Energy Law

More than nine years after plans for a huge wind farm in Nantucket Sound were first revealed, the final regulatory approvals for Cape Wind have been granted.

The exhaustive review process began in 2001. It ended last Friday, with granting by the Environmental Protection Agency of a permit relating to potential effects on air quality of emissions from vessels engaged in operations to do with construction and operation of the 130-turbine development on Horseshoe Shoal.

The previous day, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made a determination in favor of the project.

Achieving a major clean-air goal ahead of state targets, the Los Angeles DWP last year generated 20 percent of its power through wind, water, solar and geothermal systems, city officials announced Thursday.

"This is a big deal," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a City Hall news conference with environmental leaders. "When we set this goal in 2005, the DWP was the dirtiest utility in the nation. Today, it's the cleanest, and we have been able to do it at a cost lower than any other utility in California."

In 2005, the Department of Water and Power generated roughly 5 percent of its energy from renewable sources. Last year, however, that surged to a high of 28 percent for a short time.

Last year was not a good one for investment in green projects and technologies. The combined effect of the recession and the hangover from the failure of the Copenhagen talks saw investment levels drop sharply.

But this year is looking rosier, according to HSBC. Their analysts say in a new report:

"Doubts about science have been replaced by the realities of extreme events and rising commodity prices. The shocks to European renewables incentives sparked by the fiscal crisis appear to have run their course, and efforts to drive energy efficiency will be intensified in the EU in the next 12 months."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will address Heads of State and international delegates.

The visit by the UN Secretary-General underscores the growing role the UAE and Abu Dhabi are playing in driving the global adoption of renewable energy and clean technology innovation. Through Masdar, the multi-faceted initiative advancing the development and deployment of renewable and alternative energy technologies, Abu Dhabi has demonstrated its long-term commitment to discovering a viable roadmap for sustainability.

The Cincinnati Parks Department is installing a series of solar panel arrays that it says will make the department the owner of the largest number of solar arrays in the state.

The project, installed in 12 parks and on structures around Cincinnati, consists of 586 235-watt Sharp solar modules. When finished, the solar power project will provide the district with 170 kilowatts of renewable energy.

A lone wind turbine spinning near at the north end of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was hailed this morning as a first step in bringing widespread renewable energy to Louisiana.

Officials from the Causeway Commission, Cleco, the state's Public Service Commission and the city of Mandeville cut the ribbon on the project, marking the beginning of a two-year test of the viability of wind power on and around Lake Pontchartrain.

"America today is, unfortunately, no longer energy self-sufficient," Causeway General Manager Carlton Dufrechou said. "And these are the kinds of systems we need to make America self-sufficient."

If the project is successful, officials think larger turbines could be installed along the Causeway itself, taking advantage of the higher winds on the lake to produce more power, said Eric Schouest, general manager of Cleco's eastern district.

Turbines can be a money spinner for cash-strapped farmers on Teesside, renewables bosses have claimed.

Eco Environments, which has recently opened an office in Darlington, has teamed up with Scottish turbine makers Proven Energy to install turbines eligible for feed-in tariff payments.

Bosses say interest is growing from farmers and businesses on industrial sites that want to turn wind power into extra revenue.

Since April, anyone installing a wind turbine that?s registered under the national Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) is paid per kilowatt produced - whether they use the power themselves or not.

This week, the brutal business of mountaintop removal coal mining got some bad news when the EPA revoked its permit for Arch Coal?s Spruce No. 1 Mine, a West Virginia mine that would have blasted off mountaintops across 2,278 acres to get to the coal beneath. It was a smart move for the local environment--the project could have polluted streams, killed wildlife, and poisoned locals. But it may have a larger implication for dirty coal since the EPA revoked the permit after the fact using the Clean Air Act. That means other coal mines could get shut down too, leaving a big space in West Virginia for cleaner energy development.