A Chicago-based company wants to develop a wind farm on 28,000 acres in northeastern Champaign County and in western Vermilion County, and it hopes to begin construction by next spring. Invenergy LLC has signed agreements with property owners in Ogden and Compromise townships in Champaign County and Pilot Township in Vermilion County to host as many as 133 wind turbines, according to John Doster, business development manager with Invenergy.

An ordinance to regulate wind farms in Champaign County will go to the full county board later this month. Members of the county's Environment and Land Use Committee voted unanimously Monday night to send the ordinance to the county board for its May 21 meeting. The committee rejected a request by the city of Champaign to extend its extra- territorial jurisdiction by 1 mile, pushing the zone around the city to 2½ miles.

Much of the early session's testimony was dominated by attorneys and an expert witness in acoustics, who testified that wind turbines generate dangerous levels of low-frequency noise that can have a negative effect on health. Several residents of wind farms in other states also offered testimony, saying the turbines have negatively affected their quality of life. The biggest concerns expressed by the seven county residents who spoke in the six-hour early session were potential impacts on property values and health.

It only appeared Doug Huser was running Tuesday's marathon meeting of the county's conservation, planning and zoning committee. The first-term County Board member challenged Terry Pille, who chaired the meeting, about his intention to vote on wind farm issues. Both Pille and his wife are involved in a wind farm project in Minonk. At a previous meeting, Pille said he would seek the advice of State's Attorney Mike Stroh.

The bill, HB 3646, sponsored by Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, creates the Renewable Energy Production District Act, allowing any area within a single county to be incorporated as a renewable-energy production district. The bill was introduced by Black in the Illinois House of Representatives in February and passed March 29 on its third reading, 114-0. But it was held up in the Senate's Energy Committee on Thursday. Black said the bill is opposed by utility companies.

At the city's plan commission meeting this week, members voted 5-0 to not protest a proposed county zoning ordinance text amendment that would allow wind farms in the county Agriculture 1 zoning district with approval of a special-use permit by the Champaign County Board. But the plan commission is also suggesting - at the planning staff's recommendation - that the county board should not approve a wind farm unless it is at least 2 1/2 miles from a municipal boundary. That's a mile beyond what the county board had been considering.

McDonough County Board Chairman Scott Schwerer briefed members of the road and bridge committee Thursday on the status of a county wind farm ordinance. He said a draft could be ready for public comment next month.

Residents of western Sangamon County, where a Springfield company is planning to build a large-scale wind farm, insist that they are not opposed to wind energy. Instead, they want fellow landowners to have input in a project that, "may have tremendous impacts on the health, comfort and home values of families living nearby," according to an informational flyer put out by a group calling themselves Sangamon County Citizens for Wind Rights.

A Minnesota-based company will likely apply for permits soon to establish a sizable wind farm on property stretching across Stephenson, Ogle, and Winnebago counties southeast of German Valley. The company proposing this "tri-county" wind farm is Navitas Energy, based out of Minneapolis, Minn.

Despite earlier concerns from some area residents, a Libertyville company on Friday ceremoniously unveiled a 120-foot wind turbine it will use as an alternative energy source. Representatives of Aldridge Electric, 844 E. Rockland Road, say the turbine will save the company money and generate cleaner energy.

Libertyville officials are investigating complaints about noise generated by a 120-foot-tall wind turbine at a local business. The concerns arose just a few days before this Friday's planned ribbon-cutting ceremony for Aldridge Electric's turbine. The device was installed earlier this month to generate cleaner energy for the business, an electrical contracting firm at 844 E. Rockland Road.

Anticipating the construction of a wind farm in DeWitt County, the County Board formally adopted an ordinance governing the turbine towers Thursday night after more than two years of research and writing. But board members say more work on the ordinance is necessary before special-use permits are granted and towers are constructed.

Bureau County should experience additional activity in the coming months from area wind farms. At its April 15 meeting, the Bureau County Board took action on requests from Crescent Ridge 2, south of Wyanet in southern Bureau County, and also on requests from the proposed Big Sky wind farm, between Ohio and Walnut in northern Bureau County.

Efforts to locate two wind farms in Edgar County are already generating something - but it's not electricity. Edgar County Board member Dan Winans urged his fellow board members during Wednesday morning's meeting to sponsor a session for municipality and other government officials to discuss issues with experts from the Illinois Farm Bureau.

Iberdrola Renewables still plans to build its long-delayed 79-turbine Benson Wind Farm, setting its latest goal of construction by 2011-12. ...Woodford County Board vote[d] to lengthen setback limits from roads and dwellings.

A proposed wind energy farm off the coast of Northwestern's campus could cut a "gigantic" amount of Evanston's carbon emissions, said Nathan Kipnis, one of Chicago's best-known "green" architects. Citizens for a Greener Evanston recently drew up the proposal, which calls for 10 turbines above the waters of Lake Michigan, four miles off the NU shoreline and Dawes Park.

A proposal to more than double the setback requirements for wind turbines won't be heard by the Woodford County Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday night. The Conservation, Planning and Zoning Committee on Tuesday night withdrew its earlier recommendation to increase the setback to 1,800 feet from 750 feet.

Newcomb Township commissioners voted Tuesday to protest a proposed ordinance that would bring wind farms to Champaign County. In the 4-1 vote, commissioners noted concerns about wind turbines near the extensive Manlove Gas Storage Field in northern Champaign County.

Ben and Michele Anderson invite 350 of their closest friends and neighbors to their 40-acre farm in Waterman every July for a pig roast. This year, however, the guest list must be carefully drawn up. Because this year wind turbines - even if none are visible - will get in the way.

As wind farm developers look to put more windmills in Illinois fields, questions have been raised about the safety of crop dusters who have to navigate them. The issue is a clear one to Rick Reed, who owns an agricultural aviation company in Mattoon, Ill. "The more obstacles there are, the more difficult it is for us to get our jobs done ..."