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SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
North Ridge Wind Farm appeared on the state Independent System Operator's list for interconnection requests into the state power grid.
The request lists a 100-megawatt project to interconnect at National Grid's Nicholville-Parishville substation.

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The Liberal Government, through it's Green Energy Act, wants more wind turbines in Ontario, and ramming through as many as it can as fast as it can. When a wind farm is proposed, the wind operator will claim that so many megawatts of capacity are going to be installed. That number they give is the name plate capacity of all the turbines combined. That is, a 1.5mW turbine has a capacity of 1.5 megaWatts. That's the name plate. But it is a lie to claim that is what the turbines will produce. It gets you thinking that that number, the "capacity" is what they will deliver. They don't want you to know what the real output is. When pressed, they will claim that the output from wind is 27% of name plate for Ontario, referred to as the "capacity value".

September 1, 2010

Wisconsin lawmakers tackled the thorny issue of siting standards for wind projects by directing state regulators to draft rules. Those regulators have just signed off on their final document. The Public Service Commission (PSC) of Wisconsin finished administrative rules governing the siting of wind turbines, which considered the work by a task force of utilities, wind developers, environmentalists, realtors and others in response to a state law. The rules apply to wind sites of less than 100 megawatts of nameplate capacity.

ALBANY -- National Grid has removed $4.27 million in expenses it planned to charge to customers in its electric rate hike plan for upstate New York after regulators questioned whether the sometimes lavish spending was appropriate. The move is expected to help clear up some contentious issues between the British utility and the state Department of Public Service as hearings on the $370 million rate hike begin today in Albany. Most of the charges being eliminated -- $3.4 million -- are expenses charged by expatriate National Grid executives who were transferred from the United Kingdom to the United States to oversee the company's New York and New England operations.

WIND COMMITTEE: Facilitator Duff resigns; three will now share a joint chairmanship
SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
HAMMOND — The Hammond Wind Committee has decided a joint chairmanship will work better for the group than appointing another facilitator after David B. Duff, former facilitator, resigned during Monday's committee meeting. Mr. Duff resigned Monday from several groups after police reported finding several marijuana plants growing on his town of Macomb property. Mr. Duff also resigned from his seats on the Macomb town Planning Board and the St. Lawrence County Planning Board, a position he has held since 1997.

"The wind committee has decided not to have a facilitator at this point," town Supervisor Ronald W. Bertram said after Monday evening's meeting. "Ron Papke, Rudolph Schneider and Michele McQueer are presently a co-chairmen committee to plan agendas and future meetings."

August 25, 2010
(Editor's note: A version of this story originally appeared March 30 on OpenSecrets Blog.)

In 1998, the entire alternative energy industry barely even registered as a political player in Washington, spending a mere $2.4 million on lobbying the federal government. Meanwhile, in the same year, the oil and gas, electric utilities and mining industries spent a combined $142 million advancing their own legislative interests. That landscape, however, has changed considerably.  By 2007, the alternative energy industry had begun to drastically increase its lobbying spending, almost doubling its expenditures from the previous year. In 2009, alternative energy organizations shelled out an unprecedented $30 million to protect and promote their interests on Capitol Hill, and this year, it's on pace to equal that record output. The alternative energy industry’s lobbying expenditures have grown to 12 times from its 1998 level. In comparison, oil and gas spending and mining spending have grown less than three times their 1998 amount, and electric utility spending has grown to just twice its 1998 amount.

Mass protests mean the energy firm will look offshore State-owned energy firm Dong Energy has given up building more wind farms on Danish land, following protests from residents complaining about the noise the turbines make.

September  1, 2010
State-owned energy firm Dong Energy has given up building more wind farms on Danish land, following protests from residents complaining about the noise the turbines make. It had been Dong and the government’s plan that 500 large turbines be built on land over the coming 10 years, as part of a large-scale national energy plan. This plan has hit a serious stumbling block, though, due to many protests, and the firm has now given up building any more wind farms on land.
Anders Eldrup, the CEO of Dong Energy, told TV2 News: ‘It is very difficult to get the public’s acceptance if the turbines are built close to residential buildings, and therefore we are now looking at maritime options.’ The move has met resistance from parliament, where amongst others Anne Grete Holmgaard, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Environmental Committee, said, ‘It is rather unacceptable that Dong – which is our large, state-owned energy firm – says goodbye to an investment in wind on land, and that they are doing so after we have cleared the way for a test centre where new types of turbines can be tested.’

August 31, 2010

A think tank fellow and editor has gotten under the skin of wind.

The AWEA webinar, "The Facts about Wind Energy's Emission Savings," is a direct response to the media blitz that has been gaining steam in recent weeks. AWEA said the webinar "will discuss facts about wind energy's emission savings and show how data and studies from grid operators and government sources directly contradict recent false attacks on wind energy."