Cape Cod Community College will soon be adding a wind turbine to its list of green accomplishments. Contractor J.K. Scanlon has begun site preparation work for the installation of the 164-foot turbine. "It's coming from India. It's on a ship somewhere and we don't expect to see it until sometime at the end of October."

At 386 feet from the ground to the tip of the blades, the wind turbine on the Williams Stone Co. property might look odd now to drivers headed along the Massachusetts Turnpike. But wind-power boosters are hopeful such turbines - which are capable of generating 600 kilowatts, or enough power for 200 to 250 homes - will soon be familiar sights anywhere the wind blows.

The wind turbine in Portsmouth wasn't moving Tuesday morning for one simple reason-there wasn't any wind. So in the heart of summer, when heat and humidity are the highest and the demand for energy at its greatest, wind power is at its lowest levels.

The town is one step closer to bringing in wind turbines to generate energy from a renewable source. Selectmen Chairman Ed Vitone asked fellow board members Monday night to approve the submission of a grant proposal to see if wind turbines are feasible for the town. Vitone said a tower that stands on one of 12 possible sites is measuring the amount of wind available to power turbines. If there is enough power, Vitone said the turbines could be a lucrative source of revenue.

The town will not seek a state Green Community grant after failing to submit an application before the deadline, but officials say they will continue to move toward implementing sound environmental initiatives independently. Selectmen last week considered applying for a state grant that would have paid for a consultant to suggest how the town can become more environmentally friendly.

A second balloon siting test will be required by the Massachusetts Historic Commission to determine how the 331-foot-tall wind turbine proposed for the Berkshire East Ski Area would look from the town's registered historic landmarks. Also, the town Planning Board wants more information on moving the 900-kilowatt turbine off the ridgeline.

Less than 24 hours after the project had its first public airing, a proposal to build a 60-foot-tall wind turbine was scuttled by the owners of Outermost Harbor Marine, answering the concerns of nearby residents. "We've always tried to be good neighbors down here at the marina," Frank Facchetti said. The four-kilowatt vertical axis turbine was to be mounted on a pole on the east side of the marina building.

Mass Audubon's Joppa Flats Education Center is looking into placing a small turbine on their property, sanctuary Director Bill Gette confirmed yesterday. Gette said the center hopes to install the "evaluation turbine" immediately adjacent to the property's parking lot by the end of the year, if it meets all zoning regulations and permits.

Two local wind-power projects aimed at saving energy at state facilities are moving forward, although it may be a while until ground is broken. U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Amherst, notified Mount Wachusett Community College this week that the college is slated to get $1 million for a wind-turbine project in the fiscal 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. ...Another wind project under way in the city is at Gardner state prison.

The town faced a setback in the funding of the two 1.5 megawatt wind turbines they are planning to locate on water department property north of Robbins Pond. Town Administrator James Merriam said he received word on Friday from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative that the $1.2 million grant application to assist with the purchase of two wind turbines was not funded.

More than $170,000 in grant money is coming to the Cape and Islands to help get some wind projects off the ground. Five organizations around Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard will share about $178,000 in state funds to help determine the feasibility of building wind turbines on their respective campuses, officials from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative announced yesterday.

New pressures on the nation's oceans, from wind turbines to fish farms, are increasingly sparking conflicts with more traditional activities such as shipping and recreational boating and show the need for better planning, the head of the agency overseeing federal ocean research services said Monday. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco said the nation should take cues from Massachusetts, the first state to create a comprehensive planning map for its ocean waters.

While no one agreed on whether a proposed 331-foot wind turbine on Berkshire East's Thunder Mountain would enhance or spoil the mountain view, most of those who attended Thursday's public hearing apparently believe that in the abstract, clean, carbon-free energy is a thing of beauty.

Officials from two federally recognized Indian tribes say they are frustrated in their attempts to protect what they consider a sacred site from becoming part of an offshore wind farm. The two tribes want federal officials to deny a permit to Cape Wind for Horseshoe Shoal and move the proposed 130 wind turbines to another site. ..."MMS has failed its trust responsibility," said Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council.

A Maine-based contractor has begun limited work on the future site of wind turbines on Brodie Mountain, after receiving authorization from the project's owner. Dave Tuohey, spokesman for the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co., said Reed & Reed are doing geotechnical surveys to determine the composition of the ground in preparation for constructing the turbine foundations.

Despite sufficient wind, the propellers on a Fairhaven wind turbine have been motionless lately due to a mechanical malfunction in the turbine's tail. The residential turbine, owned by Andrew Avenue residents Michelle and Joe Letts, has been operating since last May and, at 92 feet high, is easily seen from Interstate 195.

So long coal, oil, nuclear power. Brewster may not be the breeziest town on Cape Cod but it stands to be the first to power all town buildings with wind energy via two towering turbines hunkered down near Route 6.

A proposal to allow the only commercial wind farms in state waters close to the western end of the Vineyard has been advanced without due consideration of the views of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) ...Ms. Washington said the plan is a "real concern" because it would impinge on sites important to the cultural traditions of the tribe and impact the view from the Gay Head Cliffs.

Slow down, the Franklin Regional Planning Board has advised the state about its proposed 'fast-track' wind energy siting legislation. The Legislature should conduct a hearing in Franklin County, the regional board wrote this week in its comments on the fast-track bill.

Members of the Alternative Energy Initiative Committee are disappointed that town meeting voters rejected a request for $55,000 to study possible sites for wind energy. ...The request was for up to $55,000 to study two places believed to have enough wind velocity to harness energy.