The federal Minister for the Environment says Australia's mandatory renewable energy targets will ensure wind farms are built, despite his decision to veto some developments to protect the orange-bellied parrot.

"The reality for us is that coal is going to need to contribute significantly to New Zealand's energy future over some years to come. The key is to increasingly find ways to burn it cleaner and more efficiently," she said.

A vocal opponent of wind farms in Gippsland in Victoria, Senator McGauran repeated his claim that wind farm proponents were fraudulent in their extravagant claims of economic and environmental benefits.

Douglas readily admits that he is not a fan of large wind turbines on Vermont's mountaintops. He said that if Vermonters were more aware of the relatively low power output wind has to offer, they would likely agree with him....... "I see letters to the editors sometimes from people who apparently believe that (wind power) could replace Vermont Yankee, well that isn't even close to the amount of power that we get. So, I think if you weigh the relatively small amount of power versus the impact on the natural beauty of Vermont ... I come out on the side of saying it's not worth it.

WORCESTER— Absent interest in lower-priced fuels, New Englanders should brace for continued high electricity prices, the byproduct of a regional system heavily dependent on oil, natural gas and coal, the head of the region’s power grid said yesterday.

CHATHAM --- Is wind power an important element in weaning the country away from its reliance on fossil fuels, or a boondoggle that will do nothing more than line the pockets of investors and power companies? And where does the proposed Cape Wind project fit into all of this?

LIBERAL leader Ted Baillieu has taken aim at the wind-power industry, saying wind farms divide rural communities and pledging a moratorium on new wind farms in Victoria. Mr Baillieu also announced large tracts of the state would become no-go zones for wind farms under a Liberal government and he wants to give sole planning approval for the turbines to local councils.

Power resource planners in the Northwest say several factors could buffet the region's wind farm boom. Rising construction costs, strained transmission lines and a limited ability to blend wind's fickle nature with more controllable generation, such as hydro-power, are among the biggest concerns. "Wind is a complex variable," said Jeff King, a senior analyst for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, a regional organization created by Congress to balance power production and wildlife protection in the Columbia Basin. "It's only very roughly predictable."

AUGUSTA -- A week before hearings on a controversial wind farm project are scheduled to begin, an influential environmental group is calling for deep changes in the proposal. The Natural Resources Council of Maine on Wednesday asked Maine Mountain Power, which has applied to erect 30 turbines on two Franklin County mountain ridges, to drop plans to use the Redington Pond Range.

Illinois' senators are blocking President Bush's nominee for a Federal Aviation Administration post as they seek his administration's answer to whether wind farms interfere with military operations.

SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois could have an advantage over Texas in the sweepstakes to land a $1 billion, nearly pollution-free power plant, the chief of the state’s coal association said Tuesday. Phil Gonet, director of the Illinois Coal Association, said Illinois’ abundant coal fields could give two sites in Illinois the leg up over two sites in Texas in the contest to land the FutureGen power plant project.

In an industrial corner of South Jersey, on a 300-acre parcel of land on the Delaware River, a company has negotiated for the last two years to build a $1 billion coal-burning electric plant that could juice 500,000 homes. It is one of 150 coal-burning power plants on drawing boards around the nation and part of a back-to-the-future resurgence for the fossil fuel sewn into the hills of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Montana, Kentucky, Colorado and Wyoming.

That’s good news to people who support renewable energy such as wind, solar and biomass -- but all supporters still have to face the state’s decision on the issue before they can get too excited: Results of a state utilities wind integration study are forthcoming.

The Government has today announced proposals to change Building Regulations which will make the use of renewable energy compulsory in all new buildings from 2008.

MADRID: Even as Britain, following a detailed review, mulls the need for increased nuclear capacity, Spain has the bit between its teeth as it champions renewable energy.

A mix of federal and tax incentives, not to mention high fuel prices, are drawing local investors into the wind market. The federal government, for instance, offers a 1.9 cents-per-killowatt hour tax credit; in Minnesota, the state offers another1.5 cent credit. Small investors in Minnesota can negotiate with utility companies for further production credits. According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, one or two turbines can generate profits of $100,000 per year, once the capital expenditures are paid off.

there's a missing ingredient that has slowed development of wind power and other renewable energy sources in Colorado and the West: adequate transmission lines. Where the wind tends to blow, there is little population that would be served by wind energy. To move the wind power to populous metro areas requires steep investments by wind-farm developers. High-power lines can cost from $300,000 to $1 million per mile to build.

"The UK now faces a 20 gigawatt power shortage by 2016. The review fails to ensure that we secure a reliable supply for the next 10 years; fails to halt the threat of power cuts; fails to encourage coal plants to reduce emissions with clean coal technology and fails to give a decision for incentives for carbon capture," said a spokesman for Mitsui Babcock, Britain's leading clean coal group. "It is worrying to see government taking a fingers-crossed approach before the first of the planned nuclear plants become operational in 2019."

Energy Minister Theo Theophanous refused to release the research on which the Government based its claim that power bills would rise by no more than $10 a year, claiming it was "market sensitive", even though the Government has repeatedly referred to the amount in public.

PROPOSED wind farms at Naroghid, Woolsthorpe and Ballangeich have been saved from potential mothballing due to a new State Government scheme to subsidise renewable energy projects in Victoria.