Once again, plans for a wind farm are before DeKalb County officials, this time with 133 turbines being proposed in DeKalb County and 18 turbines in Lee County. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for 7 tonight in the multipurpose room of the DeKalb County Health Department, 2574 N. Annie Glidden Road, DeKalb.

The winds of approval blew east Tuesday as the Lee County Board sanctioned 18 potential wind turbines, leaving DeKalb County the last word on the project's remaining 132 turbines. If DeKalb County gives its OK, the turbines will be built in Alto and Willow Creek townships in Lee County's northeastern corner. NextEra Energy Resources, the company leading the project, said the turbines would be erected this summer, with a targeted completion date in December.

Thirty-five of Horizon Wind Energy's 38 turbines under construction in Tazewell County are assembled, project manager John Fulton said Friday. ..."The first thing we did was the roads. The roads we started back in September. Then we started doing the excavation of the sites. Then of course we do the foundations and then we do what we refer to as the erection of the turbines."

The Woodford County Zoning Board has granted initial approval to an 87-turbine wind installation around Minonk after a series of public hearings earlier in the week. But the project, proposed by Minneapolis-based Navitas, still faces several hurdles before towers can sprout in rolling farm fields in rural Woodford and Livingston counties.

Project organizers say that approximately 50 full turbines have been completed so far for the 67-turbine wind farm proposed for northwest of Lena, and that the goal is to complete the farm by the end of March. The EcoGrove Wind LLC wind farm is located just north of the Galena Road and Baker Road intersection outside Lena.

Lee County is one step closer to hosting 18 new wind turbines, despite concerns from local residents who say the project is moving too quickly. The county zoning board approved a special use permit Thursday, which means the only hurdles left for builders to clear are a full board vote Feb. 17, and approval from DeKalb County, where the company wants to build 133 turbines in portions of Afton, Clinton, Milan and Shabbona townships.

A meteorological tower set to be placed in Tazewell County will now likely be erected in Logan County. The Logan County Zoning Board of Appeals will meet at 7 p.m. today in Hartsburg's American Legion Hall to discuss giving Horizon Wind Energy a conditional-use permit to move the tower's location. Logan County zoning officer Will D'Andrea said the tower wasn't going to be effective in Tazewell County, and Horizon felt one of the previously studied locations in Logan County would work better.

Locally, the project entails six turbines in southern Alto Township and 12 turbines in Willow Creek Township, just north of U.S. Highway 30. Those townships stand to collect about 70 percent of the $220,000 paid yearly by FPL Group, the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, the subsidiary handling the project. That money would be used to fund things such as road maintenance and local school districts. In DeKalb County, 133 of the nearly 400-foot-tall turbines are proposed.

Some Commissioners have expressed concern over shelling out $30,000 for a wind energy feasibility study, especially considering that it's $30,000 the city had not budgeted to spend this year. Andre De Rosa, CEO of GSY Energy Inc., Monday rebuffed those' concerns and pushed for a speedy commitment to a $30,000 study, which he said would be covered by federal funds.

The La Salle portion of the proposed Top Crop wind farm got a near-unanimous vote of approval Thursday by the La Salle County Board. A special use permit for a wind farm in the far southeast corner of the county that was recommended in December by a 3-2 vote of the Zoning Board of Appeals got a 25-1 vote from the County Board. Jerry Myers, R-Streator, abstained. The vote clears the way for construction of the first, and smallest, phase of the project.

Farmers wanted to know how wind turbines influence aerial pesticide applications, while landowners sought advice on working with wind-farm developers. At a recent wind farm forum in Manito, some questions were answered easily; others weren't. About 150 attended the first of four meetings being coordinated by the Illinois Wind Working Group (IWWG) and University of Illinois Extension with assistance from local groups.

Just off I-39 lies rural El Paso, Ill. But it's hardly a quiet place. Some of its 2,700 residents got pretty worked up in 2007 after learning that Navitas Energy of Minneapolis wanted to build a wind farm in their back yard. It proposed 40 turbines, each peaking at 2 megawatts of electric output. Sitting in Woody's Family Restaurant on the town's main drag, roof truss salesman Kevin Moore explains that he worried the proposed windmills could hurt property values, stunt the town's growth and flick dangerous ice balls.

It's 16 degrees outside, but workers still are pressure-washing the 125-foot-long blades that soon will be spinning high above a Logan County farm. The spray looks particularly cold as it catches the sun on a clear and frigid morning. "If you buy a new car, you'd want it clean," says Bill Lotz as he washes off road salt and other grime accumulated when the blades were transported by truck to the Rail Splitter Wind Farm under construction northwest of Lincoln.

Chrisman-area farmer Joe Glick was contacted about a month ago about putting a wind turbine on his property ..."I was looking for an unbiased opinion," Glick said. He was one of about 120 farmers from Vermilion, Douglas and Champaign counties who filled the Vermilion County Farm Bureau auditorium Monday morning to hear from an attorney and an Illinois farmer who have plenty of experience with this quickly growing alternative source of energy.

A public hearing will be held next month for residents to offer input about a proposal from an energy company that wants to build a wind farm in DeKalb County. NextEra Energy Resources, formerly Florida Power & Light, is proposing to build and operate a wind farm consisting of 133 turbines in portions of Afton, Clinton, Milan and Shabbona townships, according to a public hearing notice.

Vermilion County board members voted to approve a new ordinance handling the emergence of wind farms locally Tuesday night. The ordinance, which has been on public display since early December, sets up a number of ground rules for the wind farms, ranging from ranging from road care during the construction of the wind turbines and the buffer zone between the turbines and property to the permit process for a wind farm.

The Paxton City Council concurred with a plan commission recommendation for new city restrictions on where wind turbines can be built outside city limits. Now turbines cannot be put up within half a mile of the city limits on Paxton's northeast side or within one mile of the city's other three sides. Previously, under a Ford County ordinance, turbines could be built as close as 1,500 feet to the city.

The ordinance deals with the issues surrounding the placement of turbines in a wind farm, ranging from road care during the construction of the wind turbines and the buffer zone between the turbines and property to the permit process for a wind farm.

The Bureau County Board has extended the conditional use permits for Crescent Ridge 2 for another 24 months. The Crescent Ridge 2 developers had requested the extension at the county board's December meeting, but a decision had been tabled at that time. At Thursday's meeting, the board heard from Princeton attorney Bob Russell, representing Crescent Ridge 2, who explained some of the reasons the extension was needed.

Representatives of Freeport-based EcoEnergy briefed the McDonough County Board's finance committee Wednesday on their desire to locate a $400 million set of wind farms in McDonough and Warren counties. "We're starting to get interest from local landowners and the wind resource looks pretty good," said Curt Bjurlin of EcoEnergy.