Coun. Fin Armsworthy is hopeful renewable energy will signal the winds of change for this seaside community. For years, he has expressed concern that companies have been discouraged from setting up here because of high commercial rates, which are currently $4 per $100 of assessed value. However, Canso is one of six municipalities across the province that owns its own electric utility, and the town has agreed to be a hosting community for turbines to be built by Barrington Wind Energy Ltd. On Sunday, Mr. Armsworthy said new rules that allow municipal utilities to buy directly from renewable energy producers, along with the fiscal benefits of having Barrington in the community, could be a turning point for Canso.

Falmouth was among the first towns in Massachusetts to install large turbines so close to homes. When people complained, the town tried curtailing their operation when it got real windy. Then they shut them off at night. They even considered buying out the homeowners.

CHATHAM --- Is wind power an important element in weaning the country away from its reliance on fossil fuels, or a boondoggle that will do nothing more than line the pockets of investors and power companies? And where does the proposed Cape Wind project fit into all of this?

RUTLAND, Vt.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 2006--Catamount Energy Corporation (Catamount) and Marubeni Power International, Inc. (Marubeni) announced today that they are ending development of the Glebe Mountain Wind Energy Project in Vermont.

According to a council representative, the new law limits the height of wind towers to 500 feet (from ground to blade tip), and sets noise levels at 50 decibels. The law creates a zoning district overlay that includes the west side of NYS Route 12 to Depauville and County Route 179, and Depauville to 1,500 feet north of County Route 12 on the east side of NYS Route 12 from just south of Gunns Corners. The application fee is now $50 per MW.

Letter to the Editor

It has been standing room only at the meetings regarding the proposed wind turbine facility that could be built on Big Springs Mountain in Creston. The Ashe County Board of Commissioners approved the first reading of the Ashe County Ordinance to Regulate Wind Energy Systems Monday at their regularly scheduled meeting. The Ordinance will be presented again at the Feb. 19th meeting of the commissioners and can be officially adopted at that time, but because Commissioner Marty Gambill was not at Monday’s meeting it could not be adopted then.

A Referendum of villagers has identified strong support for plans to erect a £50million windfarm on a hillside site near Lochan Shira reservoir at Dalmally, Argyll.

Sumul Shah, owner of Lumus and CEO of Solaya, said his company is struggling financially, but he blamed a parts manufacturer in India for the delays in Hanover. Shah said he'll continue to work with Hanover to try to get the 210-foot-tall, 225-kilowatt turbine running.

The cancellation of the three projects "gives hope to other communities in rural Ontario, almost all of whom are not willing hosts for industrial wind turbines," she said. "I do believe that the discontinuation of the these three projects is a major victory in the ongoing war against industrial wind turbines in rural Ontario."

Northland wants to put 48 turbines north of Grand Bend, but the report found "All rotors of the wind turbines will be fully visible from the radar platform, causing significant Doppler data contamination during certain wind conditions." The radar station provides southern Ontario with most of its weather information.

Washington, DC [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Once again, representatives of the U.S. wind power industry are finding themselves fighting a battle against legislative attacks from politicians hoping to stymie new development of projects. Laws that would have been damaging to an already struggling offshore wind power business in the U.S. almost made it into the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and now, two new provisions in two pending bills in Congress are reigniting the fight.

The Government’s energy strategy declares a preference for renewable energy and for emissions trading but comes with two major caveats. One is Energy Minister David Parker’s assurance yesterday that security of supply is paramount. Because of the variability from one year to another in how much rain and snow fall in the catchment of the hydro lakes, and because of the intermittent nature of wind power, that suggests a continuing major role - as Parker confirmed - for thermal generators. The other caveat relates to his oft-stated need to relate the stringency of any measures New Zealand adopts in the longer term to the pace of progress elsewhere in the world.

"In this case, local people, the parish council, the district council, the local county councillor and local MP don't want the wind farm. Local opinion should carry significant weight or we create a democratic deficit."

On Wednesday, attorney Richard Adam, representing the Bedfords, argued that time extension violated the plain language of both the original conditional use permit for the project and the Land Use Development Code.

The lawsuit alleges that Renewable Energy SD (RESD) sold farmers in Minnesota and elsewhere faulty windmills using federal stimulus money ...The company either failed to deliver many of the windmills or, in some cases, erected turbines that failed to perform properly or at all, the suit says.

An energy and environmental consultant hired by opponents of the proposed White Oak Wind Energy Center maintains Invenergy Wind LLC fails to meet several requirements for a special-use permit for the wind farm. Tom Hewson of Energy Ventures Analysis Inc., Arlington, Va., spoke to the McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals during a hearing Wednesday night. He said the proposed 100-turbine wind farm in McLean and Woodford counties would be a detriment to the public because of noise levels and visibility. Hewson said he did a “simple approach” simulation of one turbine to see how far a person had to be away from the turbine before it complied with Illinois’ noise regulations. “At 750 feet away, it exceeded the range,” he said, noting that three property owners have asked for waivers to allow a turbine in about that range. Hewson said it wasn’t until a person was 1,200 feet away from the turbine that the noise met Illinois’ requirements.

The meeting, organised by Highcliffe Community Association and chaired by Dorset County Councillor Alan Griffiths, heard from both the wind farm developer Navitus Bay Development Ltd and opposition group Challenge Navitus.

In his first major speech on climate change David Cameron will outline Conservative plans to replace Labour's Climate Change Levy with a new, more effective and better targeted Carbon Levy.

A state agency charged with protecting the environment holds the key to whether northcentral Montana will become a power mecca with as many as 400 wind turbines erected between Great Falls and Cut Bank along a proposed transmission corridor. The trade-off for losing the undeveloped view, generally paralleling the west side of Interstate 15, would be a steady source of supplemental revenue for landowners and tax revenue for local government. The electricity from the wind farms, however, would be sold to out-of-state power plants, most likely in California, under power-purchase agreements with the wind companies.