In July Ecotricity was granted planning consent by just one vote to install the turbines at the Hethel track, despite strong objections from families who claimed the three 120 metre high turbines would blight the community. At that time the issue of whether the turbines would need aviation warning lights was raised and the committee was informed neither the MoD or Norwich International Airport had requested such lights. But since permission was granted, the MoD has revised its policies and wants to see one aviation warning light on each turbine.

Cecil Martin is none too pleased at the prospect of losing part of his home in the Texas Panhandle to make way for billionaire T. Boone Pickens' water and wind energy projects. ..."The state of Texas has for over 100 years authorized the use of eminent domain to permit the common necessities of life, water, electricity, telephone service, oil and gas for use in the big cities," said Humble, Pickens' attorney. Until last year, though, the wind project couldn't not have been included in the process of obtaining rights of way. Lawmakers in the last legislative session voted to allow renewable and clean-coal energy projects to piggyback obtaining rights of way with a district like the one Pickens formed last year to "construct, maintain, and operate transmission lines."

Environmental experts are to be enlisted to assess the damage caused by windfarms across the north and north-east, it has emerged. The Scottish Parliament's petitions committee voted in favour of the move after considering claims from a retired university professor from the north-east. Dixie Dean says that the mechanical vibrations transmitted through land-based turbines to the surrounding terrain lead to problems. Mr Dean, a former business professor who has also worked in the field of mycology, says the impact will "devastate" the sand, soil and peat in the immediate area. His petition states: "These vibrations will in time destroy the very fabric of peat, sand and soil for miles around. Peat bogs shaken to pieces will be flushed down to pollute streams as fibres disintegrate, collapse and rot."

RURAL campaigners have accused a Government quango of encouraging “the industrialisation of the countryside” after failing to stand up to wind-farm developers. Natural England was set up by the Government a year ago with the aim of conserving and enhancing landscapes in rural areas, and has a £500m budget to help preserve countryside life across England. But the conservation body has come in for criticism from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which says the quango is turning its back on places, such as Northumberland, which are fighting plans to build wind farms in scenic locations. ...A spokesman for Natural England said: “We are committed to improving the environment and the aim of providing more renewable energy with the highest environmental standards. “But we will only support these developments in the appropriate place and with due consideration to their impact.

Most people in Clutha district would not even know the proposed wind farm site was in their district, he said. ‘‘They Clutha District Council just want to get industry into the area. But that area should be in the Dunedin city district.'' He described TrustPower consultation as a token effort. ‘‘They came and saw me and I told them I had some concerns and they would get back to me. I'm still waiting.'' The wind farm would not only scar the landscape but also would bring financial uncertainty. ‘‘They tried to sell a farm round here last year and no-one wanted to touch it. They didn't get one tender.''

PUGWASH - Opponents of a proposed wind farm on the Gulf Shore got more fuel for the fire Friday night. Mark Harris, a pastor from Bridgewater, Maine, spoke Friday night at the Ground Search and Rescue in Pugwash about how a wind farm in Mars Hill, Maine has terrorized locals. He bought property in Mars Hill roughly 1200 feet away from the turbines, but hasn't done anything with it because of how unbearable the sound and strobing from them is. "Many of the mills we have, on certain days when the wind comes from a certain direction and the humidity is such and such, it will be all but silent at 1200 feet away where my home site would be. But come back the next day and it'll pound until you can't tolerate being there and there's no predicting when that will happen," he said. He said the wind farm has wreaked havoc on the town, with many people now dealing with health complications allegedly caused by the turbines' sounds and shadows.

Dwayne Bailey has some simple advice for Gulf Shore residents fighting a proposed wind farm in their area, don't give up the fight because they may regret the consequences. Bailey recently abandoned his Elmira, P.E.I., home because noise from a nearby wind farm was becoming intolerable. It kept the family awake at night and impacted their health with headaches and vision problems. "Don't let them put up the windfarm, it's way too close to the houses. It chased us out of our house and it could happen to someone else. We didn't have much a choice and it resulted in us leaving our home," Bailey said, adding his parents also abandoned their home.

German courts are starting to deal with a unique new crime - stealing wind. As Europe's greenest country builds ever more electricity-producing wind farms, so the rights to nature are now being fought over by lawyers. Among the cases being considered by a Leipzig court is a dispute between the operators of two wind turbine facilities. At issue: who owns the wind?

FAIRHAVEN - WindWise Fairhaven has released a video about the adverse noise and flicker impacts of the Hull wind turbines, but the proponents of a similar project in Fairhaven have released studies showing impacts will be acceptable locally.

THE security of Victoria's electricity supply is under a cloud after the emergence of threats to the operation of some of the state's key generators. In an unprecedented development, power companies have been forced to buy emergency supplies of water on the internet after the drought left them short of what they need to run major generators in the Latrobe Valley................A recent investigation by Wyndham City Council found "the operation of the gas-fuelled turbines adversely affects theamenity of the area by way of low-frequency noise and vibration".

A wind turbine that was planned to help power the London Olympics may have to be switched off during games to stop disturbing the athletes, the organisers admitted today. Plans for the turbine were designed to underline the organiser's ambition to stage the greenest-ever games. But they face embarrassment following a report in New Civil Engineer magazine which discovered that the engineers for Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) are looking at a number of options for minimising distractions from the turbine, including locking them in a fixed position. It reported that ODA's infrastructure director Simon Wright is concerned that the turbine will cause the light to flicker and distract competitors.

The giant wind farm of 19 electricity-generating windmills in Highland County recently approved by the State Corporation Commission wasn't on the game department's radar. Studies elsewhere have shown that the 400-foot-high wind turbines kill bats and migrating songbirds and raptors. By the time the SCC asked the game department to review the proposal, Zadnik said, the developer had already gotten permission from the county to build.

A major announcement is thought likely today on a bid for planning permission for another controversial giant windfarm on Lewis which could polarise opinions ahead of local elections in May. Speculation has been heightened as Alan Wilson, the deputy enterprise minister, who will make the final decision on the contentious scheme to build 53 turbines at Eisgein, is due to visit Stornoway with the First Minister Jack McConnell for the Highlands and Islands Convention. It is believed Mr Wilson is minded to approve the application subject to certain conditions and, provided legal issues are finalised, could confirm what is seen as a significant investment opportunity to regenerate the isles’ economy.

An energy and environmental consultant hired by opponents of the proposed White Oak Wind Energy Center maintains Invenergy Wind LLC fails to meet several requirements for a special-use permit for the wind farm. Tom Hewson of Energy Ventures Analysis Inc., Arlington, Va., spoke to the McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals during a hearing Wednesday night. He said the proposed 100-turbine wind farm in McLean and Woodford counties would be a detriment to the public because of noise levels and visibility. Hewson said he did a “simple approach” simulation of one turbine to see how far a person had to be away from the turbine before it complied with Illinois’ noise regulations. “At 750 feet away, it exceeded the range,” he said, noting that three property owners have asked for waivers to allow a turbine in about that range. Hewson said it wasn’t until a person was 1,200 feet away from the turbine that the noise met Illinois’ requirements.

It is the first wind farm proposal for the shire, and will be located along its border with the Moyne Shire between Penshurst and Caramut. Between 13 and 15 wind turbines have been proposed with a maximum nominal rated power of 29.9 Megawatts (MW).

Stamford town officials agreed last week to propose a 2,500-foot setback requirement in an ordinance they are creating to regulate wind-turbine installations. “It’s the strictest I’ve seen,” said Dave Groberg, director of business development for Chicago-based Invenergy, LLC, which hopes to install a line of turbines along a mountain ridge between Stamford and Roxbury. Town officials have been working on the ordinance since last year, and regulations are still in the early stages. A year-long moratorium on the wind-turbine development expires in February.

Three months after all 67 turbines of the Spearville Wind Energy Facility became active, the blinking red lights atop the towers have become a familiar site on the western Kansas landscape Construction, which began in April of this year, was able to be completed a month early.

What EnXco Inc. in 2005 said it would do after Kittitas County rejected its wind farm north of Ellensburg it did Monday: the wind power development company filed a downsized wind farm proposal with the state in hopes to get better treatment and possible approval.

If you have ever driven off campus, you have likely noticed giant windmills looming on the horizon. Part of a system of some twenty turbines, these iron giants comprise the Fenner Windpower Project, just one component of a nationwide initiative to utilize clean and renewable energy. Operational since the fall of 2000, the mills have the capacity to power about 10,000 homes solely by harnessing the energy of the wind as it sweeps over the Adirondacks and down the Chenango Valley. Despite their efficiency, the mammoth cost to assemble just one of these turbines (about $2.5 million dollars) has stirred local and national debate over cost versus benefit at the Fenner site, not to mention the intrusions they cause for residents.

The twinkling red lights of the Spearville Wind Farm look like a Christmas display at night, but Kansas City Power & Light isnÕt waiting until Christmas to celebrate. The company has invited the entire community of Spearville to attend a picnic to celebrate the completion of the new Spearville Wind Energy Facility.