The federal government today issued five leases to allow wind-energy companies to explore the possibility of building wind farms off the coast of New Jersey and Delaware. In a news conference with Gov. Jon Corzine, U.S. Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar called the leases, the first of their kind issued by the federal government.

CONTROVERSIAL plans for 26 giant wind turbines in Congham have been scrapped following a shock U-turn decision, it was revealed yesterday. Farmer Michael Mason has backed out of the scheme, and will not be allowing developers to build a wind farm on his land, between the village and Little Massingham.

A Devon council is calling on Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks to reverse a decision to allow a huge wind farm. Earlier this month Mr Wicks gave Devon Wind Power the go-ahead for a 22-turbine project at Fullabrook Down. ...Council leader Mike Harrison said the "landscape and people of North Devon have been sacrificed in the national interest". He added: "This is a classic example of the impact of centralised planning on a local community."

LONDON, May 25 (UPI) -- The British government Friday said grants will be made available again for those who want to install micro-wind turbines and solar panels on their homes. The Department of Trade and Industry's Low Carbon Buildings Program has already allocated more than $13.5 million to householders and, following the addition of an extra $11.9 million in the national budget, applications are set to open Tuesday for an estimated $23.6 million remaining.

The U.K. government and local authorities should use more tax breaks and subsidies to promote low-carbon energy production, a group of British lawmakers said. “Local energy'’ generation from equipment such as solar panels or wind turbines “is capable of making a major contribution'’ to the U.K.’s electricity and heat supplies, the Trade and Industry Committee said today in an e-mail.

A U.K. company planning to develop a wind farm off B.C.'s north coast is studying the effects of noise pollution on marine mammals after a report found that whales and dolphins were being stranded.

A United Nations climate panel on Friday blocked carbon financing for around 10 Chinese wind farms over concerns about whether they are financially viable without receiving carbon offsets, the panel said. ...The panel's decision on the Chinese wind farms could have serious implications for billions of dollars' worth of wind farm investment in China. The panel said it lacked sufficient information in support of the projects' claims of making additional emissions cuts.

The farms would produce 3,000-megawatts and be managed by Power Company of Wyoming, and will be built at an estimated cost of US$4B-$6B. Half of the turbines will be located on public lands. The utility has forecast a regional economic benefit.

The U.S. Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service designated five areas on the Outer Continental Shelf for testing new energy technologies related to wind power, wave energy and ocean currents. The five areas are located off the coasts of California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia and New Jersey. The agency said in a statement that it is proposing limited, temporary leases in these areas for data collection and technology testing. Commercial energy production will not be allowed yet.

Cape Wind, 130 wind-powered turbines to be placed in the shallow waters of Nantucket Sound, will have to be reconfigured to "reduce the visual impact" from land in order to go forward, Salazar said in a statement today. When completed the wind farm may generate enough power for more than 200,000 average U.S. homes, the Interior Department said. Homeowners whose ocean views would be affected and local environmentalists spent $20 million over nine years to block the project.

The head of a federal panel tasked with analyzing Cape Wind is defending its work, after a state official said the group overstepped its authority. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation last week recommended that U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reject the offshore wind farm because the project's 130 turbines would have a "pervasive, destructive" effect on historic properties.

U.S. banks had looked forward to a huge "cap-and-trade market" a system where companies would buy and sell the right to emit gases blamed for warming the planet. Many hired carbon traders, picked up assets, and trained members of energy desks to deal in emissions markets. But prospects for a broad U.S. carbon market have dimmed. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican working on a compromise climate bill, declared economy-wide cap-and-trade "dead" this month.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded Northern Power, a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: DESC - News), a Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to continue development of key modular construction technologies necessary to build 5-megawatt to 8-megawatt wind turbines. In announcing the $750,000 award, Northern Power said the project builds on a Phase 1 SBIR design study recently completed by the company, which confirmed the viability of these enabling, modular construction approaches.

This Summer, three decades of underinvestment and looting of the U.S. electrical industry grid system came home to roost. A week-long blackout in New York City, calls for "voluntary" conservation, the shutting off of power to large industrial enterprises, and lowering of voltages across the nation, were all evidence of the wreckage that has been made of this most critical infrastructure.

Texas billionaire and wind energy developer Boone Pickens said at a hearing in Washington Tuesday that the U.S. is exporting about $700 billion a year to feed its oil addiction, as he joined the call from energy leaders to use nuclear, natural gas, coal, wind, biofuels and solar to wean the country off imported crude. According to the Department of Energy, an investment of $60 billion in new transmission capacity is needed between now and 2030 to enable wind power to supply 20% of U.S. electricity.

The final sticking point came over Grassley's insistence that the pension bill contain a package of tax cut extensions such as the research-and-development tax credit, a credit for hiring workers off welfare, and a credit to promote wind energy. Frist and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-California) wanted to use those tax credits to entice Senate Democrats to vote for their permanent estate tax cut. Grassley tried to force a showdown Thursday night, calling a public meeting of negotiators and daring House Republicans to vote to strip out the tax measures. Instead, House Republicans boycotted the meeting. Then GOP leaders effectively shut down negotiations and took the pension bill to the House floor without the tax measures, infuriating Grassley.

The U.S. wind industry installed just over 1,200 megawatts (MW) of wind power in the third quarter, and about 3,360 MW on the year so far, the wind industry trade group said Tuesday. ...uncertainty over government policies has many leading wind developers holding off on scheduling projects for 2013, AWEA said.

Salazar's decision to issue a so-called "record of decision" for the project in April still faces a slew of legal challenges and the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities is in the middle of a review of the project's cost effectiveness. A decision from the state board is expected by November.

U.S. power sales have plunged in the past six months on the back of an unprecedented demand decline that was caused by sharp contractions in the economy, and recovery is not anticipated until the 2010 to 2015 period, an analysis from Edinburgh-based Wood Mackenzie shows. "The power industry is headed into the ‘Perfect Storm' low-price operating environment, which will likely get worse before it gets better."

The area to be leased is about the size of Delaware. Included are 125 square miles off the coast of Maryland, 161 square miles off Delaware and 176 square miles off Virginia. Leases will also be auctioned off the coast of New Jersey and Rhode Island, but the lion's share - 1,161 square miles - is off Massachusetts. The auction is planned before the end of this year; an exact date hasn't yet been set.