Up to 276 turbines on the Mahinerangi and Project Hayes wind farms would be the main feature of landscape in Central Otago and Clutha, an Environment Court appeal hearing for the latter project heard in Queenstown yesterday. Wanaka landscape architect Anne Steven was called to give evidence by appellant party the Maniototo Environmental Society.

The VORTAC building is located about eight miles west of Portland. A radio beacon that airplane pilots can use to determine their proximity to Corpus Christi International Airport poses an obstacle to a $300 million wind farm under construction in San Patricio County. ...The federal agency has taken issue with the turbines' collective proximity to and potential impact on the radio navigation signal, housed about eight miles west of Portland, according to a notice of presumed hazard filed by the FAA.

A proposed plan to install about 70 wind turbines throughout Champaign County has drawn serious debate. However, the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) will have plenty of options when making its final decision. ...The board could approve or reject the project as a whole. But it can also approve some proposed turbines while preventing others from being built.

Wind turbines in Juniata Township sometimes make annoying and atypical noise, but not enough to violate the township's ordinance, a Vermont company has concluded. RSG Inc., which specializes in environment, energy and acoustics studies, has issued a 36-page report determining that noise made by Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm turbines in Juniata Township is less than 45 decibels, the maximum level allowed by ordinance.

"Because of the complexity of the issues and the complexity of scheduling the Joint Hearing(s) with the Planning Board, the Wind Turbine Ordinance and the Mobile Sign issue will not be acted upon in this session," Cameron wrote. "The next council will need to take these matters up in January."

Following a three-hour meeting before a standing room only audience, the Walnut Planning Commission decided to postpone any decision on wind turbines outside the village limits. "We need to be educated ourselves," said Commissioner Gary Sarver. "I would just like to have a little more information."

Granite Reliable Power's plan to erect 33 wind turbines on peaks in Coos County might be good for Gov. John Lynch and his goal of making 25 percent of the state's energy renewable by 2025. It would not be so good, according to Fish and Game officials, for the American marten or the three-toed woodpecker, threatened species that depend on the high-altitude forests that the project would disrupt.

Candidates for Amaranth council found themselves facing numerous questions about roads and wind turbine-related issues during an all candidates debate hosted by the Greater Dufferin Area Chamber of Commerce Tuesday evening. More than 100 people turned out for the event, held in the basement of the municipal building.

People will complain about wind-farm noise no matter what restrictions are put in place, a board of inquiry has been told. As the wind wailed outside Palmerston North's FMG Stadium yesterday, inside, the board continued to hear about noise issues relating to the proposed Turitea Wind Farm. Environment Minister Nick Smith appointed the board to decide if the 121-turbine proposal from Mighty River Power should go ahead.

Berne says he is deaf, but still is affected by the sound. “It reverberates from Spruce Hill (behind the house) to the front of the house.” He said the windmill is about 2,000 feet from his home. He said his grandchildren, ages 11 and 12, have had trouble sleeping and have been bothered by the “pulsating” red aviation warning lights — an effect caused by the wind turbine blades passing in front of the red lights.

Emotions ran high, as people shouted down politicians who spoke before the public got to weigh in at the West Babylon Senior High School Performing Arts Center. The center, which can hold about 950 people, was nearly full.

A WOOLGROWER fears he will be left with stressed sheep, bankruptcy and damaged birdlife if one of Victoria's biggest wind farms is built.

Of the country's 9900 megawatt capacity, the capacity of installed turbines, including small installations at Gebbies Pass and Southbridge, is 321.8MW. ...With Government encouragement, wind's role is growing. Projects being built in Manawatu and Wellington will add 188MW. A further five consented wind farms could add 312MW. Applications are being considered for nine more projects which will lift the total by 1700MW. ...One of the Upland Landscape Protection Society's most prominent members, Central Otago artist Grahame Sydney, says the possibility the landscape will not be appreciated in the same way by later generations is upsetting and depressing. "The pervasive cloud of threat that hangs over this landscape that I love so much, that so many of us love and think is important ... is very real and it's awfully troubling," he says.

FAIRHAVEN - The town might not get the two wind turbines available through a state agency, and developer CCI Energy might be forced to pay an additional premium for two other units. The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative is giving preference to the town of Orleans for the turbines it holds in storage. That town is pursuing its own wind project through a private developer.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in February, Edison Mission Energy, a unit of Edison International, said the 144-foot-long windmill blades it recently bought from Suzlon have begun to split at three wind-power sites it operates in the Midwest. Suzlon has recalled 1,251 blades from its top-of-the-line turbines, which represent the majority of blades the company has sold to date in the U.S.. Its troubles don't end there. A year ago, the company bought a controlling stake in a large German turbine manufacturer, REpower Systems AG, in one of India's biggest overseas acquisitions. ...Now, Suzlon can't get its hands on the blueprints. Hamstrung by a German corporate law, Suzlon must offer to buy out minority shareholders before it can demand REpower's designs. It's unlikely that the company could make a tender offer until 2009, say people with knowledge of the companies. ...Mr. Kher blamed the cracks on the Midwest's unexpectedly violent changes in wind direction. Though Mr. Tanti says that only 45 blades have cracked, Suzlon says it will add an extra lamination layer to almost all of the blades it has shipped to the U.S. To repair cracked blades and reinforce the rest, the company expects to spend $30 million.

Canada's fast-growing wind power industry is bound to run into turbulence ahead, says an industry spokesperson. The Canadian Wind Energy Association CanWEA wrapped up a two day conference in London yesterday looking ahead to challenges facing the industry. Wind power capacity in Ontario jumped from 15 megawatts to 415 megawatts last year and more projects totalling 1,000 megawatts are planned in the next three years. CanWEA president Robert Hornung said the majority of projects are going smoothly. But projects such as the second phase of the Kingsbridge project near Goderich and the second phase of the Amaranth project near Shelburne have delayed, partly by local opposition over installation of the giant turbines.

The Green Energy Act empowered wind companies to think they could do anything but Metzger said they better think twice. "We're not going to lay down and play dead," he said. The wind companies have split what had been tight-knit communities.

Matt Thomas is a car dealer who co-owns several Thomas Sales & Service dealerships in Central Oregon. He's also a wind-power advocate, with hopes of erecting four small windmills on the 320 acres he owns between Bend and Tumalo where he plans to build a home. He's prepared a site and purchased his first turbine. But due to Deschutes County code, his turbine plans are coming up short. ...The minimum height Thomas' turbine can operate at and still generate electricity (wind speed increases farther from the ground) is 33 feet. That's 3 feet over the county's height restriction for structures ...Wind farms, with their giant turbines, are the most visible signs of the growth of wind power, but the fastest-growing sector in wind power is the much smaller, residential-scale market, Stimmel said. Residential-scale windmills produce 2 to 10 kilowatts of energy.

Pitt is concerned about the location of the turbines due to skydivers jumping from planes west of the field and turbines. The distance between the Station Rd. turbines and the skydive business is about 3.5 km in a straight line. "There are times we'll jump out five kilometres to the west of the field and we'd be coming back right over those turbines."

Pitt is concerned about the location of the turbines due to skydivers jumping from planes west of the field and turbines. The distance between the Station Rd. turbines and the skydive business is about 3.5 km in a straight line. "There are times we'll jump out five kilometres to the west of the field and we'd be coming back right over those turbines."