Energy Northwest this week submitted an application to build a $1 billion coal gasification power plant at the Port of Kalama, kicking off a review by state regulators that could take more than a year. "This is a new technology," Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council manager Allen Fiksdal said Wednesday. "It's a big project, and it's complex." The 600-megawatt Pacific Mountain Energy Center would be the first power plant of its kind in Washington and the first required to comply with a state law that calls on new power plants that use fossil fuels to curb greenhouse gases.

Hundreds of villagers were last night furious after a renewable power company backed out of attending a public meeting just hours before it was due to start because of safety concerns. Representatives from Lowestoft-based SLP Energy had been due to attend the meeting at Pulham St Mary Village Hall to allay residents' fears over its proposals to build seven 125 metre high wind turbines on the former Pulham airfield site. But about 24 hours before the meeting was due to take place the company announced it would not be present because it was feared the amount of people potentially attending "could compromise safety and public order".

A power company has reduced the size of a wind farm it hopes to build off Wirral's coast in a bid to reduce its visual impact. A revised layout for the proposed Gwynt y Mor wind farm has been submitted to the Government by the project developer Npower Renewables The amended plan would see the area in which the turbine would be built reduced by 16%. Last night, Npower said that would mean a "significant reduction in the visual impact". The proposed site is 11 miles from Wirral and between eight and nine miles off the North Wales coast.

The state will allow Bluewater Wind to submit a proposal to build a 600 megawatt wind farm several miles off Delaware's ocean shore.

A state board has approved a special-use lease for a $4 billion wind farm in Converse County, the latest -- and biggest -- of several wind power projects in the area. Before their vote Thursday, the State Board of Land Commissioners heard a complaint about a lack of information provided by Clipper Windpower Development Co. officials to its new neighbors. ...The total project will encompass 109,740 acres, including 7,614 acres of state land.

A company has defended plans for wind turbines on Calderdale's border. Planning applications have been submitted to Rossendale, Rochdale and Calderdale.

The company proposing a controversial wind farm on Lempster Mountain has filed its application with the state Site Evaluation Committee. The action marks the first step in the evaluation process for what could be the first major source of wind power in New Hampshire and one of the first new wind power sources in New England in more than decade.

A private energy company says it has moved a step closer to building three new wind farms in southern Manitoba after obtaining provincial Environment Act licences for the projects.

Developers behind proposals for a multi-million pound wind farm on the island of Lewis are due to meet government officials. The meeting comes after ministers said they were "minded" to turn down the application from Lewis Wind Power. It wants to site 181 massive wind turbines on Barvas Moor. Almost 10,000 objections went to ministers, many from local people, but the scheme has been backed by the local council. ...The final decision on the planning application rests with the Scottish Government.

The company behind plans for a controversial wind farm which was turned down by councillors has said it may appeal against the decision. Npower Renewables had applied to build five 410-feet turbines and a substation on rural land at Earls Hall Farm near Clacton. Tendring District Council's officers had recommended the proposal be given the go-ahead, saying it would not have any significant environmental impacts. But last week the council's planning committee unanimously rejected the scheme which would provide power for between 5,000 and 6,000 homes.

FREEDOM - Competitive Energy Services LLC, the Portland-based company that wants to build a 4.5-megawatt wind farm in Waldo County, has voluntarily suspended its application to give the town time to draft an ordinance dealing with such proposals.

PLANS for a seven-turbine windfarm in west Cumbria have been lodged by Independent renewable energy company Your Energy Ltd. The company is seeking permission from Allerdale council for seven wind turbines on land at Winscales Moor, near the existing windfarm at Winscales between the A595 and A66.

Gamesa Energy of Spain is moving forward with a 50-megawatt wind farm atop more than six miles of Mahantongo Mountain in northern Dauphin County. The company hopes to have the wind farm operating in 2009, said Michael Peck, a spokesman for Gamesa. Company officials are negotiating leases with property owners along the mountain summit, he said.

New plans have emerged for a windfarm in Doncaster just as a public inquiry is about to get under way for a similar scheme nearby. Banks Developments is proposing to site a wind farm to the south of Marr Village, just outside the town. The firm has recently submitted a report to Doncaster Council setting out the issues which would need to be considered in a future planning application. Initial proposals include between four and seven turbines with a maximum height of 125 metres .

A company is still assessing whether to move ahead with a proposed wind farm in the McHarg Ranges, south-east of Bendigo. Stanwell Corporation wants to build a 125-turbine wind farm and has been monitoring wind speeds and consistency in the Baynton-Tooborac area for the past three years. It says early evaluations of the renewable energy market and potential impacts of the development will continue for another six months before it decides whether to proceed with a feasibility study. Stanwell says if it moves to the next stage, there will be extensive community consultation.

A green energy company says its permission to build two giant turbines at Shipdham has not been quashed in the High Court. Ecotricity said its permission to build the 100m turbines on land outside Shipdham, is still in place. It follows a claim which was filed in the High Court against the approval of plans by government inspector Chris Gossop in June this year.

The plans for the 100-metre high turbines were originally turned down on a number of grounds, including the impact on the surrounding landscape and local communities.

A four year battle to site a wind farm in the Ochils has finally been won by npower renewables but three other applications have been rejected by the Scottish Executive. The partial victory was yesterday hailed by objectors who said their lengthy fight had stopped the picturesque landscape becoming "an industrial mass".

Local company Dokie Wind Energy Inc. has won approval from the provincial government to build a more than $600 million wind farm in the Peace River region of northern B.C.

The company that plans a wind farm in the Valley says a proposed three-mile setback from homes would kill the project. Mark Jacobson, business development director for Chicago-based Invenergy, told the San Miguel County Commission this week that the three-mile rule would be far more than what other counties with wind farms require.