Palmerston North City Council will likely oppose some turbines in the Turitea Wind Farm, despite being contractually involved with the power company, city mayor Jono Naylor said. ...The council was contracted to provide reserve land for most of the turbines, and the terms meant it would be unable to comment on those. But it would be free to submit on the turbines planned for private land.

The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday cleared the way for construction of the Sunrise Powerlink, a contentious transmission line that promises to bring more reliable and renewable power from the Imperial Valley to San Diego. The 4-1 vote allows San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to move forward with the 123-mile, $1.9 billion power-line project, which could deliver enough electricity to serve 650,000 households.

The storm over the city wind farm has still to blow out - despite opponents running out of UK options for defeating the plan. They say they may turn to the European courts after they were refused leave to appeal to the House of Lords. The company behind the proposed seven wind turbines at Petsoe Manor Farm, Emberton, Your Energy, welcomed the decision by the Lords appeal committee effectively upholding Milton Keynes Council's approval of the project.

The Albany County Commissioners agreed Tuesday to delay until at least Jan. 6 their decision on passing a set of commercial wind energy regulations. Commissioners Pat Gabriel, Tim Chesnut and Jerry Kennedy agreed to table their decision on a motion to approve county wind energy regulations because of public comments that the planning and attorney's offices have yet to review.

Tyrone Borough Council will vote on a watershed study that started a few years ago. ...The city has been going back and forth between building windmills or establishing a gas lease, but the mayor says windmills appear to be the best fit.

The Town of Essex became the first area municipality to propose a ban Monday on wind turbine projects until all health questions raised by residents are clearly answered by provincial experts. "We are gambling with the health, safety and quality of life of the people around us," said Coun. Ron Rogers, who proposed the ban. "We need answers and guidance from our provincial ministries." ...Maureen Anderson of the Essex County Wind Action Group said a handful of Ontario municipalities have already proposed bans on wind turbines, and the number appears to be growing.

Plans to get Britain's first offshore wind farm producing power again after a gap of almost three years have been stalled by a further technical hitch. Rotor blades on the two turbines off Cambois, Northumberland have not turned since March 2006, when the seabed cable connecting them to the mainland snapped.

Plans to notify the Turitea wind farm have stalled again following news a call-in decision is imminent. After announcing last month that Mighty River Power's application for the 131-turbine wind farm would be publicly notified, despite still waiting on a ministerial call-in decision, Palmerston North City Council has back-pedalled after news Environment Minister Nick Smith plans to announce his decision in the next week.

e West Virginia Public Service Commission is expected to reach a decision today on whether to grant AES' siting permit to construct up to 65 wind turbines on the Laurel Mountain ridge between Barbour and Randolph counties. ...The PSC has been considering all of the written evidence and testimony in order to arrive at a decision in the case. Today is the final day in the statutorily imposed 300-day process for the PSC to make a decision.

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."

Despite living in a state that hopes to become a leader in energy efficiency, people like the Flesches are discovering that obtaining approval to install turbines is difficult. The struggle is not with the state or even the power companies. The struggle is with county and local governments - many of which do not have laws in effect to deal with wind turbines.

Ryder began working on the ordinance in response to a request from the planning commission last month. The county is working with James Madison University on a field test of the Virginia Renewables Siting Scoring System, or VRS3. The test will use a scoring book to evaluate factors related to siting wind energy facilities in various parts of the county. However, work on the book is still not complete.

Lawmakers will rally again for statewide regulations on wind farm development in the upcoming legislative session, and, if the standards pass, local regulation could be a thing of the past. "We will push for the (Public Service Commission of Wisconsin) to create uniform standards and regulation of wind energy for all projects," said Curt Pawlisch, an attorney with Cullen Weston Pines & Bach LLP, Madison. Pawlisch is revising wind farm standards that failed to get out of legislative committees last session. "I wouldn't say local regulations would be for naught," he said, "but the PSC would determine what works and what doesn't."

Gov. John Lynch signed into law House Bill 310, which sets maximum restrictions on what a community can do when someone proposes to erect a wind tower to generate electricity. ...The new law, explained Murphy, is different from other state land-use regulations "which allow towns to enact restrictions greater than those the state imposes; this one was framed in such a way to be the most restrictive. I believe the intent was so that towns, for whatever reason, could not totally outlaw wind tower use within their boundaries."

In a unanimous vote Monday, the Hays Area Planning Commission approved a recommendation to indefinitely extend a moratorium on wind energy development within city limits. This recommendation will be presented to Hays city commissioners at a later date for final approval. Jesse Rohr, planning and development superintendent, suggested the recommendation for a moratorium extension of several months.

The Commission is an intervenor in Cape Wind's request to the state Energy Facilities Siting Board for a comprehensive certificate of public need that would roll up several outstanding state, regional and local approvals. The company needs them before it can run seven-plus miles of cable through state waters from its proposed 130-turbine wind generation facility in federal waters in Nantucket Sound. EFSB approval would compel the Commission, the towns of Barnstable and Yarmouth, and state agencies to issue necessary permits. It would overturn the Commission's denial.

The application for the 131-turbine wind farm was lodged on August 14, and the council had expected to publicly notify the application last month. But, the process stalled after MRP applied to the Environment Minister for a ministerial call-in. That would have fast-tracked the application, because the resource consent process would be taken out of council's hands, and instead referred directly to either a board of inquiry or the Environment Court.

The Allegany County Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday resumed discussion of the bonding and interference policies related to potential commercial or industrial wind energy installations. ...At issue is the bond amount the county could require wind energy companies to post. Hager presented a draft proposal to the county's zoning text that would require a $150,000 bond until an abandoned wind turbine has been taken down and the land restored similar to its original condition.

When it comes to going green, BP's policy appears to be a case of 'Beyond Britain'. The UK's pre-eminent energy company yesterday confirmed it has shelved plans to invest in wind power or carbon-capture technology in this country. Instead, BP's wind investments will be targeted on the US, where there are opportunities for greater economies of scale because of the sheer amount of empty land.

The winds of change blew through the country this election week and the town of Orleans is once again making moves to harness one of Cape Cod's most abundant resources for energy. The board of selectmen agreed to allow the renewable energy/wind committee to use about $10,000 allocated by a 2003 town meeting vote for wind energy to study putting a wind turbine in the town's watershed. The committee said the plan was to examine placing one wind turbine in the watershed reviving an issue many thought was killed for good last year.