Florida has enacted a statewide ban on the construction of new offshore wind energy facilities, including turbines and associated infrastructure like transmission cables.

"Locals are celebrating as plans for the largest wind farm ever proposed for Cork is to be refused permission. An Bord Pleanala has indicated it is refusing permission for a controversial wind farm proposal at Gougane Barra, on grounds that it would ""seriously injure"" the scenery. An Bord Pleanala originally permitted the €30m project in February 2022. The Wingleaf Ltd development was to include up to seven wind turbines that would be 178.5m tall - just under three times the size of the Elysian - at the beautiful Gougane Barra valley. The project also outlined plans for a 38kV electricity substation and battery banks and would've involved deforestation, quarry work and adding new access roads to the area."

New special use permit applications for power generation, campgrounds and RV park uses are stayed for now in Montrose County. Commissioners approved the pause by resolution Wednesday, extending a previous moratorium on power generation uses, thereby giving staff more time to develop more specific zoning regulations. It also buys time to address what the resolution calls a “surge” in applications for special use permits for campgrounds or RV parks in wildfire prone areas...“Power generation” is defined in those regulations as solar energy facilities and is an allowed use in areas zoned for general agriculture — provided a special use permit is obtained. “The power generation, the focus of that is the solar energy generation,” Montrose County Assistant Attorney Joe Gaffney said Wednesday. A moratorium on special use permits for power generation, passed last year, was due to expire April 19. Commissioners in passing the initial moratorium Oct. 19, 2022, said they had unanswered questions when it came to using ag-zoned land for power generation, particularly solar. That same month, Enel Energy held an open house in Montrose, seeking feedback on a large-scale solar project it was hoping to build on Falcon Road.

The Scotts Bluff County Board denied a conditional use permit application for the Situla Solar Energy Project following a heated, three-hour public hearing on Monday night. The hearing was well attended by members of the public, as were the first and second hearings held by the county planning commission and an open house event hosted by parent company Dunlieh Energy at Legacy of the Plains Museum in February...The motion to reject the CUP application was approved in a 3-2 vote. Knapper, Blue and Reisig voted in favor, while Meyer and commissioner Mark Harris voted against.

Residents voted in favor of 28 articles, including two citizen’s petitions to place temporary moratoriums on large-scale solar projects and battery storage facilities, during Monday’s Annual Town Meeting. Discussion on the two citizen’s petitions, Articles 26 and 27, took up roughly half of the more than three-hour-long meeting attended by roughly 100 residents. Proponents argued that the solar and battery storage moratoriums would allow the town sufficient time to draft bylaws regulating large-scale solar arrays and battery storage facilities, and opponents argued that the moratoriums would halt the town’s efforts toward innovation and green energy.After roughly two hours of combined discussion on the two citizen’s petitions, Article 26, concerning battery storage facilities, passed by a majority vote, and Article 27, the moratorium on large-scale solar, passed by an 81-17 vote.

Italy's rightwing coalition on Monday passed rules curbing the installation of solar panels on agricultural land, ministers said, in a move that triggered criticism as it could undermine Rome's decarbonisation goals. The new rules, part of a broader package of measures to protect farming and fisheries, included a ban on the installation of photovoltaic systems with modules placed on the ground in areas classified as agricultural.

"The Finnish government has issued a negative decision on 16 applications for exploitation rights concerning offshore wind power in the exclusive economic zone. Many of the areas located in the Gulf of Bothnia overlap each other, the country's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment said. The government’s justification for refusing the applications for exploitation rights include its objective to ""create a predictable, clear and fair investment environment, the consideration of the overall interests of society, and the negative consequences that granting exploitation rights would have on the guiding effects of the new act under preparation"". The Ministry said in a statement: ""The aim is that the decisions on offshore wind projects in Finland’s exclusive economic zone are based on clear rules. ""These rules will be defined in the legislative project on the exclusive economic zone currently under preparation."

Town Hall was packed Wednesday night with 102 registered voters eager to have their voices heard on a bylaw regulating battery energy storage systems, which was overwhelmingly approved. The Special Town Meeting warrant article was proposed by No Assault & Batteries, a local citizens’ committee formed in opposition to the 105-megawatt battery storage facility that Lowell-based New Leaf Energy has proposed for 68 Wendell Depot Road. Wednesday’s vote adds a general bylaw to deal with the licensing of battery energy storage systems, including those powered by lithium-ion batteries. Members of No Assault & Batteries hope adoption of the bylaw will stop the New Leaf Energy project.

he public hearing Monday evening to speak about revisions to Union County’s wind turbine ordinance took just a few minutes before the Union County Board of Supervisors established the first reading on the amendments. Few spoke and the atmosphere wasn’t near as tense as the one a little more than a year ago, when in March 2023, a group of concerned citizens asked for the abeyance on any new industrial wind development, presenting the Board of Supervisors with a petition filled with over 900 names. The supervisors listened and hit pause. The current wind energy ordinance was established in 2019 and 34 wind turbines spin in the northwestern part of the county. The supervisors spent several months last summer digging in and initially hoped to have an updated version of the ordinance ready to go before the original abeyance was set to end December 10, 2023. With time running out, the supervisors extended the abeyance on any new industrial wind power projects in Union County until July 12, 2024. Key changes in the amendment center upon setbacks and lighting. Any new wind turbines must be equipped with functioning light-mitigating technology, a sensor-based system designed to detect aircraft as they approach a wind energy conversion facility. This system automatically activates the red lights until they are no longer needed. When no aircraft is nearby, the red flashing lights will stay off...Under public areas and areas under Union County Conservation Board management, all other parks or areas, the setback increases from .5 mile to .62 miles. The board also added three locations to this section which include the Paul and Becky Kelly Family Natural Wilderness Area, Thayer Lake and Groesbeck Wildlife Area...In addition, the inhabited structures setback segments have been eliminated. The section pertaining to property lines now reads, “Each wind turbine and meteorological tower shall be set back a distance of no less than .62 miles (3281 ft) or 7x the total height whichever is greater from the adjoining property owner’s property line.

Douglas County commissioners voted Wednesday to approve revisions to local wind energy regulations...After marathon meetings in October and January, the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission voted 6-3 to advance draft wind energy regulations with one key modification: increasing required setbacks from property lines to 2,500 feet from 1,500. The three commissioners who voted against the regulations wanted to require smaller setbacks that would have allowed more flexibility for future wind developments...Commissioners heard from 65 people over a span of several hours. About two-thirds of them were opposed to any wind energy developments in Douglas County. Several asked the commission to implement a ban on wind energy instead of approving the draft regulations. ED NOTE: A June 22 article in the Kansas Informer said the Douglas County measure is "believed to be the most restrictive policy among any county in Kansas and effectively amounting to a ban on wind developments there." See: https://kaninfo.com/news/shawnee-county-follows-other-communities-toward-wind-solar-moratoriums/