A proposed tidal energy project to put six test turbines in New York City's East River cleared its final regulatory hurdle on April 28.

In contrast to the town's hesitancy to dive headfirst into wind energy projects proposed for Nantucket Sound - 61 percent of the voters in a special non-binding referendum at the April 11, 2006 town election said no to wind energy in Nantucket Sound - all the commissioners expressed their excitement for the emerging field of tidally generated electricity.

N.C. State University was selected by the National Science Foundation to lead a $28.5 million research initiative to transform the nation's century-old power transmission system into a "smart grid" network that will be able to store energy from solar power, wind farms and other alternative resources.

Solar batteries, wind farms and tidal power plants can be effective only in small part of Russian territories, besides, energy storage and servicing of such devices are quite costly. Professionals predict share of alternative energy sources in Russia won't exceed 1.5-2% during next 30-50 years.

Smoothing the output of wind farms would revolutionise the industry and the Commission for Energy Regulation has taken a keen interest in the project. The equipment allows the turbine to store electricity in an electrolytic battery. This is then released during periods of low wind or when the grid is at peak demand.

Knight & Carver will make conventional turbine blades at first. But earlier this month, it made a single curved blade designed to tap into low-speed winds not captured with current technology. South Dakota is one of the windiest places in the nation, yet it trails neighboring states in developing wind energy. The new facility is part of an effort to find a niche in the emerging industry while bringing technology jobs to rural areas.

Owens Corning, a supplier of fiber reinforcement materials to the wind energy market, has launched a new Web log for designers, engineers and other technical professionals who work with composite materials in wind energy.

The future of green energy has been thrown into doubt after a new report revealed that the region's biggest windfarm was producing less than a third of the electricity it should be.

If the wind isn't blowing at peak times, the argument goes, then the wind turbines are not contributing to the power in the grid. However, if wind farms could store all the power they generate at off-peak times, during the night for example, and then control the way and time it is released, it would not only enhance the revenue streams they could receive, but also remove the intermittency claims. Now, a Canadian energy management firm claims to be able to do just that. EPOD International has secured two pilot projects with wind power developers in Canada and the US to test their proprietary energy storage system, the EMT.

THE GIANTS of Australia's wind energy industry make a person feel very small. Stretching up 135m from base to tip, the V90 turbine tower is the biggest in Australia, a massive structure that weighs in at 400 tonnes when complete. Twenty-five towers are being erected at Studland Bay to complete the second stage of Roaring 40s' Woolnorth wind farm.

A system of causeways that doubles as a renewable energy scheme has been proposed as a new link between North Uist and Harris in the Western Isles. Offshore wind turbines would be installed next to the bridge, which would have built-in tidal generators.

At Tehachipi pass, a well-known wind farm in Central California, even the smallest wind turbine, the tips of its blades whirling at just the right speed, gives off a radar signal larger than that of a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, according to Gary Seifert, Program Manager, Idaho National Laboratory, who spoke at last week's annual U.S. wind power industry conference.

An innovative designer is working on plans to add some kind of crazy wind turbine energy generator into the barriers between highways. The breeze from the passing cars would then generate a bunch of electricity, actually turning the congested, miserable stretch of road into something that, if not environmentally friendly, is at least a bit less of a kick in the pants to mother nature.

Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have designed a data system which can continuously track the performance and of large wind turbines that produce electricity. The project, called Accurate Time Linked Data Acquisition System II, is contained in shoebox-sized aluminum structure that contains data-collection equipment and lightning protectors.

Clarkson Professor Ken Visser and his team of graduate students have been researching wind turbines for the past six years. They've been trying to come up with a design small and efficient enough for the average consumer.

The world’s economies have no alternative to boosting energy efficiency and lowering carbon emissions to tackle global warming, as clean energy lies decades away as a mainstream source, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said here on Tuesday..... According to the IAE’s forecast for 2030, oil will remain the no 1 energy source, followed by coal and then gas. These fossil fuels will still account for 85 per cent of needs.

Advocates of small-scale wind energy production say stories like the Sousas' experience at their high-desert home highlight the challenge early adopters face when investing in a nascent industry. That includes sorting through unsubstantiated claims made by some manufacturers of wind turbines meant for backyards or city parks as well as maintaining a realistic set of expectations for the technology.

Norway plans to build the world's most powerful wind turbine, hoping the new technology will increase the profitability of costly offshore wind farms, partners behind the project said on Friday. With a rotor diameter of 145m, the 10-megawatt prototype will be roughly three times more powerful than ordinary wind turbines.

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.

Niskayuna, New York [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] From the country with still not one wind turbine installed offshore comes news of a partnership between GE Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on a research and development contract to build a new fleet of next generation offshore wind turbines. And with the turbines expected in the 5-7 MW range, these could be the largest turbines ever built.