District 300 would shoulder 80 percent of the costs - as well as potential benefits and decision-making - associated with the consortium that would build wind turbines to generate the electricity. Dave Ulm, the district's energy coordinator, said the entire project is estimated to cost between $46 million and $50 million.

report into the handling of a planning application to build Lincolnshire's biggest wind farm has been released. Planners at East Lindsey District Council made a catalogue of errors in dealing with the 20-turbine wind farm at Conisholme. It was first refused and then later approved by East Lindsey District planners in 2005.

The long awaited answers to the questions of how the nation will cope with the rising energy costs are finally set to be answered at the 29th World Energy Engineering Congress (WEEC) this Wednesday, September 13th at the Washington, DC convention center.

Plans to build the country's biggest wind turbine off the Northumberland coast are set to be approved by councillors. If approved the project will see seven new turbines on the north site of the River Blyth to replace the existing Blyth Harbour wind farm. Six of the turbines will tower 125m from base to blade tip while the seventh, planned for the Battleship Wharf site at Cambois, would measure a total of 163m in height - the country's biggest to date. ...Blyth Valley Borough Council has already said it will not object to the project. The turbines will be more than three times bigger than the current structures and much more powerful.

An MIT researcher has a vision: Four hundred huge offshore wind turbines are providing onshore customers with enough electricity to power several hundred thousand homes, and nobody standing onshore can see them. The trick? The wind turbines are floating on platforms a hundred miles out to sea, where the winds are strong and steady.

Several tidal energy initiatives to be located near an already proposed wind-turbine pilot project in the waters off the North Fork are prompting calls for a go-slow approach as local political and financial interests work to grasp the scope of the projects. As reported in Newsday last week, Highland, N.Y.-based Natural Currents Energy Services has filed a permit with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a 136-square-mile tidal energy project off Orient Point. Another company, Verdant Power, which is near to testing tidal turbines in the East River, has filed for two permits for similar projects in Plum Gut and off Fishers Island.

Some people say these wind turbines look like corkscrews or a piece of Twizzlers candy. And these uniquely designed wind machines cost about a third the price of conventional wind turbines, according to the Canadian startup company that is building and marketing them. Windaus Energy of Brantford, Ontario, says its wind turbines can be easily scaled for use in residential backyards or large commercial wind farms. In addition to their lower cost, they appear to address some, but not all, of the issues that have riled opponents of wind power. "We have interest from all over the world," said Maurice Deschamps, a former crane operator who is president of Windaus Energy -- pronounced win-DAY-us. "I get it from Argentina, China, India, all over." His wind turbines have no "swoosh" noise and do not kill birds or bats, two problems that have made existing wind-turbine designs controversial, he said. The bird-friendly claim has not been independently verified, and some people are skeptical. Nevertheless, the Windaus turbine doesn't have the typical propeller blades used on conventional wind turbines, such as the ones along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Somerset County. These blades range in length from about 100 to 300 feet. Instead, Windaus employs a vertical column with three twisting wings made of a light but strong composite material. The wings catch the wind from any direction and operate at lower wind speeds.

Plans to build what would have been the nation's largest offshore wind farm in South Texas have been called off because the multibillion-dollar project didn't make economic sense, the developer said Monday...Babcock & Brown Ltd. is moving on with an onshore wind farm in South Texas' Kenedy County, a $700 million-plus venture that calls for 157 turbines on thousands of acres, Calaway said. He noted the expense of building an offshore farm can be more than double the cost of one on land.

A Santa Barbara company may have a simple solution for wind energy -- all from taking a look at a different part of the plane. While most wind turbines these days are built as propellers, Gene Kelley is convinced that wings are a better answer for capturing wind energy. Though the physics and work that has gone into his invention can get complex, the underlying concept of his "WindWing" is basic enough for a child to understand. Anyone who has stuck a hand out of a car window has felt how the WindWing works. As the hand is tilted upward, the wind pushes the hand up. As it tilts downward, the wind pushes it down. The resulting up-and-down motion, or oscillation, is what gives the WindWing its power.

Sandia’s Wind Energy Technology Department has developed a device, the Accurate Time Linked data Acquisition System (ATLAS II), which answers that question and can provide all of the information necessary to understand how well a machine is performing.

DeWind Inc., a subsidiary of Irvine, Calif.-based Composite Technology Corp. (CTC), has completed the construction of the 2 MW DeWind D8.2 wind turbine at an offshore testing site in Cuxhaven, Germany.

-A Massachusetts company has perfected a way to measure wind speed by sending a digital chirp into the sky - lowering development costs and improving power predictions to make the siting of wind farms easier. Second Wind Inc. is introducing the Triton® sonic wind profiler, a device designed to address the limitations of sodar technology for identifying wind farm locations. The product was introduced today at North America's premiere trade event for the wind energy industry, WINDPOWER 2007 in Los Angeles.

A COCKERMOUTH company believes the answer to spiralling energy costs is blowing in the wind.

Six wind tower sections left DMI Industries, located at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa, on Tuesday en route to a wind farm site in northern Texas. ...Less than a year ago, DMI Industries, an Otter Tail company, bought a plant built for Griffin Wheel -- a railcar manufacturer that never moved in -- to extend its geographic reach and meet the growing demand for wind towers in the southwestern states.

While gearboxes in comparable turbines weigh 50 to 70 tons, the Clipper model weighs 36 tons, including the gearbox, brakes and housing. Low-speed tapered roller bearings take thrust loads on the main shaft. Clipper’s patented variable speed technology, which includes tower damping techniques to eliminate harmful vibrations, results in fewer parts and higher reliability.

PIGEON — Just as the three wind turbines by Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Elementary School only recently started spinning after a long wait, those involved with the turbine project are facing difficulties with DTE Energy — and it’s making their heads spin. “DTE personnel have demanded that these turbines be shut down immediately and not restarted until (a) seven-week study is completed, the school district pays for the upgrading of DTE equipment, and that equipment is installed by DTE personnel,” said Laker Interim Superintendent Bob Drury in a press release. Les Singer, DTE Energy spokesman, said there are requirements for any customer that interconnects with the company’s system to ensure that their equipment can safely and compatibly work with the system.