The three Democratic candidates for governor are heading into the final three weeks of the primary campaign nearly tied in the polls, but attorney general Thomas Reilly has won the support of the majority of Democrats from the Cape and Islands legislative delegation..... Turkington liked Reilly’s position on a number of Cape issues, from his opposition to Cape Wind to his support for environmental protections at the Massachusetts Military Reservation and for restrictions on oil shipping in Buzzards Bay.

Would the capacity of a proposed electricity cable from Block Island to the mainland allow for more than the eight wind turbines currently planned by developer Deepwater Wind? Block Island Power Company President Cliff McGinnes Sr. revealed at Monday's Electric Utility Task Group meeting that the proposed size of the cable to the mainland is 69 kVa (kilovolt-amperes), which surprised task group members and newly hired consultant Richard La Capra. That capacity "seems awfully high," said La Capra.

Shetland’s wind farm developers Viking Energy say that the Beauly-Denny inquiry will be crucial in deciding the direction their huge renewable energy project will take in the future. The inquiry will investigate whether to carry out the proposed upgrades to the Beauly to Denny power line, which acts as a spine for providing central Scotland with electricity. If the alterations were completed, the line would feed power into the national grid from wind farms in the Highlands and Islands, such as the 600 MW Shetland wind farm being proposed by the Viking Energy and Scottish and Southern Energy partnership. Viking Energy project officer David Thomson said: “Our connection application currently needs the Beauly-Denny upgrade to go ahead. Shetland is not involved in the inquiry but we have an interest. “It could happen without the upgrade but we would not be connecting near Beauly. It would make it more difficult for us.”

The town Electric Utility Task Group met Friday, the day after National Grid rejected Deepwater Wind's proposed power contract, which it called "uneconomic by a significant margin for Rhode Island customers." While the fate of Deepwater's proposed eight-turbine "Block Island Farm" remains in limbo, Block Island Power Company President Cliff McGinnes Sr. told the group that he saw an opening for the town in National Grid's suggestion that a cable to the mainland was still possible without a wind farm. McGinnes urged the town to seize the opportunity.

EverPower Renewables Project Manager Mike Speerschneider answered questions of Wayne Township citizens at a meeting Wednesday night, addressing wind turbines and the possibility of turbines in Wayne Township. Speerschneider touched on issues concerning electricity, road damage, local labor and the health of citizens living near the turbines. He said the turbines will not generate a decrease in the cost of electricity for Wayne Township because there is "no way to definitively say what it's (turbines) going to do to the electric."

"Once we have a wind farm on the boundary of a national park, what next? This is the equivalent of building a Tesco in the Grand Canyon - you just wouldn't dream of it."

Cal-ISO is looking at ways to deal with 71,000 MW of renewable generation in its interconnection queue, which is more than three times the additional renewables capacity needed to meet California's 33-percent renewable energy target.

"You really don't count on wind energy as capacity. It is different from other technologies because it can't be dispatched," said Christine Real de Azua, assistant director of communications for the American Wind Energy Association.

Editor's Note:This was first published on 8/21/06

A controversial wind farm should be built between Clacton and St Osyth, according to planners. Anti-wind farm campaigners said they are disappointed with the recommendation for the Earl's Hall Farm site, off St John's Road, by Tendring Council officers but they hope councillors, who will make the final decision next week, will vote against the plans. The planning committee will decide on the application for five 125-metre-high turbines at a meeting at Clacton Town Hall at 7pm, on June 19.

The women, in a letter dated July 28, are protesting the building of 50 windmills at the source of the Grand River to provide energy for the non-Native market. The group protested the original decision by the company to acquire the land.

"It really aggravates me that the board doesn't bother to notify people of these things in a public way," said Christine Ingham, who attended the Wednesday open house. "And then, we get here and see there is no balanced information, just how great they think it is."

Californians voted down a proposition that would have imposed a tax on oil companies drilling in the state. Fifty-four percent of voters rejected the initiative.

As California takes its first baby steps toward implementing the most aggressive climate-change policy in the country, experts debate the economic feasibility of attaining the state`s goals. Its overarching policy lies in the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which requires greenhouse gas emissions in the state to fall back to 1990 levels by 2020. One of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger`s executive orders, S-3-25, addresses long-term goals by aiming at an 80 percent emissions reduction below 1990 levels by 2050. The state`s ability to reach these goals holds implications not only for Californians, but the rest of the nation`s climate-change policy as well, Samuel Thernstrom, director of the American Enterprise Institute`s program on culture and freedom, said at a panel discussion last week.

The refurbished, 115-foot towers had operated on a California wind farm, where they didn't have to worry about cold hydraulic fluid turning to gel and oil lubricants getting too sluggish. Avant Energy of Minneapolis, which operates the turbines for MMPA, says it is bringing in a company that will get the windmills running within two months.

Highlighting the environmental pitfalls of harnessing "green" energy, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's push to import nonpolluting power to Los Angeles could require building power lines and transmission towers through a national forest, two desert wildlife preserves and a rustic hamlet used in countless westerns.

The 51-page complaint filed Wednesday asks the federal agency to set aside an order issued last month by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approving an agreement between Cape Wind and National Grid for half of the project's power. Among a list of wide-ranging and, at times, disjointed claims, the group argues the deal constitutes "electric energy market manipulation" and violates the Federal Power Act.

A landmark global warming law that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to sign today commits California to the ambitious goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020. How exactly that will be accomplished — and at what cost — is unknown. But it’s clear that if the state intends to meet its goals, Californians will see many changes over the next 14 years, from higher fuel prices to bigger forests.....But California also is taking a big risk. If others do not follow, the state’s residents and companies could end up paying hundreds of millions of dollars to make cuts that by themselves will do little to curb global warming.

California's plan to dramatically increase reliance on renewable power sources, such as solar and wind, while shutting a number of ocean-side plants that supply power around the clock will challenge power grid operators to keep the lights on.

GILLETTE -- Wyoming officials watched with interest as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday signed into law a sweeping global warming initiative that imposes the nation's first cap on greenhouse gas emissions. When the idea for such a bill was recommended about a year ago, Wyoming energy officials reacted strongly against it -- and even sent a letter to Schwarzenegger's office suggesting it may violate interstate commerce laws. Called for reaction on Wednesday, Gov. Dave Freudenthal's energy adviser, Rob Hurless, said he wasn't prepared to discuss interstate commerce concerns, but said the California law definitely is not a threat to Wyoming's ambitions to export more electricity.

First Wind missed the deadline, citing its inability to secure land for the wind proj­ect. First Wind, which is not an official party in the case before the PUC, asked HECO to petition the commission for a deadline extension on its behalf. When HECO declined, First Wind appealed directly to the PUC.