A company that wants to build a floating wind farm off the coast of Martha's Vineyard has received a boost from the state's congressional delegation. In a letter dated June 26, the entire Massachusetts delegation asked the U.S. Minerals Management Service to review an application by Blue H USA LLC for a lease to test floating platform technology and collect data at the site for the proposed wind farm. The company announced the congressional support for its application at its U.S. headquarters in Boston yesterday.

Researchers studying birds killed by power lines are encouraged by recent findings from a study in the Dakotas that could hold implications throughout the Central Flyway, the major migration route that stretches from Canada to Texas. Wildlife deaths from power lines, wind turbines and other structures are a growing concern across the country, said Al Manville, a senior wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. More transmission lines and wind turbines are planned in coming years, which could put several bird species at risk, Manville said. ...Research is important, partly because "birds play a key role in the ecosystem," said Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation at the National Audubon Society.

The grand U.S. ambitions of Indian wind-turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy Ltd. are facing mounting problems. The Indian company -- the world's fifth-largest wind-turbine maker by sales -- earlier this year acknowledged that 65 giant blades on turbines it had sold in the U.S. Midwest were cracking because of the extreme gusts in the region. The company is reinforcing 1,251 blades, almost the total it has sold in the U.S. Now, other problems are emerging, in part because the company quickly ramped up U.S. sales to meet burgeoning demand for alternative energy. ...

Suzlon, the world's fifth-largest maker of wind turbines, promises customers its turbines will be available to generate power at least 95% of the occasions when there is wind, and that they need only a limited amount of time for repair and maintenance, the newspapers said. The so-called availability rate has been lower in some cases, exposing Suzlon to the risk of penalties, it said. Deere has 250 Suzlon turbines, making it one of the company's largest customers in the U.S. customers.

Governors from several western U.S. states and Canadian provinces met Sunday to discuss strategies for protecting wildlife that roams their region while also capitalizing on immense energy resources. ...The council´s task will be to identify key wildlife corridors and habitats for wildlife, such as pronghorn antelope, sage grouse and bear. The council will also study ways to protect animal habitat in the face of ever-increasing demand for domestic energy development _ both in the form of oil and gas drilling and new construction of solar and wind generation plants _ the building of new infrastructure for the region´s growing population and the effects of climate change.

Conglomerate Siemens AG, wracked by a wide-ranging corruption scandal, will cut up to 4 percent of its work force worldwide, or about 17,200 jobs, a pair of newspapers reported Saturday. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that the Munich-based company was set to shed the jobs -- mostly white-collar and administrative -- without citing any sources. ...The warning was a surprise for the conglomerate, whose diverse products include trams, turbines and telecommunications equipment, given that it had said in January that sales were expected to double the pace of the global economy.

Wind farms are springing up in Midwestern fields, along Appalachian ridgelines, and even in Texas backyards. They're everywhere, it seems, except in the windy coastal waters that lap at some of America's largest, most power-hungry cities. That's partly because the first large-scale effort to harness sea breezes in the U.S. hit resistance from an army led by the rich and famous, waging a not-on-my-beach campaign. For almost eight years the critics have stalled the project, called Cape Wind, which aims to place 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound about five miles south of Cape Cod.

"If we don't get something done in the next 30 days or so, we're going to start seeing facilities being delayed, turbines moved offshore," Eber warned. "We've got to get Congress to try to do something for us because it's starting to look like it's going to have an impact on expected deliveries." Lack of clarity surrounding when or whether the PTC will be extended has hampered wind development and consolidation. ...GE Energy Financial Services will invest $2 billion in renewable energy in 2008, separately from investments by GE Energy, Walsh said, later emphasizing that the company is "not captive" to the U.S. market. "This is a global market. If we don't have the incentives, we're going to invest elsewhere. To have stable policies, to have the right risk reward, whether it's China or Europe or wherever, that's where the money is going to go," Walsh said.

Edison Electric Institute President Thomas Kuhn told the subcommittee that under any scenario, the emissions reductions in the cap-and-trade bills before Congress will be expensive. ...Kuhn warned that if targets and timetables are not aligned with the expanded use of energy efficiency and renewables in the short term and with widespread deployment of new nuclear plants and advanced coal and carbon capture and storage technologies in the long term, "the costs of compliance would become astronomical and consumers would be compelled to curtail their use of electricity dramatically, with resulting consequences to the economy and the standard of living."

A recent Energy Department report said wind power could supply 20% of the country's energy needs by 2030. Community leaders in this blue-collar town of 11,000 think they might be able to top that by building an offshore wind farm that would supply all of their town's power. That would be a first. ...There are already more than 20 offshore wind farms producing electricity in Europe but, in this country, such proposals have sparked opposition from the Great Lakes states to Long Island. Opponents, including seafront homeowners, say such installations would threaten avian and aquatic life and ruin scenic vistas. With such environmental concerns pitted against the demand for clean energy, there is not a single offshore turbine anywhere in the United States. ...Building offshore would allow developers to produce electricity closer to big cities, particularly along the East Coast. The downside is that it would also boost construction costs by 30% or more. Erecting turbines within view of pricey coastal real estate also increases the odds of a backlash since a typical utility-grade unit includes a tower nearly as tall as the Statue of Liberty and a rotor roughly as wide as a football field is long.

The US may be entering a period of "significantly higher power prices that will last for years," Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff said Thursday. In a report presented to commission members Thursday, staff said forward power prices are pointing upward in anticipation of high fuel prices and construction costs, with natural gas-fired power at the leading edge of those trends. Commmissioners responded with expressions of hope for competitive forces and energy conservation but also suggested rising power prices are for the most part inescapable. ...The FERC report also cited the North American Electric Reliability Corp. for a projection of net load growth of 14% through 2016 in the US. For the next few years, "natural gas will be crucial," Whitmore said. While wind farms are being built rapidly, gas most likely will be the dominant power source for additional generation capacity over the next decade, he said.

General Electric Co. executives and spokespeople said Wednesday another congressional failure to extend a tax credit for renewable energy projects could put billions of dollars worth of future wind farms in jeopardy. ...The federal production tax credit (PTC) for solar, wind and other renewable power projects is set to expire on Dec. 31. It is indexed to inflation, so owners of wind farms receive a tax credit of 2.1 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 10 years of operation. The PTC was first instituted in 1992 to help encourage renewable energy sources and reduce pollution.

A Department of Energy official and a South Dakota utility regulator were among several public and private sector officials who told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on June 17 that the nation needs regional transmission planning and siting to meet the challenge of delivering renewable energy to population centers. ...To achieve grid reliability and support the development of clean energy, "we must harmonize the multitude of local, state and federal regulatory rules such that they complement, not conflict with each other.

Stocks of companies that generate electricity from solar or wind power -- or make the equipment to do so -- soared during the last three years. But the global credit crunch, higher prices for raw materials like polysilicon used in solar panels, and cuts in government subsidies to consumers, such as in Germany last month, have made investors much warier. High oil prices, analysts say, can't compensate for all that. "Some months ago, it was still true that a rising tide lifts all the boats," said Thomas Germann, an analyst at Zuercher Kantonalbank. "But investors are now scrutinizing what's going on at the company level, because cost efficiency has become more important." ..."The easy money has been made," said Jean Ryan, who oversees three funds with about €2 billion in assets at KBC Asset Management International Ltd., a unit of Belgium-based KBC Group NV.

The Energy Independence and Tax Relief Act of 2008 would have extended a tax credit to build windmills by one year through December 31, 2009, and extend for three years similar credits for renewable energy sources like biomass, geothermal, landfill gas and trash combustion. The bill failed to garner enough votes to limit debate and move to a vote, leaving the fate of the clean-energy credits uncertain. Extension of renewable energy credits was the most expensive portion of the bill, at about $7 billion over 10 years.

Sapec SA, the third-largest supplier of crop-protection products on the Iberian Peninsula, plans to raise cash for construction of U.S. wind farms by selling other alternative-energy projects after they are completed this year. ...The wind farm projects in the U.S. are facing delays amid uncertainty about the extension of renewable-energy tax credits and problems getting the turbines from Spain, according to Velge. Naturener, which had planned to install 210 megawatts of capacity in Montana this year, will complete only 107 megawatts of the Glacier Wind project this year. The first project in Canada will not be completed until 2010, rather than in 2009.

Texas billionaire and wind energy developer Boone Pickens said at a hearing in Washington Tuesday that the U.S. is exporting about $700 billion a year to feed its oil addiction, as he joined the call from energy leaders to use nuclear, natural gas, coal, wind, biofuels and solar to wean the country off imported crude. According to the Department of Energy, an investment of $60 billion in new transmission capacity is needed between now and 2030 to enable wind power to supply 20% of U.S. electricity.

Open just 19 months, Suzlon's first U.S. plant has taken off like a gale-force wind. Employment has swelled from 275 to 500. Production jumped from one blade a day to nearly three as businesses and farmers search for alternatives to coal power. Suzlon now is the fifth-largest turbine maker in the world, with about 8 percent of the U.S. market. ...Suzlon's rise in Minnesota "has been slow-fast" success, said Dan Juhl, Corey's father and the man responsible for bringing Suzlon to Minnesota. "Suzlon is a pretty typical turbine manufacturer these days. All of them are having problems, especially now that they are going with these great big machines. They are putting something the size of a football field up into the wind. The load on these is just off the charts." The Juhl family installed Suzlon's 1.25 megawatt wind turbines in 2004. Suzlon's Pipestone plant now makes 2.1 megawatt machines.

Congress struggles to fund a one-year extension that will cost $3.5 billion to pay wind generators the credit for 10 years. The House passed the extension in May, but the Senate has failed three times to approve it this year. ...On Tuesday, the Senate failed again to approve wind power's tax credit that was contained in a larger package of tax provisions. "The general agreement among everyone is: 'Look, Congress is not going to let these things expire,' " said Bill Wicker, spokesman for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of extra dollars laying around."

Babcock & Brown Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Phil Green is under increasing pressure to sell European wind farms to stave off a possible debt review, triggered by a share collapse this week. ...A successful sale could trigger a rebound in Babcock's shares, which trade at less than three times earnings after falling 83 percent this year, said ABN Amro Holdings NV analyst John Heagerty. Failure may increase the risk of banks demanding early repayment on A$2.8 billion of debt.