Buffalo Niagara Enterprise president Tom Kucharski said the three agencies recognized the potential for jointly marketing "compelling regional assets" like a diverse transportation network, binational location and strong Great Lakes wind pattern several months ago. The result is a new bi-national wind partnership dubbed CanAm Wind Energy.

“You’ll have to devote the rest of your days to fighting these, if you allow them to get here in there first place.” That was the message retired schoolteacher and Green Party candidate Stephana Johnston had for West Lincoln residents last Wednesday, at a public information meeting on the alleged negative effects of industrial wind turbines.

Acciona Energy confirmed Friday the 30-megawatt wind farm that was supposed to go into service in November near Exit 3 of the Trans-Canada Highway will not be constructed this year. "The project is suffering from the economic downtown. Liquidity for capital projects is scarce right now and this project is extremely capital intensive," Schneider said.

In May, citing a potential for reliability problems for the provincial network, the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) — which oversees the electricity market and transmission network in Alberta — surprised the industry by announcing that wind power generation in Alberta, currently at about 300 megawatts (MW) of capacity, would be capped indefinitely at 900 MW. However, there are proposals for about 3,000 MW of projects above and beyond the ones already lined up and paid up to meet the 900 MW mark.

On Monday it called on Premier Dalton McGuinty to initiate a province-wide study on the health effects of wind energy generation and transmission. Moreover, it is calling on McGuinty to impose a moratorium on all wind generation projects in the province until a health study is completed.

Opposition is growing to a proposed windmill farm about two kilometres off the Scarborough Bluffs from residents worried it would tarnish their picturesque Guildwood Village neighbourhood. Residents were informed last month that Toronto Hydro had submitted an application to the Ministry of Natural Resources to install an anemometer platform off the Guildwood shoreline to test the location's wind resources. If approved, the platform would be set up for two years to determine whether the area could sustain a windmill farm of 60 turbines in Lake Ontario.

One of the world's largest solar farms will soon rise on Sarnia's outskirts, and other sun-reliant green energy ventures are in the works for sunny Southwestern Ontario. The Ontario government has approved an energy deal with OptiSolar Farms Canada to build a 400-hectare mass of solar panels that will produce 40 megawatts of electricity -- enough to supply 6,000 homes. A key to the project was the government's deal to pay 42 cents a kilowatt-hour -- nearly four times what's paid for other green-generated electricity, such as from wind turbines -- to the solar company.

In a precedent setting move, a recently discovered decision of the provincial Assessment Review Board (ARB) has cut a homeowner's assessment in half because the house is located near a noisy hydro substation. The hydro plant serves a nearby wind farm producing "clean" electricity. The decision of ARB member Ana Cristina Marques was issued following an appeal by Paul Thompson of the assessment on his house.

Millian urged all council members to study the reports on the wind turbines. "Nobody is going to disagree with the Ontario government saying that there is a need for renewable energy but we don't know anything about it and the government just wants us to do it," said Millian. "We can't talk to anyone in Ontario about this because it's new and no one knows anything about it and I challenge anyone in this room to argue with me about this." Council agreed to wait for the minister's response.

Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township council is not pleased that EPCOR is not responding to the public’s concerns. “EPCOR is not coming through with the information we have asked for,” said Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek, following council’s Jan. 16 meeting. Van Diepenbeek said the public continues to address concerns to council of noise and of EPCOR not responding to their concerns. He said township resident Ross Brindley has also expressed concerns of stray voltage in his barn which he says were not there until after the wind turbines were built.

Several planned wind turbines in the area aren't even up yet, but residents are already educating themselves as to the possible health hazards associated with them. Over 200 people attended an information meeting hosted by the Middlesex Wind Action Group on Wednesday, Sept. 9. The gym at Adelaide W.G. MacDonald was standing room only. At the heart of the issue is a proposed wind turbine farm that would see the construction of 40 turbines in Adelaide-Metcalfe Township.

After more than a year of public meetings and discussion on how to integrate more wind energy from the southwest into Alberta's grid system, a $1.83 billion solution has been proposed. ...Last week the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) announced that it would be recommending the construction of a 240-kilovolt loop system to connect up to 2,700 megawatts (approximately 900 turbines).

Legislator, Claude Roy, has denounced wind energy as a free-for-all and unseemly. The representative from Montmagny-L' Islet hopes to present a proposal aiming to nationalization the industry in the province. UnTil that happens, he wants to see a moratorium on all projects.

Both Niagara Escarpment Commission manager Ken Whitbread and chairman Don Scott said they cannot see the NEC approving the construction of any industrial wind turbines within the escarpment plan area, which winds through Grey-Bruce and ends at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula.

PUGWASH - A proposed wind farm near here would hurt the area's well-established cottage industry, a real estate agent said Thursday. "This is cottage country and on its own it is a major industry that has resulted in property values doubling several times over in recent years, but we will see property values drop 30 to 50 per cent as soon as this project is approved," said Peter Finley. "I've already seen buyers back away from deals and I know of people who have property in the area of the wind farm who have put their (development) plans on hold. They are scared that they will not be able to enjoy their property with a wind farm in their backyard."

Agriculture Canada says it has yet to decide what to do with a noisy wind turbine in P.E.I. that was shut down less than three days after its blades started spinning because a nearby resident claimed it was making her sick. The turbine, set up to provide power to an Agriculture Canada research station north of Charlottetown, started operating in January. Department spokesman Mike Hennigar confirmed the $200,000, 30-metre turbine in Harrington was shut down less than three days later, after a woman living a few hundred metres away complained of migraine headaches.

The contribution Lake Erie winds make to Ontario’s green electricity generation is about to increase. AIM PowerGen plans on erecting 12 additional turbines in the southwest corner of Norfolk County. To be erected in two clusters of six, the Cultus and Frogmore groups as AIM refers to them, will connect into the provincial electrical grid near the two villages. Total electrical output is expected to be between 18 and 20 megawatts.

So-called compressed-air energy storage, or CAES, has been around for more than 20 years and while only two facilities have ever been built - a 110-megawatt plant in Alabama and a 290-megawatt plant in Germany - officials from New York, California, Texas and a number of other U.S. states are beginning to seriously explore the potential. Iowa has already taken the leap. The basic concept is that cheap, surplus electricity available overnight is used to compress air and inject it into underground reservoirs, like a salt cavern or depleted gas field. When power is needed during the day and can fetch a higher price on the market, the air is released, exposed to heat and put through an expansion turbine that generates electricity.

Many appeals have been withdrawn from the Cruickshank Wind Project Ontario Municipal Board Hearing, with future expansion restrictions on the Kincardine Airport coming forward as the lead. ...The 10-megawatt, six turbine project near Ainsdale Golf Course was approved by the Municipality of Kincardine on Oct. 11, 2006. Since then appeals were issued surrounding setbacks, noise, shadow flicker and impacts on neighbouring properties, as well as from pilots and the Kincardine Airport.

A group of southern Alberta landowners has lost its fight to block a proposed power line that would run from Lethbridge into Montana. The Alberta Court of Appeal has ruled that the province's energy regulator was right when it said it didn't have the power to re-examine the location of the line's corridor, which had already been approved by the National Energy Board.