A pledge from the London Government's Energy Minister saying local communities would have a voice in the planning process for wind farms has been welcomed by the leader of the SDLP on Newry and Mourne Council, Connaire McGreevy.

"No matter what, there are costs involved," Mr. Pruskowski said. "We just need to talk with the community about the concept of community wind and what kind of consensus can be reached on the size of the turbines and the number of turbines." The association is organizing the next community forum to start those discussions.

Although it might be tempting, landowners should resist offers from companies who provide a complete service in planning, negotiating and erecting wind turbines, he advised.

U.S. wind-power developers say utilities are increasingly reluctant to buy electricity through long-term contracts, forcing producers to sell output from their turbines for less money on spot markets.

"Sadly, I am not surprised that the application has gone in as the district council cannot refuse them due to their wind power special planning document, which is now enforced. "Once developers know about an area where there is wind farm potential, these individual turbines go up to fill in the gaps.

Engineer Pat Swords, who is taking a case to the High Court in relation to the European Union's attitude to renewable energy targets, said local people were entitled under the terms of the Aarhus convention to be consulted about the proposals. He said wind energy does not work and the people of the midlands were being "sacrificed on the altar of a populist cult".

Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks joked: "I'm shocked that you have got hold of our secret list of potential sites."

The key to a low carbon future is not negotiations in Copenhagen but mud and minerals in China. All low carbon technologies, from wind turbines to electric cars and low energy lightbulbs, use elements known as 'rare earths'. And 95 per cent of these are found in China. ...Green campaigners love wind turbines, but the permanent magnets used to manufacture a three megawatt turbine use about two tonnes of 'rare earth'.

A couple are calling for the removal of two wind turbines on a Furness fell which they claim have not been in use for several months. ...This week they sent a letter to Barrow Borough Council asking that something be done about the situation and that action be taken against owner E.on, Formerly Powergen, who installed the farm, which has seven turbines, each measuring 131 ft in height. The couple claims that when planning permission for the farm was given in 1997, the conditions imposed state that should a turbine be out of use for a year, it must be removed.

Residents in an East Yorkshire village are being urged to join an action group against plans for a wind farm on their doorstep. Fears about homes being devalued has led to opposition to a scheme for a five-turbine wind farm on land at Sancton, near Market Weighton. Sancton Windfarm Action Team (Swat) was set up after a ballot of villagers at a public meeting showed that 85 were against - and just 29 for - the development.

Save Central co-ordinator Graye Shattky said in a statement this week the new requirement to have 'particular regard' to the reversibility of adverse environmental effects is likely to rule out future consideration of outstanding and natural landscapes for any major wind farm projects. "In theory it may be feasible to remove turbines and pylons, but the network of roads, access tracks and laydown areas will remain as scars on the landscape for hundreds, if not thousands of years," Mr Shattky said.

New research shows developers cannot count on "the silent majority" as necessarily supporting a project. While there was a perception that only "stroppy naysayers" put in submissions on resource consent applications and the silent majority was probably in favour, a University of Otago study into wind farm developments showed that was not true, Dr Janet Stephenson said last week. Instead, non-submitters were equally likely to oppose or support a proposal.

More than £6m is to be awarded to a wind turbine firm's research centre on the Isle of Wight, despite its plans to cut 625 jobs and shut its factory. The government grant allocated to Vestas Technology UK Ltd comes as 25 workers continue a sit-in at its plant. Vestas Windsystems is making the redundancies at its Newport site at the end of July despite rising profits.

FAIRVIEW -- Advocates of the "small wind" generating business have landed another customer.

A plan to build a major wind farm on Lewis should be allowed to go ahead, but on a much smaller scale, Western Isles councillors decided yesterday. Scottish & Southern Energy had wanted to put up 125 turbines - each nearly 500ft tall - at Pairc in South Lochs, but later reduced this to 57 bigger and more powerful generators. However, yesterday the council's environment and protective services committee backed only 26 of these, saying the other 31 were in unsuitable sites. A spokesman for Comhairle nan Eilean Siar - Western Isles Council - said: "We are not saying it has to be 26. If they could resite some of these turbines, the council was open to that."

Plans have been unveiled in Powys to turn one of the largest wind farms in the UK into one of the tallest. The companies behind the scheme want to replace 103, 45-metre (149ft) tall turbines in Llandinam, near Newtown, with 42, 122-metre (400ft) machines. They said the redevelopment would treble the output of "clean, green energy" at the mid Wales site. But objectors claim the new turbines could have a detrimental visual impact on the landscape.

BACUP residents are demanding more infor-mation before backing a scheme that could see the town owning part of a wind farm. Coronation Power, the London company planning wind farms near Bacup, Todmorden and Wardle, held a meeting after Micro-generation Yorkshire and the Hebden Bridge Alt-ernative Technology Centre approached Coronation with the suggestion that people living in the surrounding area should buy into the five-turbine wind farm proposed for Todmorden Moor. Coronation wanted to gauge levels of interest, and share information about the next steps. More than 30 people attended the meeting at Todmorden Town Hall, including members of Bacup Consortium Trust, whose chairman Di Van Ruitenbeek, said: "We would be interested in taking the idea forward if the project goes ahead, but only if it applied to all three of Coronation's sites, otherwise there would be no benefit to the people of Bacup.

DEVELOPERS who hope to build a £6.6million wind farm in a Suffolk village have won permission for a 12-month monitoring mast to assess the site's suitability. Mid Suffolk District Council has been consulting on an application for a 70metre high wind monitoring mast at Wyverstone, near Stowmarket. The mast would be in place for up to a year and could lead to an application for three 130m high turbines at the village's Potash chicken farm.

Area farmers and ranchers got a rundown Tuesday of how to deal with what could be called Oregon's new gold rush: The land grab for wind power as Oregon and the nation aim for higher and higher green energy standards. Christian Sarason, project manager with 3 TIER North America, a wind assessment firm, said the rush is on. "The gold rush is happening right now," he said. "It's the gold rush and there's going to be continuing pressure to prospect all over the place."

Dale Rankin was interviewed by the show for his perspective on wind energy and for his involvement in a lawsuit three years ago brought by Rankin and other Taylor County residents against FPL Energy, an affiliate of Florida Power & Light Co. "My name is used on the lawsuit title (Dale Rankin, et al, plaintiffs vs. FPL Energy, et al Defendants), though there are 11 of us who sued," he said. Rankin and the other plaintiffs lost the lawsuit in 2006, but they have appealed. The lawsuit sought to stop construction of wind turbines on nearby Elm Valley property as part of the Horse Hollow wind farm. ...Consultant Tom Tanton, vice president and senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research, is serving as technical consultant for the appeal, Rankin said.