Partnership Latest in Series of Actions by Governor Rendell to Accelerate Alternative Fuel Development, Increase Domestic Fuel Supply

PORT CLINTON - Port Clinton and Ottawa County are joining area communities in exploring the use of wind to generate electricity, which has picked up momentum with the success of Bowling Green's wind farm.

FOREST PARK - Gov. Bob Taft on Friday announced a new state pilot program to provide $25 million over five years to encourage wind power development in Ohio.

ELMORE - Although the village owns a small part of Ohio's first utility-scale wind farm, Elmore officials are exploring the feasibility of buying their own wind turbines.

PORT CLINTON -- City Council is looking into joining other Ottawa County governments to bring energy-producing windmills to the area, thus decreasing local dependency on FirstEnergy to provide electricity. Paul Hoag, president of North Coast Wind & Power LLC, told council during its Tuesday night work session that the city has the potential to save significantly by purchasing the windmills, or wind turbines, with Elmore, Oak Harbor and Ottawa County.

PORT CLINTON -- City Council is looking into joining other Ottawa County governments to bring energy-producing windmills to the area, thus decreasing local dependency on FirstEnergy to provide electricity.

The Ashtabula County Citizens for Open Government will meet 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 5 at the Henderson Library in Jefferson. The subject this month is "Alternative Energy Sources."

But in an interview with The Blade, Larry Flowers of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory said he does not envision any offshore turbines being built west of Cleveland because of the lake's fragile ecology on its western end.

This report is a culmination of eight months of effort by the Champaign County (Ohio) Wind Turbine Study Group (“WTSG”). It contains the results of the research and critical analysis compiled by the group regarding fourteen readily identifiable issues associated with wind energy development. The letter introducing the report is listed below along with the report's table of contents. The full document can be downloaded by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.

Testimony from Ohio Power Siting Board staffer Stuart Siegfried on Wednesday in Columbus left no doubt that Champaign County is a lost little dog in the state's fledgling process to begin certifying industrial scale wind utilities in Ohio. Siegfried showed a disturbing lack of understanding of OPSB's own process with regard to determining whether to certify Buckeye Wind's application to site 70 wind turbines of up to 492 feet in height on Champaign County's east side.

Black Fork Wind LLC, the project name of the wind farm planned for the Crestline/Shelby area, has filed for waivers to Ohio Administrative Codes to allow them to cut corners in the development of this industry in Richland and Crawford counties. ...This issue concerns me very much and I hope everyone (both in and out of the proposed site) will do their research.

There is a large wind turbine project called Black Fork Wind Farm that consists of 112 turbines 400 feet tall with three 100-foot blades to be placed in an area bounded by the west edge of Shelby on the east, Hazelbrush Road to the north, Hook Road to the south towards Crestline and extending on the west past Tiro towards New Washington. This is a beautiful rural area including Shelby Airport and a KOA campground that will be transformed into an industrial installation.

The experts say electricity produced by lake-based wind turbines would cost three times more than that produced by land turbines, and nearly eight times more than electricity from existing coal-fired plants. But Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason says we have a lot to lose if we don't make the big bet. Just what would that be?

But wind energy is an industry just the same, and it's wise to regulate it like any other. That's why the city of Cleveland was smart this week to consider a new zoning ordinance sponsored by City Councilmen Matt Zone and Joe Cimperman, which is aimed at regulating the size, location and appearance of land-based turbines. Not everyone loves Big Wind.

From a developer's standpoint, it makes sense to put up turbines out in the lake near Toledo. From a bird's perspective, it doesn't. Western Lake Erie sits in the path of two of North America's most important flyways. Here's a stat for you: One billion birds.

When it concerns energy policy, "alternative" energy sources are currently all the rage. It appears as if most of the pet projects that are proposed to solve our energy problems are related to wind-power turbines. ...Why are T. Boone Pickens and other venture-capital investors so interested in wind power? Well, the answer is obvious - money. The electric utility companies are required to buy any generated energy and the price is preset at the current wholesale price.