January 14, 2007

Wind Harvest's "Wind News"
A compilation of story leads from around the world.
By:  Kevin Wolf <kwolf@windharvest.com>

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 Google and find the original source of the story. You are welcome to share this with others. This is a free service from Wind Harvest.   Thank you. Kevin
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WIND FARM ON CAVALIER COUNTY DRAWING BOARD

  Cavalier County could be getting a large-scale wind farm, perhaps
  near Nekoma, N.D. Gov. John Hoeven mentioned a proposal from FPL
  Energy in his State of the State address Wednesday to the North
  Dakota Legislature.
******

WINDMILLS ARE GIVEN CLEARANCE BY JUDGE: NINE STRUCTURES PLANNED NEAR
CRYSTAL LAKE, LAWYER EXPECTS APPEALS TO DELAY CONSTRUCTION

  A judge on Wednesday cleared the way for nine windmills to be
  built near Crystal Lake, but appeals in the case will at least
  stall any construction.
******

POMEROY ANNOUNCES PROPOSAL TO EXTEND WIND ENERGY TAX CREDIT

  Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D, visited the DMI Industries manufacturing
  plant here to announce a proposal to extend the production tax
  credit for wind and other renewable energy projects until 2014.
******

FOUR RESIDENTS FILE APPEAL ON WIND PROJECT

  Opponents of the proposed Beaver Ridge wind power project, which
  won planning board approval last month, have filed an appeal with
  the town.
******

SIEMENS WIND POWER REACHES OVER 1,400 MEGAWATTS WORTH OF ORDERS IN
THE US

  Siemens Power Generation announced today that, since its
  acquisition of Bonus Energy in 2004, its wind power division has
  received U.S. orders for over 1,400 megawatts (MW).
******

PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY DELIVERS NEW RENEWABLE WIND POWER
TO ITS CUSTOMERS

  Pacific Gas and Electric  Company this week began receiving
  renewable power from the Buena Vista Energy,  LLC Wind Project
  located in the Altamont pass area of Contra Costa County.
******

CLEANFIELD ANNOUNCES WIND PROJECT WITH ONTARIO MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES

  Tony Verrelli, President of Cleanfield Alternative Energy Inc.
  (TSX  VENTURE: AIR) announced today that the Ministry of Natural
  Resources'(MNR) Kenora Fire Management Headquarters will be
  installing five of the Company's 3.5kW Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines
   (VAWTs).
******

JOINT VENTURE PAVES THE WAY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF WORLD'S LARGEST WIND
FARM IN BC

  Katabatic Power Corp., a privately held wind energy developer,
  announced today a joint venture with Deutsche Bank AG to develop
  the world's largest wind farm located in Northwest British
  Columbia (BC).
******

BOARD HEARS PLAN TO SPARE BIRDS: SETTLEMENT TO REDUCE NUMBER OF
AVIAN DEATHS FROM ALTAMONT PASS TURBINES GOES TO SUPERVISORS

  A settlement expected to reduce the number of birds killed by
  Altamont Pass windmills will be considered by Alameda County
  supervisors today. At least one environmental group, however, has
  major concerns about the deal.
******

From Refocus Weekly - January 5, 2006


EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BACKS 25% TARGET FOR RENEWABLES
STRASBOURG, France,
January 5, 2007 [(Refocus Weekly)]

Members of the European Parliament have backed a proposal to require a binding target of 25% of the continent's energy to come from renewables by 2020.
******

NEW ZEALAND TO PROMOTE RENEWABLES IN ENERGY STRATEGY
WELLINGTON, New Zealand,
January 5, 2007 [(Refocus Weekly)]

As much new electricity as possible should come from renewable energies, according to a draft energy strategy for New Zealand.
******

WIND CAN GENERATE 25% OF GRID WITHOUT PROBLEM, SAYS ANALYSIS
SAINT PAUL, Minnesota, US,
January 5, 2007 [(Refocus Weekly)]

With the right policies, electric utilities can source 25% of their resources from wind turbines without any sacrifice in reliability and with minor costs for absorbing the green power.
******

SUMMER WIND CAPACITY IS 17% IN ONTARIO, STUDY FINDS
SCHENECTADY, New York, US,
January 5, 2007 [(Refocus Weekly)]

The power grid in Canada's largest province could add 5,000 MW of wind turbines with minimal impact, according to a study commissioned by provincial regulators and the wind industry.
******

Refocus Weekly News-in-Brief

- Arizona Public Service of Phoenix has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement for all of the wind energy from the Aragonne Mesa windfarm southwest of Santa Rosa, New Mexico. The utility will buy 90 MW from Aragonne Wind, a subsidiary of Babcock & Brown, and the agreement increases APS' renewable energy portfolio to 106 MW from 16 MW, including 10 MW of geothermal and 6 MW of solar energy.

- Novas Energias do Ocidente, a subsidiary of Energias de Portugal (EDP), has purchased Spanish windfarm developers Agrupación Eólica, Tarcan and Ceasa Promociones Eólicas for Euro 346 million. The combined revenue of the three windfarm developers is Euro 64 million and the acquisition is part of EDP¹s plan to invest in renewables in the French market. Agrupación Eólica operates both in the Spanish and French markets with a portfolio of 1,199 MW of turbines.

- Iberdrola says its La Ventosa windfarm in Mexico has been approved as a Clean Development Mechanism facility under the Kyoto Protocol, which allows it to sell 205,900 tons of carbon credits a year for 21 years starting in 2008. The 102 MW windfarm is located in the state of Oaxaca.

- Legislation in Turkey to promote wind energy has been called a failure by some industry officials, since only two projects with 51 MW of capacity are in operation, although 36 projects, with 1,262 MW, were granted a license from the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority. The Renewable Energy Act was passed by parliament and energy minister Hilmi Guler said the market for wind energy would be $30 billion, but industry officials say they do not want to start their projects because the legislation does not allow the purchase of power in foreign currency and foreign creditors do not want to risk lending money in Turkish currency.

- Basin Electric Power Cooperative in North Dakota was selling 5,000 renewable energy credits on eBay at a starting auction of US$7,500. The green tags were derived by the utility¹s PrairieWinds green energy program, from windfarms in North and South Dakota. Each REC represents the environmental attributes from 1 MWh of green power based on generation after December 1, but are not certified (Green-e certification was the responsibility of the purchaser) although Basin Electric self-certifies its tags.

- The London Asia Chinese Private Equity Fund will invest Euro 4.4 million for a 12% stake in Asia Wind Group, a Guernsey investment company involved in wind energy in Asia.

- 3i Group, a private equity firm in Britain, has taken a minority stake worth Euro 30 million in Electrawinds, a renewable energy company in Belgium. Electrawinds operates in Belgium and Italy, and has 45 MW of capacity in wind and biomass.

- Allerdale Council in West Cumbria (UK) has rejected the installation of test masts for a windfarm on Tallentire Hill for the second time. Renewable Energy Systems appealed the first decision, but the government has backed the authority¹s refusal.
******

Refocus Weekly - January 12, 2006


UK GROUPS WANT MORE RO SUPPORT FOR RENEWABLES
LONDON, UK,
January 10, 2007 [(Refocus Weekly)]

The subsidy paid for green power in Britain must increase if the government is to reach its targets for renewable energies, according to green groups in the country.

IRISH GREEN POWER GROWS 26%
DUBLIN, Ireland,
January 10, 2007 [(Refocus Weekly)]

The use of renewable energies in Ireland grew by 26% in 2005, with wind growing by 70%, according to data from Sustainable Energy Ireland.

News-in-Brief

- Twenty-six wind turbines from Siemens Power Generation will be installed at the Whirlwind Energy Center in Floyd County, Texas. Renewable Energy Systems Americas says the 2.3 MW turbines will generate green power for 28,000 customers of Austin Energy. The facility will start construction in March and be completed later this year. Last year, Siemens PG posted sales of Euro 10 billion and received new orders for Euro 12.5 billion.

- The UK wind energy industry added 630 MW of new turbines last year, 50% higher than 2005, according to the British Wind Energy Association. That year was 100% over the capacity commissioned in 2004. The current capacity from wind is sufficient for more than one million homes or enough to boil water for two billion cups of tea, it explains. Britain commissioned its first commercial windfarm 15 years ago.

- China built 80 windfarms in 2006, boosting installed capacity by 2,300 MW, an increase of 80% over 2005, reports the National Development & Reform Commission. China wants to install 5,000 MW of wind by 2010. The country also increased hydropower capacity by 10,000 MW, with another 90,000 MW still under construction. China plans to double the use of renewables to 15% of its energy mix by 2020.