Environmentalists have warned that the creation of offshore wind farms poses a "potentially devastating threat to whales and dolphins". The report in Saturday's edition of The Independent revealed that the noise during construction, which includes pile driving into the sea bed, could be heard by marine creatures in shallow water up to 80km away and could damage their hearing at close range. It is also claimed by the group, The Conservation of British Cetaceans, the noise could lead to dramatic changes in behaviour at distances of up to 20km.

Plans for a wind farm in the Bristol Channel have been scrapped, say the developers. Work on 30 turbines, each 400ft (121.9m) tall, at Scarweather Sands off Porthcawl, had been expected to start this year. But the two companies behind the project, DONG Energy and E.ON, said it was no longer commercially viable.

In the meantime, wind power is blowing strong. The Delaware proposal, which should get a preliminary green light this week from state officials, pits wind power against its traditional archrival: cheap, plentiful, but dirty, coal. So far, locals seem to be favoring wind, despite the fact that the turbines will be visible, albeit slightly, on the horizon of heavily trafficked beaches. Those beaches, and the tourists they attract, are a major source of state revenue.

UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks has given the go-ahead for a major wind project 14km from Walney Island, off the coast of Cumbria. The Walney wind farm, from developer DONG Energy, is expected to have somewhere between 93-152 turbines, producing enough clean electricity for approximately 360,000 homes when fully operational in 2013. The world's largest offshore wind project - the 1000MW London Array - has also now received its final consent.

How many years must a wind farm be planned before it is built in the sea? The answer for New Jersey projects is blowin' in the wind. Several companies have planned to build clusters of turbines spinning off the New Jersey coast, but some are making more headway than others.

Plans to build the world's biggest offshore wind farm in the Thames estuary are under threat unless the Government boosts incentives for renewable energy investment, it is claimed. The London Array project is not the only one in jeopardy. Without an overhaul of the rewards system, the offshore installations vital to meeting ambitious EU environmental targets will simply not get built, energy suppliers are warning.

Wind Energy Systems Technology's Gulf of Mexico wind farm is competing with Massachusetts' Cape Wind to be the first U.S. offshore project. The Louisiana company is getting a 120-foot meteorological tower ready to be towed into the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. The tower will take round-the-clock and monthly wind readings as well as track the flight patterns of migratory birds crossing the coastline so that the right location is chosen for the turbines.

Ontario energy ministry spokesman Andrew Block confirmed that Windstream's contract was not cancelled, but he said there can't be further development while studies on the impact of offshore wind projects are under way.

A thousand people who overflowed the auditorium of Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate on Guildwood Pkwy. last night debated the question at a meeting that mixed neighbourhood angst with debate over the pros and cons of Toronto Hydro's proposed offshore wind farm. ...But the sometimes-raucous meeting turned into a discussion over who was from Scarborough, now part of the City of Toronto. Environmental groups had bused supporters to the meeting from outside the immediate area.

Sited 14km off the coast, the array, which will be developed by Swindon- based RWE npower renewables, would generate 1,500 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 1.1 million homes. However, members of the North Devon fishing fleet have complained that the development will occupy some of their most valuable fishing grounds, which would either force boats to move or tie up for good.

The notion is almost surreal - rows on rows of mammoth propellers, each blade taller than a football field is long, whirling offshore just above the horizon. The chances of seeing a wind farm in the ocean off South Carolina might be just that fantastic, even though it's getting a good hard look.

Cape Wind still faces 11 state and federal lawsuits and appeals filed by opponents who say the project will ruin Nantucket Sound's environment. "It's a national treasure that should not be industrialized," said Audra Parker, head of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound

Developers planning an offshore wind farm in Lake Michigan met with local government representatives Tuesday morning to discuss their plans. Those plans are still very general, said Mason County Administrator Fabian Knizacky and Ludington City Manager John Shay. The next step, both agreed, is to schedule public meetings in both Mason and Oceana counties to gain feedback about the idea from area residents.

More than half of the first phase of the UK's offshore wind farms will be built two years late, at the earliest.

Federal aviation and defense officials said a primary concern is that tall wind turbines can adversely affect radar systems, not only by physically blocking them but by generating interference. The blades of a turbine spinning at 200 mph on a 400-foot-high stand will generate enough "clutter" to mimic a Boeing 747 jetliner, said Nancy Kalinowski of the Federal Aviation Administration.

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. - Gov. Don Carcieri's administration this week unveiled a report calling it feasible to build wind farms off the coast of Rhode Island as part of a plan to get 15 percent of the state's energy from wind in five years. Wind is plentiful in pockets along Narragansett Bay, and wind farms could supply much-needed energy to the Ocean State. But in a region where other wind projects have met with opposition, and in a state that prizes its shoreline, there's a lingering question over whether residents will support such a project. "Is aesthetics going to be a problem for people? That's the question. That's really the only question," said Andrew Dzykewicz, commissioner of the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources.

The move is one step toward speeding up government approval and permits so that offshore wind farms can eventually be developed, officials said. But the action falls short of creating laws, regulations or even setting the evaluation standards. It does not establish how long it will take before offshore wind farms can go from being an idea to a reality.

A senior government panel has drafted a plan calling for the establishment by 2020 of massive offshore wind farms capable of producing at least 1,000 megawatts of power, equivalent to the output of roughly 10 nuclear power plants, a source said Saturday.

The Carbon Trust and the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) have today called on wind energy firms to co-operate to help drive down the cost of offshore wind power. The two government backed bodies have announced they are to invest £40m in offshore wind research and development (R&D) projects and are urging companies with experience in offshore wind technology and processes - including firms with relevant offshore experience such as oil and gas companies - to join the initiative. ...However, some commentators criticised the announcement, claiming that offshore wind farms cost double that of their onshore counterparts. Dale Vince of wind energy company Ecotricity said that the plan should not come at the detriment of other renewable energy technologies, arguing that it could be construed as a way "of avoiding facing the noisy nimby minority who oppose onshore wind in this country".