TXU Corp. Chairman John Wilder said “everybody’s mad as a hornet” about Texas’ high electricity rates, but said increased supply of electricity that would come from 11 new coal-fired generating plants TXU wants to build would be the solution to Texas’ increasingly tight electricity supply. Wilder acknowledged that TXU probably won’t be able to achieve significant carbon dioxide emission reductions for years, perhaps as late as 2020, he said, but added “there is no perfect fuel for electricity generation........ Wind power, Wilder said, is inefficient because wind can’t be depended on to blow consistently at the right times “and besides, it costs 12-14 cents per kilowatt hour to make electricity from wind unless it is subsidized by the government.”

Efforts to put a wind turbine on the campus of Holy Name Central Catholic Junior Senior High School earned a major boost last week with the award of $575,000 from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The grant will cover a big chunk of the project’s $1.6 million cost, and Stephen A. Perla, superintendent of the Diocese of Worcester Catholic Schools, says he is optimistic about raising the remaining $1 million.

Yet, despite the operation of New Jersey’s small wind project since January, there is uncertainty about whether wind farms, particularly gigantic turbines positioned off the region’s coastline, will be embraced here. On Long Island, a 40-turbine project being considered off the South Shore is facing stiff resistance from opponents who argue that the turbines will damage pristine ocean views, fail to deliver cost-effective electricity and create environmental problems. In New Jersey, powerful local politicians have lined up behind wind power, where up to 80 turbines — rising 380 feet or more above the water along the South Jersey coastline — have been proposed to take advantage of the near-constant breezes.

Commissioners said they will not change the ordinance, which they say balances the rights of property owners who are opposed to windmills with those who want to lease their land to turbine developers. Officials laid the blame on state and federal tax incentives for the wind industry. “If you want to stop them, take away the federal subsidies,” Commissioner Brad Cober said.

The practicality and ecological consequences of erecting a wind turbine on the Maumee Bay shore will be the subject of a study for which the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority board of directors yesterday approved hiring two consultants. The port board also took a procedural step that will allow a local preservation group to assume ownership of the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse.

Western Wind Energy Corporation has reviewed the wind energy marketplace across the United States and has determined to seek new wind energy development opportunities in California. The strategy is focused at 30 sites totaling over 1,200 Megawatts.

The country’s pioneering role in wind energy is threatened unless local governments ease building codes, warns the minister of the environment. Strict zoning codes have virtually halted the construction of new wind turbines in Denmark, according to Marianne Bender, the chairperson of the Organisation for Sustainable Energy. While 748 turbines were put into operation in 2000, that number fell to a mere 6 in 2006. ‘Protests from citizens and lobby organisations have hindered the building of wind turbines many places in the country,’ she told daily newspaper Nyhedsavisen. ‘At the same time, one of the government’s first actions was to remove subsidies so turbines had to compete on market conditions.’

There is wind in the hills of Spanish Fork Canyon, but harnessing it for power and money hasn’t been easy. To bring the Wasatch Wind farm to fruition, Spanish Fork may have to give up some of the property tax dollars that made the project attractive to the city, even if the Legislature approves wind renewable energy tax credits next year. Legislators didn’t reauthorize the credits during the 2006 legislative session, and the company was counting on them.

A total of 250 wind power turbines could be developed along Western Australia’s Swan coastal plain as a result of a renewable energy legislation currently before State Parliament. The Greens party has introduced a bill which sets a target of 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020.

Concerns about lost tax revenue raised by some Stark County residents A proposal to annex a 112-tower wind farm project in Stark and Marshall counties into an enterprise zone met with no opposition Wednesday at a public hearing in Lacon, although some concerns about lost tax revenue surfaced at a hearing in Toulon. A developer, however, said lost taxes won’t be an issue. California-based wind energy company Orion Energy LLC is proposing the wind farm in the Camp Grove area near the Marshall-Stark County line. The company wants the project included in the Marshall County Enterprise Zone. If the project is included in the zone, it would receive exemption from sales taxes on materials bought in Illinois for the construction of the towers. But some Stark County residents are concerned about losing that revenue.

A large wind farm that would straddle the Marshall-Stark County line would be placed in an enterprise zone to get sales tax benefits for the developers under a proposal to be discussed at public hearings this week. At issue in the hearings, set for 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Stark County Courthouse and 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Marshall County Courthouse, will be whether the 112-turbine, 200-megawatt wind energy installation planned for the Camp Grove area by California-based Orion Energy LLC should be annexed into the existing Marshall County Enterprise Zone, even though more than a third of the property is in neighboring Stark County.

FALL RIVER - A recently completed study indicates the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant on Bay Street may be an optimal site for a wind turbine that could drastically reduce the electrical bill associated with the site. Officials with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative reported their initial findings to the City Council Tuesday night, and are recommending that city leaders take advantage of a grant that will pay for a more extensive feasibility study.

FOWLER -- Orion Energy LLC is moving closer to getting its Benton County wind farm project off the ground. The seven-member Benton County Council voted unanimously Thursday morning to approve a resolution that designates York and Richland townships as economic revitalization areas. That action clears the way for the council to consider a 10-year tax abatement for Orion. The company is planning to place a maximum of 135 electricity-generating wind turbines on farmland in the two townships in the northwest part of the county.

Reeling a bit from the news their new school won’t be ready until the fall of 2009, SAD 3 board members also received some good news Monday night. Supt. Barbara Mosseau said Steve Cole of Coastal Enterprises Inc. has informed her the district is receiving a $60,000 grant from the Cox Trust. The money will be used to assist the district in determining whether wind power will be feasible in the energy mix at the new school. The district is already eyeing a wood chip boiler and board members think a windmill would be a good addition as well.

The $53,500 grant is being dispensed as part of the Value Added Agriculture Product Market Development Grant Program. The money will fund a feasibility study of wind energy including wind testing using altimeter.

MUNCIE -- The ethanol industry in East Central Indiana is on the verge of a rapid expansion. Could that be followed by a wind energy boom? Yes, according to the Indiana Coalition for Renewable Energy and Economic Development (INCREED), which is trying to build support for state legislation to jump-start the wind-power industry in Indiana. "One of the things we want to dispel is that we don't have any wind capacity in Indiana," said Grant Smith, executive director of Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, during a trip to Muncie last week.

SPANISH FORK — An embattled wind farm development set to begin construction next year in Spanish Fork may serve as a microcosm for the future of wind energy in Utah and across the nation. The farm, a project of Utah-based Wasatch Wind, will be the state's first commercial wind farm. It already has been delayed after citizens in Spanish Fork requested that it be moved farther from homes, to a site at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. Finding investors was difficult, and the looming expiration date on a state tax credit, on which the project depends, promises an arduous battle still ahead as supporters work to get the credit restored. Like the wind power industry as a whole, the Wasatch Wind project has weathered the early storm and is poised to move forward but remains shrouded in lingering questions

FOWLER -- No opposition to a wind farm project proposed for Benton County was expressed during a public meeting here Thursday night. But some people would like to see Orion Energy LLC bring a little more cash to the table. The Benton County Council held the meeting to take comments on a resolution that designates Richland and York townships as economic revitalization areas. That step is necessary before the council can consider providing a 10-year tax abatement to the Oakland, Calif.-based company which is designing a wind farm that would place a maximum of 135 electricity-generating wind turbines on farm land in the two townships.

"Wind is more an intermittent energy supply," said Amy Morgan, a spokeswoman for the California Energy Commission, which certifies solar and wind systems that are eligible for state tax credits. Morgan said only about 2 percent of the applicants asking for tax credits are using wind energy. Most are choosing solar.

The list of qualifying devices includes passive solar space heating, solar water heating, solar thermal electric, photovoltaic, wind, biomass, hydroelectric, fuel cells and alternative energy refueling stations.