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Does worrying about climate change keep you up at night? Well, climate-friendly wind farms can keep you up at night too, rural Oregon residents tell The New York Times:

Opponents say the constant whooshing from the turbines makes them anxious and that the low-level vibrations keep them awake at night. Some say it gives them nausea and headaches. Many other residents say they hear little or nothing at all, and the question of whether windmill noise can harm health is in dispute.

wind farm noise oregon turbines infrasound

Terra-Gen Power has announced it has begun construction on what it's calling the world's largest wind energy project, the 1,550 megawatt Alta Wind Energy Center, in Mojave, California. At double the capacity of the next largest completed project, the wind farm will generate enough power to electrify 275,000 homes.

Terra-Gen Power wind greennumbers wind energy wind farm mojave Alta Wind Energy Center

Terra-Gen Power, a major developer of wind, solar and geothermal energy projects in the U.S., is $1.2 billion closer to building the country’s largest wind farm. This new capital, announced today, will help the company aggregate 570 megawatts-worth of power at its Alta Wind Energy Center site in Kern County, Calif.

This new capacity, composed of four separate projects, will be added to existing installations at the Center (150 megawatts-worth of turbines built by General Electric), which is expected to reach 3,000 megawatts — the largest amount produced at any one wind facility in the U.S. Terra-Gen will be buying 190 new turbines from Vestas-American Wind Technology.

Terra-Gen Power greennumbers Alta Wind Energy Center wind farm

Google is officially in the green energy business. The search giant announced on Tuesday that its Google Energy subsidiary signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with NextEra Energy. Google will begin buying 114 megawatts of electricity from an Iowa wind farm on July 30.

Google, of course, cannot directly use the clean green energy generated by the wind farm; that power goes into the local grid. So Google Energy will sell the power on the regional spot market, where utilities and electricity retailers go to buy power when demand spikes and they have a shortfall. Google will use the revenue from spot market sales to buy renewable energy certificates (RECs) which will offset its greenhouse gas emissions.

google google energy greennumbers wind energy wind farm NextEra Energy renewable energy certificates

Earlier this week, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI officially inaugurated a wind farm in the town of Melloussa.   With 165 turbines and a production capacity of 140 megawatts, the farm is touted as Africa’s largest wind farm. Besides significantly reducing CO2 emissions, the farm is expected to save over 125,000 metric tons of oil annually.

morocco wind farm greennumbers

A radical windmill design could hold the key to making offshore wind power more economical and helping the UK meet its ambitious renewable energy targets.

The Aerogenerator turns conventional windmills on their side, with a 100m tall V-shaped blade rotating on a vertical, rather than the usual horizontal, axis. By building all the moving parts and machinery at the base of the windmill rather than the top of a tower, its designers claim it will be easier to build and maintain, making its renewable electricity cheaper."

Aerogenerator Wind farm wind turbine nova offshore wind farm offshore wind turbine

Iberdrola Renovables SA, the world’s largest operator of wind parks, agreed to buy Spain’s largest wind farm from Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica SA.

Renovables, based in Valencia, paid Gamesa 320 million euros ($441 million) for 244 megawatts of power capacity in Andevalo, Spain

iberdrola iberdrola renovables gamesa Wind farm greennumbers

Meridian is building the world's southernmost wind farm on Antarctica New Zealand supported by the United States Antarctic Program. Once completed the three turbines will supply renewable energy to power New Zealand's Scott Base and its neighbour, the American Base at McMurdo Station.

antarctic meridian Wind farm

Take 100 billion pounds, a plan to create 60,000 jobs, and the urgent need to end an addition to fossil fuels, and what do you get? The first steps in Britain’s plan to develop its offshore wind farm capabilities. The UK recently announced plans for two massive turbine farms, and has set a target of producing 33 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2020 – a 3000% increase over current capacity.

britain wind farms Wind farm offshore wind farm offshore wind Renewable Energy greennumbers

"In January, a consortium of Dutch and Kenyan investors will begin construction on the $760 million project, which envisions more than 350 wind turbines towering over desert expanses near Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. When completed in 2012, the wind farm is expected to boost the power supply in this nation by almost 30 percent."

kenya Lake Turkana Wind farm

"News last week of the first major influx of Chinese capital and wind turbine manufacturing expertise into the renewable energy market in the United States — a 600-megawatt wind farm planned for the plains of west Texas — had many readers of the Green Inc. blog in a state of agitation."

greenmonktv china Wind farm texas stimulus iberdrola

One of the world's largest wind farms is now operational in the area surrounding Roscoe, Texas, E.ON Climate & Renewables (EC&R) announced Thursday.

The series of 627 wind turbines providing a 781.5-megawatt capacity covers about 100,000 acres and four Texas counties. But it's not an isolated wind farm per se, nor a uniform series of turbines.

texas Wind farm roscoe greennumbers wind turbines

The wind farm will supply 200,000 Danish households with electricity. It is the first of its kind to be equipped with a platform where personnel can spend the night.

wind energy Wind farm offshore wind farm greenmonktv GreenNumbers

Offshore wind farms could meet up to 17 percent of Europe’s electricity needs in 2030, an industry group said.

“Offshore wind power is vital for Europe’s future,” the European Wind Energy Association said in a report published at an offshore wind industry conference in Stockholm.

Currently, 11 wind farms harness the stronger winds at sea, mostly in Britain and Scandinavia. Together, they account for only 0.2 percent of Europe’s electricity demand, but that figure could be boosted to 10 percent in 2020 and up to 17 percent in 2030, EWEA said.

offshore wind farm offshore wind wind energy Wind farm GreenNumbers

Large banks, including Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, are making major investments in wind farms because a change in federal renewable energy subsidies is providing investors returns of up to 15 percent, the Wall Street Journal reports. The surge in investment has been spurred in part by a new
Wind
U.S. government policy, which now allows wind farm developers to receive 30 percent of the cost of the project upfront in cash, rather than receiving tax credits spread out over the life of the wind farm.

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San Francisco-based NaturEner USA LLC has closed on a $117.5 million construction loan and a $120 million tax-equity facility arranged by Morgan Stanley for NaturEner's Glacier II wind farm outside Ethridge, Mont.

NaturEner Morgan Stanley glacier II Wind farm GreenNumbers

With a capacity of 300 MW, the wind farm will supply a quarter of Kenya’s current installed power, setting a new standard for the exploitation of wind power in sub-Saharan countries.

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China will begin construction of a 120-billion yuan ($17.6 billion) wind power project in about two weeks in Gansu province as part of a major push to boost renewable energy and cut the nation's reliance on coal, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The project, also called "the Three Gorges Dam on the land" could be China's biggest wind power station, with an installed capacity of 20 GigaWatts (GW) by 2020

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A host of New York State and New York City agencies have formed a collaborative with the private sector to develop the largest offshore wind farm in the country.

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China unveils $140bn plan to build seven giant wind farms by 2020

Government claims wind farms will contribute eight per cent of country's total power capacity

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