The Scottish Government has been labelled "wind obsessed" by the Conservatives after figures suggested a third of wind applications rejected by councils this year were later given the go-ahead by ministers.

The Scottish Executive has unveiled new proposals to support marine energy development projects. The proposals aim to provide increased financial returns to wave and tidal generators, giving the sector more of an incentive to grow and contribute to Scotland's renewable energy ambitions.

Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen announced some extra funding for green energy systems in Scotland's homes recently, during the launch of a SCHRI-funded water-sourced heat pump at New Lanark Heritage Site. The £3m over two years will go to the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative (SCHRI) to fund small-scale projects.

Engineers were yesterday granted permission by the Scottish Executive to build the largest onshore windfarm in Europe, after they agreed to erect a new radar tower for Glasgow airport.

Every schoolchild in Scotland is to be offered the chance to see former US vice-president Al Gore’s film about the dangers of global warming under a scheme by energy company ScottishPower. The firm, a major windfarm developer which also runs the coal-fired Longannet power station, is prepared to commit “tens of thousands of pounds” to the project and is currently in negotiations with the Scottish Executive to secure its backing.

Plans to clean up two of the most polluting power plants in the UK were revealed by ScottishPower yesterday. The £1billion proposals involve installing new turbines and boilers to cut carbon emissions by a fifth at Longannet power station, in Fife, and Cockenzie, just outside Edinburgh. The new "supercritical" turbines and boilers would burn coal at ultra-high temperatures and pressures. A feasibility study into the project was revealed yesterday as First Minister Alex Salmond visited Longannet on his first official engagement.

The controversial Scout Moor Wind Farm was officially opened today. The Edenfield moorland wind farm will generate enough power to supply the needs of 40,000 homes, which is the equivalent of roughly half the houses in Rochdale. ...Construction on the wind farm began in 2006 when Nordex was appointed to manufacture the wind turbines from its German factory. Opposition to the development had been fierce since Scout Moor was first identified as a possible site for a wind farm. Rochdale MP Paul Rowen was against the development and Norden residents set up a campaign group, Friends of Scout and Knowl Moor, to retain the area as common land.

The lure of China's huge but underexploited market, the government's drive for renewable energy and low production costs for exports to fast-growing bigger markets in the United States and Europe have foreign and domestic firms rushing to set up wind farms or build production plants across the country.

THERE could be “potentially catastrophic effects” on both the local tourism industry and the roads network if the Griffin Forest and Calliacher windfarms get the go-ahead, according to Mid-Scotland and Fife Tory MSP Murdo Fraser. He explained that the proposed Griffin Forest development would consist of 68 turbines, almost all with a maximum height from base to blade tip of 124 metres. They would be built to the east of the A826, between Aberfeldy and Trochry, covering a total area around the size of Perth. The Calliachar development would consist of 27 turbines, with a maximum height of 100 metres, and would be built to the west of the A826, between Aberfeldy, Kenmore and Amulree, covering around 624 hectares.

One of Canada's biggest suppliers of wind turbines says content requirements that force companies to make renewable energy equipment in local plants are counterproductive and should be eliminated.

MONTPELIER — The Democratic candidate for governor is stepping up his criticism of Gov. Jim Douglas for failing to support large wind-power projects.

A massive, 7,500-page draft environmental study released in January concluded that the route preferred by SDG&E through Anza-Borrego was among the least preferable environmentally. Of the top seven alternatives, the study ranked five others higher, including a "southern route" for the transmission line along Interstate 8. SDG&E officials argued that the alternate southern route proposed in the environmental study was not feasible because it required crossing tribal lands owned by the Campo and La Posta Indians. ...But top SDG&E officials contended that any southern route would require crossing tribal land when they met with top advisers to the PUC

SAN DIEGO – San Diego Gas & Electric announced Monday its proposed route for the Sunrise Powerlink, a 120-mile transmission line to bring electricity from the Imperial Valley into San Diego County by 2010.

SDG&E originally planned to put up to $600 million of ratepayer funds into the farm, which was to be 309 megawatts. But critics complained to the California Public Utilities Commission that the financing arrangement put too much of the risk on ratepayers. They also didn't like the fact that the power would actually be sold in Canada, with SDG&E getting certificates.

At $106.50 per megawatt hour, Energia Sierra Juarez would charge more than double the price of the most cost-efficient wind farms in the United States. Those are located in the Texas and the Midwest, according to Mark Bolinger, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Developers are getting a better picture of South Dakota's wind energy potential thanks to South Dakota State University science. Associate professor Mike Ropp in SDSU's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science said SDSU's Wind Resource Assessment Network, or WRAN, is working with electric cooperatives, private landowners, and South Dakota Public Broadcasting to assess wind energy potential around South Dakota. Stations across the state are gathering long-term data about wind speeds at 50, 70, and even 90 meters above the earth. A height of 50 meters is about 164 feet. A height of 90 meters is about 295 feet. "That band is where wind turbines live. But there's a dearth of information about wind speeds at those heights," Ropp said.

Hundreds of Sea Girt residents, many sporting red "No wind turbine" T-shirts, attended the meeting to voice their concerns about the National Guard Training Center's [NGTC] proposed wind turbine. ...In response to the recent outpouring of opposition, the borough council unanimously voted to adopt a resolution "strongly opposing" the proposed erection of a large-scale wind turbine at the NGTC.

WASHINGTON - For years, the United States has looked to the sun and the wind as renewable energy sources. But legislation moving through Congress would authorize $250 million in federal grants to develop ocean wave energy. The measure would be the nation's first major investment in wave energy, which converts the rise and fall of ocean swells into electrical power. A related technology, tidal energy, extracts energy from the movement of the sea's tides.

SeaEnergy, the Aberdeen group, yesterday announced it was pulling out of offshore wind farm development citing difficulties in raising the cash needed to fund projects. It is a dramatic about-turn for the company, formerly oil and gas group Ramco, which became the UK's first quoted pure offshore wind business last September.

Wind turbines in Barrow's Tesco car park are being blamed for claiming the lives of seagulls. Kamikaze birds have been coming off second best when clashing with the giant rotating blades of the eco-friendly turbines. The Evening Mail's Cornwallis page recently reported the bodies of three dead gulls were found at the foot of one of the towers two weeks ago. Now a Walney man, who did not wish to be named, has told of his surprise after a trip to buy lunch left him and his partner spitting feathers. After stepping out of their car the pair were splattered with freshly killed seagull remains after another hapless bird flew to its death.