November 22, 2004

Wind Harvest Company Wind News
A compilation of story leads from around the world.
By:  Kevin Wolf

Note:  These story titles and lead paragraphs predominantly come from Energy Central's daily posting of the world's energy stories. Others are sent to me by subscribers of Wind News.  Energy Central requires paid membership to read full stories.  You can often paste the headline into the Google search engine and find the original source of the story.   When I have them, I will include the URL.  Please send me stories that you find, and I will add them into the next edition of Wind News.  Thank you. Kevin
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NATURAL GAS PRICES VEX US CHEMICAL FIRMS

  Soaring natural gas prices are proving to pose a threat to the
  viability of the chemical industry in the United States.
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COUNTY INVESTOR PUSHES WIND TURBINE PROJECT

  A La Center investor is negotiating with PacifiCorp for a $120
  million deal to build 63 huge wind turbines on the hills
  overlooking the Columbia River west of Arlington, Ore., 150 miles
  east of Vancouver.
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WIND IN RESERVE

  Each year, Texas generates more electricity from wind than any
  state except California. While researchers have discovered the
  secret to pulling kilowatts out of wind in the Lone Star State,
  they still haven't found a way to make that power source available
  at any time.
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EQUITY FUNDING ARRANGED FOR 20MW WIND PROJECT IN NEW BRUNSWICK

  Clean Power Income Fund and Western Wind Energy Corp. today
  announced that they have executed a Joint Venture Agreement to
  develop, construct, finance and operate a 20 MW wind power
  generating facility in Grand Manan, New Brunswick.
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GREEN ENERGY

  A million cups of coffee a year could be bought with the amount
  saved by renewable energy in a Newcastle block of flats.
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TWO MORE TURBINES SPROUT AT WIND-ENERGY FARM NEAR BOWLING GREEN, OHIO

  Daryl Stockburger can't guarantee the  blades on all four wind
  turbines at the Wood County landfill will be turning  Friday, but
  he still wants people to stop out to see the latest additions to
  the wind farm.
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California agency calls for re-powering of wind turbines

SACRAMENTO, California, US, 2004-11-10 Refocus Weekly The California Energy
Commission wants wind turbines in the state to be repowered in order to
“harness wind resources efficiently and prevent bird deaths.”

Commissioners have unanimously approved the ‘Integrated Energy Policy Report
2004 Update’ for action by the governor and legislature. The report
identifies concerns and recommends actions to avoid an electricity crisis
that could impact the state as earky as next summer.

In a series of recommendations pertaining to windfarms, the report calls on
local permitting agencies to implement methodologies similar to those
recommended in the Energy Commission’s bird mortality reduction report, and
for a removal of the repowering clause in the U.S. Tax Code, along with the
recent extension of the federal production tax credit to help prospects for
windfarms. It also wants the state Public Utilities Commission to require
investor-owned utilities to facilitate repowerings in its pending effort to
develop renegotiated qualifying facilities contracts.

The report examines potential supply impacts from retirements in the state's
aging fleet of power plants, and identifies transmission bottlenecks and a
lack of long-term transmission planning which limits the ability to move
electrons between northern and southern regions of the state. It also
evaluates the feasibility of expediting new, renewable energy sources to
meet California's growing electricity demand and check the state's growing
dependence on natural gas as a fuel source for generation.

In the section on transmission, it recommends that CEC should increase its
participation in a group on the Tehachapi wind resources area and work with
the CPUC to establish a similar group for the geothermal resource area in
Imperial County. To facilitate green power projects, the Commission should
investigate whether changes are needed to encourage transmission projects
necessary to commercialize renewable resources and the state should enact
legislation to codify that all retail suppliers of electricity (including
large publicly-owned electric utilities) meet the accelerated 20% eligible
renewable goal by 2010 and 33% by 2020.

It also recommends that legislation should allow CPUC to require Southern
California Edison to purchase at least 1% of additional renewable energy per
year between 2006 and 2020, reaching 25% by 2010, 30% by 2015, and 35% by
2020.
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Supporters Say Wind Energy Set to Explode in New York

October 20, 2004 — By Sara Clemence, Times Union, Albany, N.Y.


Oct. 20—FENNER, N.Y. — At Fenner Windpower Project in Madison County, 20
huge wind turbines stand as if at attention, waiting for a breeze.

Sleek, pale and completely outsized among the weathered barns and
cornfields, the turbines make trees look like ankle-high weeds. The machines
are 215 feet tall, to the hubs of their triple-bladed fans.

On the Griffin family's 420-acre farm, two turbines have been planted in
exchange for flat lease payments plus royalties for energy that is produced.

"We couldn't put enough cattle in the pasture to make up for what the wind
payment is," said Donna Griffin, 61.