Though touted as more “wildlife friendly” than their windmill ancestors, the new turbines aren’t allaying the concerns of naturalists who have long been concerned about the area’s bird population. The spinning blades still are projected to kill dozens of birds each year, including golden eagles. The Altamont Pass area is a critical breeding and wintering habitat for the eagles, said Glenn Phillips, director of the Golden Gate Audubon Society. ...Phillips said the larger, slower-spinning blades on newer turbines haven’t significantly slowed the bird deaths, however. He said bird kills appear to be more closely tied to the amount of energy being produced, the amount of air that’s “swept” by the blades, and how long they run.

General California

The Adirondack Park isn’t widely known for farming, but almost 104,000 of its 6 million acres are in agricultural districts. Much of that is in the Champlain Valley, where sunny fields spread out between dark mountains to the west and sparkling Lake Champlain waters to the east. In that expanse, solar panels are fast becoming the trendy new cash crop. Because of their potential to change the region’s views, its wildlife habitat and its way of life, some are calling for comprehensive planning on where they're being planted.

General New York

The federal Bureau of Land Management confirmed it ordered the halt of operations at the Ocotillo Wind facility following Sept. 16's collapse of a 300-foot wind turbine. 

Safety Structural Failure USA California

The federal Bureau of Land Management confirmed it ordered the halt of operations at the Ocotillo Wind facility following Sept. 16's collapse of a 300-foot wind turbine. 

Safety Structural Failure California USA

“All turbines at the facility have been shut down pending completion of the root cause analysis. Siemens Gamesa is the turbine manufacturer and is leading the investigation into the root cause,” Siemens spokesperson Myca Welch stated in an email Thursday afternoon. Welch did not immediately provide information on when the facility was taken offline or a timeline on when it might resume operation.

Safety Structural Failure California

Offshore wind is no longer a distant possibility in California.

Offshore Wind California

Resilient as bald eagles are, they are no match for wind turbine blades, whose spinning tips can reach speeds of up to 200 mph.

Impact on Birds USA Minnesota

Resilient as bald eagles are, they are no match for wind turbine blades, whose spinning tips can reach speeds of up to 200 mph.

Impact on Birds Minnesota USA

“From my perspective as a fishery scientist, that’s a lot of ocean and a lot of fisheries and a lot of marine habitat that is on the table,” says shellfish ecologist Daphne Monroe, who works at Rutgers Haskin Shellfish Research Lab. “So it’s a lot to think about.” ...Her computer modelling shows fishermen like Dameron and Quintana are right to be fearful. “The concentration of fishing to certain parts of the ocean will probably mean there will be a depletion of the stock,” she said. “It’ll probably mean the fleet won’t be able to operate where they are now. But it certainly hasn’t changed the planning and leasing strategy of where these wind farms are gonna go.”

Offshore Wind USA New Jersey

“From my perspective as a fishery scientist, that’s a lot of ocean and a lot of fisheries and a lot of marine habitat that is on the table,” says shellfish ecologist Daphne Monroe, who works at Rutgers Haskin Shellfish Research Lab. “So it’s a lot to think about.” ...Her computer modelling shows fishermen like Dameron and Quintana are right to be fearful. “The concentration of fishing to certain parts of the ocean will probably mean there will be a depletion of the stock,” she said. “It’ll probably mean the fleet won’t be able to operate where they are now. But it certainly hasn’t changed the planning and leasing strategy of where these wind farms are gonna go.”

Offshore Wind New Jersey USA

ConnectGen LLC marketed the changes in a half-page advertisement in Tuesday’s Record Searchlight, calling the revisions “Substantially Reduced Impact & Visibility.” The company says it has reduced the number of wind turbines from 72 to 48, which has cut the overall footprint of the project by more than 33%. ConnectGen also proposes to decrease the height of the turbines by 10%, from 679 feet to about 610 feet.

General California

Kevin Stokesbury, a professor of Fisheries Oceanography at UMass Dartmouth’s School For Marine Science & Technology (SMAST), said he had concerns about the introduction of hard materials, power cables, and new noise, among other things, may impact ocean life. ...“It’s going to be quite a big experiment, I think,” Stokesbury said.

Offshore Wind USA

In June, state utility regulators who must approve the project made it clear they weren't satisfied with Big Bend's plans to locate turbines as close as 5.2 miles from the petroglyphs. The historical society and the Sioux bands wanted at least an 8-mile buffer. Apex Clean Energy, Big Bend's developer, revised the project so that all but two of the 50-plus turbines would be at least 7 miles from the petroglyphs.

General Minnesota

Another of the 112 Siemens turbines at the Ocotillo Wind Energy facility in California has been destroyed. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the failure.

Safety Structural Failure California

Residents in Ocotillo are voicing concerns after yet another wind turbine collapse at the Ocotillo Wind Energy facility. There were no injuries or damage to other structures when the 300-foot-tall turbine crashed to the desert floor at the trouble-prone facility on Thursday, September 16. But residents are raising serious questions over public safety at the site, which produces energy to SDG&E to power the San Diego region.

Safety Structural Failure California

Apex has been working on Timbermill since at least 2016, but it ran afoul of an 18-month moratorium on wind project construction enacted by the N.C. General Assembly in 2017. That ended in early 2019, but Apex had not sought a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the project until June.

General North Carolina

Europe is showing the folly of trying to purge CO2 from the economy. No matter how heavily subsidized, renewables can’t replace fossil fuels in a modern economy. Households and businesses get stuck with higher energy bills even as CO2 emissions increase. Europe’s problems are a warning to the U.S., if only Democrats would heed it..

Energy Policy Europe USA

The US Department of Energy said in its latest offshore wind market report that initial Atlantic coast projects were expected “to rely heavily on international supply chains for major components, installation vessels and engineering design work”. White said the industry had already surpassed all expectations in reducing its costs and a domestic supply chain would eventually flourish. But the industry needed time to develop. 

Offshore Wind USA

The Reno County Commission agreed in a surprise move Tuesday to issue a moratorium on the development of commercial wind farms in Reno County through the end of the year and look at banning them in the zoned areas of the county.

Zoning/Planning Kansas

Another major problem has struck at a pioneering big battery project, this time at the 400MW/1600MWh Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in California, south of San Francisco, which was recently expanded to become the world’s largest of its kind. The owner and operator of the big battery, Vistra Corp, says an investigation is underway into an “overheating incident” at the Moss Landing facility, which did not result in a fire, but has taken the 300MW, four hour storage first phase of the project out of service.

Safety California