Wind Energy and renewable energy blog

Anti Wind Turbine Campaigners Fail to Pay Council Tax

UK anti wind turbine campaigners Jane and Julian Davies are being taken to court for unpaid council tax it has emerged this week.

The Spalding Guardian reported today that South Holland District Council has won liability orders to recover £110,000 outstanding in unpaid business rates and council tax.

Jane and Julian Davis travel the UK and abroad to speak out against wind farms and advise people who want to object to local wind farm proposals.

The Davis’s reportedly owe over £1000 to their local council

German Company Renerco Buys UK Wind Farms

Munich based renewable energy company Renerco has just completed the purchase of its second UK wind farm.

The purchase of Kildrummy wind farm in Scotland was completed under a framework agreement with German utility giant RWE. The 8 wind turbine, c. 18 Megawatt wind farm is located 50km west of Aberdeen and construction is due to start in early 2012. The wind farm construction contract negotiation is currently underway.

Donald Trump Opposes Scottish Wind Farm Proposal

In an ironic twist Donald Trump is fighting a wind farm proposal in view of his controversial luxury golf course.

Trump is concerned about the effects of the 11 offshore wind turbines on his nearly completed Aberdeen coast golf course, ‘residential village’ and hotel development.

According to Bloomberg Trump wrote in an email “I am very disappointed that Scotland may allow the development of a wind power plant directly off Aberdeen’s beautiful coastline“.

Germany’s Largest Offshore Wind Project Secures Finance

Germany’s largest offshore wind farm ‘Meerwind’ reached financial close at the end of last week according to its owners WindMW Gmbh.

Meerwind wind farm will see a total investment of 1.2 billion Euros when it is built in 2013. It has been a long journey for the project which was proposed back in 2000 and approved in 2007.

The project financing was managed by Blackstone who set up the portfolio company WindMW to fund the wind farm. The wind farm has attracted green investment from Santander and Siemens Bank, Lloyds Banking Group…

US Gears Up for Offshore Wind Energy

This week saw US politicians taking action to encourage offshore wind energy along the US Atlantic Coast.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced a new initiative dubbed ‘Smart from the Start’ with the purpose of selecting the best sites for offshore wind farms. The initiative is based on regulatory change designed to speed up the permitting and leasing of offshore wind sites leading to speedier wind farm delivery.

Anti-wind energy campaigners to cost England over £1.3bn

UK renewable energy trade organisation RenewableUK told its members this week that anti- wind farm campaigners could cost the country £1.3bn.

A report, produced by Garrard Hassan and commissioned by RenewableUK says that England has the potential to see £1.3bn in investment that will directly create jobs and opportunities for local companies, funds for community activities and increased business rates for local authorities. However according to RenewableUK this is being threatened by the actions of anti-wind farm campaigners. The £1.3bn figure represents money that would flow directly to businesses and organisations at the local and regional level.

Green Group Celebrate Town’s New Wind Farm

A green campaign group celebrated the construction of a wind farm in the heart of England this week.

The Sustainable Energy Alliance (SEA) supported Lindhurst wind farm, just outside the town of Mansfield from the early planning stages. The wind farm had over 3000 letters of support from local people.

The 5 turbine wind farm will generate enough renewable electricity to provide for the annual average needs of around 5000 homes.

Councillor Threatened at Wind Farm Planning Meeting

A Councillor was threatened not to vote in favour of a wind farm in the East Riding of Yorkshire this week.

Councillor Chapman was left a phone message at 9pm on the day before the planning meeting to consider two wind farm applications. The message left was “If you vote for the wind farms you will forever be looking over your shoulder”.

Despite recieving more than 430 letters of support…

Court Costs Mount up for Anti-Wind Farm Campaigners

The recent trend of anti-wind farm campaigners challenging wind farm planning consents is unlikely to continue if the experiences of recent court cases are repeated.

Den Brook wind farm, near Crediton in Devon was first proposed five years ago. After being given the go- ahead by the Planning Inspectorate at appeal, challenges were mounted by resident Mr Hulme against the Government’s decision. The latest judge to consider the case – Frances Patterson QC however rejected all 10 reasons for the high court challenge, concluding that the decision to grant consent for the 9 wind turbines was ‘thorough and reasonable’.

Helen Hall, project manager for wind farm company RES told the BBC:

Wind Turbine Manufacturer Share Prices Fall

The BBC reported this week that shares in leading wind turbine manufacturer Vestas have slumped this year.

The company suffered net losses of 119m euros in the second quarter, down from a profit of 43m euros one year ago according to the BBC.

Vestas expects a substantial new wind farm contract in China to help soften the blow of postponed orders in Europe and the US.

Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa also experienced a drop in share price on Wednesday.

Europe Picks up Pace on Offshore Wind

118 new offshore wind turbines were connected to the electricity grid network in the first half of 2010 according to The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) today.

The new offshore wind farms across Europe total 333 Megawatts (MW) indicating that 2010 is set to be a more progressive year than 2009 which delivered 577 MW at the end of the full year. 151 additional wind turbines have been built but not connected to the grid taking the total installed to 440 MW.

According to EWEA figures there are now 43 operational offshore wind farms in Europe with a total capacity of 2,396 MW.

German Companies Join Forces to Build UK Offshore Wind Farm

German utility company Stadtwerke München (SWM) has bought a 30% stake in RWE Innogy’s Liverpool Bay wind farm Gwynt Y Mor.

According to industry sources, the company has been looking for a finance partner to share the £2bn offshore wind investment required for well over a year. Wind turbine manufacturer Siemens has also bought a 10% stake in the project.

Adopt a Wind Turbine

The European Wind Energy Association has launched a new campaign encouraging people to ‘adopt a wind turbine‘.

The ‘Give Europe a Breath of Fresh Air’ campaign aims to show that wind energy is a mainstream power source that EWEA believes could power Europe seven times over.

EWEA say that European countries are the world leaders in wind energy and that wind energy creates green jobs, lowers electricity prices and emits no C02.

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.

Europe’s Biggest Wind Farm Loses Turbine Blade

A wind turbine at Europe’s biggest wind farm lost a blade last Friday according to wind farm operator Scottish Power Renewables.

All of the 140 turbines at the Whitelee wind farm were switched off further to the incident whilst engineers investigated possible causes.

Anti- Wind Turbine Councillor Flees to Spain

A local councillor who won his seat at Kings Lynn & West Norfolk Council due to his anti- wind turbine stance mysteriously disappeared to Spain after getting planning restrictions on his house removed and selling it.

According to the Wisbech Standard Cllr Markinson had previously been refused permission to lift the agricultural occupancy restriction but after he was elected in October 2007 he tried again with more success.

Second Challenge to Essex Wind Farm Proposals

A second challenge has been made to an Essex wind farm proposal this week leading to questions about the effectiveness of UK planning and legal systems.

The Bradwell wind farm proposal submitted by wind energy company npower renewables has been subject to two public inquiries at which planning consent was granted on both occasions.

Cambridge Wind Farm Given Green Light

The Wadlow wind farm proposal in Cambridgeshire, England has been given the go-ahead by the Secretary of State.

The proposal for 13 wind turbines was objected to by the local authority – South Cambridgeshire District Council, local residents and horse riders.

It was South Cambs’ case that this was not the ‘right location for a wind farm’ of this size. However Planning Inspector David Lavender found that the wind farm company involved; RES ‘did not need to exhaust sequentially all other better locations’ to show that the wind farm site is needed against renewable energy targets.

Objections related to wind turbines scaring horses however appear to have backfired … as Lavender concluded that horse riding seemed to be a very dangerous activity whether there were turbines there or not.

Its not your back yard, its OURS says Prescott

“Its not your back yard, its ours” Rt Hon John Prescott told anti- wind farm campaigners in his keynote address to the British Wind Energy Association conference today.

The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) opened its 31st annual conference and exhibition at Liverpool’s ACC this morning with the speech from the ex deputy PM.

Prescott launched into an attack on the UK planning system saying that it discourages the industry and communities from submitting planning applications.

“Three quarters of applications are refused and this is the highest it has ever been and it is getting worse” he said and went on to warn politicians that the system is threatening renewable energy targets.

UK Micro- Renewable Energy Masterclasses

With fixed prices for small scale green energy generation on their way, UK residents are starting to show some serious interest in generating their own renewable electricity.

Green electricity company Good Energy is planning an event to help people get started with their own electricity projects.

The workshop ‘Power from the People: How to Generate Renewable Energy’ is aimed at a wide ranging audience from homeowners to farmers with the objective of helping to get small scale renewable energy projects up and running.