but even the most careful design cannot prevent noise from arising at times: One source is the motion of the rotor blades, another is the cogwheels that produce vibrations in the gearbox. These are relayed to the tower of the wind turbine, where they are emitted across a wide area - and what the residents hear is a humming noise. ...In a joint project with colleagues from Schirmer GmbH, ESM Energie- and Schwingungstechnik Mitsch GmbH and the Dr. Ziegler engineering office, IWU researchers have developed an active damping system for wind turbines. The project is being funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt.

FAIRVIEW -- Advocates of the "small wind" generating business have landed another customer.

Newfoundland and Labrador has great potential for wind energy, but is hampered by an "isolated and relatively weak" power grid, a confidential report says. The report, obtained by CBC News, says the island's electrical grid will limit the size and potential of wind farm projects, despite a "world-class wind resource" waiting to be tapped.

... wind energy farms are not a simple panacea for the country's energy problems. Last week the Beatrice turbines were being serviced but, if they had been operational, they would not have been turning. The North Sea's winds were virtually non-existent, meaning no power would have been generated. Opponents say such variability of output is a drawback of wind energy. But O'Brien insisted: 'If we can build big turbines far away from the shore, they will cause minimum upset and disruption. This is their future and that is why the Beatrice project is so important.'

3M has announced the availability of their new Wind Tapes 8608 and 8609, which provide long-lasting protection from damage caused by sand, rain, moisture ingression, insects, and airborne particles. The new tapes are also formulated to resist the damage and weakening effects of ultraviolet rays.

Hull officials are moving ahead with plans to build four offshore wind turbines capable of producing enough electricity to power the town. An application filed last month with the state calls for erecting four power-generating windmills on a shoal known as Harding’s Ledge, roughly 1.5 miles east of Nantasket Beach. ‘‘This would be the first offshore series of wind turbines in the country,’’ Hull Town Manager Philip Lemnios said. ‘‘We had such a favorable response to our two land-based turbines, the townspeople are pursuing the offshore options.’’

The 280ft towers will stand in up to 150ft of water and will generate enough electricity to meet up to 75% of the needs of the oilfield which pumps 3500 barrels of oil ashore a day. This £35m, five-year pilot could be the first step towards establishing a 200-turbine farm on the site which could meet 20% of Scotland's energy needs.

The Obama administration wants to rebuild the national electric grid that delivers power to everyone's toasters and televisions. One reason is that the grid can't handle all the new solar and wind power the president wants to build to create a greener energy economy. Here's the problem: Solar and wind power are intermittent. Sometimes it's sunny, sometimes it's not, and it's the same for wind. But the grid needs constant and reliable sources of power.

In May, citing a potential for reliability problems for the provincial network, the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) — which oversees the electricity market and transmission network in Alberta — surprised the industry by announcing that wind power generation in Alberta, currently at about 300 megawatts (MW) of capacity, would be capped indefinitely at 900 MW. However, there are proposals for about 3,000 MW of projects above and beyond the ones already lined up and paid up to meet the 900 MW mark.

A proposed wind farm project for Higgins Mountain is causing some concern for the operators of Ski Wentworth and others in the Wentworth Valley-Folly Lake area. "I want to make it clear that we are in favour of renewable energy and all of the benefits that come with it, but we do have some concerns about the proposal that will see 400-foot (120-metre) turbines being erected right across the valley from the ski hill," Ski Wentworth spokeswoman Leslie Wilson said Monday. Ottawa-based 3G Energy Corp. proposes to build 66 turbines along a seven-kilometre stretch of the Cobequid Mountains. They would be on a ridge on the opposite side of the valley from the ski hill. The project is among the largest ever proposed for Nova Scotia.

LONDON, March 21 (UPI) -- Wind turbines have long been fixed in the public imagination as giant propellers on sticks, marching across rural landscapes to the ire of local residents. But now an alternative design of turbine that rotates on a vertical axis is attracting renewed interest, as developers consider the benefits they may bring in terms of reduced noise, increased efficiency, versatility and aesthetics.

Tim and Robyn Wood don't have to sweat over the electric bills for their Oregon home. More often than not, their utility company - Wisconsin Power & Light of Madison - pays them for electricity. With a 24-panel solar array for electricity, a separate solar panel system for the water heater and a small wind turbine, the Woods' home is still connected to the state's grid of electric transmission lines. But for the most part, the Woods power their own lights, laundry machines, computers, television and other household appliances. "I use power whenever it's cloudy out and there's no wind. But when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining, I make enough power that I can turn my meter backward," Tim Wood said.

As consumers, we pay the full market price for wind-generated electricity plus the value of renewable energy credits mandated by the Legislature. As federal taxpayers, we donate another two cents per kWh, and support the fast depreciation (tax savings) allowed wind installation entrepreneurs. Mars Hill’s units produce 1 percent of Maine’s electricity and 0.01 percent of New England’s. The Kibby Mountain proposal of 44 three-MW units is projected to produce about .37 billion kWh per year. The number of kilowatt-hours supplied by the wind is very small. The combined output from Mars Hill and Kibby Mountain would be about 5 percent of Maine’s or .5 percent of the total New England grid. The real cost of wind energy, if broken out on our electric bill, would be a shock.

Each row of turbines dramatically effects the turbulence in the wind stream downwind ...Complicating the modeling is the fact that wind isn't all that predictable even without the turbines there. Wind can blow steadily or change its speed and direction constantly, and predicting the interactions of such a variable entity with turbines is beyond the grasp of even the most sophisticated computer models at presewnt.

Researchers seeking to make the ocean's salty brine drinkable using wind power will spend the next year using the town of Hull as a case study to help other water-needy, windswept coastal areas filter freshwater from the sea.

With one wind turbine already spinning, another to be installed in January, and a third offshore turbine being considered, Hull is an ideal laboratory for modeling a desalination plant that runs off a combination of renewable energy and the electric grid, according to James Manwell, director of the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.