Megan McElligott and Jason Gotte feel as though nobody is considering the possible negative impact of Airtricity’s plans to construct 55 to 80 wind turbines in the towns of Gaines and Albion within the next few years. To educate others about the environmental and economic impacts of the 400-foot towers, the couple will host an informational meeting Saturday at the Quality Work Life hall in Albion. Speaker Jerry Borkholder from the Wind Tower Committee in Hamlin, who is considered a local expert on wind energy issues, will address the topic and answer questions. “I’ve been on the Internet reading everything and anything I can and I’m really very concerned,” said McElligott, a home health care aide. “I don’t think this is the future. If this is the future, we’re going to have a lot of problems.”

Galloo Island Wind Farm's developer is lobbying state officials to push the New York Power Authority to give the project a contract for its power. Attorneys for Upstate NY Power Corp. have talked to local officials and at least the chairmen, if not the members, of the state Assembly and Senate Energy Committees.

A 250-megawatt wind farm project could be coming to Galloo Island within the next couple of years. Robert W. Burgdorf, a Rochester attorney representing Upstate NY Power Co., a company affiliated with the global investment and advisory firm Babcock and Brown, said the company selected the 1,934.6 available acres on Galloo Island as a location for a wind farm due to its productive wind resource.

Mr. Hagner said the "current downturn in the wind energy industry" may cause several other projects in the New York Independent System Operator interconnection queue to abandon their positions and "allow an interconnection for the Galloo project at existing Coffeen Street substation."

Proposed wind farm projects may not get off the ground due to recent refusals to purchase wind produced electricity. The New York Power Authority was the main buyer until recent refusals to participate in the wind farm project purchases, including the Galloo Island Wind Farm Project in development stages.

Though local leaders oppose turbine placement on the Lake Ontario lake bed, they support the Galloo Island Wind Farm with a few stipulations. "My two stipulations were that I wanted to make sure the purchase power agreement is at the market rate, ...," Sen. Ritchie said. "And I had the company Upstate NY Power agree that it should be an underwater transmission line."

Galloo Island Wind Farm is shopping its electricity around to state and private buyers to keep the possibility of an underwater transmission line alive. A representative of developer Upstate NY Power Corp. told parties on a conference call held by the Public Service Commission on Thursday morning that the developer isn't giving up after the New York Power Authority scrapped its Great Lakes Offshore Wind project in September.

Several approvals for the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm won't be given until after 2010 begins. Jefferson County's Board of Legislators will hold off on the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement and the Hounsfield Planning Board will wait on the site plan. Developer Upstate NY Power Corp. had asked the entities to approve those items before Dec. 31. That deadline put it in a timeline to get investors and complete 5 percent of the project in 2010.

Area residents expressed a mix of opinions Tuesday at a public hearing on a proposed wind farm. Upstate NY Power Corp. wants to erect up to 90 wind turbines on Galloo Island on Lake Ontario in the town of Hounsfield. The power would be wheeled on a new transmission line running through Jefferson and Oswego counties. The Department of Environmental Conservation scheduled two public hearings in Sackets Harbor on the environmental aspects of the project. The 3 p.m. session attracted about 75 people and went a little more than an hour.

Department of Health District Director Thomas E. Boxberger has sent a letter to Department of Environmental Conservation Alexander B. "Pete" Grannis in support of the Hounsfield Planning Board acting as lead agency for Galloo Island Wind Farm state environmental quality review process. The conservation department asked in December to act as lead agency instead of the Planning Board. DEC's primary reason is that, it says, the offshore project may have statewide or regional effects, including those on bird and fish populations. But town officials say that the Planning Board has the greatest control over environmental effects, as it approves each part of temporary and permanent construction. The Health Department has weighed in, agreeing with the town.

Henderson's legal arguments in opposition to the Galloo Island Wind Farm, which focus primarily on the project's transmission lines, will be rendered moot if the line location shifts. Henderson filed state Supreme Court action in February asking a judge to annul the town of Hounsfield Planning Board's site plan approval for the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm.

Like a move in a card game, Jefferson County legislators on the Finance and Rules Committee opted not to weigh in on the proposed payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement for Galloo Island Wind Farm during their meeting Tuesday night. Instead, three resolutions related to the PILOT and the project will go to the full board next Tuesday with no recommendation.

This week, developer Upstate NY Power Corp. submitted the site plan application for the wind farm to the town of Hounsfield Planning Board. Before the site plan can be approved, the state environmental quality review process must be completed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Earlier this month, Upstate NY Power Corp. received approval from the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency for a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement separate from the uniform tax-exempt policy in development for wind projects across the county.

The New York Power Authority will not support offshore wind power projects in Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. NYPA's board of trustees decided Tuesday morning not to award any power purchase agreements through its Great Lakes Offshore Wind project.

The controversy over the bird started brewing during township meetings months earlier. Some residents disputed eagles are anywhere near the township. Other residents debated wind farms and whether the turbines would harm eagles or other birds. The Pennsylvania Game Commission is wondering the same thing. The commission is set to hire a new employee who would investigate mortality rates in birds and bats caused by wind turbines. Wind turbines in some areas have caused bat mortality rates to increase, said Tim Conway, the commission's Northeast Region information and education director.

The firm is already one of three developers with planning applications for larger turbine developments in the area scheduled to go before a public inquiry later this year. In the letter to the council the firm has asked whether an environmental impact assessment would need to be carried out - a preliminary measure that would go alongside a possible future planning application. Peter Bennet, founder of the Friends of the Wanneys group which opposes the building of wind turbines in the area, said: "It does seem to be a bit of cat and mouse and that they are playing games. It is absolutely crazy and very frustrating.

Major New Zealand power company Genesis Energy is now using the power of gaming to cut through the clutter in an increasingly dispersed advertising market. The weapon is its sophisticated online educational game ElectroCity, which has produced an immediate payback after 18 months of creative, design and technical work........"For example, investing in hydro has constraints - suitable locations are limited, output is tied into water levels and dams are expensive to build. Thermal generation is cheaper but has ongoing fuel costs and a greater environmental impact. Wind generation produces only modest amounts of electricity, unless the wind farms are huge."

Expansion said that the fund is expected to reduce Gamesa's debt pile, which has been inflated by its Gamesa Energia division's wind farm projects, 80 pct funded by bank debt.

“I have no doubt that what has happened at some of our competitors has hurt the industry,” Jorge Calvet, Gamesa chairman and chief executive, told the Financial Times. “To have several profit warnings in one year hurt perceptions among investors.”

"This plan is not just about slimming down the company but about getting it ready for the future," said Gamesa Chairman Ignacio Martin, who took over the helm of the company in May. The cuts, which will hit 845 jobs in Spain.