A $3 MILLION wind farm turbine caught fire while dozens shut down at the time South Australia most needed them - when a heatwave left 63,000 South Australian homes without power last month.

The state has formed an energy coalition, which has a goal to find ways to secure 25 percent of the nation's energy production from renewable resources by 2025.

A new CIBC World Markets report supports what the Power Workers' Union (PWU) has been saying to the provincial government and the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) for years: the closure of Ontario's coal plants will lead to higher electricity prices for consumers and businesses. Since making the 2003 election campaign promise to close the coal plants, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and the OPA have continued to raise concerns about the significant risks to electricity reliability and price. Now another independent review has reached the same conclusion. "Successive IESO and OPA documents and recent speeches show these risks have not gone away but are actually worse," says Don MacKinnon, President of the PWU. Key risks include: uncertainties about load growth forecasts and what realistic contributions can be expected from conservation and demand management (CDM); how volatile natural gas prices will affect electricity prices; the need for more gas pipeline infrastructure to service new gas-fuelled generators; the costs of redesigning and building new transmission and distribution infrastructure to integrate natural gas and renewable generation from wind farms; and, the need to have a back-up plan if replacement generation is not in place.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are trying to pass House Bill 1273 and the bill says that money given by wind energy farms to wealthy districts need to be part of "Robin Hood." "Robin Hood" will then distribute the money through out other districts. Now some school districts in the Big Country can be heavily affected if House Bill 1273 passes.

Furious MPs say the agreements mean these licensees will pull in an estimated £17billion - all of which will "ultimately be funded by customers". The committee's chairman, Labour MP Margaret Hodge, said: "The terms of these transmission licences appear to have been designed almost entirely to attract investors at the expense of securing a good deal for consumers."

Wind energy projects headed for Champaign and Logan counties will get up to $3 million in grant awards to move forward with production, Gov. Ted Strickland announced Thursday. ...Diane McConnell, a Union Township resident and member of Union Neighbors United .. said the lack of information that affected residents have received is her biggest worry.

AGL Energy says its plans to build the $800 million Macarthur wind farm in western Victoria are under ''enormous pressure'' because of a collapse in the price of renewable energy certificates, which is threatening the entire industry. AGL managing director Michael Fraser warned yesterday that the project was just one of many wind farms that might not go ahead if the Federal Government could not tackle the level of uncertainty facing renewable energy investors.

Scotland is in "serious danger" of suffering power shortages over the next decade thanks to Alex Salmond's "bonkers" green energy policies, the head of one of the country's largest generators has warned. Rupert Soames warned Scotland will be in 'deep trouble' if it relies on green energy.

MONTPELIER — A House committee is proposing a major expansion of a state program that allows homeowners and farmers to produce their own electricity and sell it back to utilities to reduce their own bills.

Although Ontario municipalities are still learning the details regarding their role in future ‘green energy' projects throughout the province, Scugog councillors have commented to the province on the potential impact to rural lands from a new provincial act that may also exempt the township from the decision-making process when it comes to planning renewable energy developments.

Mohave County could see a cut in property tax and income tax revenue from renewable energy manufacturers looking to move into the area. On Monday, Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law a legislative bill that would provide income and property tax incentives to businesses that manufacture items for renewable energy facilities, such as solar plants.

Senate leaders banded for the second time in a week to unveil bipartisan legislation, this time aimed at increasing the development and use of renewable energy throughout the state. ...the bill could fix a problem holding back green energy projects here: a lack of big buyers. Before building an offshore wind farm, for example, developers must convince potential investors that a major customer with money will buy the power over a long period. Lawmakers want National Grid, the state's dominant electricity distributor, to fill the role. The company supports the bill. ...The bill would excuse National Grid from signing contracts it considers "commercially unreasonable," a term that lawmakers defined only vaguely. Ryan said he could not say what contracts National Grid might reject without seeing a specific developer proposal.

Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland, said much of the green stimulus funding was "squandered." "Large grants to build green buildings don't generate many new jobs, except for a few architects," he said. "Subsidies for windmills and solar panels created lots of jobs in China," but few at home.

Transmitting electricity over hundreds of miles to market constrains wind energy development, speakers told 600 participants at a conference at the University of Wyoming last week. So do local, state and federal regulation; and taxation issues, they said. But Laura Ladd, energy economics advisor to Gov. Dave Freudenthal, noted a major omission to that list. "Nowhere in here did we hear of economics as a constraint," Ladd said.

All wind-farm proposals could be called in under Environment Minister Nick Smith's justification. And Palmerston North Mayor Jono Naylor says it proves the need for national guidelines.

Ed Davey told a conference in Edinburgh the cost of Scottish renewable energy subsidies and infrastructure is currently spread across 26 million homes across the UK. But he warned that after separation this would be borne entirely by households north of the Border and "basic arithmetic" dictated that the average bill would have to increase markedly.

Massachusetts Senate leaders have drafted an energy bill that drops a House amendment to open Buzzards Bay and other ocean sanctuaries to what critics say would be unlimited renewable energy development. The amendment, which was backed by House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, would directly benefit a proposal by Boston developer Jay Cashman to build up to 120 wind turbines in Buzzards Bay. His proposal is being reviewed by the state. Individual senators could always move to amend the bill to include the House's proposal, but Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, doubted it would end up in the Senate's final energy package.

The state Senate refused Monday to re-open debate on Sen. Frank Kloucek's proposed tax break for noncommercial wind-energy systems. The legislation failed on the first attempt on Friday, when Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard broke a 17-17 tie by voting against it. An attempt to reconsider the bill on Monday fell short 17-18, as Sen. Jim Bradford, R-Pine Ridge, switched from yes to no.

The legislation passed the House but has remained stuck in the Senate Finance Committee since Valentine's Day. WBAL-TV 11 News reporter David Collins said six votes are needed for passage, but the vote count stood at five on Wednesday.

ALL Scotland's electricity needs could be met from renewable energy sources by 2050 under a bold vision for a greener future unveiled yesterday by Nicol Stephen, the deputy first minister. In an hugely ambitious pledge, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats vowed to go further than the Executive's existing commitment to meet 40 per cent of the country's electricity requirements through renewable sources by 2020.