Under the rebate program, $4 million per meteorological station would be awarded, provided the weather station is up and running in 2009, and it's for a wind farm that generates at least 200 megawatts worth of energy. Garden State Offshore Energy's proposed wind farm is expected to generate 346 megawatts when completed. The weather stations would collect data on wind speed, direction and other areas of interest to the companies deploying the wind farms.

The owner of the Wayne Auto Spa, who sparked controversy in proposing a wind turbine at his business, wants a judge to overturn new township zoning rules that prohibit the project. The Township Council adopted a zoning ordinance in September that bans wind turbines within 1,640 feet of residential neighborhoods, schools or day-care centers. ...Burke argues in court papers that the township should not be allowed to frustrate state policy objectives that promote the use of wind and other renewable energy sources.

Lance Miller, chief of policy and planning at the state Board of Public Utilities, which is steering the energy plan's implementation, agrees that the scope and scale of some of its objectives are unprecedented. Principally, these are the massive scale of energy audits planned for buildings, finding ways to finance the improvements needed in those buildings to cut energy use and getting utilities to buy into a plan where there is less demand for their power. "New Jersey is the first to do [energy audits] on such a big scale," Miller said of the inspection plan, which will cover 3.7 million buildings, of which 3.2 million are residential. At an average annual clip of 300,000 building inspections, Miller estimates the task would run through 2020.

Ongoing studies of birds, marine mammals and sea turtles off the Jersey Shore have found an abundance of life in an area where hundreds of wind turbines could be spinning by 2020, participants in a public meeting said today. ..."We're trying to figure out where are the areas of sensitive habitat, if you will, areas that perhaps we should think twice about or avoid before we build something," he said. "The objective here is to try and steer these facilities to areas where impacts will be reduced."

New Jersey is one step closer to bringing an offshore wind farm to the coasts of the U.S. Garden State Offshore Energy (GSOE), a joint venture between utility Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) Renewable Generation and Deepwater Wind, was selected by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities today to build an offshore wind farm far off the Jersey coastline. The proposed 350-megawatt wind farm would consist of 96 turbines nearly 20 miles offshore. GSOE will receive a $4 million state grant to help cover permitting costs and spur project financing though the final project, to be completed by 2012, will likely cost well over $1 billion, according to the state.

The minty ring of "live green" can look easy. But it's about more than recycling and taking one's tote bag to the grocer's. Trying to live green in New Jersey collides, environmentalists said Friday, with a warren of real-world twists and turns that make it harder than it looks.

Ocean County could lose nearly $400 million in tourism revenues if a pilot project with wind turbines is placed 3 nautical miles off its coast, a new state-funded study says. But a wind farm farther offshore would have a much lower impact and would have a minimal economic impact overall if it were built off Ocean, Atlantic or Cape May counties. It could have a positive effect in some cases, according to the study by Global Insight, hired by the now-defunct New Jersey Commerce Commission. A project with dozens of wind turbines could be operating from 3 to 20 nautical miles off the coastline, from Seaside Park to Stone Harbor, in 2012. But most current proposals are for wind farms 8 to 18 miles off Atlantic or Cape May counties.

Residents won't be seeing wind turbines going up close to their homes under new zoning rules adopted this week. The Township Council unanimously adopted the measure after a heated debate Wednesday night ...The new rules ban turbines within 1,640 feet - 500 meters - of residential neighborhoods, schools or day care centers. Council members approved the measure after defending their green credentials and saying they would not be intimated by threats of litigation.

The Township Council is setting rules for wind turbines that would keep the alternative-energy sources far away from residential neighborhoods. It is set to hold a public hearing and vote to adopt an ordinance Wednesday that would restrict turbines within 1,640 feet of residential neighborhoods, schools or day care centers. The distance was based on studies that suggest separating turbines from housing because of noise and other potential health side effects, according to township officials.

Offshore wind energy is coming, and the federal government has the New York region's coastal waters in its sights. WNYC's Ilya Marritz has more. ...Last week, Interior's Maureen Bornholdt came to speak to citizens in New Jersey. She told them to expect offshore windmills on their horizon, starting in about five years.

The federal program that would allow wind turbines offshore seems to be "very industry-driven," said Jennifer Samson, principal scientist for Clean Ocean Action, following a federal Minerals Management Service workshop on proposed rules. The "MMS acknowledges that they don't know . . . the environmental consequences of this development," said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society, a Sandy Hook-based coastal conservation group. "They have no standards and a free-for-all approach to this."

When then-Gov. Richard Codey signed an executive order paving the way for New Jersey's first offshore wind farm in 2005, he didn't imagine it would take so long to get turbines spinning off the coast. The Board of Public Utilities now estimates the earliest date for the pilot project to be generating electricity from windmills off Atlantic City is late in 2012. ...Lance Miller, chief of policy and planning for the BPU, said projects of this magnitude take time. He defended the BPU's diligence in selecting the best proposal.

A state panel evaluating proposals for an offshore wind turbine pilot project will have until Oct. 2 instead of Aug. 20 to make a recommendation to the state Board of Public Utilities. The panel needs more time to evaluate five companies' proposals, some of which are "large, extensive," Doyal H. Siddell, a BPU spokesman, said Thursday. But the six-week delay did not sit well with two observers.

With the state's Board of Public Utilities holding off a decision on awarding an offshore windmill license early yesterday, three of the candidates for the project gathered to discuss how they would each approach the windmill project and address the public's concerns. The Wetlands Institute hosted a wind-power forum Thursday night, with much of the discussion focused on proposed offshore windmills that would appear anywhere from three to 20 miles off the coast of Atlantic and Cape May counties.

Will the state Division of Fish and Wildlife prevent tall wind turbines from being constructed in any location south of Stone Harbor to protect migratory birds and bats? Cape May's Energy Committee, at a July 24 meeting, discussed limitations the state may place on building a tall wind turbine anywhere on Cape Island. Interim City Manager Bruce MacLeod, also a member of the energy committee, said the state has proposed drawing a line of demarcation 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) from the end of state or about six miles from the end of the Garden State Parkway for high wind turbines. Any wind turbines south of that line would have to be of limited height. ...At a July 22 Cape May City Council meeting, Deputy Mayor Linda Steenrod said the proposed 10 kilometer rule would limit what the city could do with a wind turbine.

Envision a half-dozen towers for collecting data miles off the Jersey Shore in areas that could someday have dozens of wind turbines churning out emission-free power. By year's end, the U.S. Minerals Management Service hopes to give sea bottom leases to three companies that want to put six meteorological towers off New Jersey, officials said Wednesday. And the towers could be erected next spring, said Maureen A. Bornholdt, program manager in the mineral services' Office of Alternative Energy Programs in Herndon, Va. ...The sites are 16 miles off Long Beach Island and 17 miles off Ocean City, according to the minerals service.

Meanwhile, three companies have proposed building liquefied natural gas facilities miles off the Jersey Shore. Excalibur Energy (USA) Inc. wants to construct a deep-water pipeline system for natural gas about 15 miles off Asbury Park. Atlantic Sea Island Group wants to build an island for an LNG facility 19 miles from Sea Bright, while ExxonMobil has plans for a floating LNG terminal about 20 miles from Manasquan. In addition, five companies are competing for up to $19 million in state funding to build a potential wind turbine project in an area from Seaside Park to Stone Harbor that is up to 23 miles offshore. State officials are evaluating whether offshore LNG facilities and wind turbines will be part of New Jersey's overall energy plan, Corzine said. ...But when it comes to offshore wind, "the cart is put well before the horse" because environmental studies have not been done and federal rules have yet to be approved, said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action.

New Jersey lawmakers are contemplating a bill that defines solar and wind energy generation as agricultural activity. The measure aims to promote alternative energy sources, but has been criticized as a possible danger to farmland preservation efforts. The bill would allow the owners of preserved farmland to construct, operate and install solar or wind energy facilities or equipment on their farms. The generated power could be used to operate the farm or be sold to a utility company. The law also would protect solar and wind power generation on farms from nuisance complaints from neighbors, similar to protections farmers have from complaints about the smell of manure, for instance.

At least two groups want to build wind turbines off the Atlantic City coast to provide an alternative source of energy and become the first offshore wind farm in the United States. Bluewater Wind wants to erect 116 wind turbines about 15 miles off the Atlantic City coast, and approached the Atlantic County Board of Freeholders last month to pitch their project. Also in the running is a group headed by commercial fishermen calling itself Fishermen's Energy of New Jersey, which would have 74 turbines. Atlantic City Mayor Scott Evans endorsed the concept on Tuesday.

File this one under if you can't beat ‘em, join ‘em. A group of commercial fishermen wants to get in on the rush to build offshore wind farms to generate electricity. It's an interesting about face for the fishing industry, which has traditionally fought offshore industrialization - other than their own floating seafood factories, that is. ...The effort is attracting attention in New Jersey, where the state is looking to provide grants for a pilot offshore wind farm. ... Meanwhile, if Trenton doesn't take the bait, perhaps Providence will. Last Friday, Fishermen's Energy filed one of seven proposals to build a windfarm off the coast of Rhode Island.