November 29, 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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Added Note:  These top four stories were from today's Energy Central's Gas News.  All indications are that natural gas prices are going to keep rising and with it will be the price paid for wind energy output.

SHOCKING 49 BCF DRAW SENDS GAS ROCKETING INTO STRATOSPHERE

  Shocked out of its expiration doldrums by this afternoon's release
  of the Energy Information Administration's weekly storage report,
  the natural gas futures market rocketed up the charts as one rogue
  storage report turned the market on its head. - (Btu's Daily Gas Wire)
  ************

CANADIAN NATURAL GAS RESERVES CONTINUE TO FALL DESPITE RECORD
DRILLING ACTIVITY

  Canada's known natural gas reserves continue to decline and less
  than 60 per cent of production was replaced in 2003 despite a
  record number of wells drilled, the energy industry announced Thursday.
************

SHELL DELAYS AGM AS ANOTHER RESERVES CUT LOOMS

  The Royal/Dutch Shell Group has postponed its 2005 annual
  shareholders meeting by two months to June while it tries to sort
  out the extent of the next round of a planned oil reserves downgrade.
************

PRICE HIKES 'DISASTROUS'; RISING NATURAL GAS COSTS CUTTING INTO AREA
CHEMICAL COMPANIES' PROFITS

  Natural gas prices that have nearly tripled over the last few
  years have cut into profits of the chemical industry in East
  Tennessee and across the nation, leaving the industry facing
  disastrous consequences  possibly even job cuts.
************

PENNSYLVANIA TO GENERATE 3,600 MEGAWATTS OF WIND POWER BY 2016 DUE
TO NEW STANDARD, ACCORDING TO PLATTS

  The Pennsylvania legislature passed SB1030, the Alternative Energy
  Bill, on November 20, 2004 which will require a total of 18% of
  Pennsylvania's electricity to be generated by alternative energy
  sources by 2020.
************

LARGEST KANSAS WIND FARM REACHES MILESTONE IN PROVIDING POWER FOR
AQUILA KANSAS, MISSOURI CUSTOMERS

  The largest wind farm in Kansas has completed three years of
  successful power production for Aquila, Inc. electric customers in
  Kansas and Missouri.
************

NEW POLL CONFIRMS CANADIANS WANT GREEN POWER

  Eighty-seven per cent of Canadian voters support the use of green
  power as a source of electricity, according to a national poll on
  Green Power released today by Oraclepoll Research on behalf of
  Pollution Probe.
************

CLEAN POWER/AIM POWERGEN PARTNERSHIP IS A SUCCESSFUL BIDDER IN
ONTARIO 300 MW RFP

  Clean Power Income Fund and AIM PowerGen Corporation today
  announced that their Erie Shores Wind Farm Limited Partnership
  with a 99MW wind energy project is one of the successful bidders
  in the Ontario Government's Request for Proposals for 300 MW of
  renewable energy.
 ************

EPCOR AWARDED CONTRACT FOR A WIND POWER PROJECT THROUGH ONTARIO
RENEWABLE RFP

  EPCOR will expand Canada's wind power capacity with a new wind
  farm built near the shore of Lake Huron, following the company's
  success in the Government of Ontario's competition for new sources
  of renewable power.
************

CANADIAN RENEWABLE ENERGY CORPORATION INITIATES REVIEW OF MELANCTHON
GREY WIND PROJECT.

  Canadian Renewable Energy Corporation in March of 2004 obtained a
  50% option from Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. to acquire 50% of
  Canadian Hydro's Melancthon Grey wind project located near
  Shelburne in southern Ontario.
************

MORE WIND FARMS ENVISIONED FOR NORTHERN NEW YORK

  While the proposed Flat Rock Wind Power project will likely be the
  north country's first wind farm, it probably won't be the last.
  ************

SEVEN SCHOOL DISTRICTS NOW CONSIDERING WIND TURBINE

  Seven school districts in south central North Dakota are
  considering wind energy to save money on utility costs.
************

U.S. WIND FARMING, INC. HAS ENTERED INTO AN AGREEMENT TO DEVELOP A
100-MEGAWATT, WIND ENERGY ELECTRIC/HYDROGEN COOPERATIVE IN THE
BALTIC COAST OF POLAND

  U.S. Wind Farming, Inc. has entered into an agreement with
  corporate partners to develop a new wind energy cooperative in Poland.
************

POWER COMPANY ORDERED TO PROVIDE CONTRACTS

  A Houston company that wants to build a wind farm in north central
  South Dakota must be shown confidential power contracts that
  Montana-Dakota Utilities has with an electrical supplier, the
  state Public Utilities Commission decided Friday.
************

MORE THAN 9,000 PECO CUSTOMERS CHOOSE WIND ENERGY; PECO WIND ENERGY
RANKED TOP TEN IN GREEN POWER OFFERS NATIONALLY

  More than 9,000 local households have chosen to purchase PECO
  WIND, a new clean, environmentally- friendly wind power option
  provided by PECO Energy and Community Energy, Inc., an alternative
  energy marketing group.
************

ONT. SIGNS ON 10 NEW RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS TO PROVIDE 395 MEGAWATTS

  Ten private renewable energy projects will be built in Ontario by
  the end of 2007 and will generate enough electricity to power over
  100,000 homes annually, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan said Wednesday.
************

U.S. WIND FARMING, INC. ANNOUNCES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
CONTRACTS FOR MULTI-MEGAWATT WIND ENERGY ELECTRICITY/HYDROGEN COOPERATIVES

  U.S. Wind Farming, Inc. has Entered into Several International
  Development Contracts to Install and Own the "Next Generation" of
  Integrated Renewable Energy Systems Utilizing Advanced Wind Energy
  Technology and Decentralized Hydrogen Technology.
************

ENDESA STARTS UP THREE NEW WIND FARMS IN THE PROVINCE OF SORIA FOR
AN INVESTMENT OF EURO 45 MILLION

  The wind farms are equipped with 59 wind turbine generators with a
  total installed capacity of 47.2 MW.
************

WIND-POWER CAPACITY REACHES RECORD LEVELS ACROSS UK IN 2004

  NEARLY three times as much wind-power capacity has been installed
  across the UK in 2004 compared to 2003, spelling a record year for
  the rapidly expanding and increasingly controversial industry.
 ************

HARNESSING CANADA'S WIND RESOURCES

  Established in 1899 by Mormon workers from Utah and Idaho, the
  town of Magrath, Alberta, also known as "The Garden City," is
  situated in the prairie foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
************

Renewables receive Euro 5.3 billion of energy subsidies in Europe

 COPENHAGEN, Denmark, 2004-11-24 Refocus Weekly European nations provided subsidies of Euro 29.2 billion to energy sources in 2001, of which Euro 5.3 billion went to renewables according to a report by the European Environment Agency.

 "Despite significant emissions of carbon dioxide and residual air pollutants emanating from the burning of fossil fuels, the amount of fossil fuel subsidies remains high, particularly for coal," the report notes. "Support for renewable energy, which is on balance considered environmentally beneficial, is increasing steadily through the introduction of regulatory support mechanisms."

"With the exception of large hydro-electric power, renewable energy represents a much less mature industry with arguably greater need for technological and market support to enable full commercial development," it says. "It can be expected that subsidies for renewable industry will fall as costs decline and the technologies mature."

"There is some evidence to suggest that, in historical terms, renewable energy subsidies in the EU 15 are relatively low in comparison with other forms of energy during periods of fuel transition and technology development," adding that mature fuels such as natural gas continue to benefit from the technological and industrial infrastructure built up during previous decades.

"At current levels of political and financial support, the EU 15 renewable energy targets for 2010 will not be met," it warns. "Renewable technologies offer the benefits of both increased energy security and reduced environmental impacts. The policy rationale for their economic support will most likely be strengthened as their contribution to reducing price volatility and overall emissions is better understood and quantified."

"Unlike governments, individual companies carry little or no obligation to address long-term energy security or environmental challenges," it adds. "It is the responsibility of governments to ensure, through market pricing and legislative frameworks, that the market responds to these concerns. Governments would be prudent to value the environmental and security of supply benefits of renewable energies and to set long-term price signals for industry development that reflect these benefits."

The European Environment Agency was formed in 1994 to provide independent information on the environment to policy-makers and the public.