GENEVA -- Officials here are looking at harnessing the wind to help provide power to residents.

A number of Geneva officials, both elected and city staff, attended a meeting last week dedicated to providing information about a project to build a power wind farm in Rochelle.

The eight-turbine farm, scaled down significantly from the 100-acre farm originally proposed, would not be built until 2011. The meeting, which was organized by the Northern Illinois Municipal Power Association, was a combination informal meeting about the project itself and the future of wind power on a large-scale generation basis.

The Municipal Power Association is made up of the Geneva, Batavia and Rochelle municipal power companies, which have banded together in the past to buy power, most notably from the Prairie State generating plant being built in downstate Illinois.

Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns, who attended the meeting, said Geneva "is taking a very serious look" at wind energy as a power source. Still, he said it is unlikely he or anyone on the City Council would bridge the subject in the near future.

"This is in the beginning stages," he said. "In the short term, it costs more."

Geneva has a combination of purchased power from Exelon and power it generates itself with its own plant on the far east side of the city. That plant is only used during peak electrical usage.

Of course, wind power is not just about cost; it's about being cleaner. An organization known as GREEN has formed in Geneva as an educational force about alternative energy and "greening" the city, including public operations.

Burns pointed out that some of those looking at making the city greener do not care if the cost is higher. The greening of Geneva will be one of the topics at the Oct. 21 town meeting with the Strategic Planning Advisory Council, and alternative energy is expected to be discussed.

The two main considerations of using wind as part of the city's power mix are the same as with any other power source: how it's generated and how it's transmitted to the city. But the city still can benefit from wind power generation, even if it is not transmitted directly to the city.

"If they produce enough to contribute to the overall grid, it lessens the amount of power generated from other sources," Burns said.