Wind Energy and renewable energy blog

US Sanctions First Offshore Wind Farm

The first US offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound secured consent from the Obama administration on Wednesday after a 9 year battle.

The Cape Cod wind farm will consist of 130 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 420 Megawatts (MW).

The decision comes after 9 years of information requests and legislative tussels between the developer – Cape Wind Associates, wind energy supporters and vociferous opposers.

Executive Director of grassroots support group Clean Power Now said:

Finland Tops Wind Farm League Table

If you want a quick decision on your wind farm application, Finland is the place to be according to a new survey released this month.

Labour & Lib Dems Put Spotlight on Conservative Climate Sceptics

Labour and Liberal Democrat energy representatives Ed Miliband and Simon Hughes joined forces to put Tory climate change sceptics in the spotlight this week.

The ‘green hustings’ event organised by the Guardian featured a debate on climate change and energy between the 3 biggest political parties. The debate can be heard online via the Guardian website.

Wind Powered Rum

Bacardi have installed 2 wind turbines at their factory in Puerto Rico according to a report by BerNews this week.

The two 250 kW wind turbines owned by Aspenall Energies are expected to provide 7 percent of the Bacardi distillery’s needs and offset over 900 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Over 50% of Conservative MPs don’t agree with Renewable Energy Targets

Despite their campaigning as the ‘new green’ party at the beginnning of the year, the Conservatives have come out the least green in a new survey released this week. The RenewableUK survey carried out by ComRes shows that over half this year’s prospective Conservative MPs disagree with current renewable energy targets.

With election campaigning in full flow, all the main UK political parties are desperate to show off their green credentials. Voters however want to know whether politicians are serious about tackling climate change or merely pushing for a bit of rooftop solar panel or wind turbine tokenism. The ComRes survey of 101 prospective MPs gives us an idea as to which really is the greenest party of them all.

All of the main partys’ manifestos say that they support the current UK 15% renewable energy target by 2020 however this is not reflected by all prospective MPs seeking a seat. The new survey reveals that 54% prospective Conservative MPs disagree with our current renewable energy targets with only 22% strongly supporting them.

Brown Praises Siemens Offshore Wind Energy Work

The UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited the Siemens facility in Manchester this week and took the opportunity to speak of the bright future for the company in the offshore wind sector.

The tour involved visiting the facility that has carried out work on offshore wind energy. There were alse demonstrations of technologies used in the oil and gas sector, power stations and other industries.

Brown praised the work of Siemens in the UK and pointed to its crucial role in the future of UK wind energy and renewables.

UK Political Party Manifestos Commit to Renewable Energy

The key English political parties have now launched their manifestos in advance of the elections on May 6th.

All parties commit to a substantial proportion of the UK’s energy coming from renewable sources in the near future; however the details of measures to facilitate this move are not yet clear.

Labour’s ‘Future Fair for All‘ manifesto says the party would create 400,000 green collar jobs

Ministry of Defence Withdraws Objection to UK Offshore Wind Farms

Ministry of Defence (MOD) objections to over 3 GW of UK offshore wind farms have been resolved further to years of discussion and new funding.

The 5 offshore wind farms off the east coast of England in the Greater Wash were considered to pose a conflict with air defence due to the potential for wind turbines to show up on the MOD’s radar screens. However cash has been stumped up by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and the wind industry to buy a new TPS77 radar which has the ability to screen out the wind turbines.

US Maintains Top Wind Energy Position

The US is still the wind energy world leader according to a report released by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today.

The US Annual Wind Energy Industry Report claims that despite a slower rate of increase in manufacturing the US remains number 1 in industry rankings.

Kevin McCloud Endorses Feed in Tariffs

Even celebrities are excited about the new renewable energy Feed in Tariff (FIT). Here is Kevin McCloud talking to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) about the benefits of FIT at Ecobuild 2010:

UK Feed In Tariff Launched

The Government introduced two new renewable energy incentive schemes yesterday in a bid to encourage greener homes and businesses. The two schemes are expected to improve energy efficiency and increase small-scale low-carbon electricity.

The Government say that their Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC EES) for businesses and Feed in tariffs (FITs) will help people save money on fuel bills, reduce carbon emissions and generate decentralised low-carbon electricity.

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, said: