The Penn Forest Zoning Hearing Board met Thursday night to determine whether to grant a special exception to the township's building ordinance for a wind turbine. ...Township zoning officer Joseph Steber said the ordinance was written to allow wind turbines, which he said are being heavily promoted by both the state and federal governments, but that it requires homeowners to apply for and receive a special exception from the zoning hearing board before a wind turbine can be erected.

Villagers who have vowed to fight plans for nearly a dozen turbines near their homes could face a second wind farm development on their doorstep. County Durham firm Banks Developments has drawn up proposals to build up to ten turbines on land north-east of Darlington. The company has started a report for the proposed development, known as the Moor House scheme, between the villages of Barmpton and Brafferton, approximately three miles east of the A1(M). Detailed proposals are still being drawn up, but it is expected the farm would include up to ten turbines with a maximum height of 125m to the tip of the blades.

Aviation experts are set to clash over the impact a proposed wind farm at Routh, near Beverley, could have on radar installations. Twelve huge turbines could endanger aircraft flying over the region, a public inquiry into the controversial development will hear on Tuesday. Wind farm business RidgeWind Ltd is appealing against East Riding Council's refusal to allow the development at Hall Farm in Routh.

Columbia Basin river managers had a close call this week when they were forced to cut back on hydropower after a surge in wind energy blasted through the system. The surge forced them to spill more water over dams, risking the health of migrating fish. For the first time, it also exposed serious kinks in a plan that was supposed to deal smoothly with just such emergencies. ...Problems began Monday afternoon when wind speeds jumped far beyond levels forecast by wind-farm operators. BPA, responsible for adjusting hydro generation to accommodate the wind, realized by evening that it could no longer handle the sustained surge without increasing spills to dangerous levels.

Vistas on the picturesque Tantramar marshes once dotted by marsh barns will soon be home to 43 wind turbines. At an open house held in Sackville on Thursday night, 75 residents and land owners took the opportunity to meet with officials from Acciona Wind Energy Canada Inc. and their partners to learn more about the pending project. ..."What was lacking was an impression of what the facility would look like as a landscape," said John Higham, a resident of Sackville, after the event was over. Higham said he was expecting more information to be available in terms of design and sightlines, explaining he felt like it was an "awkward set-up" and he was disappointed with the way the information was presented.

Alliant Energy is using the rail yard as a staging point for moving the large wind-tower components from rail to truck for the final leg of a trip that started in Europe. ...Wisconsin Power & Light, a subsidiary of Alliant, is building a 41-tower wind farm in the towns of Eden and Empire, southeast of Fond du Lac. Scott Reigstad, a spokesman for Alliant, said it will be the company's first fully owned and operated wind farm. The 41 wind generators have capacity to produce 68 megawatts of electricity.

After Enfield town attorney Guy Krogh expressed his concerns with wind farm developer John Rancich's developer's agreement, a second version of the agreement along with a property-value guarantee was submitted to the town two weeks ago. The developer's agreement is written up as if it's clarifying the first developer's agreement, and the housing-values guarantee lays out an offer for Rancich to sign purchasing offers at 110 percent of the market value, among other things. Krogh's opinion on the first developer's agreement was negative, and he described proposed payments to the town as a "bribe."

Airtricty Stonycreek Wind Farm is looking to build four electricity-generating wind turbines in Allegheny Township -- part of a broader project that includes 28 wind turbines in Stonycreek Township and three in Shade Township. The project since has been taken over by E.ON Climate & Renewable, a German energy company. E.ON recently purchased the North American operations of Airtricty, which is based in Ireland. The three townships in Somerset County were chosen for the project, set for next year, for several reasons. "Wind, transmission and land," said Douglas Colbeck, E.ON's vice president of Northeast development.

A company that wants to build a floating wind farm off the coast of Martha's Vineyard has received a boost from the state's congressional delegation. In a letter dated June 26, the entire Massachusetts delegation asked the U.S. Minerals Management Service to review an application by Blue H USA LLC for a lease to test floating platform technology and collect data at the site for the proposed wind farm. The company announced the congressional support for its application at its U.S. headquarters in Boston yesterday.

Protesters picketed a power company promoting its plan to build six wind turbines at Sempringham Fen this week. Members of AGAST (Action Group Against Sempringham Turbines) outlined their opposition to a wind farm outside Billingborough and Pointon village halls where Scottish Power Renewables held information days on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Wells lifeboat rescued a yacht with engine failure which was drifting dangerously close to a new wind farm off Skegness. ...Wells lifeboat press officer John Mitchell said it was too early to say whether the wind farm, which is still being constructed, was likely to present more problems for sailors and result in more calls to the coastguard but it was something they were monitoring.

A row broke out last week over how to proceed with a proposal to build a wind turbine at the transfer station. Some selectmen were surprised to find out the recycling and renewable energy committee had applied to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission for input on putting a 250-foot turbine at the transfer station. ...board of selectmen chair Michele Couture was concerned that the recycling committee was getting ahead of the town in its interest in generating its own electricity. The committee should have asked selectmen for permission to contact the FAA and MAC, she said. "When it comes to siting a structure in town, the selectmen need to be involved in this. We're responsible for town property," she said, adding, "It was disconcerting to hear [Leger] talk like their committee was this independent entity."

A Texas-based wind energy company is making plans for the construction of a new wind farm in eastern Carbon County. Project manager Nate Sandvig of Horizon Wind Energy presented plans for the project this week to the Carbon County Commission and the Carbon County Planning Commission. ...The new wind farm would be located in the Simpson Ridge area south of Medicine Bow, near PacifiCorp's Arlington wind farm. Energy produced at the site would be shipped to California and other parts of the Pacific Coast, Sandvig said.

Researchers studying birds killed by power lines are encouraged by recent findings from a study in the Dakotas that could hold implications throughout the Central Flyway, the major migration route that stretches from Canada to Texas. Wildlife deaths from power lines, wind turbines and other structures are a growing concern across the country, said Al Manville, a senior wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. More transmission lines and wind turbines are planned in coming years, which could put several bird species at risk, Manville said. ...Research is important, partly because "birds play a key role in the ecosystem," said Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation at the National Audubon Society.

A small but determined group of Tsawwassen residents continued their fight to prevent high-voltage power line construction Thursday by blocking access to their neighbourhood with parked cars. "The trucks came and tried to get in and we wouldn't move our cars," said resident Tina Ryan, who took part in the morning action on 13A Street. A handful of cars were parked along the narrow roadway, apparently not violating parking laws but making access for large trucks impossible.

Alberta farmers who hope to halt construction of a major power transmission line proposed between Great Falls and Lethbridge were granted permission Thursday to appeal the $150 million project to the Alberta Court of Appeals. "The only way we're ever going to stop this line is to win an appeal and get the decision overturned," said Scott Stenbeck, an attorney representing 16 farmers who live in the Lethbridge and Warner areas. Marc Clark, president of the line's developer, Montana Alberta Tie Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Toronto-based Tonbridge Power Inc., said the ruling may delay the project, but it won't stop the proposed line.

Residents will get their chance to speak up about a proposed power line route through Springfield at three public hearings this month hosted by the Public Utility Commission. The supervisors have taken a stand against PPL's plans for the "cross-country route" and substation. They say the route will negatively affect environmentally sensitive areas and should be moved closer to Route 309 or the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority railroad corridor. The proposed line crosses woodlands, wetlands, flood plains and agricultural land through rural parts of Springfield and Richland.

The average residential Delmarva Power customer could end up paying just 70 cents a month more over the next 25 years for Bluewater Wind's power than they would have paid for fossil-fuel generated electricity, a team of state consultants said Thursday. The projection is significantly lower than the $6.46 a month "wind power premium" the consultants projected in a December analysis of the previous proposed contract between Bluewater and Delmarva, which would have had Delmarva buy twice as much wind power. ...Under the new, smaller contract, Sheingold estimates the average monthly additional cost on a residential customer, averaged over 25 years, will be 70 cents. In the early years, those additional costs will be an estimated $1.79 a month over market, and over time, will turn into a savings as fossil fuels get more expensive.

The first of the 28 towers are going up in the second stage of the Te Rere Hau wind farm in the hills above Palmerston North, NZ Windfarms says. ...NZ Windfarms has a 50 percent stake in Te Rere Hau, with the other 50 percent owned by NP Power and Babcock and Brown Wind Power. The project has resource consent for 97 turbines and is due to be finished in mid-2009.

Iberdrola SA says that if the Public Service Commission does not approve its $4.5 billion acquisition of Energy East Corp., it will look elsewhere to make the $2 billion in wind-farm investments it plans for New York. "Then Iberdrola would not view New York as a state with an attractive regulatory environment in which to target future investment," the company said in filing Thursday with the PSC. "In that event, Iberdrola would seek to redirect its resources from New York to other locations." Iberdrola's remarks are the latest -- and perhaps the last -- that it will make officially...