Hydro reported Friday that it has received proposals for 17,000 gigawatt hours of electricity -- primarily small hydro and wind -- in response to its clean call, which closed this week. That's equivalent to a third of Hydro's annual output -- the amount of power consumed each year by the Crown corporation's residential customers. Preliminary tallies from the call, which closed Tuesday, show Hydro received bids from 43 proponents for a total of 68 projects.

Big Island residents want no part of a proposed wind farm development north of Picton, Prince Edward County council was told this week. Henri Garand and Ian Hanna presented council with a 112-signature petition asking the Big Island portion of the 66-turbine proposal be separated from the rest of the project. ..."All of us believe that Big Island is not an appropriate location."

An Ontario Municipal Board decision on Grand Valley Wind Farms is expected by the end of next month, but the proponent isn't certain when construction might begin, even if the project is approved. ...A decision in favour of the project would not solve all of the problems Wind Rush might be facing prior to construction. Wind Rush president J.C. Pennie said in an interview that a contract he had for the turbines expired on July 31 because of the lack of a municipal approval by that date.

Jill Stull from Portage says her life and farm have turned upside down ever since some unwelcome neighbors moved in 2006. "We want the noise to stop. I want my husband to be able to sleep in our home," Stull said. The noise she's referring to is from the six turbines surrounding her 100-acre farm. At least once a week, Stull says she can hear and feel the turbines humming, and it's a sensation she says comes at irregular intervals.

City Councillor Paul Ainslie has demanded another public meeting on a controversial wind turbine project, after complaining that bused-in activists made him wait more than 2 1/2 hours to ask a question on Monday night. Many of his constituents from the Scarborough Bluffs area left that public consultation early - some elderly and exhausted, others simply fed up, Ainslie said. "It was frustrating," he said. "It was about 40 minutes before someone from the affected area actually got to a microphone."

The Australian company that's building and financing Manitoba's new wind farm - slated to be the biggest in Canada - is nearing financial collapse, but the Manitoba government says there's nothing to worry about. ...Australian pundits said Sunday the company is in its "death throes" and grinding toward receivership, perhaps as early as this week.

A thousand people who overflowed the auditorium of Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate on Guildwood Pkwy. last night debated the question at a meeting that mixed neighbourhood angst with debate over the pros and cons of Toronto Hydro's proposed offshore wind farm. ...But the sometimes-raucous meeting turned into a discussion over who was from Scarborough, now part of the City of Toronto. Environmental groups had bused supporters to the meeting from outside the immediate area.

An offshore wind farm represents an opportunity for Toronto to move forward as a green, industrially progressive centre, leading the way as a global city for others to follow suit. To its detractors, it means plummeting property values, skyrocketing electricity costs, and a substantial-if localized-ecological impact. It's like a condensing of every environmental policy debate over the last twenty years. All of which is pretty impressive for a project that has barely reached the testing phase, and only after a seemingly impassable two-year hurdle.

A controversial high-voltage transmission line along a rural road near O'Leary is coming down after area residents protested the potential health risks associated with the line. Environment Minister George Webster confirms that a section of line, more than two-kilometres long, is being removed from the Howlan Road, near O'Leary.

Innisfil council wants more time to research the ups and downs of wind farms. Spearheaded by Coun. Rod Boynton, council was expected to approve an alternative energy adhoc committee ...which would report back to council in five months, would include proponents and opponents, Boynton told the Journal. "There is so much passion on both sides," he said. "I think we need to perform more research to find a made-in-Innisfil solution."

Worried by rising fuel costs and keen to demonstrate concern about climate change, politicians across Canada are devoted to renewable energy. But even some environmentalists are questioning whether the push to introduce such energy sources -- and particularly wind power -- has overtaken the responsibility to prudently plan. "People want to get in on wind power," said Mark Mattson, president of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. "It's good public relations.... But when you look at it from a provincial point of view and the ratepayers who are paying for it, it's not clear that it's in the best interest to build them."

Manitoba Hydro Board has accepted a proposal for a 300 megawatt wind farm to be erected in southern Manitoba. The proposal comes from St. Joseph Wind Farm Inc., owned by Babcock & Brown Canada. If construction goes ahead as planned the new power generation site will be the largest wind farm in Canada.

Toronto Hydro's wind farm may still be in the research stage, but it's already drawing fire. For now, the city-owned utility wants to set up a small device to measure wind speeds on the lake 2 kilometres off the bluffs. If winds are adequate, 60 turbines could eventually sprout 2 to 4 kilometres offshore, over an area stretching from Ajax almost to the Leslie St. Spit.

The town wind law committee created to produce a zoning amendment to deal with wind farms added a sound measurement protocol and changed setbacks from roads during its meeting Thursday afternoon. The sound protocol came from recommendations from the acoustical engineering firm Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Sudbury, Mass., based on a wind development zoning law written for the Association of Towns and rules for noise studies written by Cape Vincent resident Clifford P. Schneider.

Planners at Cannock Chase Council have had to fork out the cash for a report about the noise impact the three proposed turbines for Bleak House open cast mine site would have. The decision on the application for the site between Heath Hayes and Chase Terrace has now been delayed until next year because the noise consultants require more information from Harworth Power.

Opponents of a proposed four-turbine wind farm in North St. Eleanors have received the support of the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island to delay the project pending a health investigation. In a letter to the city's mayor and council, long-time Summerside physician Paul Kelly made formal application to city officials that they delay the project calling for four wind turbines on the former landfill site in St. Eleanors. ..."The Medical Society of Prince Edward Island has been asked to address the issue of setback distances associated with wind turbines," he said.

Scotian Windfields and Skypower have already revamped the map that was released at the municipality's council meeting on Nov. 10-showing the proposed locations of 20 wind turbines on Digby Neck. The new improved version shows the turbines originally planned for Red Head re-situated north of Highway 217 on properties owned by Fred and Sharon Ross and Jerry Schofield. The remaining 18 turbines are also north of the highway, as they were on the original version of the map.

Last month, about 50 St. Eleanors residents turned out at a city council meeting raising concerns surrounding the minimal setback regulations of the turbines from residences, noise and health implications and the impact the wind farm will have on property values. City council voted unanimously to table the rezoning until Monday night. That success was short-lived as council voted unanimously to approve the zoning change. Coun. Brent Gallant did not vote because of a conflict of interest issue.

Canada is the biggest exporter of oil to the United States, and one might expect environmentalists to cheer the prospect of exchanging a little of our dependence on foreign oil for dependence on foreign wind. But some fear that a flood of clean power from Canada will undercut New England's efforts to become a national leader in green energy and technology. Jobs could be lost, they caution, and local utilities may have less incentive to reduce their use of coal and other fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. Concerns also exist that the construction of expensive transmission lines to bring renewable energy from Canada could drive up the region's electricity rates, already among the highest in the country.

Andrew Randall lives in King's Dyke, Whittlesey, with his pregnant partner Rachel Barford and one-year-old daughter Aimee, just 100 yards from the towering machine. He said the constant noise from the turning blades is causing sleepless nights and stress for Rachel, who is four months pregnant. Mr Randall (23) said: "Rachel's stressed all the time and she can't cope with the lack of sleep. I'm concerned about the health of the baby. ..."We've got a hot tub in the back garden, but it's a waste because we can't go out there, it's just too noisy."