TORONTO (CP) - Canada has "probably the best wind resource in the world" but lags behind other developed countries in generating electricity from the air, the head of the wind industry's national organization told a Bay Street crowd Tuesday.

Alberta farmers who hope to halt construction of a major power transmission line proposed between Great Falls and Lethbridge were granted permission Thursday to appeal the $150 million project to the Alberta Court of Appeals. "The only way we're ever going to stop this line is to win an appeal and get the decision overturned," said Scott Stenbeck, an attorney representing 16 farmers who live in the Lethbridge and Warner areas. Marc Clark, president of the line's developer, Montana Alberta Tie Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Toronto-based Tonbridge Power Inc., said the ruling may delay the project, but it won't stop the proposed line.

There are just two Canadian offshore projects likely to come to completion in the next few years. One is NaiKun Wind Development Inc.'s huge wind farm in Hecate Straight, off Haida Gwaii in British Columbia. But the first phase of that project won't likely be completed until 2012, and only if the company secures a contract in B.C. Hydro's upcoming clean energy call. The other is Trillium Power Wind Corp.'s offshore wind farm planned for the eastern end of Lake Ontario, which is at least three years away from the start of construction.

Canada's fledgling wind power industry, late off the global starting blocks, has stumbled on growing local resistance to the idea of massive turbines dotting the country's relatively unmarked landscape. Although polls show widespread support for the renewable energy source, a growing number of companies say that support quickly fades among those who must live alongside wind farms, leading to project delays and extra costs.

Hinchliffe said the school cost $2 to $3 million more than a regular school to build because of the additional green technology used in the construction. And despite being a green engineering feat, she said it's not a model other boards should copy. "It's not a sustainable system ..." said Hinchliffe.

A Toronto-based company is teaming up with the Labrador Metis Nation to build what is being called Canada's largest wind farm, near Churchill Falls.

The Prince Wind Energy Project is comprised of 126 wind turbines extending over nearly 20,000 acres. With a total installed capacity of 189MW, Prince is now the largest wind farm in Canada.

There is also a tremendous amount of interest in renewables, particularly wind power. In British Columbia, construction of the 700-MW Nai Kun Wind Power Project, with an estimated capital cost of $1.6 billion, is expected to begin on the Queen Charlotte Islands in 2007. In Quebec, six wind farms are planned for the Gaspé region at a total cost of $1.1 billion. In Ontario, the 99-MW Erie Shores Wind Farm near Port Bur-well, the 40-MW Kingsbridge I Wind Power Project near Goderich, and the 67-MW Melancthon Grey Wind Project near Shelburne are three of the 19 new renewable energy projects the province has supported to date. Combined, these projects should help Ontario reach its goal of generating 5 per cent of its electricity capacity through renewable generation by 2007, and 10 per cent by 2010. Since 2003, the amount of wind energy in the province has increased 80-fold and brought an estimated $2.5 billion in new investment to Ontario.

Experts agree that LFN, at sufficient levels, may be a health concern for those who are sensitive to its effects. The effects of inaudible levels of LFN have not been sufficiently studied to date to rule out the possibility of health effects, but commentators have weighed in on each side of the debate. Setbacks and noise surveys are common requirements imposed on new wind farm developments, in part to minimize the risk of wind turbines causing health effects on local residents.

The power purchase agreement or "PPA" is a key agreement in the development of a wind power project. While there are wind farms that are "merchant" projects subject to a PPA are far more numerous. For such projects, the PPA represents the sole, or most significant, source of revenue. What I have tried to do in this paper is identify some of the typical issues that arise in the course of negotiating a PPA, both in the United States and Canada, from the perspective of a project lender.

A single wind farm located in a scenic setting outside this rural Canadian town was featured on a postage stamp three years ago. Today, the cumulative stamp of hundreds of turbines on the views of wide-open farmland and majestic mountains here is an increasingly sticky issue. "How many is too many?" asked Rod Zielinski, a municipal district councilman in Pincher Creek, 250 miles north of Great Falls. Last year, the district unsuccessfully tried to create a wind development-free zone in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Now it's proposing changes to its bylaws to address "cumulative effect." ...Some residents value tax revenue and jobs more than vistas, and vice versa, Zielinski said. Weighing these equally important but sometimes competing values is the contentious issue in regulating the siting of wind plants, he said. "Be prepared for these things [turbines] to be there forever, like the bank downtown," he said.

A planned electricity transmission line for the Canadian Hills Wind project will affect the flight operations of a local crop duster, the company said in court filings. But Apex Wind Energy Inc. said it has obtained the proper easements and permission from federal aviation authorities.

The developer of a $213 million transmission line being eagerly awaited by wind developers said construction is set to begin following the decision Thursday by the Supreme Court of Canada to refuse to hear an appeal of the project's permit. With the court's decision, all avenues for legal challenges have been exhausted and Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. will now be able to begin construction on both sides of the border by December.

A Canadian company with an offshore wind power project planned for south and west of the Duck Islands will have a public meeting on this side of the border. Trillium Power Wind Corp., Toronto, is proposing Trillium Power Wind 1, a 414-megwatt project. ..."We are willing to consult with U.S. jurisdictions, though there is no requirement for us to do so," he said.

According to a Department of Interior memo, Enbridge Energy Partners, a Canadian-based company with extensive energy holdings in the U.S. that purchased the Southern Nevada plant from Arizona-based First Solar, "can apply for payments of up to 30 percent of the eligible costs of the project - approximately $50 million."

A proposed cross-border power transmission line connecting electric systems in Alberta and Montana has cleared a major regulatory hurdle in Canada. The National Energy Board, Canada's equivalent of the U.S. Department of Energy, on Wednesday issued a permit authorizing construction and operation of the line in Alberta.

Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. (CHD) has acquired all shares of Vector Wind Energy Inc. for a cash payment of $5.3- million, the companies said in a joint news release just before Christmas. The acquisition adds Vector’s 20 prospective wind energy areas — with capacity for 1,000 megawatts of electrical generation — primarily in Manitoba and Ontario, but also in Quebec, the Maritimes and Newfoundland. CHD already has a diversified portfolio of renewable energy plants — wind, water and biomass — at 18 facilities in B.C., Alberta and Ontario, including the Melancthon I wind farm.

A commercial wind farm operator in Melancthon is asking the court to dismiss a $1.25 million lawsuit brought against it. Canadian Hydro Developers says its transformer in Amaranth "has not produced excessive or disturbing noise at any time," as claimed by a neighbour. Paul Thompson filed the lawsuit in February seeking compensation for damage and special damage from Canadian Hydro Developers and property owner Hendrika Broeze. Canadian Hydro leases land from Broeze for its transformer. Thompson claims noise from the device has caused "substantial and unreasonable interference" with his home and industrial equipment repair business since it began operating in early 2006.

In a three-inch-thick binder of research into wind turbine history, and a lengthy executive summary intended as a letter to the editor, a Melancthon resident has questioned, among other things, why Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. would offer a voluntary payment of $7,500 per turbine per annum at its Wolfe Island wind farm compared with $1,000 for the first phase of the Melancthon Wind Project.

Takeover target Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. (TSX:KHD) says its net income plummeted 99 per cent during the second quarter due to higher expenses at two Ontario wind farms. Net income for the three months ended June 30 was $23,000, or zero cents per share, down from $2.88 million, or two cents per share, booked in the same 2008 quarter, the Calgary-based company said Friday. The lower earnings were due in part to an increased interest expense at Canadian Hydro's Melancthon II wind farm northwest of Toronto.