In a move that still astounds conservationists, in 2011, Classical Environmental Management Services released a report that did not mention the two vulture species and even went so far as to say there were no major environmental flaws to prevent the wind farm project from proceeding. ...Experts agree, the wind power project poses a dire threat to the two vulture species and will lead to their extinction if it continues.

Genneia wants to pay an outstanding balance in Argentine pesos, instead of euros or US dollars, as Vestas claims was agreed - a move that could leave the turbine group facing a heavy currency exchange loss on the more than $32m it says it is still owed.

Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS), Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL), Siemens AG (SIE), Acciona SA (ANA) and Fuhrlaender AG aren't getting at least 40 percent of their parts from local suppliers and are no longer eligible for BNDES financing, the country's only source of loans for turbines.

Wind-farm developers in Brazil may be forced to halt construction on some projects within 15 days because the state development bank BNDES is freezing financing for turbines purchased from suppliers it claims aren't meeting local-content requirements.

The delay has been occasioned by international financiers who ...want certain assurances before they sign onto it. Essentially, they boil down to two things; one, power distributor Kenya Power stands to incur heavy penalties if it is unable to take up power from the wind farm. ...The second issue is whether Kenya Power can be relied on to buy the power.

Several Chilean civil society organizations expressed their opposition to the irregular performance of the Regional Environmental Commission that unanimously approved the development of the project without conducting the Environmental Impact Assessment required under Chilean law, says Elsa Cabrera. ...In a unanimous decision, the ministers of the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Regional Environmental Commission of Los Lagos.

A source involved in developing Quintanilha Machado tells Recharge that an intensive effort was made to relocate the project to another city in the state, São Francisco de Itabapoana, after a conflict with a local heliport ruled out an original site in Arraial do Cabo.

The World Bank is one of the project's guarantors, and one of the requirements to gain permission for the build was to complete an environmental impact study. The studies are believed to be part of the delay in project finalization.

"It's unfortunate but the area in Egypt with the highest wind speed is also a bottleneck in one of the world's biggest bird migration routes," environmental consultant Mindy Baha al-Din told Egypt Independent.

But more than a dozen organizations here oppose the $235 million wind farm project in Chiloé being built by Ecopower of Santiago. They argue that the construction and operation of the onshore turbines sited on 2,471 acres (1,000 hectares) along the coast potentially could harm not just the blue whale, but dozens of migratory birds, penguins, and several other marine species.

The wind industry faces other challenges in South Africa, including fierce aesthetics-related complaints against wind farms by the public in certain regions, particularly those close to tourist destinations on the West Coast, and private nature reserves and game farms that are concerned about negative effects on tourism.

Benedictine monks living in the hills outside Grahamstown are angry about plans to build a wind farm near their monastery. Brother Timothy Jolley, the Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery prior, yesterday said the Anglican monks feared the noise and visual impact of the 135m turbines would forever destroy the "contemplative life" they had worked so hard to achieve over the past 12 years.

Oil-rich Venezuela ushered in 2010 with new measures rationing electricity use in malls, businesses and billboards, as Hugo Chavez's government aimed to save power amid a crippling drought. ...Venezuela is flush with oil -- the country's primary export -- and natural gas, but relies mainly on hydroelectric generation to meet domestic energy demand.

A 2.1MW Suzlon wind turbine at a Siif Energies project in the state of Ceará collapsed in a blaze last month, the developer has confirmed. The 21 November incident occurred 200 metres from a residential community and prompted an official inquiry by the local authorities.

In the last 21 days, the residents of Beach Zavier Camocim the interior of Ceara, were taken aback. One of the 50 turbines that make up the wind farm Praia Formosa (105 MW) exploded losing one of its blades. The wind tower hit by the incident is one of the closest to houses in the region. According to public defender Edmar Albuquerque, the equipment is located about 200 meters from the local community.

A wind power project on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southeastern Mexico has stripped massive amounts of land and natural resources from hundreds of indigenous campesinos in Oaxaca. Those affected are mostly from non-Spanish speaking indigenous communities. Members were manipulated into giving up their lands in up to 60-year tenancy contracts through misinformation.

Some 51 per cent of African-Eurasian migratory raptor species have an "unfavourable" conservation status. John O'Sullivan, of Birdlife International, a global alliance of conservation organisations, said: "We have recently heard about the sad case of the golden eagle being poisoned in Scotland, but birds of prey face additional problems trying to settle in networks of suitable habitats along their migration paths. We know little about the status of raptors in Africa, and in Asia species are poorly understood." The main threats to the birds, Mr O'Sullivan said, were habitat loss, illegal hunting, power lines, and wind farm initiatives.

Wind power is a mature technology, used widely in Europe. In Germany it produces 20 000MW. ...Unfortunately, South Africa is not the best location; there is just not enough wind to generate sufficient sustainable electricity supply. ... To generate large amounts of electricity from wind turbines would require large tracts of land. A wind turbine that generates 5MW could have a 12m diameter. In comparison, an Airbus A380's wingspan is 80m. So to generate a large amount of power, say Koeberg's capacity of 1 800MW, you would need about 380 5MW wind turbines. ...Wind will be a small part of South Africa's future energy mix. Solar power holds more promise as an environmentally friendly solution to South Africa's energy crisis.

When Rudolph Diesel unveiled his new engine at the 1900 World's Fair, he made a point of demonstrating that it could be run on peanut oil. "Such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time," he said. And so it has come to pass that US President George Bush has decreed that America must wean itself off oil with the help of biofuels made from corn, sugar cane and other suitable crops. At its simplest, the argument for biofuels is this: By growing crops to produce organic compounds that can be burnt in an engine, you are not adding to the overall levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The amount of CO2 that the fuel produces when burnt should balance the amount absorbed during the growth of the plants. However, many biofuel crops, such as corn, are grown with the help of fossil fuels in the form of fertilisers, pesticides and the petrol for farm equipment. One estimate is that corn needs 30 per cent more energy than the finished fuel it produces. Another problem is the land required to produce it. One estimate is that the grain needed to fill the petrol tank of a 4X4 with ethanol is sufficient to feed a person for a year.

Japan’s government has presented a 600MW wind power generation project for the Patagonia region to Argentina’s energy secretary Daniel Cameron, Argentine government news agency Telám reported. The prospective plant will call for the installation of 200 wind turbines with 3MW generation capacity each, covering northern Santa Cruz to southern Chubut province. The Japanese government wants a Japanese firm to construct the turbines; possible candidates include Nissan, Honda and Toyota.