Stalled legislation aimed at assessing wind farm developments in Illinois has concerned Woodford County's administrator so much that tonight he is going to request the County Board delay approving future developments. County Administrator Gregory Jackson said Monday he is concerned about how wind turbines will be assessed for property tax purposes, and warns if no legislation is approved in Springfield, the county will be "at risk" of losing tax dollars some day if the developments become reality.

A look at money spent each year on wind energy projects during the past decade shows "sort of this boom-bust cycle" as the Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit has been allowed to lapse every one or two years, said Brad Barton, director of commercialization for the DOE's office of energy efficiency and renewable energy. The tax credit provides an incentive of a 2 cent-per-kilowatt-hour tax credit for renewable electricity production, which makes wind energy more competitive with other forms of energy such as coal, hydroelectric and natural gas. Extending the PTC through 2012, which was proposed by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., in a bill introduced earlier this month, would encourage more investment in the natural resource, Barton said.

Since the extension of the production tax credit, European wind companies have been keener on investing in the U.S. market. Several of the largest turbine producers are now selling to U.S. developers for projects, and opening offices and manufacturing plants in the United States. The federal production tax credit was extended for two years in August 2005 by President Bush. It was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2007, but was extended as one of Congress' last acts and will now run through Dec. 31, 2008. The PTC provides a 1.5 cent per kilowatt hour credit, or 1.9 cents when inflation-adjusted, to energy facilities during the first 10 years of operation.

Creating a new 30 (M) million dollar grant program to develop renewable energy technology gets the ax from the Legislature's budget-writing committee Thursday. Governor Doyle wanted grant money for companies and researchers that develop solar power and other renewable energy technologies.

The U.S. Energy Department issued proposed regulations for a loan-guarantee program for new, eco-friendly energy projects, like nuclear. The money - $13 billion between the 2007 adopted and 2008 requested fiscal years' budgets - would give financial backing to energy projects that haven't made it to the market. Eligible projects, in part, would use new technology to "avoid, reduce or sequester" greenhouse-gas emissions, the 2005 Energy Policy Act states.

MONTPELIER -- Without a word of debate or even a roll call, the Senate voted Wednesday for a bill designed to encourage energy efficiency and renewable energy, along with an increase in the state's tax on Vermont Yankee to pay for it. The tax on Vermont Yankee's electric generation would claim $25 million from the nuclear power plant's owner, Entergy Corp., between 2009 and 2012. The House is expected to vote on the bill Friday, when it's likely to face debate......The plan would tax Vermont Yankee's power generation from a rate of $.00225 per kilowatt-hour in 2009, $.0025 in 2010 and $.003 in 2011. Wind power projects would be charged at the same rates. That's a rate wind developers sought and praised. "The wind energy property tax set in the bill is good for Vermont because it will encourage wind farm investments here, which the state needs to have a clean energy future," said Adam Necrason, lobbyist for Renewable Energy Vermont.

MONTPELIER -- House members offered up a different proposed tax Tuesday to pay for an energy-efficiency program -- one that still focuses on Vermont Yankee but in a way that proponents say should defuse complaints about an earlier Senate plan to tax some of the nuclear power plant's profits. The new plan nonetheless drew fire from the plant's owner, Entergy Corp., and the Douglas administration. The proposal would tax Entergy at just over one-half cent per kilowatt hour on the amount of power it generates at the Vernon plant. That would amount to about $25 million a year, a hefty increase from the $4.5 million Entergy now pays.......Wind developers don't like the rate of just over one-half cent per kilowatt hour proposed by the House, saying it is high enough to discourage developers from coming to Vermont. Andrew Perchlik of Renewable Energy Vermont Inc. said three-tenths of a cent is more fair.

Britain's energy consumers are prepared to meet some of the costs of curbing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change, but are worried they may be forced to assume too large a burden.

Renewable energy is proving to be an oasis of cooperation amid conflict in Congress, but technology probably will determine how long that lasts and how much South Dakota benefits. A U.S. Senate committee last week passed a measure by a 20-3 vote increasing ethanol production seven-fold. The majority included a proxy vote by Sen. Tim Johnson, according to a spokeswoman. Sen. John Thune proposed a major tax break for wind energy, and this week will hear arguments for increasing vehicle fuel-economy standards.

With Edgartown in the lead, the Vineyard is poised to join with Nantucket and Cong. William Delahunt in pushing for the establishment of an offshore energy zone to harness wind, wave and possibly tidal energy from waters between the two Islands. The move is a first step toward the goal of making the Islands energy independent.

By one thin vote, the Senate gave preliminary approval Tuesday to taxing some of Vermont Yankee's profits to pay for an energy-efficiency program. Critics of the tax, which passed 15-14, took turns calling it arbitrary, capricious, predatory and unnecessary. The tax on the nuclear power plant's unexpected increase in profits is the most controversial part of a larger bill that supporters say will help Vermonters use less heating fuel and encourage development of renewable energy.

Wind turbines flourishing in California's Altamont and Tehachapi passes need tighter federal regulation, environmentalists told lawmakers Tuesday. Wind energy officials disagree. Thus the battle is joined, at a politically sensitive time. With tax credits up in the air and a long-awaited study arriving on how wind turbines kill birds and bats, strong opinions are blowing across Capitol Hill. As often happens, the central policy question pits rules against recommendations.

MONTPELIER - The Senate very narrowly approved a tax Tuesday on revenue earned by Entergy, the company that owns the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, to pay for a program to reduce the use of heating fuels in the state. The "all fuels" efficiency program to help pay for weatherization and other heating fuel saving measures has become one of the most contentious issues in the Statehouse this year. The tax was passed along with preliminary approval of the Senate's entire energy and anti-global warming bill Tuesday was by a vote of 18-11. The real fight, however, was whether to accept the proposed 35 percent tax on revenue gained by Entergy from the operation of the Vermont Yankee plant. That attempt passed by a 15-14 vote.

BENNINGTON - A plan to tax Yankee Nuclear to fund the expansion of Efficiency Vermont has drawn opposition from a local legislator who has vowed to fight it, calling the proposal "dirty politics." Rep. Joseph L. Krawczyk Jr., R-Bennington, said the funding source proposed by Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, which will cost Vermont Yankee about $37 million dollars over the next five years, is ill-advised and irresponsible. "This is dirty politics," said Krawczyk. "We should be doing policy but we're playing politics."

Filibusters in the Nebraska Legislature can't compare with the wind blowing through Boone County fields east of here. New wind maps prove what many Boone County residents have known for years - the wind really does blow harder and more often in these hills. Now, with a wind farm being proposed for the Petersburg area, that wind could become another crop to be harvested and put some extra cash in farmers' pockets. Jim Jenkins, Nebraska representative for Third Planet Windpower of Bad Axe, Mich., stresses that the company is still in the early phases of negotiations and discussion with regard to "the business structure' for its proposed investment of up to $170 million in a wind farm east of here.

Our report described how generators are favouring on-shore wind farms because they are much cheaper to develop than technology such as offshore wind or tidal power. Therefore, the Government is considering changing its policy to offer more ROCs per MWh for more expensive technology. This could reduce the amount of money companies can make from wind farms. However, this will not change until 2009, and any wind farm that is already established by that point will not be affected. For that reason, there is a suspicion that firms are racing to acquire sites before the cut-off point - and the huge amount of money they can make from ROCs mean they can afford to offer large payments to landowners who are willing to allow turbines to be erected.

Landowners in the North-East are being offered staggering sums of money to site wind farms on their property, The Journal can reveal today. A contract seen by The Journal for a site in the region could see the landowner rake in more than £6m for agreeing to the turbines. It demonstrates the huge temptation for landowners, who are offered a guaranteed income way in excess of what they could gain from any other source, for no outlay of their own. And it also illustrates the prices power companies are willing to pay due to the massive incomes they themselves can generate through a Government subsidy system for wind power.

The Final Environmental Impact Statement has yet to be completed, but the Spitzer Administration is showering largesse on Community Energy's 68-turbine Jordanville Wind Project. The project is one of nine wind projects - 21 clean-energy projects in all, when hydroelectric and biomass are included - targeted for $295 million in "performance incentives" in Gov. Eliot Spitzer's speech, "15 by 15, A Clean Energy Strategy for New York," delivered to Crain's Breakfast Business Roundtable in New York City on Thursday, April 19. He said such incentives have attracted $2 billion in private investment to date in clean energy.

One of the world's largest solar farms will soon rise on Sarnia's outskirts, and other sun-reliant green energy ventures are in the works for sunny Southwestern Ontario. The Ontario government has approved an energy deal with OptiSolar Farms Canada to build a 400-hectare mass of solar panels that will produce 40 megawatts of electricity -- enough to supply 6,000 homes. A key to the project was the government's deal to pay 42 cents a kilowatt-hour -- nearly four times what's paid for other green-generated electricity, such as from wind turbines -- to the solar company.

A government subsidy system is prompting a "wind rush" in which electricity generators are dashing to erect turbines across the North's countryside. The incentive scheme ensures generating companies which invest in renewable energy sources are paid lucrative sums by suppliers for each megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity they produce. As a result, the companies bidding to erect turbines are offering landowners in the North vast sums as they try to cash in. Suppliers are told they must take an increasing portion of their energy from renewables - the Government's broad target is 20% by 2020 - and the extra cash they need to pay for this is added to household bills. Foreign generating companies have admitted they are now trying to set up wind farms in the UK because it offers the most attractive subsidy package in Europe.