Richland County Commissioners formed a new group to study how to bring wind-generated electric power to the county. Commissioner Tim Wert, chairman of the Richland Wind Working Group, said there is statewide and nationwide interest in alternative energy and the possibility of a new power source through wind turbines. "We can optimize opportunities to get wind energy into Richland County," Wert said. "It would put a lot of money into the county and improve our infrastructure."

The Public Service Commission has approved land-based wind contracts between Delmarva Power and two developers after a meeting in Dover that lasted about five hours. Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a 20-year deal between Delmarva and Synergics for a maximum of 100 megawatts of wind power from two wind farms in western Maryland. Commissioners also voted unanimously to approve a 15-year deal with AES for a wind farm in north-central Pennsylvania that would produce up to 70 megawatts.

Goldman Sachs on Tuesday slapped sell ratings on the two largest publicly traded U.S. solar power firms, with the broker flagging the possibility of oversupply as overseas subsidies dry up in the face of the global economic meltdown. Goldman analyst Michael Molnar forecast "strong headwinds for valuation" as he downgraded shares of First Solar (FSLR) to conviction sell from buy and SunPower (SPWRA) to sell from buy.

After 10 months of work, the Committee for Renewable Energy for Barrington (CREB) has recommended the town accept a bid to install a 600 kilowatt wind turbine generator at the Legion Way site. The town council is saddled with the final decision - whether to follow the CREB recommendation and award the bid for the work to Lumus Construction Inc. ...The recommendation report goes into detail, explaining specifics about the proposed project. The council was scheduled to hear from CREB members at Monday night's meeting and were expecting some other vocal residents to attend also.

In newspaper advertisements, ApCo says customers who sign up are "investing in a future of energy that's both clean and green." ...But ApCo has already agreed to buy the green power. ApCo contracted for 75 megawatts of energy from the Camp Grove Wind Farm in central Illinois and 100 megawatts from the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm in western Indiana. ApCo already buys power from Summersville Hydro in West Virginia, and has plans to buy from the Beech Ridge Wind Energy project in Greenbrier County when it is finished. So what's the benefit if ApCo customers sign up, given that the company's already buying the green power?

New Jersey is one step closer to bringing an offshore wind farm to the coasts of the U.S. Garden State Offshore Energy (GSOE), a joint venture between utility Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) Renewable Generation and Deepwater Wind, was selected by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities today to build an offshore wind farm far off the Jersey coastline. The proposed 350-megawatt wind farm would consist of 96 turbines nearly 20 miles offshore. GSOE will receive a $4 million state grant to help cover permitting costs and spur project financing though the final project, to be completed by 2012, will likely cost well over $1 billion, according to the state.

State Senator Josh Miller is rasing concerns about the wind farm project announced by Governor Carcieri last week. "While the General Assembly has fully supported developing renewable energy projects in Rhode Island, I am concerned that Governor Carcieri has unilaterally moved Deepwater Wind to the front of the line when major questions remain about their experience and background. I am troubled by the lack of disclosure from Deepwater Wind's CEO about his financial relationship with First Wind," stated Senator Miller.

"Wind is coming whether you want it or not," Ohio Power Siting Board Executive Director Kim Wissman said at one point in the more-than-two-hour-long meeting with concerned citizens and wind turbine leaseholders. She said that while some companies have abandoned a project in the early stages, she does not recall a time in her 30 years with the Siting Board that the arm of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has turned down a project. "I'm not sure the board has outright rejected an application, but we have required certain modifications," Ms. Wissman said.

The plug is set to be pulled on a multimillion-dollar Wellington wind farm proposal because of visual pollution concerns, despite a winter of power cut fears. A report by Greater Wellington regional council recommends a five-year moratorium on wind farm development at Belmont Regional Park, five years after the council called the site a "world-class wind farm opportunity".

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been leaving about 10,000 computers switched on overnight. ...This means the overnight powering of FCO computers in a year has been roughly equivalent to the average annual output of a 1.7Mw wind turbine, or the electricity usage of several hundred homes. ..."It has been our assessment that the risk of lost productivity and the risk to national security that this policy avoids outweighed its cost," said Munn in the answer given on 15 September.

Gov. Donald Carcieri chose Deepwater Wind -- formerly Winergy -- on Thursday to develop a privately financed project that would provide 1.3 million megawatt hours of offshore wind power per year. ...The decision brings to three active plans to build wind farms off the U.S. coast. Besides Bluewater, there's Cape Wind, a private wind farm proposal on Nantucket Sound. New Jersey is nearing the selection of a developer for its own offshore farm. All projects will have to seek federal permits, the rules of which have not been finalized.

Aside from agreeing that Montanans deserve affordable energy, local candidates for the state Public Service Commission disagreed about everything else during a Billings debate Wednesday. Incumbent Brad Molnar, R-Laurel, and challenger Ron Tussing, D-Billings, debated the merits of wind energy ...Wind power is intermittent; it comes and goes with the blowing wind. When the wind dies down, utilities have to have a backup source of energy available, the commissioner said. Molnar said the backup energy has to be bought on the spot market, where rates are most expensive.

The company selected to build a $1.5-billion wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island has never constructed an offshore project. But yesterday, Governor Carcieri said he was confident that Deepwater Wind, the three-year-old New Jersey firm chosen to build the privately financed project, had the experience and the financial backing to get the job done. "They've done projects, not offshore, but they've done projects in Hawaii, Maine and New York so they know how to do wind, they know what's involved," Carcieri said yesterday.

The growing U.S. market for carbon offsets -- vouchers that let companies and individuals project an environmentally friendly image by paying others to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions -- is so opaque and loosely regulated that it offers consumers "limited assurance of credibility," according to a federal audit. ..."In our rush to demonstrate our green bona fides, we failed to remember our No. 1 mission -- to safeguard the public's money," said Rep. Tom Davis (R., Va.).

The New York Independent System Operator has a new wind-power forecasting system. ...The system was installed this month. Wind power is variable in nature, which means adjustments must be made to the grid to accommodate its changing levels. The system will help the NYISO predict how much power each wind project will feed into the system.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission has filed a complaint that Tatanka Wind Farm changed the location of some transmission towers without notifying the commission. A possible fine of up to $200,000 is by no means a certainty. "We are just putting the company on alert that our staff is concerned about this," commission President Susan Wefald told the American News on Wednesday.

The Public Service Commission, which regulates and approved the wind farm's associated transmission line, could end up fining the company as much as $200,000, said commissioner Susan Wefald, president of the commission. ...The order approving the line said the company would have to ask for permission to move any towers. In June, the company notified the PSC it had changed the location of about 50 of the 102 towers without seeking formal approval for the changes from the agency. "For a company to just ignore that is unfortunate," Wefald said after the PSC's Wednesday morning meeting. "Our orders include requirements that are important to meet."

Wind power could be the central plank of a new provincial plan to make B.C. energy self-sufficient by 2016. But critics cited environmental and land-use concerns during a forum at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention today.

Death comes from above and below for birds on the causeway that separates Lake Audubon from Lake Sakakawea along the Missouri River. Biologists believe overhead electrical power lines and car collisions make the two-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 83 through the Audubon National Wildlife Refuge one of the world's deadliest places for birds, on land or air. Recently, biologist Darren Doderer located casualty No. 373, a mangled and bloodied double-crested cormorant that appeared to have hit one of the dozen or so unmarked overhead power lines.

The city has scheduled a public hearing Monday at 6:30 p.m. to discuss a proposal to ease the city's 50-foot building height limitation to allow wind turbines in industrial zones. The hearing will be conducted by the Planning Board and the Town Council's Economic Development Committee. It will be held in the public meeting room of the Police Department on High Street. Town Councilor William F. Martin, who is also chairman of the Greenfield Redevelopment Authority is seeking the change.