Also, Ameren said it would develop at least 100 megawatts of wind power and launch a program allowing customers to support additional development of wind power and other forms of renewable energy.

The $70 million project is a venture of Wind Capital Group, with financing from John Deere Wind Energy of Johnston, Iowa, a division of the Deere & Co. farm equipment manufacturer. Springfield-based Associated Electric Cooperative is to distribute the electricity through its network of cooperatives

An agreement to enter a long-term contract to buy electricity from a power plant in Illinois was approved Monday night by the Columbia City Council despite opposition from environmental groups and some Columbia citizens.

Proposed power plants in Kansas and Missouri have become targets of environmentalists who are fighting to halt a new wave of coal-fired units.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - Developers have announced plans for a wind energy project in northwest Missouri's Gentry County.

NEOSHO, Mo. - Even on its side, lying in pieces, the thing is huge. Upright, it will dominate the skyline at Crowder College, towering over a small village of solar homes and the Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Technology Center that also will be built there.

After months of study, a majority of the task force made two recommendations: For the near term, add an additional coal power plant locally. For the long term, expand efforts to encourage energy efficiency.

Around 225 CU customers have chosen to have their electric needs supplied by a wind farm in Kansas. They pay about twice as much for electric power as other CU customers. But there's no way wind could supply electricity for everyone in Springfield. We would have a lot of hours in the year with no power if we did that, Twitty said. Of course, a blackout is one way to conserve.