HONOLULU – With 20 1.5-megawatt wind generators in place, Kaheawa Wind Power is seeking a lease to expand on 325 acres on the slopes above McGregor Point. The lease request has raised concerns over environmental and visual impacts that have generated criticism from some residents of Maui, according to a report being submitted today to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources. Kaheawa Wind Power is seeking a negotiated lease for state land adjoining the 200-acre wind farm that went into operation in June. The submittal to the land board meeting this morning in Honolulu includes a recommendation to allow the state Land Division to negotiate a direct lease to Kaheawa Wind Power II LLC with rental of $12,000 a year. The expansion proposal would add up to 18 wind turbines and supporting equipment capable of producing up to 27 megawatts of electrical power.

An Oregon company wants to build Hawai'i's most powerful wind farm along the Kahuku coast, not far from the green hills where Hawaiian Electric Co. is re-evaluating the area for a wind farm after failing nearby with an earlier project. West Wind Works LLC wants to build 20 turbines capable of producing 50 megawatts of power on 1,100 acres at the northernmost point of O'ahu, including in an area near the abandoned Kahuku Airfield, said company president Keith Avery. At the same time, Hawaiian Electric is talking to the military about testing wind patterns near Kahuku and possibly using U.S. Army land for a project.

Investigations are underway into generating tidal power at New Zealand's largest harbour, with predictions it could meet close to a third of Auckland's electricity needs.

Trustpower's bid to develop a multi million-dollar wind farm, at Kaiwera Downs near Mataura, appears destined for the Environment Court. Gore district planning consultant Keith Hovell said a pre-hearing, in Dunedin on Thursday, saw the Uplands Landscape Protection Society win the right to continue with its appeal, as it was lodged, against resource consents for the wind farm. The hearing would not be held until April 2009, at the earliest, he said.

The Kakanui Mountains in North Otago are being investigated by a new company for a wind farm to generate electricity. Waitaki Wind, set up recently by former Meridian Energy Ltd chief executive Keith Turner and former Waitaki mayor Alan McLay, is negotiating with landowners on the Kakanui Mountains to get access to start monitoring, according to evidence at the Environment Court yesterday.

Plans by Kalida Manufacturing to build two wind turbines adjacent to its facility met with strong opposition Tuesday night. During a Union Township trustees meeting Tuesday evening, more than 60 area residents expressed their strong vocal opposition to KMI's plans to purchase 55 acres adjacent to their property and install two wind towers on the property.

SALINA, Kan. - The debate over the future of western Kansas as a source of renewable wind energy ranges from those who call it "ridiculous" to those who "don't see any drawbacks to it at all."

A kilowatt-hour of electricity generated in Kansas costs significantly less than the national average but contributes much more to global warming than power generated in most other states. It shouldn't be a surprise that those two facts are connected. Three-fourths of the electricity generated in the Sunflower State comes from coal-fired plants, and coal is the go-to fuel for supplying electricity around-the-clock because it is readily available and cheap. But Kansas ranks among the top 10 states in utilities' carbon dioxide emissions per person.

The Kansas Energy Council (KEC) has scheduled a public hearing to receive input on its energy policy recommendations. The public hearing will be held October 13, 2006 , from 9:00 a.m. to noon , in the old Supreme Court hearing room at the Capitol, Room 313-S, 300 SW 10th Avenue , Topeka . “We’ve been reminded in the past couple of years about the importance of energy in our lives and our economy. I hope all Kansans with an interest in our state’s future will review the Energy Council’s recommendations and provide the Council with feedback,” said Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

Why is Kansas behind? The short answer: It's complicated, and thoughtful people disagree. Wind proponents say the state has provided little leadership, either through regulation or incentive. State officials say Kansas has been perceived as being anti-wind, which has encouraged citizens opposed to wind. Utilities insist they're embracing wind just as fast as they can. ...Many utilities maintain that adding any significant quantity of wind-powered generation will make the electric grid too unstable, because you never know when the wind will start blowing. Or stop. ..."They [wind turbines] could never, ever serve even one home," he said. That's because at some point the wind will stop but demand for electricity hasn't. ...in order to make this wind power available, Austin Energy had to line up a back-up source of electricity for nearly all its wind energy. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the electric grid in much of Texas, requires all utilities file an energy plan, every day, that shows how much electricity it expects its customers to use during every 15-minute period of the next day, and where it plans to get that power from. The 9 percent rule If the power source is a wind farm, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas counts only 8.7 percent of the farm's rated capacity. Never mind wind farms typically produce 20 percent to 40 percent of their rated capacity in the long term. What matters is the short term.

Kansas officials said Thursday they'd prefer to wait for the federal government to place new caps on carbon emissions rather than follow California's aggressive approach to curb global warming.

TOPEKA | With a lump of coal in one hand and the prairie wind in the other, Kansas is marching into its energy future. The state is poised to approve one of the largest coal-fired power plants ever built west of the Mississippi River, even as officials announced plans recently for transmission lines designed to encourage more wind farms. To utility companies and key officials, this is the right direction. They say that the state must embrace an energy mix of coal and wind and that pitting the two sources against each other is wrongheaded. "Adding wind generation to the Kansas electrical generation portfolio is part of the solution - but we cannot expect it to be the solution," Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said in a news release.

The state's highest court has put on hold indefinitely its review of a regulator's decision blocking two coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas. The Supreme Court plans to wait until legal challenges to the decision are considered first in district court and in administrative hearings involving the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. ... Spokesman Steve Miller said Sunflower wouldn't comment about the Supreme Court's action until its attorneys had a chance to review its order.

In a case pitting the beauty of the Flint Hills against large wind farms, the Flint Hills won. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday in favor of a zoning ordinance in Wabaunsee County that prohibits commercial wind farms. Poised as the third best state in the country for wind power and on the cusp of a renewable energy revolution, Kansas has the potential to be at the epicenter of the wind industry.

TOPEKA, Kan. - Even as a couple of their electric companies plan new coal-fired generating plants, executives from six top Kansas utilities said Friday they've agreed to goals from Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for developing renewable energy. The executives also said their companies are committed to helping consumers conserve energy so the demand for electricity doesn't increase as quickly as it otherwise would. Sebelius said she wanted renewable resources _ mostly wind _ to represent 10 percent of the state's generating capacity by 2010 and 20 percent by 2020, goals she has been pushing since January. She and Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson, co-chairman of the Kansas Energy Council, had ongoing discussions with the utilities.

HAYS, Kan. (AP) - After shelving its plans to build a wind energy facility in Wichita County, Sunflower Electric Power Corp. announced yesterday it will build a fourth coal-powered plant near Holcomb, Kan.

Officials from Kansas City Power & Light announced today that all 67 towers of the Spearville Wind Energy Facility in southwest Kansas were turning...... Construction began in April on the wind farm. It's spread over 5,000 acres north of Dodge City.

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.

Employees at both manufacturing plants were notified of the decision today, but will continue working until existing contracts are completed. Once those orders are complete, temporary layoffs will begin.