• Illegal German waste dumping in Czech village lands at EU’s door

    Updated: 2025-01-21 18:16:48
    Masses of fibreglass debris from wind turbine blades and aircraft parts were illegally transported from Germany to a small Czech municipality, prompting investigations and calls for a European solution, as it was not an isolated case. The first waste lorries arrived in Jiříkov, a village in north-eastern Czechia, before Christmas. Others followed in January. Jiříkov Mayor Barbora Šišková told Euractiv Czechia that when she raised the issue publicly, she discovered other cases in other municipalities. The shipment, from the German . . .

  • Temporary withdrawal of all areas on the outer continental shelf from offshore wind leasing and review of the federal government’s leasing and permitting practices for wind projects

    Updated: 2025-01-21 15:55:27
    Section 1. Temporary Withdrawal of Areas. Consistent with the principles of responsible public stewardship that are entrusted to this office, with due consideration for a variety of relevant factors, including the need to foster an energy economy capable of meeting the country’s growing demand for reliable energy, the importance of marine life, impacts on ocean currents and wind patterns, effects on energy costs for Americans –- especially those who can least afford it –- and to ensure that the United . . .

  • An Bord Pleanála refused permission for 12 wind farms in 2024

    Updated: 2025-01-21 14:50:46
    Throughout 2024, An Bord Pleanála rejected planning applications for 12 wind farms, representing a total estimated combined capacity of 677MW. Around 30 projects – totalling 1,598MW – were still awaiting a decision at the end of 2024. The figures were released during the second day of Wind Energy Ireland’s annual conference in Dublin. In its first annual planning report, the group stated that An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for 10 new wind farms with a combined capacity of 717MW . . .

  • Second bill filed to limit Washington governor’s authority to approve new wind & solar projects

    Updated: 2025-01-20 14:23:22
    A second bill has been filed that is intended to reduce the governor’s authority to approve new wind and solar energy projects across Washington. Rep. Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, has filed a bill that would require county and tribal approval of recommendations to allow clean energy projects made by the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council. House Bill 1188 would not allow the Washington governor to approve recommendations if county commissioners for affected counties or tribes do not support it. If . . .

  • Morro Bay residents rally against offshore wind farm proposal

    Updated: 2025-01-20 00:09:08
    More than 200 concerned community members gathered at the Morro Rock parking lot on Saturday to protest the potential impacts of an offshore wind farm. “It’s a national day of action and there are sites all over the county, including the East Coast and the West Coast, that are having this national day of action. It’s all basically against offshore wind and it’s to tell the incoming administration that we expect the promise to be kept to end offshore wind,” . . .

  • Campaigners hit out at ‘corporate bullying’ on Cabrach wind farms

    Updated: 2025-01-19 17:53:45
    Campaigners opposed to a wind farm proposal in the Highlands say they have fallen victim to “corporate bullying and greed”. The Cabrach, a moorland north of the Cairngorms, already has 78 turbines within six miles. A further 21 have consent. Twenty-two more and a battery facility are being proposed. Boralex, a Canadian company, took control of the Clashindarroch extension project when it acquired the UK interests of Infinergy, a European energy company, in July 2022. It has now formed a . . .

  • Dozens protest wind farms and impact on whales in New Bedford

    Updated: 2025-01-19 17:33:38
    Dozens of protesters gathered in New Bedford Saturday, demanding an end to offshore wind projects immediately. The protest came one day after final federal approval for the Southcoast Wind Project, 26 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Protesters said they were outraged over potential impacts on the environment, coastal neighborhoods, and the commercial fishing industry. According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 141 wind turbine generators will power more than 840-thousand homes across Massachusetts and Rhode Island. A spokesperson . . .

  • New blade crack on Swedish Siemens Gamesa turbine

    Updated: 2025-01-18 18:37:53
    Another wind turbine blade at the Swedish Björnberget park has broken in an incident last Sunday, occurring exactly two months another blade broke at the Swedish wind farm, in operation since 2023. As was the case the first time, no one was injured in the incident. Beyond a safety zone being set up, the incident has led to all turbines being deactivated – or at least almost all of them; nine of the 60 turbines have remained in production, as . . .

  • Study measures seabirds’ habitat loss as a result of wind turbines

    Updated: 2025-01-18 18:21:21
    A Wageningen Marine Research study shows that razorbills and guillemots on the North Sea avoid wind parks in their flight path. The study uses a new statistical method to determine the effect of wind parks on the spatial distribution of seabirds. The rapid growth of offshore wind parks in the North Sea necessitates a better understanding of the impact of wind turbines on marine species. The classical method was for researchers to conduct a census of the bird population in . . .

  • Turbine blade break under investigation at Australia’s biggest wind farm

    Updated: 2025-01-18 16:15:46
    Investigations are underway at the 923 megawatt (MW) MacIntyre wind farm in south-western Queensland, following a turbine blade break at the huge project in late December. The incident at what is Australia’s largest operating wind farm happened less than three months after the project sent first power to the grid from its site in the Southern Downs, outside Warwick. The 162 turbine Acciona Energía and Ark Energy project had connected 27 wind turbines to the grid by early October, with . . .

  • Highland Council considers launching judicial review of Strath Oykel wind farm plan in Sutherland

    Updated: 2025-01-18 16:12:05
    Highland Council is considering challenging the controversial decision by Scottish ministers to grant planning permission for the Strath Oykel Wind farm, it has emerged. The local authority is discussing whether to seek a judicial review of the ministers’ decision, which went against the recommendations of the government’s own planning reporters. North, west and central Sutherland ward councillor Michael Baird said: “Planners believe there is a strong case, and they are consulting James Findlay KC, who represented the council at the . . .

  • Planning Board sets meeting on wind turbines

    Updated: 2025-01-18 15:54:24
    It may be late in the state pro­cess, but the Middletown Planning Board weighed in on Jan. 8 about wind turbines and set an agenda item at their Feb. 12 meeting for residents to vent their concerns about wind turbines dotting the local horizon. Board member Leon Amarant expressed concern about windmills ruining the vistas of town beaches. “[Should] the Planning Board consider talking about what is hap­pening in our ocean?” he asked. “Every single day, you see a new . . .

  • Local communities to have their say on wind farm developments

    Updated: 2025-01-18 15:07:49
    The Crisafulli Government is acting to ensure local communities are consulted for any new wind farm developments, in line with the LNP’s election commitment. The development approval for the Moonlight Range Wind Farm, 40 kilometres north west of Rockhampton has been issued with a proposed ‘call in’ notice that allows submissions to be made from community members, local governments and other stakeholders as to whether the proposal meets State interests. The consultation period is 40 business days and will close . . .

  • Company executives fight lawsuit over junked wind-turbine blades

    Updated: 2025-01-18 14:54:47
    The top executives of a company accused of abandoning junked wind-turbine blades across Iowa say they shouldn’t be held liable for their companies’ actions. Last fall, the State of Iowa sued a Washington-state company and its executives for allegedly dumping tons of old wind-turbine blades around Iowa, in violation of the state’s solid-waste laws. The lawsuit alleges that for over seven years, Global Fiberglass Solutions failed to properly dispose of decommissioned wind-turbine blades and stockpiled them at multiple locations in . . .

  • Qld government pauses wind farm proposals to strengthen renewable energy regulations

    Updated: 2025-01-18 14:48:13
    The Queensland government has paused proposals for wind farms as it works to strengthen regulations around renewable energy planning. Deputy Premier Jarrod Bliejie has issued a proposed call-in-notice for a potential wind farm near Rockhampton and to hold an assessment of three other green projects. The move will also ensure communities potentially affected by large-scale projects are consulted. The LNP made a pre-election promise to ensure renewable energy projects receive the same evaluation as mining and agriculture.

  • Scoop: The draft order that offshore wind opponents sent to Trump

    Updated: 2025-01-16 19:24:42
    If even only a few of these ideas are enacted, it would be a harbinger of doom for wind energy in America. Major groups in the anti–offshore wind movement are going big, submitting a lengthy policy wish list to the Trump transition team, according to documents obtained and first reported by Heatmap News. Key organizations in the movement against offshore wind submitted a draft executive order “on the suspension of offshore wind development” to the transition team. According to the . . .

  • Wind farm developer’s plan to ‘relocate’ unexploded ordnance draws criticism

    Updated: 2025-01-16 13:49:06
    Empire Wind developer Equinor this month plans to “relocate” two pieces of unexploded ordnance found in its offshore lease area, including one that appears to be at the northwestern tip of the project 15 miles from shore, according to a company notice to mariners. The work, which is scheduled to start Sunday and continue into early February, drew a quick response from a commercial fishing group, which wants the ordnance removed or blown up. Equinor’s notice said a contractor vessel . . .

  • McIntosh County windfarm project canceled

    Updated: 2025-01-15 18:53:20
    Two southeast Oklahoma lawmakers are applauding a company’s decision to cancel their plans for a proposed windfarm in McIntosh County. “We have been informed today by TransAlta of their decision to cancel the Canadian Valley project,” Reps. Tim Turner, R-Kinta, and Neil Hays, R-Checotah said in a joint statement last week.’ The two state representatives said they expressed their gratitude to the citizens of House District 15 and 13 and surrounding areas for their active engagement on the issue. “Your . . .

  • Halkirk wind turbine debris has no clean-up date yet: company

    Updated: 2025-01-15 16:33:44
    The company responsible for a new wind farm in the Halkirk region stated debris which fell off a turbine has no date yet for clean-up. Capital Power’s Halkirk 2 development was stood down in November 2024 after a nacelle and rotor fell to the ground Nov. 8 from the T33 turbine. A resident of Paintearth County, where Halkirk 2 is located, contacted the ECA Review over New Years to state he noticed the debris hadn’t been cleaned up and that . . .

  • How a storm of lawsuits paralysed wind mills in northwest Spain

    Updated: 2025-01-15 15:14:18
    Jose Maria Cofreces is the owner of a guesthouse in northwestern Galicia, one of Spain’s most picturesque regions and a major tourist draw. It is also one of the windiest parts of the country, and that has made it a magnet for developers of giant wind turbines that can stand higher than 50-storey tower blocks. Cofreces is among those at the vanguard of opposition in Galicia. Echoing the tactics of rural communities across Europe, the protesters have used the courts . . .

  • Wind turbines impair the access of bats to water bodies in agricultural landscapes

    Updated: 2025-01-14 14:35:26
    Summary: Bats depend on open bodies of water such as small ponds and lakes for foraging and drinking. Access to water is particularly important for survival in the increasingly hot and dry summers caused by climate change, the time when female bats are pregnant and rear their young. A scientific team has now shown that access to drinking sites is hampered by wind turbines in agricultural landscapes: Many bat species avoid the turbines and water bodies located close to the . . .

  • Atlantic City, NJ, & all east coast wind turbines to be halted

    Updated: 2025-01-14 14:25:05
    Offshore wind turbine opponents have been anxiously awaiting for Donald Trump to take office as President of the United States on November 20, 2025 at 12:00 noon, ET. Congressman Jeff Van Drew, R-NJ-2, offered a very important update today regarding the offshore wind turbine activities planned for all over the East Coast, including off of the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Atlantic City project is preparing to spend two years burying high power, electrical cables directly underneath stable . . .

  • Whitman County Commissioners issue moratorium on wind energy projects

    Updated: 2025-01-12 23:55:41
    Members of a community group opposed to plans for a large wind farm project near Kamiak Butte in Whitman County are celebrating a decision this week by county commissioners to place a moratorium on new commercial wind turbines. Commissioners cited the need to update regulations on wind energy projects. Save the Palouse, a nonprofit organization formed in opposition to the project, posted news of the six-month moratorium on social media. “This is a huge step in the right direction, and . . .

  • Court says no to wind turbines, imposes one year moratorium

    Updated: 2025-01-12 19:19:18
    In a special meeting on Dec. 30, the Madison County Quorum Court imposed a 1-year moratorium on wind turbine development within the county. [This item is available in full to subscribers.]

  • Co Tyrone 75m wind turbine refused due to “potential shadow flicker” and wildlife concerns

    Updated: 2025-01-12 14:31:30
    A planning application for the replacement of a wind turbine on lands north of No 62 Tullydraw Road, Dungannon, has been refused as the said wind turbine would have been nearly twice the height of the existing one. The existing wind turbine is 42m in overall height, while the new turbine would have had an overall height of 75m. The planning officer who assessed the planning application wrote: “I consider the proposed turbine will have an unacceptable impact on visual . . .

  • Rep. Van Orden holds talks with frustrated Portage Co. farmers

    Updated: 2025-01-11 14:29:04
    “We’re very concerned about the weather-based energy that’s coming through our area is driving up our land prices and it’s really changing the way our industry is being done,” Trine Spindler said.

  • 3 lawsuits claim Inslee, regulators sidestepped state law to approve Eastern WA wind farm

    Updated: 2025-01-11 14:22:00
    Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and the state agency responsible for authorizing energy projects overstepped state law when they approved a controversial energy project south of Kennewick, allege three new lawsuits. Benton County, Tri-Cities CARES and the Yakama Nation followed up on their November promises to sue to curtail Scout Clean Energy from developing a massive wind, solar and battery farm along a 24-mile stretch of the Horse Heaven Hills. Separate suits filed in Thurston County Superior Court ask a judge . . .

  • World-first Monash study shows bird flight paths through two proposed Bass Strait wind farms

    Updated: 2025-01-10 14:13:00
    A world-first study of birds migrating across Bass Strait has shown they travelled directly through zones earmarked for the federal government’s two declared offshore wind farms. Monash University researchers studying Tasmanian Boobook owls have become the first to examine flight migration paths from Victoria to Tasmania, tracking the birds via satellite to map their over-water journeys. The findings, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Emu – Austral Ornithology, highlight the importance of Bass Strait as a flyway for land birds . . .

  • Environment dept under fire over wind farm

    Updated: 2025-01-08 15:37:16
    Environmental organisations Terra Cypria and BirdLife Cyprus found on Tuesday that a wind farm in Kellia state forest in Larnaca, which had been put on hold by the Environment Department for a series of violations, has been concluded with the blessings of the department itself. They said the Republic is already facing an EU procedure for failing to adequately implement a directive on birds. In the context of this procedure, the European Commission has already sent a letter of notice . . .

  • Petition aims to halt Hill of Fare wind farm application

    Updated: 2025-01-08 15:22:19
    Campaigners are petitioning for the site of the proposed Hill of Fare wind farm in Aberdeenshire in a bid to stop the project. The Hill of Fare Windfarm Information Group called for Dunecht Estates, where the wind farm will be based, to get the project’s developer, RES, to withdraw its application. RES is looking to develop the 105.6MW less than four miles from Banchory. Under its current plan, the wind farm will use a total of 16 turbines, with heights . . .

  • Crews clean up hydraulic fluid after Newburyport turbine incident

    Updated: 2025-01-08 15:18:58
    Newburyport neighbors had their first look at cleanup crews that showed up Tuesday morning along Route 1, all under the watchful eye of the Department of Environmental Protection. This is the result of hydraulic fluid that came cascading down from a wind turbine before ending up across the street, leaving blotches of fluid covering the siding of a condo complex, cars, curbing and fences too. Fire officials say it was all the result of a recent rain storm that included . . .

  • Trump says he wants no wind turbines built during his administration

    Updated: 2025-01-07 20:26:44
    President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he would seek to have a policy of having no wind farms constructed during his second term, threatening billions of dollars in planned wind projects. “We are going to have a policy where no windmills are being built,” Trump said during a lengthy tirade against wind power during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trump, who has vowed a first day executive order targeting wind power, has long made no secret his . . .

  • Offshore wind farms ‘could blind Britain’s radar to enemy missile attacks’

    Updated: 2025-01-07 15:35:31
    Defence experts are working on radical solutions to prevent offshore wind farms blocking radar systems amid fears they could leave the UK vulnerable to missile attacks. Fears have been raised that plans to massively increase the number of turbines in the seas around Britain could leave the Islands open to a surprise attack. Scientists are now working on measures to lessen the impact of the proposed quadrupling of offshore wind power by 2030. They include making turbines from stealth materials . . .

  • Country towns feeling steamrolled by rapid growth of wind energy in regional WA

    Updated: 2025-01-04 20:50:41
    In short: Hundreds of wind turbines are set to dot the landscape across southern WA as part of the state government’s push for more renewable energy. Residents of multiple country towns have expressed concerns about the uneven playing field they face negotiating with energy companies. What’s next? The WA government’s green power agency says the ongoing rollout is a collaborative process between locals and energy developers. The erection of hundreds of wind turbines across Western Australia’s agricultural heartland has communities . . .

  • The looming battle over Britain’s wind farms

    Updated: 2025-01-04 20:32:10
    The Labour government wants to ramp up renewables. But many local residents are up in arms about plans for pylons and cables in sensitive sites. Adam Rowlands’ boots scrunch through the pebbles as he describes the abundance of wildlife in the wetlands behind the beach in the Suffolk town of Aldeburgh. “We have scarce white-fronted geese, alongside important numbers of pintails, wigeons, and other waterfowl,” reels off Rowlands, an area manager for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, . . .

  • Protecting cave bats: Wisconsin DNR proposes wind turbine restrictions

    Updated: 2025-01-04 15:27:34
    Wisconsin’s cave bats are in rapid decline. Now the DNR is looking at new restrictions on wind turbines to help save the bats. Cave bats serve an important role in Wisconsin’s ecosystem by eating biting insects and other pests, but they’re also under threat. “Unfortunately, when you have a bat that’s very tiny, that gets hit by a very large turbine blade, they end up dying,” Stacy Rowe, a conservation biologist at the Wisconsin DNR said. The fungal disease white-nose . . .

  • Brennendes Windrad bei Kirchheimbolanden (Donnersbergkreis)

    Updated: 2025-01-03 22:05:47
    [A wind turbine caught fire on Thursday in the facility on the Hungerberg near Kirchheimbolanden (Donnersberg district). The flames could be seen from afar. The police think a technical defect was the cause. The operator of the wind turbine, Cerventus, estimates that the damage will amount to around one million euros.] Im Windpark auf dem Hungerberg bei Kirchheimbolanden (Donnersbergkreis) brannte am Donnerstag ein Windrad. Die Flammen waren von Weitem zu sehen. Die Polizei geht von einem technischen Defekt als Brandursache . . .

  • Windkraftanlage in Niedersachsen brennt lichterloh – Schaden in Millionenhöhe

    Updated: 2025-01-03 21:56:31
    [On Wednesday evening around 6:00 p.m., a wind turbine in the Gildehaus facility in the county of Bad Bentheim, Lower Saxony, caught fire. The cause of the fire is still unknown.] Am Mittwochabend gegen 18:00 Uhr fing eine Windkraftanlage im Windpark Gildehaus in der Grafschaft Bad Bentheim, Niedersachsen Feuer. Die Ursache für den Brand ist noch unbekannt. Die Freiwillige Feuerwehr ließ das Feuer in 100 Metern Höhe kontrolliert abbrennen. Es bestand zu keinem Zeitpunkt eine Gefahr für Menschen, weitere Objekte . . .

  • Lawsuit against Arkwright wind turbines adds plaintiffs

    Updated: 2025-01-03 21:49:23
    A lawsuit that has thus far crawled along at a snail’s pace will continue – after further delay. Richard Alexander et. al v. EDP Renewables North America LLC et al. was originally filed Sept. 24, 2019, by dozens of north county residents over the Arkwright Summit Wind Farm, which consists of 47 wind turbines erected in 2018. Residents are asking the court for unspecified damages related to loss of property values, compensatory damages for destruction of homes and lifestyle, loss . . .

  • Cornwall fishermen fear for livelihoods as offshore wind farms pose ‘greatest change’ the industry has faced

    Updated: 2025-01-02 15:22:21
    Fishermen in Cornwall fear proposals for mass offshore wind farms could destroy their businesses and pose the “greatest change” the fishing industry has ever faced. The Crown Estate – which owns much of the country’s seabed – has published plans for what it calls “areas of opportunity” for offshore wind farms in waters off the North East and the Celtic Sea around South Wales, Devon and Cornwall. It insists a maximum of 15% of North East and 12% of Celtic . . .

  • Greek environmentalists say wind farms threaten brown bears

    Updated: 2025-01-01 14:57:24
    Greece’s push for alternative and sustainable energy sources will bring more wind farms but environmentalist groups Arcturos and Callisto said the sites could risk the habitats of brown bears and were not considered by the Environment Ministry. The organizations said the ministry instead has intervened in a national action plan for the brown bear, developed under the European Union’s LIFE program by removing references to the impact of the farms where the animals live. They also said that proposals to . . .

  • Buffalo Common Council member pushes back on Lake Erie wind turbine proposal

    Updated: 2025-01-01 14:51:21
    Forty degrees and windy in late December aren’t exactly the ideal conditions for a beach day. But that isn’t stopping Councilman Joe Golombek from thinking about Buffalo’s shoreline. Golombek submitted a resolution to the Buffalo Common Council opposing the placement of wind turbines in Lake Erie and making Buffalo one of the last major cities along the coast to support a region-wide ban. The resolution was discussed in Monday’s council meeting. “Once I looked at all of this, I said, . . .

  • Planned $2bn South Australian offshore wind farm scrapped

    Updated: 2024-12-31 15:15:41
    Another proposed wind farm ­development has been shelved, with the partners behind a contentious plan in South Australia ­quietly pulling the project. An application with federal ­environmental regulators for the almost $2bn SA offshore wind farm project – also known as the Kingston project – was withdrawn without explanation this month. The project was originally proposed by British company Australis Energy. German group Skyborn Renew­ables – which is involved in ­operating or under-construction wind farms in Germany, Taiwan, France and . . .

  • Ilirska Bistrica locals submit signatures against wind farm

    Updated: 2024-12-31 14:34:16
    After the locals expressed in October strong opposition to the plans to build a wind farm near Ilirska Bistrica (SW), the Snežnik civil initiative has now submitted signatures of opposition to the project to the Natural Resources and Spatial Planning Ministry. They argue the planned location is within a Natura 2000 nature protection area. Civilna iniciativa proti vetrnim elektrarnam v Ilirski Bistrici predala podpise ministrstvu Predstavniki Civilne iniciative Snežnik so danes na ministrstvo za naravne vire in prostor dostavili zbrane . . .

  • ACK For Whales asks Supreme Court to hear appeal

    Updated: 2024-12-29 17:15:10
    First offshore wind case to go to Supreme Court since Loper Bright decision ended “Chevron deference.” Nantucket Residents Against Turbines (ACK For Whales), the grassroots Nantucket group fighting to prevent environmental ruin caused by offshore wind development (OSW), has asked the Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a lower court decision allowing federal agencies to disregard the Endangered Species Act in their rush to approve OSW projects. The petition asserts the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals wrongly allowed . . .

  • Opponents want to stop $500M Wyoming wind farm, say it will kill eagles and bats

    Updated: 2024-12-28 16:27:28
    Wyoming archaeology and conservation groups, an eagle expert and two Albany County residents are asking a judge to stop a federal energy bureau and the U.S. Energy Secretary from advancing a vital step in building up to 149 wind turbines in the southeastern Wyoming county. The critics say the devices will kill eagles and bats, harass wildlife, blast the locals with constant noise, and mar the landscape and the skyline of the Ames Monument National Historic Landmark. The $500 million . . .

  • More wind turbines could be coming to the Pennask Mountain area; K2 Project will be exempt from environmental assessment

    Updated: 2024-12-28 15:20:59
    More wind turbines could be coming to Pennask Mountain in the coming years, after BC Hydro signed a 30-year power purchase agreement for several proposed wind farm projects earlier this month. The BC government announced in early December that it had selected nine proposed wind energy projects following its earlier call for power-generation projects. One of the selected projects is the K2 Wind Power project which is proposed to be built on Westbank First Nation land on Pennask Mountain. Westbank . . .

  • Preservationists nationwide say that wind energy is harming America’s historic sites

    Updated: 2024-12-27 16:15:43
    A pyramid in Wyoming, lighthouses in New England, and the site where Japanese-Americans were incarcerated in World War II are some of the historic sites that are being threatened by wind development, preservationists say. The Bureau of Land Management earlier this month approved a 241-turbine wind farm near Twin Falls, Idaho, about a two-hour drive from Boise. From the time it was announced, the project was met with opposition from ranchers, environmentalists and Native American tribes. This managed to get . . .

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