Three Illinois wind farms within 100 miles of Chicago were acquired Monday by an Irish energy company making its first U.S. investment amid hopes that President Obama's economic stimulus package will bolster the renewable energy business. Dublin-based Mainstream Renewable Power bought the assets, which are at various stages of development, and plans to invest $1.69 billion over four years to fully develop them.

Illinois is trying to build on its status as a good place to build a wind farm. The Illinois House and Senate have passed a bill that would designate the developments as enterprise zones. That would give the developers incentives such as a sales tax waiver on building materials.

Horizon Wind Energy wants to more than double its Twin Groves Wind Farm by adding more than 300 turbines in Merna, Cooksville, Colfax and Anchor. "We've been talking to farmers since March last year," said project manager Caton Fenz. ...Four public meetings are scheduled this week and next so neighbors can learn more about the project and review a map with proposed turbine locations.

Judy Campbell, the Livingston County Board member who distributed a survey form in late May involving a proposed wind farm, was scheduled to meet with some area postmasters on Friday afternoon to discuss making amends for the manner in which deliveries of some of the questionnaires occurred. Campbell distributed 46 copies of the survey to rural residents in southern Broughton and northern Sullivan townships in Livingston County. The surveys concern a proposed K-4 wind tower project being proposed in these areas.

Sugar Creek Wind One has the potential to make history as the tallest wind farm in the U.S. Developers of the planned wind-to-energy project, to be constructed in the New Holland and Middletown areas, have asked Logan County zoning officer Will D'Andrea for a variance that would allow wind towers to be built taller than 500 feet.

A wind farm developer filed an application on Friday to put more wind turbines in Livingston County. The application was made by Minneapolis-based Navitas Energy for the proposed Minonk Wind Farm project, which would scatter 100 turbines over a 12,000-acre area from Minonk to Flanagan.

Aldridge Electric's new wind turbine has stopped spinning, while the company attempts to strike a compromise over what neighbors are calling excessive noise. On Tuesday, a group of nine residents who live near the Libertyville company, 844 E. Rockland Road, obtained a restraining order signed by a judge asking Aldridge to temporarily stop the turbine from spinning.

When some residents of the eastern side of Livingston County opened their mailboxes earlier this week they had a blank white envelope inside with their mail. According to the letter inside, Livingston County Board member Judy L. Campbell had delivered the non-addressed, non-stamped envelope to the mailbox. While Campbell may have identified herself as a county board member, Livingston County Board Chairman William Fairfield said the board has no part in this survey and did not even know of its existence.

Residents who spent weeks researching and discussing wind farm issues were dealt a blow Thursday when the Woodford County Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously against larger setbacks of wind turbines. In denying the motion, the five-member board voted against amending the wind farm ordinance so that towers would be set at least 1,800 feet back from any adjoining structure, and at least 1.1 times the tower height from a dwelling structure.

DeKalb County is one step closer to seeing more than 100 wind turbines erected on its landscape after the county board planning and zoning committee voted unanimously Wednesday night to grant a conditional special-use permit to NextEra Energy Resources that would allow the company to build the turbines.

Illinois' first significant wind farm didn't start up until 2003 in Lee County. Today, the state has an installed wind energy capacity of 1,121 megawatts. ...Significant wind energy generation in Southern Illinois below Interstate 70 is questionable at this point given the current technology, Borgia said. Average wind speeds need to be around 15 miles per hour, minimum, to generate enough power.

Wind turbines are responsible for the deaths of between 10,000 and 40,000 birds each year, according to the American Bird Conservancy. Debate over the significance of the threat turbine blades pose to migratory birds is about as old as the concept of wind farms themselves. It began in Altamont Pass, Calif., site of one of the first U.S. wind farms, where there were more than 4,000 turbines. Hundreds of bird carcasses were found on the farm grounds, leading bird conservationists to propagate information that wind turbines were inherently deadly to birds.

One of the most distinctive symbols in the iconography of clean, sustainable energy is the spire and blades of a wind turbine, glistening in the sunlight amid rolling hills, tranquil farmland or over the deep blue of the open ocean. These mammoth towers are statements in the paradigm shift taking place on the topic of energy. They produce no emissions, no residue or chemical waste, none of the traditional environmental concerns lamented by the green movement.

Despite protests and a "suggestion," when it came to a vote by the Champaign County Board on Thursday night, approval of a county wind farm ordinance was a breeze. After about two hours of discussion, with comments for and against, the wind farm ordinance was approved by a vote of 24-2 with one abstention.

Woodford County officials will wait a week to again take up an issue that is alternately called a critical wind farm safety issue or a thinly veiled attempt to shut down wind energy development. A contentious hearing before the Woodford County Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday ultimately was continued until next week with more than a dozen residents still seeking to testify on a proposal that would increase the setback distances of wind turbines from buildings, roads and property lines.

A hearing officer has recommended the DeKalb County Board approve, with conditions, a special use permit sought by an energy company that wants to build a wind farm on the Lee-DeKalb county border. The approval is a reversal of Hearing Officer David Dockus' original recommendation to deny the request from NextEra Energy Resources, which has proposed building and operating a 151-turbine wind energy plant.

A hearing officer has recommended the DeKalb County Board approve, with conditions, a special use permit requested by an energy company that wants to build a wind farm in four townships in the county. The approval is a reversal of Hearing Officer David Dockus's original recommendation, which was to deny the request from NextEra Energy Resources, which has proposed building and operating a 151-turbine wind-energy plant.

Navitas Energy filed an application Friday for a brand new wind farm project between Minonk and Benson. The application lists the construction of 52 wind turbines generating 100 megawatts of energy under the name of Roanoke Wind Farm LLC. It will be built on 6,000 acres west of Interstate 39. The land was first leased in 2005 and again last year. The turbines will be 410 feet tall.

A committee of the DeKalb County Board is the next stop for an application from an energy company that wants to build a wind farm in the county. A reopened public hearing regarding the application for a special-use permit from NextEra Energy Resources to build and operate a 133-turbine wind farm in the county concluded about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, county planner Paul Miller said.