A Debate about whether windfarms and wild land are compatible is to be held in Aberdeen.

The plethora of goods and services exempt from Idaho sales and income taxes has lawmakers wondering if the time has come to curb the exemptions. More than 100 exemptions for sales and income taxes keep millions of potential tax revenue out of state coffers, state officials say............One of the newest sales tax exemptions is a break for companies that buy equipment to build wind farms or other alternative energy projects. Tax officials say this makes Idaho more competitive with states like Montana and Oregon that don't have sales taxes.

Selectmen and a large crowd at Thursday night's board meeting came to hear a presentation by Boston-based wind power company First Wind on its proposed Longfellow wind farm project for Black Mountain and North and South Twin mountains. Instead, everyone learned that such a project might not even be viable, because First Wind studies so far show that wind atop Black Mountain is too strong for wind turbine engineering to handle, said Matthew Kearns, vice president of business development for First Wind.

Suzlon Energy Ltd., the embattled wind turbine maker, swung to a net loss of 1.3 billion rupees ($26 million) in the second quarter, hurt by foreign exchange losses and provisions related to problems with some of its blades cracking in the U.S. The Indian company's shares fell 3.8% Friday to 44.40 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange despite an 8.2% gain in the benchmark Sensex index as Suzlon investors added financial results to their list of worries about the firm.

Migratory birds, sea turtles, jobs and aesthetics were among the issues raised Tuesday night at a presentation by an executive at the company planning to build wind farms off the South Texas coast - including South Padre Island.

A STUDY into a powerful subsea cable linking Shetland with the Scottish mainland has received strong backing from the Scottish Executive.

A decision as to whether a Howe of Fife windfarm proposal should go ahead may be seized from the hands of the local authority. The Fife Herald can reveal that planners will not have made a decision on the five-turbine application by the November 4 deadline, meaning developer EnergieKontor can appeal to the Scottish Executive.

A public inquiry report on a controversial windfarm proposal for Ae Forest will be with the Scottish Executive this month. Ministers must decide if the 71-turbine development will get the go-ahead. The proposal from CRE Energy Limited went to an inquiry last year after Dumfries and Galloway Council rejected the scheme.

Pairc Crofters has leased its rights in the land to a company called Pairc Renewables which, in turn, has leased wind-farm rights to an electricity generating company. The effect is that the crofters of Pairc Trust can exercise the right given to them under Scottish land reform legislation to buy the land, but cannot benefit from renewable energy payments.

The planning director of Highland Council, which is seen by many as preoccupied with onshore windfarms in its green energy strategy, has directed the same criticism at the Scottish Executive. After digesting the detail of the executive's long-awaited guidance to local authorities on the issue, John Rennilson points out that ministers have ignored the thorny issue of upgraded power lines to accommodate the expected boost in electricity output. The document - SPP6: Renewable Energy - reaffirms strong support for green energy, sets a production target of 6,000 megawatts by 2020 and recommends that 20MW developments - anything more than 10 turbines - should be sited at least 1,500 metres from the surrounding population.

THE Scottish Executive yesterday received plans for a large-scale wind farm in an area of Lewis which could be subject to Scotland's first hostile crofting community buy-out. Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) wants to build 57 turbines, each nearly 500ft high, at Pairc in South Lochs, which will feature in a test case at the Scottish Land Court next week. SSE originally wanted to erect 125 towers, but this has now been reduced to 57, although the structures will be taller and more powerful.

Exelon Corp. has completed its acquisition of John Deere Renewables, a wind power company. In so doing, Exelon adds 735 megawatts of clean, renewable energy to the utility's portfolio, or enough to power up to 220,000 households.

Carkulis said he decided to halt the projects after it became clear Exergy would not get them done by the end of the year, which the company had to do to obtain an up-front payment of a federal investment-tax credit that is due to expire Dec. 31.

Wind energy developer Enertrag hosted a public exhibition on Wednesday on its plans to build three 140m high turbines at Tivetshall St Mary. ...Enertrag said it was pleased with a turnout of about 80 local people and said they received a mix of views. Visitor and Tivetshall St Mary villager Ian Henson, who is a member of the Tivetshall Action Group, opposing the development, said: "I would still be concerned about the health issues, being so close to residential properties.

In an attempt to protect the moor the society has called for National Park status to be extended at the south west corner towards Brayford, Molland and West Anstey which are all in an area referred to as Greater Exmoor. The report states: "Protecting the landscape is a major concern." Recent proposals for a series of windfarms in the area surrounding Knowstone have caused particular unrest.

The power firm behind a plan to build nine 360ft-high turbines on the fringes of Exmoor has begun to outline its proposals to people living in the area. The firm npower renewables submitted an application to build the turbines at Batsworthy Cross last week and over the coming week will be delivering newsletters to 4,500 homes in the area to explain the details. The four-page document contains a photomontage of how the proposals could look.

People who want a 360-square-mile expansion of a proposed east-county wind farm zone made their point Monday that the zone will only be effective if it is expanded along the east-west high-voltage power-line corridor across the county. Their comments came during a hearing examining recommended changes in the county's development code, which includes zoning designations and related rules. Some are opposed to expanding the county-proposed wind farm zone saying it takes in rural residential homes and future home sites. County commissioners earlier proposed establishing a 500-square-mile zone on the county's east end, along the Columbia River, that would be pre-identified as an area compatible for wind farm development.

Whether turbines should be in the Flint Hills - and it appears they mostly will not be - is part of the dialogue over how best to leverage the sprawling, environmentally sensitive tallgrass prairie that Brownback has called "an ecological jewel."

Madison, Wis.-based RMT Inc. says it laid off some workers and reassigned others because of the delay.

STREATOR - An energy company based in Portland, Ore., wants to build 375 wind turbines in LaSalle and Livingston counties. PPM Energy Inc. representatives discussed the proposed Streator-Cayuga Ridge wind farm at Wednesday's City Council meeting. City Manager Paul Nicholson said the council must decide whether to extend the city enterprise zone, which will provide PPM Energy with a sales tax exemption in Streator on materials needed for construction. Nicholson said that if the proposal is approved, the city would receive compensation as well. Nicholson said agreement may be reached in time for the council's July 18 meeting.