Salazar’s View on US Offshore Wind Energy Potential

Excerpts from Environmental Leader, April 10, 2009
US Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told participants at a summit meeting “that U.S. offshore areas hold enormous potential for wind energy development in all coastal metropolitan centers, and the wind potential off the coasts of the lower 48 states could exceed electricity demand in the U.S.
The [...]

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WhalePower Turbine Blades Improve Power by 20%

TYLER HAMILTON, CleanBreak.ca, February 17, 2009
Toronto-based WhalePower, maker of the tubercle-lined turbine blades inspired by humpback whale flippers, got the results back from its first independent study in the field. 
The blade design was tested on a 25-kilowatt Wenvor Technologies turbine at the Wind Energy Institute of Canada. The institude found that annualized energy production from [...]

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Renewable Energy Now Looking for Economic CPR

KATE GALBRAITH, The New York Times, February 4, 2009
Wind and solar energy have been growing at a blistering pace in recent years, and that growth seemed likely to accelerate under the green-minded Obama administration. But because of the credit crisis and the broader economic downturn, the opposite is happening: installation of wind and solar power is plummeting.
Factories [...]

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US Wind Energy Generating Capacity Grows by 50% in 2008

MendoCoastCurrent, January 28, 2009
To Keep Momentum, AWEA Calls for Quick Approval of the Obama Stimulus Package
The massive growth in 2008 swelled the nation’s total wind power generating capacity by 50% and channeled an investment of some $17 billion into the economy, positioning wind power as one of the leading sources of new power generation in [...]

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Mendocino Energy

MendoCoastCurrent, January 17, 2009
Here’s the post from MendoCoastCurrent in the Citizen’s Briefing Book at President-elect Barack Obama’s change.gov site:
Renewable Energy Development (RED) federal task force
Immediately establish and staff a Renewable Energy Development (RED) federal task force chartered with exploring and fast-tracking the development, exploration and commercialization of environmentally-sensitive renewable energy solutions in solar, wind, wave, green-ag, et [...]

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Great Gabbard Inquiry Launched on Turbine Blade Damage

PHILIPPE NAUGHTON, TimesOnline UK, January 8, 2009
An investigation was under way today into how a 65 ft. blade was mysteriously torn off a wind turbine amid reports of “strange lights” in the sky.
The 300 ft. turbine at Conisholme in Lincolnshire was left wrecked after the incident. Local residents speculate that the damage could have been [...]

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FERC Chief Resigning

MendoCoastCurrent, January 7, 2009
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher today issued the following statement:
Today I announce my intention to step down as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), effective January 20, 2009. Although my term as commissioner does not end until 2012, I will also immediately begin to recuse myself from [...]

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EnXco Secures Wind Turbine Funding for Shiloh II

SolanoCountyBusinessNews.com, November 27, 2008
Escondido-based EnXco, a subsidaiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles Co., recently announced that it has closed on the project financing for the Shiloh II Wind Energy Project under construction in the Montezuma Hills area of Solano County, California.
Lenders to the projects are Nord/LB as lead administrative agent, Dexia and Credit Industriel et Commercial; [...]

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Iberdrola & NY Public Service Commission Meeting on Energy East

Democrat & Chronicle, August 9, 2008
New York’s Public Service Commission (PSC) will hold two sessions related to Iberdrola’s disputed acquisition of Energy East this month in Albany.
The proposed $4.5 billion takeover of Energy East Corp. by Iberdrola SA of Spain will come before the NY PSC on August 20 and 27, 2008, the PSC announced [...]

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Renewable Wales from Wave Energy to Wind

ERICA GIES, eMagazine.com, May 2008
Wales, a beautiful corner of the United Kingdom on the western edge of England, helped fuel Britain’s industrial revolution, not to mention its pea-soup pollution “fogs.” The mining of vast quantities of coal from its southern valleys for two centuries enabled the British to go forth and conquer the world. Now, [...]

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Scotland Now Leading Europe’s Wind Energy Industry

Environmental News Service, July 22, 2008
Europe’s largest onshore wind farm, able to generate enough power for 320,000 homes, has been approved by the Scottish government.
Announcing the new wind farm approval ahead of the World Renewable Energy Congress in Glasgow, First Minister Alex Salmond said the 152-turbine Clyde wind farm near Abington in South Lanarkshire is [...]

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Huge Oregon Wind Farm Approved

Portland Business Journal, July 28, 2008
The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council gave its approval of the site of a wind farm billed to be the largest in the world.
The Shepherd’s Flat Wind Farm, which would span Gilliam and Morrow counties in north-central Oregon, is proposed to have 303 wind turbines with a peak capacity of [...]

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Gamesa Sees First-half Net Profits Soar

AFP, July 29, 2008
MADRID (AFP) — Spanish wind turbine maker Gamesa Energia, a sector leader, said on Tuesday its net profits soared during the first-half at a time when record high oil prices are fueling interest in alternative energy sources.
The company posted a comparable net profit of 93 million euros ($146 million US) during the [...]

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NASA Ocean Wind Maps May Reveal Best Wind Energy Sources

MendoCoastCurrent, July 9, 2008
Efforts to harness the energy potential of Earth’s ocean winds could soon gain an important new tool: global satellite maps from NASA. Scientists have been creating maps using nearly a decade of data from NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite that reveal ocean areas where winds could produce energy.
The new maps have many potential uses [...]

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New Jersey Briskly Planning Offshore Wind Power

MendoCoastCurrent, July 23, 2008
If the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities agrees next month to build offshore wind turbines, then projects covering as much as 40 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean could be built locally over the next several years.
Plans on file in the state BPU office here show most of the proposals favor [...]

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Finavera Renewables Updates at Mid-2008

MendoCoastCurrent, July 27, 2008
Finavera Renewables CEO Jason Bak provides this overview of 2008 activities to date and an outlook for the remainder of the year.
“The first half of 2008 has been an exciting period for Finavera Renewables,” commented CEO Jason Bak. “Our strategy [in] wind projects is to develop an approximate one gigawatt pipeline with [...]

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Wind Energy Taking Off in Spain

EuroWeekly News, July 24, 2008
The results of a study by business analysts DBK, which have just been released, show that the use of renewable energy resources is increasing rapidly here in Spain.
The energy generated from wind in 2007 rose to 13.8 Megawatts, with a projected increase to15.9 MW by the end of the year. The [...]

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Rock Port, Missouri, First City Entirely Powered by the Wind

ScienceDaily, July 16, 2008
Rock Port Missouri, with a population of just over 1,300 residents, has announced that it is the first 100% wind powered community in the United States. Four wind turbines supply all the electricity for the small town.
Rock Port’s 100% wind power status is due to four wind turbines located on agricultural lands [...]

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Rebuilding a Dutch Tradition, One Windmill at a Time

JOHN TAGLIABUE, The New York Times, July 22, 2008
The Rotterdam Journal — The Dutch are building windmills again. Up and down the coast, out from port cities like this one, you can see them: white and tall and slender as pencils, their three slim blades turning lazily in the North Sea breeze.
These generate electricity, of [...]

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NY Attorney General Cuomo to Investigate Wind Power Projects

MendoCoastCurrent, July 21, 2008
On July 15, 2008 Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced launching an investigation into two companies developing and operating wind farms across New York state amid allegations of improper dealings with public officials and anti-competitive practices.
Subpoenas were served on First Wind (formerly known as UPC Wind) and Noble Environmental Power, LLC. They are [...]

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T. Boone Pickens Could Gain From His Energy Plan, But So Might We

DAVID LAZARUS, The Los Angeles Times, July 9, 2008
When a guy heavily invested in natural gas and wind power says the answer to our energy woes is natural gas and wind power, it’s hard not to smirk at his Texas-size gumption.
But let’s not be hasty.
Energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens unveiled a plan Tuesday to wean [...]

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New Jersey’s Corzine Seeks Wind Farm Off East Coast

TERRENCE DOPP, Bloomberg.com, May 9, 2008
New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine wants his state to be the first in the U.S. Northeast to build an electricity-generating wind farm off the Atlantic coast.
Five companies are vying for $19 million in grants and the right to put as many as 200 windmills within 20 miles (32 kilometers) of [...]

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Iberdrola Renovables, Bancaja Developing Wind Power in Valencia

RedOrbit.com, July 8, 2008
Spanish clean energy firm Iberdrola Renovables and Bancaja have announced their participation in the wind energy plan for the region of Valencia, under the auspices of the regional government, in a bid to increase power generation in the province of Castellon.
Both companies suggested their proposal through a newly created company called Sistemas [...]

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Pickens Promotes His Pickens Plan

PeakOil.com, July 8, 2008
Sweetwater, Texas — Get ready, America, T. Boone Pickens is coming to your living room.
The legendary Texas oilman, corporate raider, shareholder-rights crusader, philanthropist and deep-pocketed moneyman for conservative politicians and causes, wants to drive the United States political and economic agenda.
“We’re paying $700 billion a year for foreign oil. It’s breaking us [...]

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Israeli Wind, Wave Energy Patent Requests Up

EHUD ZION WALDOKS, The Jerusalem Post, June 24, 2008
A search through the Israel Patent Office library computer revealed recently that wind and wave energy patent requests are on the rise.
While it’s not a big market, requests have jumped in the last few years. There have been 38 patent requests relating to wind turbines in the [...]

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Scottish Energy Firms to Bring Hydro Power to the People

SEVERIN CARRELL, The Guardian, June 27, 2008
Scotland is planning a renewable energy revolution that would trump the ambitious strategy announced yesterday in London by Gordon Brown – and without building any nuclear power stations.
Brown’s UK-wide strategy sets out how the nation as a whole could reach a target of 30-35% of electricity being generated from [...]

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Iberdrola Warns of Reconsideration on Energy East

KELLY HARRINGTON, SNL Interactive, June 18, 2008

Spanish utility Iberdrola SA will reconsider its proposed acquisition of Energy East Corp. should New York regulators “impose unacceptable” conditions on the deal, the company said.

The company’s statement comes a day after Administrative Law Judge Rafael Epstein recommended that the Public Service Commission not approve the deal. The proposal, [...]

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Iberdrola’s Bid for New York Utility Hits a Hurdle

NICHOLAS CONFESSORE, International Herald Tribune, June 17, 2008
ALBANY: An administrative law judge advised state regulators on Monday to block a Spanish energy conglomerate’s bid to buy Energy East, a Maine-based utility with operations in four states, including New York, citing anticompetitive concerns.
The recommendation by the judge, Rafael Epstein, largely sided with an earlier recommendation by [...]

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Iberdrola’s Stalled Sale Seeks Power From Wind

NICOLAS CONFESSORE, The New York Times, June 4, 2008
ALBANY — One of the world’s largest energy companies proposed on June 3rd to build hundreds of wind turbines in New York, significantly raising the stakes in a nine-month battle with state regulators over its intended purchase of a power company.
Executives of the company, Iberdrola S.A., of [...]

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Iberdrola, Gamesa Creating Strategic Company and Largest Turbine Supply Deal

MendoCoastCurrent, June 13, 2008
Iberdrola Renewables and Gamesa Energia have signed the largest turbine supply contract ever in the wind power industry representing a total capacity of 4,500 megawatts (MW), for delivery between 2010 and 2012. The investment for wind power projects to which the turbines will be assigned is approximately €6.3 billion, a figure that [...]

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National Audubon Society’s Position on Wind Power

Summary:
Audubon strongly supports properly-sited wind power as a clean alternative energy source that reduces the threat of global warming. Wind power facilities should be planned, sited and operated to minimize negative impacts on bird and wildlife populations.
Rationale:
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has clearly stated that the impacts of climate change are here now [...]

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World’s Biggest Solar Farm at Centre of Portugal’s Ambitious Energy Plan

JOHN VIDAL, The Guardian, June 6, 2008
From a distance the bizarre structures sprouting from the high Alentejo plain in eastern Portugal resemble a field of mechanical sunflowers. Each of the 2,520 giant solar panels is the size of a house and they are as technically sophisticated as a car. Their reflective heads tilt to the [...]

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Winds of Change Blow into Lackawanna

COSMO CATALANO, Matter Network, May 28, 2008
News about the advantages of switching to clean, renewable energy sources is everywhere these days. Reduced pollution, higher quality of life, lowered dependence on foreign sources and less disruption caused by fluctuating prices often top the list. But frequently, the transition from older fossil fuels is seen as a [...]

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Noble Environmental Secures $62M Financing

MendoCoastCurrent, June 8, 2007
New York – CIT Energy, a provider of commercial and consumer finance solutions, today announced that it provided $62 million in financing to Noble Environmental Power, a U.S. based wind developer. The financing was secured in part by turbine supply agreements between Noble and GE.
This transaction is CIT Energy’s second with Noble [...]

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T. Boone Pickens’ $2 Billion Bet on Wind Energy

JENNIFER YOUSFI, Money Morning on Seeking Alpha, May 16, 2008
T. Boone Pickens made his fortune in oil. But now the Dallas oilman and famed former corporate raider is betting $2 billion that he can have the same success with a new source of energy – wind.
Pickens’ Mesa Power LLP yesterday (05/14/08) unveiled the first phase [...]

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Noble Environmental Power Getting Ready for Take Off with $375M IPO

Mass High Tech, May 9, 2008
Wind farm developer Noble Environmental Power LLC has filed documents with the SEC for a $375 million initial public offering.
The Essex Conn.-based company plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol NEPI. Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan are serving as co-lead underwriters. A date for the offering has [...]

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Scottish Government Nixes Lewis Wind Farm

LESTER HAINES, The Register, April 21, 2008
The Scottish Government has turned down an application to build a 181-turbine wind farm on the Isle of Lewis, the BBC reports.
The decision confirms a report by the BBC’s Gaelic news service Radio nan Gaidheal back in January, which predicted a red light for the £500m project, proposed by [...]

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Centrica Warns on U.K. Wind Farm Costs

BBC, May 8, 2008
Centrica, one of the UK’s biggest energy generators, has warned that the prospect of making money from wind farms is looking “marginal”.
The company says that the rising cost of off-shore wind farms could end up ruining the government’s renewable energy targets. The comments come a week after Shell withdrew from a project [...]

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New York Wind Turbine Projects Under Investigation

[MendoCoastCurrent Edited], The Star-Gazette, May 8, 2008
Criminal Investigation of Wind Developers & Public Officials Sought
Steuben County’s District Attorney John C. Tunney gave no comment on Wednesday to a demand from a local citizens group, Cohocton Wind Watch, for a criminal investigation of wind turbine projects in the county and a Grand Jury Investigation of suspected [...]

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Canadian Wind Farm Forum Draws 300, Farms Jeered

DOUG WILLIAMSON, The Windsor Star, May 8, 2008
The prospect of wind energy development in Essex County received mixed reviews Wednesday during a public meeting to hear comments on the county’s proposed policy for commercial wind farms.
Visual and noise impact, whether or not wind energy is a viable solution to global warming and other issues dominated [...]

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Quebec Wind Farm Plan Stirs Up Opposition

MARK CARDWELL, The Gazette, May 7, 2008
The smallest of the 15 wind-farm bids accepted by Hydro-Québec on Monday could end up generating more political current than all of the other projects combined.
A French-backed energy consortium is proposing to build 37 wind towers on a mountain near Lac-au-Sable, a popular fishing, hunting and hiking spot for [...]

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Burke, NY Official Must Turn Over Wind Farm Paperwork

DENISE A. RAYMO, May 7, 2008, The Press Republican
NEW YORK – A Burke official with an option to lease land to a wind farm company lost his court battle and must answer a subpoena from a Franklin County grand jury.
Town Council member David Vincent must turn over all correspondence, contracts, receipts, leases, purchase agreements, options [...]

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ScottishPower Renewables Plans To Extend Europe’s Largest On-Shore Windfarm

ScottishPower Renewables, April 25, 2008
ScottishPower Renewables has submitted a Section 36 application to the Scottish Government for an extension of Whitelee Windfarm on Eaglesham Moor by a further 36 turbines – developing the site beyond the 140 turbines that are currently being constructed as part of Europe’s largest on-shore windfarm project.
If approved, the new turbines [...]

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Giant British Wind Farm Plans Blown Away Due to Environmental Concerns

Agence France-Presse, April 22, 2008
The Scottish government has rejected plans to build one of Europe’s biggest onshore wind farms due what it said was the “significant adverse impacts” on the local environment.
Ministers in Edinburgh decided that the 500-million-pound (one-billion-dollar, 625-million-euro) project would have threatened rare and endangered bird populations and damaged peatland on the remote [...]

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CPUC Approves Wind Project for Southern California Edison

SAN FRANCISCO, April 10, 2008
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), in its ongoing efforts to ensure a reliable supply of electricity for the state, today approved a 10-year contract for Southern California Edison Company to purchase up to 455 megawatts of capacity and energy, beginning August 1, 2010, from CPV Sentinel, LLC.
“Our actions today are [...]

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Rhode Island Considers Wave and Wind Moratorium

RAY HENRY, March 11, 2008, BusinessWeek
PROVIDENCE, R.I.
Environmental regulators want to ban construction of offshore wind turbines and wave energy developments in Rhode Island for at least one year, arguing there are no state rules in place to govern projects like the 100 turbines Gov. Don Carcieri has proposed building off the coast.
The ban, being considered [...]

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Rhode Island Seeks Wind Farm, Wave Generator Moratorium

PETER B. LORD & NATALIE GARCIA, The Providence Journal, March 5, 2008
The agency that regulates Rhode Island’s coastline has proposed a one-year moratorium on wind farms and wave generators in the state’s coastal waters so it can develop a special management plan that will determine where such projects will be allowed.
Governor Carcieri and two environmental [...]

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Forestville Quebec Enacts Wind Moratorium

KURT RENTMEESTER, Door County Advocate, February 20, 2008
The Forestville Town Board became the latest municipality to enact a one-year moratorium for large wind turbines – and questioned whether Door County’s recently approved wind energy ordinance should take effect there.
“We don’t want the county to impose its wind ordinance on us because we want more information [...]

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How to Balance Wind Power and Wildlife?

DONNA HOFFMAN, Local Contributor at statesman.com, February 14, 2008
Texas needs smart energy solutions. We must transition our economy toward increased efficiency and greater reliance on renewable energy sources – wind, solar, and geothermal in order to address climate change, air pollution, and high fuel cost.
The wind industry is leading this transition. Nationwide, wind power grew [...]

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Massachusetts Provision May Allow Building of Wind Farm

BETH DALEY, The Boston Globe, February 15, 2008
Large wind farms could be constructed in state waters under legislation passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives Wednesday that critics said could aid a controversial wind energy project in Buzzards Bay.
The only pending project directly affected by the legislation is the 120-turbine wind farm proposed by developer [...]

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Europe’s Wind Farm Crown Slips

FIONA HARVEY & REBECCA BREAM, The Financial Times, February 7, 2008
More than half the world’s new wind farms were built outside Europe last year, the first time this has occurred.
Research by the Global Wind Energy Council showed that, although Europe remains the world’s biggest generator of wind energy, its position is being eroded as growth [...]

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NaiKun Cheers Lifting of Ontario’s Offshore Wind Moratorium

VINCE VERSACE, Daily Commercial News, January 30, 2008

Lifting Ontario’s offshore wind farm moratorium is just what the wind farm industry needs to help promote further construction in this field, a West Coast-based offshore wind development firm says.

“What really needs to happen is that developers need to demonstrate that offshore wind can be part of the [...]

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Green Light for Wind Energy Project

A plan to build the largest wind farm in New England has received final approval by Brittany Sauser, January 7, 2008
On January 3, Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission approved the final design of the Stetson Wind Project–a 38-turbine wind farm to be built on Stetson Mountain, in Maine’s Washington County. The $100 million project is [...]

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Urban Wind Farm Helps Revitalize the U.S. Rust Belt

Wind farms are normally associated with mountainous areas and remote regions. But how about one planted in a city on the site of an old steel mill? Drew Robb reports. Steel Winds Wind Farm takes up a 30-acre portion of the old Bethlehem Steel mill, located along the shores of Lake Erie in Lackawanna, NY, [...]

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World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm

In September Siemens signed a reservation agreement with Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Ltd. (GGOWL) for the construction of the world’s largest offshore wind farm off the British coast.
The agreement, by far the largest ever reached for offshore wind turbines, involves 140 Siemens 3.6-MW turbines for delivery in 2009 and 2010.
Once connected to the power grid, [...]

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