The Board approved the resolution to make the change at the April Board meeting. None of the county application requirements have changed but the process for developing a wind energy plan has been modified from a one-step to a two-step process, Moore said.

"Everyone who is an electricity consumer or who pays taxes that are handed over to the wind power industry has skin in the issue. Forcing Kansans to purchase more expensive renewable power harms almost everyone with skin in the issue."

An inspection of the damage was performed on Wednesday confirming a lightning strike. Results of the inspection show the damage does not appear to be extensive.

Kansas is well on its way to becoming a national leader in ethanol production, but it’s falling behind when it comes to wind energy, Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson said Saturday. “We are the second- or third-best state for wind farms in the country, but we only have three major wind farms,” he said during an interview at the Globe. “The two obstacles that have prevented us from advancing beyond that are the lack of transmission lines and the lack of cooperative rate decisions from the Kansas Corporation Commission.” He said he thought the state can fix the problem of moving wind-generated electricity by providing incentives for utility companies to build transmission lines, and state officials could encourage the Kansas Corporation Commission to take the cost of building wind farms into account when it makes rate decisions.

AMARILLO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 24, 2006--Xcel Energy has issued a request for proposals for about 40,500 megawatt-hours of annual renewable energy or renewable energy certificates to be generated from renewable technologies other than wind turbines.

The state has formed an energy coalition, which has a goal to find ways to secure 25 percent of the nation's energy production from renewable resources by 2025.

Funds are now in place to begin a four-year study to establish what impacts, if any, wind power facilities have on prairie-chicken demography and population genetics.

Bats and wind turbines make a bad mix. In fact, bats have become an unexpected casualty in the burgeoning wind-power industry, with several thousand bats killed by turbines each year in North America. Now studies are being conducted at the future site of a Peace region wind farm in order to save bats from dropping dead near the whirling blades. ...Most of the wind-farm research has been focused on birds, and little is known about the effect on bats, although new studies are beginning to yield clues on how to minimize the impact of the wind farms on the tiny flying animals.

A 65ft blade from the 290ft turbine fell off and a second was bent in the mysterious incident in Conisholme, Lincs, on Wednesday. ...Scientists at manufacturers Enercon have been looking into the mystery, and dismissed the theories that either a chunk of ice thrown from another turbine, or frozen urine dropped from a passing plane, was the cause.

Some of the state's top utility lawyers battled Wednesday over whether Westar Energy should get a chance to earn extra profit for adding wind power to the electric system that serves 674,000 customers. At issue is a law-- passed during the energy crisis of the 1970s -- to allow state regulators to boost the profit potential for utilities that develop alternative energy and conservation programs.

That's because general plans for the 345-kilovolt route, known as the V-Plan and including a connecting line into Oklahoma, appear to take the line through prime nesting and breeding habitat for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken in both states. With an estimated two-thirds of the unique bird's original habitat already eliminated by development, officials warn that further encroachment could place the bird on the nation's endangered species list.

General Electric (nyse: GE - news - people ) announced an investment in three windparks planned by Nobel Environmental Power in New York that would expand the state's wind energy capacity by 70%, and Empire District Electric (nyse: EDE - news - people ) announced it had signed an agreement to purchase power from Horizon Wind Energy's Cloud County Wind Farm in Kansas.

Wind farm advocate and beneficiary Pete Ferrell had one message Thursday night for supporters of the Ellis County wind farm proposal: Make an effort to win hearts and minds now... • On noise: "I can hear the turbines from my home, and I didn't expect to (Ferrell's home is 1 mile from the nearest wind turbine). The odd thing is that I can hear it on days when it's not blowing that hard. When it's blowing hard, the wind covers the sound. It sounds like a river in the distance."... • On construction of the wind farm: "It was very hard. OK, it was a nightmare. Thank God it was professional done and it was over in six months."

Interest by California-based AES Wind Generation in establishing a large-scale wind energy operation in Gillespie County is being reconsidered, it was learned here Monday. According to a City of Fredericksburg official who asked not to be identified, a letter from a company officer stated that AES SeaWest Inc. of San Diego has decided to discontinue pursuing wind energy in an area north of Fredericksburg that generally stretches between U.S. Highway 87 and RM 965. Instead, the city official related, the company has decided to focus on other areas in Texas. Prompting the decision, he added, was AES' concerns that sensitive species and bat colonies living in the area could be incompatible with large-scale wind energy.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' administration Thursday was in damage control mode over its decision to reject two massive coal-fired plants in western Kansas. In a speech to a Rotary Club in Topeka, Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson repeatedly emphasized development of alternative energy projects in western Kansas, and the accompanying economic activity. ..."I think they are trying to create a vision that things are all perfect," said Kreutzer, a plumbing and mechanical supply contractor. But, he said, denial of the coal-fired plants has chased off a lot of potential development in the region. And Sebelius' refusal to allow the plants to be constructed has produced a potential political standoff, he said.

In popular Halloween folklore, vampires are able to transform into bats. And, of course, fiction tells us that one way to kill a vampire, and thus the bat, is with a stake through the heart. But in areas around the United States, a new potential bat killer has emerged - wind turbines.

This means, said Anderson, that they are seeking to impose a requirement that all companies purchase a certain amount of their energy from this renewable source. “The problem is that no one wants to buy the energy they are producing because of the high cost involved,” said Anderson. “However, they are pushing hard and I don't know at this time whether they will be successful or not.”

Another petition regarding the proposed Ellis County wind farm was presented to the Ellis County clerk Thursday. This one requests a complete moratorium on the project and consists of 760 signatures. The document does not protest wind energy, but requests cautious and balanced deliberation before the county proceeds, states the cover letter, which is endorsed by the Ellis County Environmental Awareness Coalition.

A wind-energy trade group is blasting a federal regulatory decision that will let Westar Energy impose additional charges on wind producers when the renewable energy is exported to other states. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the charges, saying they were just and reasonable to help Westar manage wind power on the electric grid.