The Mount Storm wind farm has a new $185 million construction and operating loan. ...The project's first phase - 82 turbines capable of generating 164 megawatts of electricity - is scheduled to start commercial operations next January. Dominion and Shell have said they plan 50 more turbines despite a legal challenge.

Wind turbines may soon be allowed on West Des Moines residential properties, but proposed requirements would severely limit where in the city they could be located. Under the proposal, only lots that are an acre or larger are eligible, which disqualifies a majority of residential property. ...Chittenden said the city must find a delicate balance. "We're trying to respect the wishes and desires of residents, but we must also have some protection for neighbors as well," he said.

Homeowners who want a wind turbine on their property will need to have at least an acre of land, the West Des Moines City Council decided Monday. That decision runs counter to a recommendation from the Plan and Zoning Commission last week to eliminate a lot size requirement for residential turbines that generate electricity. "This is uncharted territory for us," Councilman Jim Sandager said. "We certainly can go back and review it. We wanted to err on being more conservative."

Should the Braithwaites decide to pursue the matter further, they could file a nuisance claim in circuit court, according to the PSC document. Gary Braithwaite, along with 26 families, have hired a lawyer and are discussing the possibility of filing a suit for damages, according to the State Journal.

Plans to build a 124-turbine wind farm on a West Virginia ridgeline won critical support Monday from the state Supreme Court, which upheld a conditional permit already approved by the state Public Service Commission. The justices ruled Monday in support of the permit, after hearing arguments in January on the $300 million proposal by Beech Ridge Energy LLC. ... A group of local residents calling itself the Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy, along with Jeffrey and Alicia Eisenbeiss of Renick, challenged the permit. They charged, in part, that the PSC's application permit didn't include input from opponents on such matters as the area's cultural and historical importance.

The NedPower wind turbine project at Mount Storm is the first case that will be heard by the West Virginia Supreme Court on Tuesday as it convenes for the 2007 LAWS program.

The state Supreme Court has unanimously agreed to consider a case involving the development of a 200-turbine wind farm near Mount Storm. The five justices voted Wednesday to consider residents’ appeal of a Grant County Circuit Court ruling that dismissed their attempt to halt construction of the $300 million project. Residents say the project would be a nuisance and would ruin property values.

The PSC dismissed the complaint because the sitting order does not contain material terms and conditions related to noise or flicker and because the agency does not possess the statutory authority to address the issues raised by Braithwaite, according to the commission's final order.

To comply with the terms of a lawsuit settlement, Maryland-based Beech Ridge Energy is seeking a 25-year permit for its wind farm in Greenbrier and Nicholas counties. The existing 67 turbines and another 33 that are planned could harm Virginia big-eared and Indiana bats.

The state Supreme Court is weighing whether it has jurisdiction in Kittitas County's appeal of a wind farm 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg. The court held a hearing Thursday on whether it should weigh in on the case. Last September, Gov. Chris Gregoire approved the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, as recommended by the state's Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council.

The Western Australian Opposition has laughed off suggestions that the Commonwealth is attempting to stymie the development of wind farms in Western Australia.

A proposed wind farm on a forested ridge in eastern Skamania County could harm bats, raptors and other wildlife, a state wildlife biologist says. ... Ritter, a wind mitigation biologist based in Pasco, said the survey data on bats was "extremely interesting and alarming."

The concept of public welfare is broad and inclusive. … The values it represents are spiritual as well as physical, aesthetic as well as monetary. It is within the power of legislature [to have] determined that the community should be beautiful as well as healthy, spacious as well as clean, well balanced as well as carefully patrolled. …

“The County found that placing the complexes of wind farms, of the size and scope necessary to accomplish their intended purpose, would have a dramatic, and adverse, effect upon all of the general welfare issues found in the comprehensive plan. …

“The Court finds there is substantial evidence which a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support the conclusions reached by the County.

“[I]n the County’s denial of placing wind farms in the entire county[,] [t]he County didn’t take any existing rights away but only refused to expand the existing rights including wind rights.”

Trustee Mike DeMarco admitted the Village Board's Planning and Plats Committee felt it was necessary to study the issue more before any decisions could be made about how to regulate the use of wind energy by residents or large-scale users. "Our ordinances do not have any height restrictions for wind power," DeMarco said. "They are more related to windmills than wind turbines."

Opponents of Contact Energy's proposed $1 billion-plus wind farm in Waikato are considering legal action to force the power company back before a board looking at the application. Contact won a year's adjournment to its application after deciding it had more work to do.

For a $90 million project, Ventus Energy's proposed 22-turbine Te Anga wind farm has generated curiously little paperwork.

Businessman Ross Townshend admits there's an element of a "not in my backyard" position in his opposition to a wind farm in the Waikato. His grumpiness about the project extends to calling former Environment Minister Trevor Mallard a duck and Contact Energy, one of our largest energy companies, incompetent. His position on wind farms generally is that they are an expensive form of energy generation getting a green light because of green politics.

A joint hearings panel made up of Waitomo District Council and Environment Waikato councillors will this week consider the $225 million plan against a Waitomo District Council officers' report and a Conservation Department submission recommending it is turned down because turbine blades could kill birds - including nationally endangered indigenous species.

The mayor of Wainfleet said taking on wind energy companies is worth the fight. After passing a bylaw in the spring overruling the province's rule for how close to houses wind turbines can be built, the township was promptly sued by a wind developer.