The U.K. government and local authorities should use more tax breaks and subsidies to promote low-carbon energy production, a group of British lawmakers said. “Local energy'’ generation from equipment such as solar panels or wind turbines “is capable of making a major contribution'’ to the U.K.’s electricity and heat supplies, the Trade and Industry Committee said today in an e-mail.

The Victorian Government is in secret talks with New South Wales to extend its compulsory clean energy scheme beyond state boundaries. The Government confirmed yesterday it was negotiating with NSW for the two states to buy and sell renewable power to help meet mandatory targets for clean energy use. But it has denied it is in talks with the Tasmanian Government for a similar deal, despite claims from a Tasmanian wind farm proponent that trade talks are under way.

As part of a broad effort to make Wisconsin the nation’s leader in energy independence and create thousands of jobs in our state, Governor Jim Doyle will propose the next major step forward by creating the Governor’s Office of Energy Independence and dedicating $40 million in his budget proposal for renewable energy like solar, wind, hydrogen, biodiesel and ethanol. Governor Doyle, who will make the announcement in his State of the State address Tuesday, has set a goal for this state to generate 25 percent of its power and transportation fuels from renewable sources by 2025.

Another area school district is getting into the energy business. Plans are on the table for a $2.1 million wind turbine in the Sherrard School District in lower Rock Island County. The project would provide energy for the 170,000-square-foot junior/senior high campus, which is an all-electric facility. “Of that $2.1 million, the district has already received a little over $1.7 million in secured funding for the project,” Superintendent Robert Gillum said. “$420,000 of that is a nonrepay grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Foundation.”

A windfarm action group has shot a warning across the bows of government calling for more support for renewable energy. The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) welcomes the government’s intention to switch to the greener ways of generating energy, but claims that sums will not add up unless financial support is increased. The warning headlines the environmental group’s response to the government’s consultation, which proposes a significant change to the Renewables Obligation (RO), the support mechanism for renewable power in the UK.

WESTPORT — Town Meeting voters in May will be asked to allocate more than $100,000 to purchase and construct twin wind turbines behind Town Hall and the police station. The 100-foot towers each would take up the equivalent of about one parking space behind the municipal buildings on Main Road. The turbines are expected to cost $54,000 each, but according to a report from the town’s Alternative Energy Committee would pay for themselves in four years or less. The cost of the turbines could be partially reimbursable with a grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the committee learned. Grants of more than $42,000 per wind turbine are available.

A proposal to build a wind turbine on Town Farm Road was a springboard issue this year, catalyzing any number of other environmental movements in town. But as 2006 ends, the future of the project is in doubt. Last spring’s Town Meeting approval of the proposal was contingent on the town securing federal, zero-interest loans, and that grant application was not approved.

Cowlitz PUD commissioners Wednesday OK’d a multiparty deal ensuring that a $361 million central Washington wind farm, large enough to supply 38,000 homes with electricity, will be financed with private money. Three years in the making and involving lawyers from coast-to-coast, the groundbreaking transaction will mean an investment group formed by Prudential Insurance and Lehman Brothers will own a wind farm conceived by the PUD and three other utilities. The investors aren’t interested in wind turbines, but they are interested in federal tax deductions available to private investors in environmentally friendly wind farms, said Alan Dashen, a financial consultant hired by the PUD to arrange the deal.

The town could become the first municipality in Massachusetts to provide electrical power to a town hall by way of a wind turbine. A 100-foot tower would take up about one parking space behind Town Hall and pay for itself within four years, according to a presentation before Westport’s Alternative Energy Committee made by Lighthouse Electrical Contracting Inc. of Pembroke. The $54,000 cost of a wind turbine is potentially partially reimbursable with a grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the committee learned. The collaborative is the state’s development agency for renewable energy and the innovation economy, which the organization asserts is responsible for a quarter of the jobs in the state.

PORTSMOUTH — The town has received approval to borrow up to $2.6 million in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds to finance the proposed purchase and installation of one or two wind turbines at the public middle and high schools to offset their use of electricity.

Texas has surpassed California as the country’s top wind-energy producer, but the new technology is clashing with old ranching ways Texas ranchers have embraced helicopters for herding, wireless Internet access for keeping an eye on the futures markets and microchips for tracking their cattle, but there is one piece of modern technology that is sparking a range war in the vast open spaces of the state — the windmill turbine, which opponents say is noisy, ugly, dangerous to wildlife and a tax boondoggle to boot.

At just the time of year when work output slows to a crawl in many organizations, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission is being asked to render a tough decision quickly in a case that has far-reaching implications for wind project development in the state. In September, Jared Grover, developer of the proposed Cassia Gulch Wind Park and Cassia Wind Farm near Hagerman, Idaho, filed a complaint with the commission challenging Idaho Power's intent to charge wind developers the estimated $60 million costs of transmission system upgrades needed to accommodate nearly 200 MW of capacity expected from such projects. Grover's portion of this upgrade would be about $7 million, an amount he says would force him to scrap his projects and would sound the death knell for many other wind projects pending in Idaho.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 Federal Clean Renewable Energy bonds totaling $31.7 million were awarded to the Green Electricity Buying Cooperative. The Montana co-op announced it will use the funds to build two wind farm projects in McCone and Yellowstone Counties that will produce approximately 20 megawatts of clean power.

Montana will receive $72 million in financing for 34 new wind power projects planned mostly by small cities and counties in northeastern and southeastern parts of the state, Sen. Max Baucus announced Friday afternoon. “This is very good news,” the Montana Democrat said at a news conference in Billings. Some of the recipients participated in the conference by video and thanked Baucus for his efforts. Even Baucus seemed surprised with the level of funding, which came through a federal program he crafted, Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBS). The bonding program passed Congress as part of the 2005 Energy Bill. “I am just astounded and so wonderfully surprised. Seventy-two million, that’s a lot for our state,” Baucus said.

Several local governmental entities are moving ahead with a wind turbine feasibility study that will determine if the county is a viable location for a wind turbine. Mark Jackson with the Interstate R C & D, writer of the grant, was on hand at the Mercer County Courthouse Nov. 17 to visit with the governmental bodies. Representatives from The Mercer County Board, Mercer County Hospital, Mercer County Nursing Home and the Aledo School District were present to discuss the future of their joint endeavor. The collaboration was the beneficiary of a $14,000 grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and will have the EAPC conduct the study. The EAPC has been the lead engineer in several other projects that have received approval to start building wind turbines.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission heard oral arguments Tuesday in a case that will play a big role in future development of wind power in the Gem State. A complaint filed by Cassia Gulch Wind Park and Cassia Wind Farm alleges an Idaho Power requirement that small-power producers pay for nearly $60 million in transmission upgrades will stifle the economic development of a number of wind projects and delay development of renewable energy in Idaho. “If we’re saddled with a $50 to $60 million burden, there’s no way I could entertain any investors to take on that risk,” said Jared Grover, the developer of the Cassia wind projects near Hagerman, in an interview with CBS 2 News.

City Water, Light and Power could start construction of its new coal-fired generator within days. The Springfield City Council on Thursday approved the latest deal struck between Mayor Tim Davlin’s administration and the Sierra Club. The agreement, passed 7-3, requires the city to ask the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to modify the new power plant’s operating and construction permits to incorporate stringent emission limits once it’s operational in June 2010. For its part, the Sierra Club has agreed to drop its objections to the construction permit within two days, allowing the months-delayed project to go forward. The agreement also requires the city to contract to buy 120 megawatts of wind capacity - 60 for itself and 60 for state government - within 90 days.

Armed with books, studies, facts and figures, several proponents of windmill projects addressed members of the county legislature during last night’s meeting. Fairfield resident Dennis Kaczeroski urged the county to accept Community Energy’s reported offer of $7,500 per megawatt for the 136-megawatt Jordanville Wind Farm for a payment in lieu of taxes agreement. The money would be split among the taxing entities involved - the county, the towns, and school district. The county has been seeking a higher figure, based on a consultant’s estimate of $40,000 per megawatt that they said the county should be able to expect. “Get what you can get; the market is the market. Don’t be short-sighted and derail this,” said Kaczeroski. “Your responsibility is to get the best deal for all of us.”

One step forward and one step back is the latest dance for wind power advocates in Arlington. Proponents of bringing a wind turbine to Brackett Elementary School received support from officials in July to pursue a state-sponsored grant that would bring in $40,000 for a wind feasibility study, with another $5,000 in costs split between town and school budgets. But two weeks ago, members of Sustainable Arlington learned they had been turned down for the Large Onsite Renewable Initiative program run through the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

Residents fighting a wind farm proposal near Lake George, near Canberra, say the local council has moved ahead with the project, despite strong community objection. They say the development will devalue their land and harm the natural environment. The $220 million project was approved after the New South Wales Government decided to boost its renewable energy targets.