This project would have powered over a million homes and made a huge dent in New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions. It is not happening now because of a group of NIMBY activists and the Environment Court’s ruling.

This is a huge blow, in itself, to renewable and wind energy proponents, but it also brings concerns for future wind energy projects.

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The wind farm plans were announced earlier this week. The project will include 30 turbines and is expected to provide the nation with 75 MW of power, powering the capital city, their international airport, and more!

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However, is it changing its stance out of international moral pressure or a major financial incentive (recent deal) in the US? And who is to benefit the most from this shift?

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Big shifts seem to be stirring in the wind turbine market. Foreign companies are backing out of China due to China’s move to use more home-grown technology. At the same time, China is looking to expand its wind turbine sales into Europe.

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European energy giant E.ON “turned on” what is reported to be the largest wind farm in the world this week, in Texas.

The farm contains 627 wind turbines on almost 100,000 acres of land near Roscoe, Texas.

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There has been evidence suggested that rooftop wind turbines (micro wind turbines for the home) just aren’t effective, and in some cases even pose a safety risk. However, that hasn’t stopped the engineering of other home wind turbine technologies that might just improve upon those already offerred on the market. In the Dutch Postcode Lottery’s Green Challenge which took place this past week, a new type of wind turbine was unveiled that’s said to have a high-efficiency, working in weather conditions where there is minimal wind; and it also has a more discreet look that better blends in with the architecture of any home.

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The world’s very first floating fullscale offshore wind turbine has officially been inaugurated in the North Sea off the coast of Norway.

The turbine even has a name: Hywind. It measures 213 feet tall and weighs 5,300 tonnes, and it rests on a floating stand which is filled with water and rocks to provide balast. Three powerful cables anchor the stand to the seafloor.

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On the endless laundry list of markets that have struggled to muddle through the financial mess known as the global economic crisis, the wind sector seems to be showing signs of a rebound, albeit a small one. A recent article featured in the Financial Times highlighted the “period of calm” that wind producers and investors, alike, are more than relieved to see return in the market.

Prior to the global economic vortex that has sent the sensitive wind market spinning (as well as other renewables markets), wind had been showing strong growth in the first half of 2008. The market for turbine installation was worth $47.5 billion and global wind power capacity was 121 GW - more than twice the 48GW capacity in 2004.

Unfortunately, investors and analysts do not even need the figures from late 2008 and the first half of 2009 to know that the pleasant breeze of financial success had turned into a market maelstrom. In the aftermath, there is reason to hope that recent signs of improvement may lead to more growth.

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Wind farms in Italy threaten to wipe out the Golden Eagle, farmers` organisation Coldiretti and national environmental organisations declared recently. As concern about climate change and sustainable, eco-friendly alternative energy grows, it‘s surprising that an industry with so much potential – the wind industry – is under fire from environmental groups.

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Danish scientists are developing a new wind turbine blade that mimics the stability found in hawk wings during highly-turbulent wind events.

The tremendous dynamic loads put on large wind turbine blades shortens the life of fiberglass blades, adding to the total cost of large-scale wind energy development. But researchers at the Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy in Denmark are developing an elastic component for the trailing-edge of large wind turbine blades that could drastically lengthen the life of those blades, thereby reducing the frequency and likelihood of breakage — and ultimately reducing cost.

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The planned closure of a wind turbine manufacturing facility on England’s Isle of Wight moved several workers to seize control of the plant on Monday night.

[Update: July 21, 11:36pm GMT: Since workers first seized the plant on Monday night, 5 more workers slipped police lines to join the 25 workers already occupying the administrative offices at a Vestas Wind Systems plant on the Isle of Wight. Some food also made it inside, but police reportedly now have that route blocked.]

According to reports, 25 workers facing imminent termination at a shuttering wind turbine plant entered the administrative offices of the Vestas Wind Systems factory in Newport, Isle of Wight, at around 7:30 on Monday night. The workers vowed to remain there until the government discusses their proposal to save it from closure by nationalizing the plant.

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Wyndham Worldwide’s new headquarters in Parsippany, N.J. is all about renewable resources. According to Green Lodging News, the new facility is powered 100% by wind energy. The building opened in 2009 and they expect to receive a LEED Silver award.

According to Environmental Leader,

Faith Taylor, vice president, sustainability and innovation for Wyndham Worldwide, told the news site, “We really wanted to walk our green talk. We took the LEED initiative to heart. It was a collaboration of many groups.”

Picture via Flickr.

Made in the USA is back.  Nordex USA, Inc., one of the world’s leading manufacturers of wind turbines, has just announced that it will build a manufacturing plant in Jonesboro, Arkansas.  The plant is expected to begin producing turbines in 2010 and create approximately 600 jobs.  With a typical wind turbine requiring about 8,000 components, that could mean a ripple effect in related jobs in the supply chain.

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In late 2008, just a few months after the United States’ installed wind energy capacity topped 20,000 MW, the U.S. became the largest wind power producer in the world. And in 2008, thanks to a (mostly) robust economy and a healthy tax benefit for the utility-scale generation of renewable energy, the U.S. added more new wind energy to the grid than did any other source. Here’s a nice visual representation of that growth:

When the final map for 2009 is made, however, the sagging economy and the frozen credit markets will likely have slowed the meteoric rise in wind energy capacity we saw in 2007 and 2008.

Image: U.S. Department of Energy
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Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It could be many things: God, love, E.T., or even Michael Jackson. But today, right now, it is wind. Wind has always been around. I think that few would argue with that. But wind power, on the other hand, has been hidden from mankind’s view for centuries. But now wind power is on the rise, especially in America. And a new report shows that wind power is more popular than the Beatles…or not.

The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a report today, which came on the same day that Secretary Chu announced the selection of 28 new wind energy projects for up to $13.8 million in funding – $12.8 million of which will be Recovery Act funds.

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With the historic passage of climate legislation through the House of Representatives, many concerns have trickled forth. Does the climate legislation do enough? Will it even work? Does it have the right aim? With the issuance of similar concerns have come proposed solutions and substitutions. The republicans have proposed that 100 nuclear power plants be built by 2030 in place of the proposed cap-and-trade climate bill. I’ve recently written two articles on the Republican “solution” to both the climate and economic crises. And today I’m writing more.

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced his own personal blueprint for the nation’s recovery. He began by re-stating the Senate Republicans’ plan that would replace the cap-and-trade legislation passed by the House, which includes building 100 nuclear power plants within 20 years, the encouragement of electric cars for conservation, offshore exploration for natural gas and oil and doubling energy research and development to make renewable energy cost-competitive.

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Coming in at second place in the world in energy consumption - second only to the United States - the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the world’s most populated nation, is looking for ways to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions and shift to renewable energy. This desire to increase renewable energy sources and cut greenhouse gases has led the PRC to promote private investments in renewables.

Such promotion has led to a recent investment by The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which will partly finance a $73 million wind farm in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. ADB will be investing $24 US (164 million CNY) in Datang Sino-Japan (Chifeng) Renewable Power Corporation, a joint venture between state-owned China Datang Corporation and Japan’s Kyushu Electric Power Company, Sumitomo Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation (CHINA) Holdings. Such a venture will be ADB’s first private sector wind farm investment in the PRC.

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