Wind power news and discussions

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Wind Power Brings Steady Income for Farms
By Paul Mwebaze
July 28, 2025

Extract:

(The Conversation) Wind energy is a significant economic driver in rural America. In Iowa, for example, over 60% of the state’s electricity came from wind energy in 2024, and the state is a hub for wind turbine manufacturing and maintenance jobs.

For landowners, wind turbines often mean stable lease payments. Those historically were around US$3,000 to $5,000 per turbine per year, with some modern agreements $5,000 to $10,000 annually, secured through 20- to 30-year contracts.

Nationwide, wind and solar projects contribute about $3.5 billion annually in combined lease payments and state and local taxes, more than a third of it going directly to rural landowners.

These figures are backed by long-term contracts and multibillion dollar annual contributions, reinforcing the economic value that turbines bring to rural landowners and communities.

Wind farms also contribute to local tax revenues that help fund rural schools, roads and emergency services. In counties across Texas, wind energy has become one of the most significant contributors to local property tax bases, stabilizing community budgets and helping pay for public services as agricultural commodity revenues fluctuate.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/how-wind-a ... e-260657

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Trump Administration Orders Work Halted on Wind Farm That Is Nearly Built
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/clim ... -wind.html

https://archive.ph/FdO3D

The order to stop construction on Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island is part of a campaign against renewable energy.
By Lisa Friedman, Brad Plumer and Maxine Joselow
Aug. 22, 2025 Updated 9:54 p.m. ET

The Trump administration on Friday ordered that all construction stop on Revolution Wind, a $4 billion wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island that is already mostly built.

The 65-turbine project had obtained all necessary permits from the Biden administration, and nearly 70 percent of the turbines have been installed. The developers behind the project had said it was on track to produce enough electricity for more than 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut by next spring.

Matthew Giacona, the acting director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, issued a letter on Friday to Orsted, the Danish company building the wind farm, ordering it to “halt all ongoing activities” because of unspecified issues.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, said the state was “evaluating all legal options to protect Connecticut’s interests.”

“Trump wants to mothball billions of dollars in investment and cancel one of the best new sources of American-made, renewable energy,” Mr. Tong said. “Trump and his enablers will own the resulting cost increases for ratepayers.”

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Micro wind turbine for home rooftops receives milestone certification
By Michael Franco
August 28, 2025

https://newatlas.com/energy/micro-wind-turbine/
German manufacturer SkyWind has just become the first company to receive full certification for its compact wind turbine, the NG. The small but mighty wind spinners are easy to install atop home rooftops to supplement grid power with clean energy.

When it comes to harvesting energy from air currents, the big wind turbines usually get all the attention. For example, in 2023, the world's largest wind turbine, with a 260-meter (853-ft) diameter began operating in China, only to be outdone the following year by another monster windmill with a blade diameter of 310 m (1,107 ft). While these gargantuan commercial-grade wind turbines can supply an impressive amount of power to a large collection of homes, German company SkyWind has taken a different, and user-friendly, approach to harnessing wind energy.

Its NG micro turbine was first revealed in 2009 when company founder Fritz Unger showed off his patented single-blade micro turbine at a young researchers competition. Since that time, SkyWind has sold over 10,000 of the devices and they're now in use in everthiing from homes to ski lodges.

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U.S. Judge Lifts Trump’s Halt of Nearly Complete Wind Project, Citing ‘Irreparable Harm’

September 24, 2025

A U.S. federal judge ruled Monday that Revolution Wind, a nearly complete offshore wind project halted by the U.S. administration, can resume, dealing Donald Trump a setback in his ongoing effort to restrict the fledgling industry.

Work on the nearly completed project for Rhode Island and Connecticut has been paused since Aug. 22 when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a stop-work order for what it said were national security concerns. The Interior Department agency did not specify those concerns at the time. The cancellation produced a serious stumble for Danish wind giant Ørsted, and both the developer and the two states sued in federal courts.

Ørsted and its joint venture partner Skyborn Renewables sought a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court that would allow them to move forward with the project.

At a hearing Monday, Judge Royce Lamberth said he considered how Revolution Wind has relied on its federal approval, the delays are costing $2.3 million a day, and if the project can’t meet deadlines, the entire enterprise could collapse. After December, the specialized ship needed to complete the project won’t be available until at least 2028, he said. More than 1,000 people have been working on the wind farm, which is 80% complete.

“There is no question in my mind of irreparable harm to the plaintiffs,” Lamberth said, as he granted the motion for the preliminary injunction. In his written ruling, he said Revolution Wind had “demonstrated likelihood of success on the merits” of its claim, adding that granting the injunction is in the public interest.

https://www.theenergymix.com/u-s-judge- ... able-harm/

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Household turbine outputs 83% more power, even in low-wind areas
By Michael Franco
October 17, 2025

Thanks to the development of new, lightweight rotors, engineers in Germany have created a small wind turbine that excels at efficiency, even when breezes aren't blowing strongly. The development is a big step toward efficient green home power generation.

The turbines were developed by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research along with the BBF Group, a construction and engineering firm in the Berlin and Brandenburg region. The efficiency boost came from designing the rotors to be hollow instead of filled with foam, as is the case with most wind turbine blades.

To create them, the researchers first used 3D printing to create molds for each half of a rotor. Then, using an automated-fiber-placement system, composite fiber strips are laid down in the molds with millimeter precision, creating a laminate structure. Once the two sides are fused together, their structure allows them to withstand strong winds.

https://newatlas.com/energy/turbine-low-wind/

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World's first wind-powered underwater data center has been unveiled
By Bronwyn Thompson
October 21, 2025

China has finished construction of what’s being billed as the world’s first wind-powered underwater data center (UDC), located off the coast of the Lin-gang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. The project, which cost around ¥1.6 billion (US$226 million), marks a bold step in sustainable, high-performance computing infrastructure.

The ambitious project combines offshore wind power, which supplies more than 95% of the facility’s electricity, with a naturally cooled seabed environment to cut energy and land use. Compared with traditional terrestrial data centers, the underwater project is designed to reduce total power consumption by an estimated 22.8%, as well as eliminate the use of fresh water and reduce land use by more than 90%.

https://newatlas.com/energy/wind-powere ... ta-center/

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Compared with traditional terrestrial data centers, the underwater project is designed to reduce total power consumption by an estimated 22.8%, as well as eliminate the use of fresh water and reduce land use by more than 90%.

Much too woke for the USA, where overconsumption and inefficiency are actively encouraged by the current regime of lunatics.

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"AI uses too much energy and water" has been solved! Isn't that wonderful?

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America’s Biggest Offshore Wind Farm Will be Online in Six Months
By Clare Fieseler
October 9, 2025

Introduction:

(Canary Media) About 30 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia, workers have been building America’s largest offshore wind farm at a breakneck pace. The project will start feeding power to the grid by March — the most definitive start date provided by its developer yet.

“First power will occur in Q1 of next year,” Dominion Energy spokesperson Jeremy Slayton told Canary Media. “And we are still on schedule to complete by late 2026.”

In an August earnings call, Dominion Energy CEO Robert Blue provided a vague window of “early 2026” when asked when the 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project would start generating renewable power for the energy-hungry state.

As of the end of September, Dominion had installed all 176 turbine foundations — “a big, important milestone,” per Slayton. That accomplishment involved pile-driving 98 foundations into the soft seabed during the five-month stretch when such work is permitted. Good weather helped the work move along quickly, as did the Atlantic Ocean’s unusually quiet hurricane season.

Speed is key when building wind projects under the eye of a president who has called turbines “ugly” and “terrible for tourism” — and who has followed up with attempts to dismantle the industry.

Read more here: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/ ... nline-2026

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In a Boost for Offshore Wind, New Jersey Elects Mikie Sherrill
November 5, 2025

Introduction:

(Canary Media) U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill won the governor’s race in New Jersey on Tuesday running on a platform of keeping electricity prices down. Environmental groups see Sherrill’s election as a triumph for the Garden State’s struggling offshore wind sector.

Sherrill, a four-term Democrat and a U.S. Navy veteran, arrived on the political scene in 2017 and advocated for offshore wind projects on Capitol Hill. As a gubernatorial candidate, she was one of only three Democrats who explicitly endorsed offshore wind on campaign websites early in the race.
Her Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, ran on a promise to ban future offshore wind development. His campaign website sells “stop offshore wind” tote bags, t-shirts, stickers, and beverage koozies. Sherrill handily beat Ciattarelli, winning 56% to 43% at press time.

Additional Extract:

The Trump administration has frozen the permitting pipeline for all of New Jersey’s earlier-stage offshore projects. Atlantic Shores, the state’s only fully approved wind farm, had one of its federal permits revoked in March by the Environmental Protection Agency. Shell, the project’s codeveloper, officially withdrew from the project last week.

As governor, Sherrill’s ability to counter federal anti-wind policies will be limited. But she can make sure the state remains a player in the industry…for example, (she) could expand funding for programs that train workers for wind jobs. She could increase legal pressure against the Trump administration for obstructing certain projects, as Rhode Island and Connecticut have done. New Jersey’s Attorney General Matthew Platkin, along with 17 other attorneys general, is already suing the Trump administration over its broad-reaching executive order that froze federal permitting for wind power.

Read more here: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/o ... newables

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Green light for wind farm to power one million homes

36 minutes ago

A new offshore wind farm has been given the go-ahead in the hope that it will power one million UK homes in the future.

The Five Estuaries site will include up to 79 turbines off north Essex and south Suffolk - at least 37 km (23 miles) from the coastline.

The RWE project will sit next to the existing Galloper wind farm, which is also owned by an RWE-led consortium.

The Planning Inspectorate concluded that the development was needed to ensure energy security and meet "the urgent need for low carbon energy".

The application was submitted in March 2024 and a consultation followed for the public and interested parties.

RWE said the wind farm would generate in excess of 300MW.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd74j1n33p3o