Updated: 2010-08-31 11:45:35
FREDERICTON — New Brunswick municipalities are being warned that a government document on community wind farms could mislead them into spending tens of millions of dollars on projects that could end up losing money. The Energy Department recently published a paper called New Brunswick Community Wind Projects — Getting to the Tipping Point. The paper includes a mock business plan based on NB Power paying 10 cents a kilowatt/hour plus an inflation factor for wind-generated electricity. The province wants to . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:45:30
State energy regulators completed work Monday on rules that would restrict the location of wind turbines in Wisconsin. The Public Service Commission voted 3-0 to adopt standards for noise and shadow flicker, and opted to allow local governments to require “good neighbor payments” to residents who live within one-half mile of a wind turbine but aren’t hosting a turbine on their land. Commissioners have grappled with details of the rules during a series of meetings over the past few weeks, . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:45:25
Abstract Infrasonic sounds are generated internally in the body (by respiration, heartbeat, coughing, etc) and by external sources, such as air conditioning systems, inside vehicles, some industrial processes and, now becoming increasingly prevalent, wind turbines. It is widely assumed that infrasound presented at an amplitude below what is audible has no influence on the ear. In this review, we consider possible ways that low frequency sounds, at levels that may or may not be heard, could influence the function of . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:44:34
CAPE COD — Plans have been filed with the Cape Cod Commission for installation of seven 100-meter wind turbines on land proposed for a green technology campus off Route 6 in Bourne near the Cape Cod Canal, extending west to Route 25. The turbines will produce 17 megawatts of clean, renewable energy, enough to supply power to 5,000 to 6,000 homes annually. Boune Panhandle Trust, owners of undeveloped land abutting Route 25 in Bourne, and the Lorusso family, owner of . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:44:09
Connecticut may get a boost from Massachusetts in meeting the Nutmeg State’s renewable energy goals, as the Massachusetts state Senate is trying again to pass a bill supporters say will streamline the location of wind power facilities in Massachusetts, The Associated Press reports. By 2020, the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control wants 23 percent of the state’s power to come from renewable energy sources such as wind, water and solar, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. While Connecticut . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:44:04
A protest walk is set to highlight a blocked public footpath and controversial wind turbine plans in Grange Moor. Members of the Grange Moor Protest Group (GMAT) are set to walk along a footpath that has been blocked off by barbed wire and debris. The public right of way that links from behind the Kaye Arms pub at Wakefield Road to Denby Lane is believed to have been obstructed by the landowner. It has now partially re-opened following intervention from . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:43:21
A wind farm off Cuttyhunk — one of only two places in the commonwealth designated for commercial wind development — is in the earliest stages of planning, although at this stage the details are being kept carefully under wraps. At a public meeting held on the southernmost Elizabeth Island Friday afternoon the Gosnold wind committee, a subcommittee appointed by the selectmen in that town, met to announce that it was working to draft a memorandum of understanding with the state . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:43:18
Wind turbine siting rules approved Monday by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission likely will have little impact on a Chicago-based company’s attempts to build a 100-turbine wind farm in southern Brown County. The PSC established guidelines for local governments to set restrictions on projects less than 100 megawatts in generating capacity. However, the Ledge Wind project proposed by Invenergy LLC in the towns of Morrison, Holland, Glenmore and Wrightstown would exceed 100 megawatts. The company submitted its application to the . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:42:46
A Republican lawmaker has again blocked the Massachusetts Senate from taking a final vote on a bill that backers say will make it easier to site wind turbine facilities. The bill had passed the Massachusetts Senate and House, but failed to win a final parliamentary vote in the Senate before the clock ran out in the Legislature’s formal session on July 31. Democratic leaders are hoping to push the bill through during the Legislature’s informal session. Gov. Deval Patrick has . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:42:27
RUMFORD — Selectmen may decide whether to place a 42-page proposed wind energy facility ordinance before voters during the Nov. 2 general election at their Thursday board meeting following a special three-hour workshop Monday night. But first, they plan to hold yet another workshop prior to the Thursday meeting. For nearly three hours, the board listened to John Maloney of Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, Andy Fisk of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Neil Kiely of First Wind LLC . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:42:22
Massachusetts public utilities regulators will begin hearings next week as part of a precedent-setting review of whether the price of power from the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm is cost-effective. The hearings on a contract between Cape Wind and National Grid are scheduled to run from Sept. 7 through at least Sept. 22 at One South Station in Boston and will include more than a dozen witnesses. Though witnesses have filed testimony in advance of the hearings, officials will be . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:41:26
OAKLAND — The wind turbines rising over the Garrett County landscape in recent weeks also loom large over the race for the District 1 seat on the county commission. Incumbent Republican Ernie Gregg, a 24-year veteran of the commission and its current chairman, is running for re-election. He will face first-time candidate Gregan Crawford in the Republican primary. Eric Robison, the Democratic candidate, is unopposed in the primary and will not face a challenger until the Nov. 2 general election. . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:41:22
A Vermont Environmental Court judge has ruled that a 16-turbine wind-energy project is entitled to the final permits it needs to begin construction on Granby Mountain and Libby Hill in Sheffield. Judge Merideth Wright ordered several revisions in the construction stormwater permits issued to Vermont Wind, a subsidiary of Boston-based First Wind, but upheld those permits. Vermont Wind would be only the second such project to be constructed in Vermont. A commercial wind farm in Searsburg, in southern Vermont, was . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:41:19
A new government document on community wind farms could mislead municipalities such as Fredericton into spending tens of millions of dollars on a project that could end up losing money, says the Alliance for Community Energy. The Department of Energy recently published a paper called New Brunswick Community Wind Projects – Getting to the Tipping Point, which includes a mock business plan based on NB Power paying 10 cents a kilowatt/hour plus an inflation factor for wind-generated electricity. The province . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:41:09
A 200-turbine offshore wind farm has been proposed for a site off the Caithness coast. Consortium Moray Offshore Renewables is to hold a series of studies on the project’s potential economic and environmental impact. Public meetings will also be held in communities along the coasts of the Moray Firth. The proposed site is near the Beatrice oil field where there are two experimental offshore wind turbines. Meanwhile, the output from shore-based wind farms in the north of Scotland have exceeded . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:40:30
Catriona Stewart (“In praise of … Whitelee wind farm”, The Herald, August 28) wonders if wind turbines hum and whether one can feel the energy being made by putting one’s palm against a turbine. She notes that a similar project on the Lewis peatland would be unacceptable which, of course, it proved to be. Though less iconic, Eaglesham Moor was also a major peatland and thus a CO2 sink. Assessing the scheme’s environmental impact, ScottishPower estimated that “only” 300,000 cubic . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:39:49
The decision had been a clear one: A transmission line would cut through the Hill Country as part of a statewide network to carry West Texas wind power to the population centers of Central Texas, the Public Utility Commission said in an order in May 2009. The Lower Colorado River Authority, charged with building and operating the line, held more than a dozen Hill Country hearings. A judge reviewed a segment of the route and made recommendations. But Hill Country . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:38:52
I was amused by some of the comments made by representatives of Horizon Wind Energy at the recent informational meeting that was held to discuss the expansion north of Route 9 of the eastern McLean County wind farm. We live in the middle of the existing wind farm, and heard many of the same comments at our informational meetings a few years back. According to the Aug. 19 Pantagraph article about the most recent meeting, Horizon’s representative, Robert Yehl, claimed . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:38:42
NASA officials are blowing into town for a public hearing on the space agency’s plans for a wind farm at NASA Plum Brook Station. The Sept. 14 meeting at Sandusky High School is a necessary step for NASA to complete an environmental impact statement on the proposed wind farm. It’s part of the federal government’s effort to “go green” and obtain alternative energy at its facilities. The current schedule calls for the wind farm to go operational in summer 2013, . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:38:39
KINGMAN – Representatives from BP Wind Energy and the Bureau of Land Management visited Kingman, White Hills and Dolan Springs last week to provide an update on a 500-megawatt wind farm planned for the White Hills area, approximately 40 miles northwest of Kingman. The project would place up to 335 wind turbines on more than 40,000 acres of federal land – 31,000 acres from the BLM and around 9,000 from the Bureau of Reclamation. The original project had the turbines . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:38:34
It’s an ill wind that blows no good. Or in the case of Infigen Energy, it was a case of not very much wind at all. The wind farm specialist, with operations in Australia and the US, yesterday notched up a $75.3 million loss after the breezes took a little time out during the past financial year. Considering the company once formed part of the self-immolating Babcock & Brown juggernaut, many might look on yesterday’s numbers as almost respectable. Unlike . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 11:38:30
Infigen Energy says wind farm investment is suffering a ”bust” due to complex policy changes and uncertainty over government responses to climate change. But the company – whose shares have lost a quarter of their value since June – is confident this will become a ”boom” within a few years, as power retailers are forced to obtain a growing share of their electricity from renewable sources. The country’s biggest specialist wind developer yesterday reported a $73.5 million full-year loss, after . . .
Updated: 2010-08-31 02:21:38
“This Lowers the Bar for All Permits” Energy, community, and environmental activists reacted today to the Vermont Environmental Court’s decision on the appeal of Sheffield Wind’s construction stormwater permit, which was released Aug. 26. In a decision that has wide reaching implications, Justice Meredith Wright ruled that First Wind does not need to monitor baseline water quality prior to construction at their ridgeline location, and can use Best Management Practices for low risk environments to ensure that the Sheffield project . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:28:40
VINALHAVEN, Maine — Three white wind turbines, their 124-foot blades stretching 39 stories high, churn out more electricity than is used on this picturesque, pine-studded island off mid-coast Maine. Some residents call them objects of graceful art, others point to lower utility bills, and the environmentally conscious hail the benefits of clean energy. But to some families living near the land-bound turbines, which began spinning in November, the blades signify something else. “That noise is so insidious that you can . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:28:24
The Senate will try again today to pass a bill supporters say will streamline the location of wind power facilities in Massachusetts. The legislation, which has received mixed reviews from Berkshire lawmakers, passed both the Massachusetts Senate and House. However, the Senate failed to take a final parliamentary vote before the clock ran out July 31 in the Legislature’s formal session. Senate President Therese Murray and fellow Senate Democrats are trying to push through the bill during the informal session, . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:28:20
A key state health official has notified the attorney for a Brown County citizens group that there isn’t sufficient evidence to show that wind turbines have a negative effect on human health. To that, attorney Ed Marion replied, “There’s no question in my mind that there’s such a rush to build wind turbines that policymakers are simply ignoring all the evidence against building them. People who dismiss wind turbine complaints are flat wrong.” Marion, former chief of staff for Gov. . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:28:12
Catriona Stewart asks rhetorically if wind turbines “hum” but this is hardly the point at issue (“In praise of … Whitelee wind farm”, The Herald, August 28). More important is: “Do they do anything useful?” Ofgem’s data for 2009-2010 shows that Whitelee had a load factor of 23% – in other words, it produced less than one-quarter of its maximum capacity if the wind blew hard and continuously every day, year-round. This means that for many periods during the year . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:27:49
A wind turbine is a rotary device with a gigantic propeller as big as a football field that turns in the wind to generate electricity. Although wind turbines are more often found in Europe than in the United States, they’re rapidly becoming more popular here as a “green” energy source. Most people consider that a good thing, except the rotors of wind turbines also generate noise, particularly in the infrasound range, that some people claim makes them feel sick. Since . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:27:28
As part of the payback for hosting St. Lawrence Wind Farm, the towns of Cape Vincent and Lyme will have developer money to plant vegetative screens and improve cultural resources. The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation approved a plan for the developer to spend $128,790 in Cape Vincent and $14,310 in Lyme. That money is set aside to mitigate the “adverse impact” to historic and cultural resources because the structures would be part of the scenery. While . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:27:00
Three entities have asked the Rhode Island Supreme Court to overturn the approval of the Block Island wind farm contract. Attorney General Patrick Lynch, the Conservation Law Foundation and large industrial concerns Toray Plastics and Polytop Corp. argue that the state Public Utilities Commission approval of the Power Purchase Agreement reached between Deepwater Wind and National Grid was legally flawed on several levels. The three-member PUC, which approved the contract 2-1 August 11, issued its written order August 16. Appeals . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:26:58
About six weeks ago, I submitted a letter to the newspaper inviting proponents and opponents of industrial wind development on Maine mountaintops to publicly debate the issue. I have received responses from opponents, but none from former Gov. Angus King or any other proponents. I name King here because recent media attention has been given to this subject, and he has been mentioned as an ardent supporter of the industry. I strongly urge King and other proponents of mountaintop industrial . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:26:53
Saugatuck Township, MI — A new crop might be sprouting up among the corn and soy beans in southern Saugatuck Township. Commercial wind farms could take root if the township approves new guidelines for wind turbines and towers. The possibility of turbines dotting the landscape has some homeowners upset as township planners look at allowing taller towers than first proposed. Saugatuck Township has been listed as a prime area for wind power and the Holland Board of Public Works is . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:26:08
PUGWASH – The chair of the Gulf Shore Preservation Association is disappointed with comments made by the head of a company attempting for a second time to build a wind farm near Pugwash. Lisa Betts was surprised to read comments from Charles Demond in this newspaper and another media outlet in which the president of Atlantic Wind Power accuses a vocal minority of trying to kill his project. “We’re not a minority at all. The feelings we have are those . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:25:13
Plans to build a wind farm in Boddington have been scaled down after Partnership for Renewables (PfR) announced it now only wants to build one turbine. The company, which is working in partnership with British Waterways to develop the site, originally hoped to build five turbines on land around the reservoir. Those plans were reduced to three turbines earlier this year, and now ‘various technical and environmental studies’ have led to a further scaling down. Tony Duffin, regional manager for . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:24:55
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The wind always seems to blow on the Snake River plain, keeping this high-desert landscape of sage, potatoes and sugarbeet plants forever in motion. Still, General Electric Co. executives said the consistent gusts weren’t enough for them to take a majority stake in Idaho’s largest wind farm, a 122-turbine, $500 million complex due to produce enough electricity for some 43,000 homes. That took cash — specifically, the promise of more than $100 million in grants from . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:24:48
The expanding cluster of wind turbines sprouting just over the line in Missaukee County may cross the border into Wexford County next year. A spokesman for Heritage Renewable Energy, the company behind the Stoney Corners Wind Farm, recently confirmed that Phase III of the project could include installing wind turbines in Clam Lake Township in Wexford County and Highland Township in Osceola County. Project manager Rick Wilson said the company plans to apply for special use permits that could allow . . .
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:24:44
Are Delawareans foolish enough to elect John Carney to Congress knowing he supports a financial “loser” like wind turbine manufacturing and use in Delaware? The News Journal covered this idea on the first page of the Local section on Aug. 20. If this idea made economic sense, industry would already be pursuing it. Among its crippling deficiencies are the high cost of electricity generated by wind (two to three times more than coal, even more vs. nuclear), the unavoidable (and . . .
Updated: 2010-08-29 12:01:35
LANESBOROUGH — Crews are nearing completion on work to connect the wind turbines on Brodie Mountain to the public electricity grid on Partridge Road, according to Western Massachusetts Electric Co. officials. Since March, travelers have been contending with utility crews along Route 7 and Brodie Mountain Road as they install new utility poles and electricity distribution lines through Lanesborough, even as a lawsuit holds up final connection to the $46 million Berkshire Wind project on Brodie Mountain. Sandra Ahern, spokeswoman . . .
Updated: 2010-08-29 12:01:30
MUSKEGON COUNTY — Muskegon County officials are preparing to seek proposals from wind-energy developers interested in erecting large, commercial wind turbines on the county’s 11,000-acre wastewater site. Citing the strong winds that blow across the property in Egelston and Moorland townships and its lack of nearby neighbors, officials have said they believe it is a prime spot for turbines. A mobile wind-test unit, purchased by the county, has gathered wind-speed data on the site, and the early findings show favorable . . .
Updated: 2010-08-28 22:19:22
Hoy, manifestación en Chipiona pese a la retirada del proyecto por el Ayuntamiento. [The local activists "For a horizon without windmills" made a fresh appeal for participation in the demonstration to take place in Chipiona against the installation of an off-shore wind energy facility near the northwest coast of Cadiz. The protest will go on even though the mayor of Chipiona, Manuel García, PSOE, has announced that the city council is no longer involved in the project and that the . . .
Updated: 2010-08-28 12:01:31
Ed. note: This story is an extended version of an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on August 24. Over the last few years, the wind industry has achieved remarkable growth largely due to the industry’s claim that using more wind energy will result in major reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. There’s just one problem with that claim: it’s not true. Recent studies show that wind-generated electricity may not result in any reduction in carbon emissions, or those . . .
Updated: 2010-08-28 12:01:26
BRIMFIELD – A proposed wind farm for West Mountain has generated a lot of heat from supporters and opponents alike, but the developers of the project say it will be close to a year before they know if the mountain has sufficient wind to make the plan viable. Even if studies determine the site is suitable for between eight and 10 large wind turbines, it will be at least 18 months before any construction begins – and that will come . . .
Updated: 2010-08-28 12:01:22
In response to substantial public interest and requests for additional time to comment, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has extended the deadline for comments on the environmental effects of a proposed Endangered Species Act permit for Beech Ridge Energy, LLC, until Sept. 23. The Service is preparing an environmental impact statement on the proposed permit for the Beech Ridge Wind Energy Project in Greenbrier and Nicholas counties. Beech Ridge had constructed 40 turbines when the U.S. District Court of . . .
Updated: 2010-08-28 12:01:01
Plans have been lodged for three wind turbines in a pink-footed goose-protected site near Wigton. Edwin Gates wants to erect the three small scale wind turbines on land at Lanrigg Hall Farm, Lanrigg, Wigton. He has submitted a planning application to Allerdale Council. The turbines would be the Proven 35-2 type and have a height of 25m and a rotor diameter of 9.8m. They would be white with towers made of galvanised steel. The application states: “The client wishes to . . .
Updated: 2010-08-28 12:00:16
There has been no greater promoter of the Block Island wind farm pilot project proposed by Deepwater Wind than outgoing Gov. Donald L. Carcieri. Yet, the two Republicans running to take the place of their term-limited, fellow GOP member are opposed to the recent agreement between National Grid and Deepwater, while the Democratic and the independent candidates are in favor – though the latter with reservations. General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio, the endorsed Democratic candidate for governor, seems to have . . .
Updated: 2010-08-28 11:59:52
The primary Cape Wind opposition group is asking the state Department of Public Utilities to dismiss proposed contracts to sell power from the project. The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound argues in a motion filed Thursday with the DPU that because the contracts with National Grid were not open to competitive bidding by out-of-state sources of renewable energy they should be dismissed. The DPU is considering whether to approve a deal between National Grid and Cape Wind. Hearings to gather . . .
Updated: 2010-08-28 11:59:26
Council bosses fear plans for a £3.6 billion wind farm off the Lincolnshire coast could harm onshore tourism, farming, traffic and nature. Energy giant RWE npower renewable is developing a proposal to build up to 333 turbines, powering an estimated 898,000 homes. Triton Knoll, one of the world’s biggest offshore wind farms, would be based 20.5 miles off the Mablethorpe coast. But Lincolnshire County Council officials are concerned by the company’s plans for an onshore electricity substation. Sites near Sloothby, . . .
Updated: 2010-08-28 11:58:55
A key state health official has notified the attorney for a Brown County citizens group that there isn’t sufficient evidence to show that wind turbines have a negative effect on human health. To that, attorney Ed Marion replied, “There’s no question in my mind that there’s such a rush to build wind turbines that policymakers are simply ignoring all the evidence against building them. People who dismiss wind turbine complaints are flat wrong.” Marion, former Gov. Tommy Thompson’s chief of . . .
Updated: 2010-08-28 11:58:48
Brooke-Alvinston Township is one step closer to becoming the home to a new wind farm. Green Breeze Energy has moved forward with its provincial environment approvals process by holding a second and final public information meeting at the Brooke-Alvinston-Inwood Community Centre in Alvinston this week. The only step remaining before Green Breeze can move ahead with plans to build the four-turbine project on Zephyr Farms, located southwest of Watford between Ebenezer and Old Walnut roads, just south of Churchill Line, . . .
Updated: 2010-08-20 16:32:50
The refurbishment of New Brunswick’s 680 MW Candu reactor, it’s only one, is in trouble. There are three things that we can count on. Death, taxes, and nuclear cost overruns.
The project started in March of 2008, and was scheduled to take 18 months. That was 29 months ago, and Atomic Energy of [...]
Updated: 2010-08-12 21:29:49
The smoke has finally cleared from Moscow, after days of smog caused by forest and peat fires from their record hot summer. Air pollution during the crisis has been at 3 times higher than the acceptable level. And the death rate has doubled. The city’s morgues are close to full. If [...]
Updated: 2010-07-27 21:49:17
Reading Ian McEwen’s excellent Solar, I ran across some numbers and checked them with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. From Working Group 2, chapter 8 (pdf, go to document to see sources) 8.2.10 Ultraviolet radiation and health Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure causes a range of health impacts. Globally, excessive solar UVR exposure has caused [...]
Updated: 2010-07-16 15:26:28
Our electricity generating plants are old. The coal and nuclear plants were built between the late 60’s and the 1980’s. Some of them need replacing, as the cost to keep them operating is becoming too high.
So, what are our options to replace old plants? The Ontario Power Authority (OPA) provides [...]
Updated: 2010-07-07 01:03:25
Wind turbines sometimes come under criticism for killing birds. While it is true that wind turbines kill some birds, the average turbine kills about 2 birds per year. This number needs to be kept in perspective. For ecologists, it isn’t the death of an individuals that matters – all living things will [...]
