January 10, 2005

The New York Times > International > Europe > Cape Trafalgar Journal: Where Nelson Triumphed, a Battle Rages Over Windmills

The European offshore wind farm business is booming. With a big wind project proposed for Nantucket sound, can Lake Champlain be far behind?

I am impressed with the goal of 22% of the E.U.'s electricity from renewables by 2010.


"That is why many hilltops now have windmills. A farmer used to get nothing from his hill. Now he rents it to a utility or puts his own windmills there."

That may continue, he says, as long as the government pays grid operators the difference between conventional and wind-generated electricity, on average two or three cents per kilowatt-hour. Eventually, some experts think, wind power may become competitive as turbines get bigger and as pollution taxes are imposed on fossil fuel energy."

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