News
Category:
USA
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According to the project's final EIS, the geographic limits of the Grand Canyon condor population as determined by FWS overlap the project's proposed footprint. Condor can fly up to 160 miles a day in searching for food, and the Grand Canyon "experimental" population is well within that range of the Mohave County Wind Farm.
Also filed under [
Impact on Birds|
Arizona]
Can wind turbines make you sick? No easy answers as turbines pop up around the world
May 17, 2013 in Latitude News
May 17, 2013 in Latitude News
After years of complaints about noise and health effects, on May 21, 2013 residents of Falmouth, MA will vote on whether or not to tear down both of the town's wind turbines.
Siemens blade crashes at Ocotillo Wind Farm
May 17, 2013 by Mark DelFranco in North American Windpower
May 17, 2013 by Mark DelFranco in North American Windpower
NAW has learned that a blade belonging to a Siemens SWT-2.3-108 wind turbine came crashing to the ground at the 265 MW Ocotillo Wind Farm in the early morning hours of May 16. No one was injured.
A spokesperson from Pattern Energy, which owns and operates Ocotillo, corroborated the incident.
Also filed under [
Structural Failure|
California]
Wind Energy's Shadow: Turbines Drag Down Power Potential
May 16, 2013 by David LaGesse in National Geographic
May 16, 2013 by David LaGesse in National Geographic
In several recent published studies, Adams and other researchers have explored the issue of turbines stealing energy from the wind, creating drag or a "wind shadow" of air slowed by the spinning blades. Each turbine added to a particular landscape captures less energy. "You reach a point that if you add any more turbines, you get no more energy," Adams said.
Also filed under [
Technology]
DOE to recast landmark 20% wind energy report; Study looks back, ahead
May 15, 2013 by Mark Del Franco in North American Windpower
May 15, 2013 by Mark Del Franco in North American Windpower
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Program is revisiting the conclusions from its 2008 study that contemplated the technological and regulatory road map for the U.S. wind industry to achieve 20% wind energy by 2030.
Also filed under [
General]
"What it boils down to is this: If you electrocute an eagle, that is bad, but if you chop it to pieces, that is OK," said Tim Eicher, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service enforcement agent based in Cody, who helped prosecute the PacifiCorp power line case.
By not enforcing the law, the administration provides little incentive for companies to build wind farms where there are fewer birds.
Also filed under [
Impact on Wildlife|
Impact on Birds]
Latest cleantech funding woes spark fears of industry slide
May 11, 2013 by Peter Delevett in Mercury News
May 11, 2013 by Peter Delevett in Mercury News
The problem, he said, is that those big investment firms tend to focus on mature companies that are generating significant revenue, and there are few of those in cleantech. Meanwhile, more government investment seems increasingly far off as congressional Republicans demand answers about the failure of Fisker Automotive.
Also filed under [
General|
California]
AWEA is trying to secure more stable policy to give stronger signals to investors. Those options include a phase out for the credit and making the incentive permanent ...But Republicans have told The Hill they believe a phase out is AWEA's stance.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies]
Oil and gas drillers make technological leaps, while renewable energy industry struggles
May 4, 2013 by Associated Press in Washington Post
May 4, 2013 by Associated Press in Washington Post
But the outlook for wind, batteries and biofuels is as dim as it's been in a decade. Global greenhouse gas agreements have fizzled. Dazzling discoveries have been made in laboratories, and some of these may yet develop into transformative products, but alternative energy technologies haven't become cheaper or more useful than fossil fuels. ..."In many cases, renewables aren't ready for primetime yet."
Also filed under [
General]
Wind industry still awaits first eagle-take permit under BGEPA
May 3, 2013 by Mark Del Franco in North American Windpower
May 3, 2013 by Mark Del Franco in North American Windpower
NAW has learned that West Butte Wind Power LLC has withdrawn its permit application enabling the developer to "take" golden eagles at a proposed wind project in central Oregon. ...the developer withdrew its take permit request in March due to the difficulty in finding a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the project.
Also filed under [
Impact on Birds|
Oregon]
Call to phase out production tax credit gathers pace
May 1, 2013 by Diane Bailey in Windpower Monthly
May 1, 2013 by Diane Bailey in Windpower Monthly
As the $0.023/kWh production tax credit (PTC) is back on a countdown to expiration just months after US Congress passed a short-term extension of the incentive, some in the US wind sector are weighing whether negotiating its eventual demise may be the only way to put the industry on a stable footing for the long term.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies]
PTC clarity to ease renewable energy additions, questions remain
April 30, 2013 by Conway Irwin in AOL News
April 30, 2013 by Conway Irwin in AOL News
PTC eligibility for 2013 also requires that project developers demonstrate that projects be under "continuous construction" from 1 January 2014 until completion. This marks a change from the cash grant system - which gave renewable energy project developers the option to receive 30% of project costs up front in lieu of a tax credit - for which projects were eligible using the Safe Harbor Rule or by being under continuous construction.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies]
"We are VERY unappreciative of this symbol being used by the USPS for Earth Day," Marie McNamara recently emailed postal officials in Washington. "Thanks for putting us on record as strongly objecting to the symbol of industrial wind turbines as a postmark. Thanks for putting us on record as wanting to see the postmark go away immediately."
U.S. States turn against renewable energy as gas plunges
April 23, 2013 by Christopher Martin in Bloomberg News
April 23, 2013 by Christopher Martin in Bloomberg News
Sixteen of the 29 states with renewable portfolio standards are considering legislation that would reduce the need for wind and solar power, according to researchers backed by the U.S. Energy Department. North Carolina lawmakers may be among the first to move, followed by Colorado and Connecticut. ...Repealing the state's RPS policy "would help increase disposable income, attract more business investment and make energy more affordable for consumers."
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies|
Energy Policy]
The conflicts are bound to grow as renewable projects spread, some environmental advocates say.
"Certainly, there's going to be a lot more wind farms than there have been historically," ABC spokesman Bob Johns said. "And the problem is that we have seen no reason to believe that areas of conflict are being avoided - in fact, quite the opposite. They're walking right into it, leading with their chin on some of these."
Also filed under [
Impact on Landscape|
Energy Policy]
Eagle expert hired by wind industry locally pleads guilty to illegal Golden Eagle take and failing to file reports on birds he tracked
April 19, 2013 by Miriam Raftery in East County Magazine
April 19, 2013 by Miriam Raftery in East County Magazine
"The lack of data is particularly troubling because it is just this sort of data from permit holders that permits the U.S. Fish and WIldlife Service to monitor the health of the eagle populations within the United States, the release notes. Despite lacking a permit, Bittner continued to capture and band 144 migratory birds in the region, including at least one female Golden Eagle.
An F-15E Strike Eagle drops through the sky on a low-level training mission and encounters - a wind turbine.
With turbine blades reaching within 8 feet of F-15s on missions out of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, the proposed Pantego Wind Energy project resulted in a serious risk.
Also filed under [
Safety|
North Carolina]
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) this week released a new proposal to share the "oversupply costs" that pile up when there is not enough demand for all the electricity produced by hydroelectric dams and wind-power producers.
During these oversupply periods, when wind-power producers may be asked to shut down, the plan would compensate them for lost revenue, according to Doug Johnson, a BPA spokesman.
Wildlife researcher pleads guilty to unlawful taking of golden eagle
April 17, 2013 in Office of the United States Attorney Southern District of California
April 17, 2013 in Office of the United States Attorney Southern District of California
Dave Bittner, Golden Eagle expert with Wildlife Research Institute, pled guilty to federal charges of unlawful taking of Golden Eagles --working without valid permit and failure to file reports. Bittner conducted studies for Iberdrola's Tule Wind project approved by BLM and San Diego County for public and private land in the McCain Valley National Cooperative Land & Wildlife Management & Recreation Area. Tule Wind decisions by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for turbines on Ewiiaapaayp tribal lands, with a reported 6-8 Golden Eagle nests, and on State Lands Commission lands in Golden Eagle habitat are still pending. Can those agencies rely on Bitner's Golden Eagle work for Tule Wind that was apparently unpermitted and unlawful? What other breaches of law or professional ethics might be involved?
Also filed under [
Impact on Wildlife|
California]
PTC Update: IRS clarifies 'commence construction' requirements
April 17, 2013 by Mark Del Franco in North American Windpower
April 17, 2013 by Mark Del Franco in North American Windpower
Under the IRS notice for PTCs, Burton explains, the tax-equity investor will need to consider not only whether 5% of a project's costs have been incurred, but also whether continuous construction was undertaken starting Jan. 1, 2014. "Continuous construction introduces an additional subjective element that requires an incremental layer of analysis for tax-equity investors and their counsel to grapple with," he says.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies]
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