British Columbia wind farm developer Katabatic Power Corp. has signed a joint venture deal with Deutsche Bank AG, which will see the German financial giant help fund the potentially huge Banks Island wind project near Prince Rupert in northwestern B.C.

An appeal filed on behalf of Alan Kettles' Benign Energy Canada Inc. and Heritage Wind Farm Development Inc. regarding a request to install 112 Vestas V90 wind turbines as part of a new development project was settled on Aug. 14.

Allan Kettles continued his whirlwind wind energy tour of Pincher Creek last week, following up an Oct. 23 Town council appearance with an Municipal District of Pincher Creek public meeting two days later. Kettles appeared at the meeting, put on by the MD’s Municipal Planning Commission, as part of an application to expand his Kettles Hill wind farm by another 55 turbines.

Adjusted figures provided in the most recent report to the island wind farm owners show 2,327 bats killed in 2010. The number of birds killed was estimated at 1,207. Gulden said the bird numbers make the 86-turbine Wolfe Island wind farm the second deadliest in North America.

A high-profile witness took the stand against the Enbridge Ontario Wind Power Project last week. Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) testimony kicked off on May 8 with Daniel d'Entremont, a Nova Scotia resident, who made national headlines when he, along with his wife and six children, were driven from their home by sounds emitted by turbines at the Pubnico Point Wind Farm project.

Kincardine continues to struggle for a policy on who’s planning the wind farms. Area resident Andy Robinson was at council asking again why Kincardine is granting zoning approvals on windfarms which have yet to be fully endorsed by higher tier authorities like the Ministry of the Environment. Robinson is also suggesting a local planning advisory committee be set up to come with policy for all future windfarm proposals. But Kincardine mayor Larry Kramer says the municipality has to be careful they don’t come up with local planning rules flying in the face of existing provincial policy - which currently endorses wind farms as an viable alternative power source. Kraemer adds Bruce County is currently tackling turbine setback distances and other windfarm issues in its Official Plan re-write, and says now is the time for the public to get their concerns on record at the County level.

A wind farm opponent in Kincardine says a former councillor’s vote shouldn’t have been made. While Enbridge Wind Farms was looking for another zoning approval - opponent Andy Robinson was voicing his concern about past votes. Robinson says former Kincardine Councilor Howard Ribey should never have been at the table for any wind farm votes because Ribey is a pubic proponent of wind energy and is under contact with Enbridge to host windmills on his Bruce Township farm.

The Enbridge Ontario Wind Farm project is taking one more big step forward in Kincardine today. Local council there has formally approved the wind energy company's envelope zoning approach- passing over a hundred individual bylaws to allow 110 turbine units on 102 rural lots in the Underwood and North Bruce area.

The county announced Friday that it has awarded a $25,000- contract to Janis Rod Environmental Consulting of Halifax, with recommendations to the county's planning advisory committee expected this spring. The company was one of seven that submitted bids on the study.

Large-scale wind farms will be unwelcome in any part of Kings County, at least in the immediate future. Municipal council on Tuesday night gave first reading to a recommendation from its planning advisory committee to prohibit all major wind projects while it reviews issues around the controversial developments.

Kingsville council agreed Monday to allow large-scale wind farms and create a wind farm zone. Council held a public meeting Monday night on changing its official plan and zoning bylaws in the former Gosfield North and Gosfield South townships to permit wind energy on farmlands. About 20 people attended and no residents asked to speak at the meeting. ...In April, Toronto-based Brookfield Power applied to the town to allow wind turbines in the former Gosfield North and Gosfield South townships. The company is proposing up to 151 turbines over 22,000 acres in Kingsville and Lakeshore. It would be a 250- megawatt project.

Kingsville voted Monday to allow renewable energy projects in the former Gosfield North and allow a wind turbine project in the northwest corner of Kingsville. But before six wind turbines in the Arner Green Wind Farm can be built, they will have to have a site plan agreement approved by the town. "If you protect woodlots... why aren't you protecting people?" asked Coun. Tamara Stomp who was opposed to the renewable energy and wind farm resolutions.

The town's planner discovered the footings of a wind turbine going up across the road. She insisted that Armstrong, for his half of the farm that falls within 550 metres of the turbine, would have to get the property rezoned to never allow a home to be built on much of it.

Packing a public meeting at the Lakeside Park Pavilion, about 300 Kingsville residents opened fire on a multibillion-dollar offshore wind project aiming at Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair. "That is the jewel of the south shore, Leamington and Kingsville," area resident Gerry Graham told representatives of SouthPoint Wind, drawing loud cheers. "We have no problem with wind turbines. It's where you put them."

Six Ontario wind farm projects, including one in Kingsville, jumped a major regulatory hurdle Friday when the Ontario Power Authority agreed to buy the power the wind farms would generate. ...Before a wind farm can be built, the OPA has to determine whether it can buy the electricity and transport it within the province's electricity grid.

Although there were a few anti-wind energy proponents in the crowd, the majority of those who addressed the assembled crowd and the hearing panel, consisting of members of the MD Council and planners from the Oldman River Regional Services Commission, were wind power advocates. In fact, the influence of the pro wind power lobby was so substantial, that many of those in opposition left before the conclusion of the hearing.

Canadians would see their hydro and natural-gas bills spike dramatically should the three opposition parties succeed in forcing the government to comply with Kyoto, Environment Minister Rona Ambrose warned Thursday. Ms. Ambrose was appearing before the Commons environment committee for the first time since she was sworn in to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet in February. Though she outlined the broad direction of her fall environmental plan and gave a few more hints as to where the government is headed, opposition MPs left frustrated that she did not provide any new information.

The federal government's decision to scrap several programs related to the Kyoto Protocol won't deter the development of alternative-energy technologies, vow industry experts and analysts.