Hearings have been scheduled for February on a proposal to build an 87-turbine wind farm, mostly in Minonk Township in eastern Woodford County. Navitas Energy, a Minneapolis-based wind energy developer, has filed an application for a special-use permit with Woodford County zoning officials. The public hearings are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 9, 10 and 11 at Fieldcrest South Elementary School in Minonk.

The discussion in Hanover Park over wind turbines is generating more hot air. The village board next month is to consider joining a group of area school districts and communities who are supporting the construction of power-generating wind turbines to reduce electricity consumption. Hanover Park Trustee William Manton has asked for the item to appear on the Jan. 15 agenda. But Village President Rodney Craig, who's been a big proponent of wind energy, nonetheless is calling Manton's move a political ploy.

The dozen people suing Livingston County over the Cayuga Ridge wind farm want to either consolidate their suit for both the northern and southern parts of the project or stay the County Board's approval for the southern part. In a motion filed Friday in Livingston County Circuit Court, People Protecting Cayuga Ridge contend that the northern and southern parts of the Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) that Iberdrola Renewables plans to build are a single project. A hearing on the motion is set for Feb. 25.

Bill Durdan has farmed northeast of Grand Ridge for 43 years and often relied on crop dusters. Now, however, he has been told his proximity to wind turbine towers will prevent him from receiving that service. The cost to him could be lost crops and lost revenue, he told the La Salle County Zoning Board of Appeals Tuesday evening. ...Kim Schertz of Hudson, who works in her husband's crop dusting business, said the problem is pilots simply can not safely pull up and make the necessary turns in a wind farm area. "These guys are good, but they're not kamikazes."

The La Salle County Zoning Board of Appeals voted 3-2 to recommend issuing a special use permit for a wind farm in the far southeast corner of the county. The final permit is scheduled to be considered for County Board approval in February. Officials from Horizon Wind Energy, which is owned by the Portuguese utility company Energias de Portugal Renovaveis, S.A., outlined plans for the Top Crop wind farm, which is to be built in La Salle, Grundy and Livingston counties.

Navitas, the Minneapolis-based wind energy company that recently received the green light for a wind farm near El Paso, has officially proposed another installation for the Minonk area. The 87-turbine project as proposed would generate 200 megawatts of electricity annually - enough to power 60,000 homes - and cross county borders, with 65 turbines in Woodford County and 22 in neighboring Livingston County.

After inserting the topic of wind farm applications into the agenda for Friday's special session of the Woodford County Board earlier in the week, board member Tom Evans withdrew the issue from consideration without explanation when the meeting convened. ...Evans had said he wanted to discuss a possible procedural change to the way wind turbine special-use permit applications are handled but didn't expect the board to make any decisions Friday.

The University of Illinois has canceled its plans to build wind turbines on campus, citing the university's "deteriorating fiscal condition." A contract for GE to build and deliver a 1.5-megawatt wind turbine for the South Farms was sent last week to the university from GE, but university officials did not sign it. Chancellor Richard Herman on Thursday notified GE and student leaders of the university's decision to halt the project.

Financially ailing Babcock and Brown, owners of Crescent Ridge II wind farm in Bureau County, asked the County Board this week to issue building permits before the project's decommissioning and site restoration is fully funded. The request is a departure from current county policy, which requires the exact opposite. Bureau County ESDA director Chris Donarski advised caution in considering the request.

At Tuesday's meeting of the Bureau County Board, Crescent Ridge 2 attorney Paul Scoma said the developers are having trouble getting their letter of credit/cash escrow in place before the conditional use permits expire for the proposed rural Tiskilwa wind farm. With the economy as it is, everyone is having trouble getting letters of credit, Scoma said. The developers also want the county to go ahead and issue the needed building permits for the project.

With the specter of a new series of wind turbine applications looming, the Woodford County Board will consider altering the permitting process for such developments at a special meeting today. ...The renewed discussion of wind farms - a particularly polarizing issue in Woodford County - comes as a previously approved project is expected to return to the board in a different form.

The Bureau County Board approved a 45-acre extension to the Bureau-Putnam enterprise zone at its meeting Tuesday night. ...Walnut Ridge LLC requested the extension to build a wind farm at that location.

When the Bureau County Board voted to exclude a certain type of wind turbine from consideration for seven Walnut Ridge sites, the company was understandably concerned. ...On Nov. 17, Suzlon issued a statement regarding the S88. According to the statement, the problem with the S88 near Buda was with the V2 version, which has since been replaced with the V3 version.

On Monday, Vermilion County Board members will get their first opportunity to discuss a new ordinance that will regulate the creation of wind turbines in Vermilion County. Several developers of wind turbine farms are considering building in the county, more specifically in the southwest, northwest and northern parts of Vermilion.

Village officials heard mixed opinions from residents Monday as they looked to gather information on potential regulations for wind turbines. Roughly 25 people gathered at Poplar Grove's Village Hall for a public hearing, which is mandatory before any ordinance can be adopted. The feelings of those who spoke were split between proponents and opponents of commercial wind farms.

Tuesday morning, county board chairman Dick Logan joined Railsplitter Wind Farm and Horizon Wind Energy officials at the official groundbreaking for the project that will place the first wind turbines in Logan County. The progressive date was accomplished when a special adjourned county board meeting was called on Oct. 30 in order to get the board's approval of the final document, a decommissioning agreement, that finished meeting all the county's requirements for the construction of the wind farm.

A public hearing was packed Tuesday night with people who wanted to tell the Lee Village Board exactly why they are for or against a proposed wind farm along the DeKalb-Lee county line. The project would consist of 133 electricity-generating wind turbines owned by Florida-based FPL Energy. All of the proposed turbines are in unincorporated areas, but a state law passed last year allows municipalities to exercise zoning authority on wind turbines within one and a half miles of their corporate boundaries.

The Princeton City Council has approved an ordinance to expand the Bureau/Putnam Area Enterprise Zone to include the proposed Walnut Ridge wind farm in northwest Bureau County. The city council took its action at Monday night's meeting in city hall.

Vermilion County officials forged ahead Monday with their first discussion on how to regulate the potential construction of wind-turbine farms in the absence of a countywide zoning system. Several wind-turbine companies are seriously considering the county for development of alternative-energy farms, but the county is different from other counties where wind farms already exist because Vermilion has no zoning. ...Attorney and Vermilion County Board Member Bill Donahue, D-District 7, has been working on developing an ordinance that would contain the same type of regulations that would be developed through a regular zoning process in other counties.

Trucks hauling giant wind turbines continue to trek through Lincoln - and some residents say they continue to cause problems. One such truck got off course Thursday and ended up stuck at the intersection of Keokuk and Logan streets, said Lincoln resident Morris Trent, who lives nearby. ...None of the turbines going through Lincoln are bound for the RailSplitter Wind Farm in northern Logan and southern Tazewell counties, according to that wind farm's project supervisor.