Children at an island primary were sent home after a newly-installed wind turbine next to their school collapsed, it emerged yesterday. Parents of youngsters at the 18-pupil Raasay Primary School were asked to collect their children following the incident on November 13. The 50ft turbine will "remain out of commission" until an investigation has been carried out.

Caseyville police arrested businessman and windmill-builder Larry Wetzel on Monday afternoon after a judge signed a warrant for his failing to appear in court on charges he forged a building permit. A jury found Wetzel guilty of four counts of forgery in September. Prosecutors said he presented a faked building permit to police and a court clerk in an effort to build a wind turbine and power building in Caseyville.

This time, the county was prepared, but the developer was not ready to advance the Minonk Wind Farm project for a vote by the Woodford County Board. At the request of David Radin, project manager for developer Gamesa Energy, the County Board on Tuesday tabled a vote on a road agreement as well as a special-use permit for the proposed 100-turbine project.

A recommendation that a proposed 333-turbine wind farm should be given a special use permit is on its way to the McLean County Board. The McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to recommend Horizon Wind Energy LLC's plan for Black Prairie Wind Farm, which would dot 3,500 acres north of Illinois 9 east of Bloomington-Normal. The County Board likely will not take up the issue until its January meeting.

Where's the best place for a wind turbine in Orland Park? What are the advantages of a geothermal system? Should the village add solar power to some of its buildings? These are some of the questions sustainability consultant Teresa Fourcher will help village officials answer. The village is expected to use up to $10,000 in grant money from its $200,000 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant to pay Fourcher. Village manager Paul Grimes said most municipal staffs don't know a "hill of beans" about renewable energy so some help is needed.

The Livingston County Board at its meeting Thursday night approved amending the Streator Enterprise Zone Agreement, which had been in effect since the 1980s, so that several school districts in the county can benefit from the property involved in the Iberdrola wind farm project. ...County Board attorney Tom Blakeman explained that the county will abate the portion of property taxes involved with the wind towers. He said this would allow the schools to receive general state aid and then funds from Iberdrola.

The hostile battle for control of Novera Energy took a new twist today as it emerged that one of the company's pipeline wind farm projects could be halted by fears it could cause a mid-air fighter jet collision. In an intervention which could have ramifications for many onshore wind projects, an air traffic control expert has told North Yorkshire planning officials to block Novera's Bullamoor project, where it envisages massive 120 metre-tall turbines on farmland near Northallerton.

Stephenson County Board member Jeff Mikkelsen said he will introduce a proposal to make wind farms a permitted use within the zoning ordinance to eliminate the need for a special use permit. Such a zoning change, he said, would eliminate the need to hold lengthy public hearings on future wind farm projects, making Stephenson County a more attractive prospect for wind energy companies. Mikkelsen, who serves as chairman of the County Planning and Development Committee, said he may ask his committee to consider this proposal in the near future.

The latest effort by a local computer business to go green has some residents in a nearby subdivision seeing red. Other World Computing's new wind turbine, 131 feet tall not counting its three 63-foot-long blades, towers over the open space and farmland that surround it just southeast of Woodstock. But some residents of the Savannah Grove subdivision 1,600 feet to the west say it towers over them, as well. The refurbished turbine went up over the course of an October weekend to many residents' surprise, homeowner Ron Cyscon said.

An ordinance to protect local infrastructure during the construction of massive wind mills used for generating electricity was tabled again at the Nov. 4 Edgar County Board meeting. The board's decision to forestall action was expected as the Wind Energy Conversion System Ordinance was first brought to the board for adoption on Oct. 7 but was tabled at that time because of questions raised during the public hearing.

Attorneys closely questioned an aviation consultant Tuesday, Nov. 10, in a hearing on a proposed wind turbine project in Champaign County. Thaddeus Brys, a consultant for Aviation Systems Inc., testified before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in a hearing on the Buckeye Wind Project, which would build about 70 turbines throughout Champaign County. Gil Weithman, law director for Urbana, questioned Brys on news that the Federal Aviation Administration recently reduced the number of turbines it considered a presumed hazard.

The McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals will meet Nov. 17 to discuss four days of testimony and public comments on Horizon Wind Energy's wind farm special use permit application. "I want this board to have some time to review the documents that have been presented and think about the decision," said ZBA Chairwoman Sally Rudolph. Closing arguments were presented Monday night on a proposed 333-turbine project in eastern McLean County in the Towanda, Blue Mound, Martin and Anchor townships. The area is north of the existing 240-turbine Twin Groves Wind Farm in rural Arrowsmith, Ellsworth and Saybrook.

Unmanageable interference would be caused to the radar at RAF Leeming by four 132-metre tall wind turbines, the Ministry of Defence says, warning their height would also cause a serious obstruction to the safe movement of aircraft. But the plans are still being recommended for approval. Novera Energy plc wants to erect the turbines on undulating farmland south of the A684 at Winton, four kilometres north-east of Northallerton and 3.6 kilometres from the boundary of the North York Moors National Park.

Despite a fall of between 20 and 30 feet, the man who lost his footing on a ladder inside a wind turbine on Friday apparently was not seriously injured. The man's name has not been released by the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department. ...the worker slipped off a ladder and, although tethered by a safety harness, the harness apparently failed, and the man fell.

Wind turbine blades rip loose near Esbjerg and southwestern Sweden, one landing on a hiking path A malfunction on a Vestas wind turbine in the town of Falkenberg on Sweden's southwest coast could have resulted in tragedy, as one of the structure's large blades flew off and landed on a track used by hikers.

Concerns over "flicker vertigo," property values and flight paths for crop dusters were raised by area residents who voiced their objection Thursday to the proposed Black Prairie wind farm east of the Twin Cities. Horizon Wind Energy LLC is seeking a special use permit to locate about 333 turbines in Towanda, Blue Mound, Martin and Anchor townships, north of Illinois 9. ...After taking testimony for more than four hours, the zoning board continued the hearing until November. A date had not been announced as of The Pantagraph's press time.

Three months after the Ripley Wind Farm went online in December, 2007, Dave Colling's phone started ringing. Three of his neighbours were seeing doctors about recurring ear aches. They knew Colling, a former dairy farmer who lives within two kilometres of the turbines near the southern Bruce County community, had an interest in and could test for what he calls "electrical pollution." "It's like living inside a microwave. It radiates," Colling told more than 100 people Tuesday night in Keady.

Before anyone in Walnut signs any deals with any wind farm company, a forum will be held Sunday to discuss how commercial turbines could impact the community, one organizer said. Rockford-based environmental lawyer Rick Porter is scheduled to talk about the long-term effects wind farms can have. Porter is the attorney representing 39 DeKalb residents suing to block a 151-turbine wind farm that straddles the DeKalb/Lee county border.

A newly activated subcommittee of the Macon County Board voted 6-0 Tuesday evening to pass along two revised ordinances to the board's Environmental, Health, Education and Welfare Committee. The Siting, Rules and Ordinance Subcommittee first approved changes to an ordinance governing the siting and construction of wind energy conversion systems.

The McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a third public hearing Thursday on Horizon Wind Energy's request for a special-use permit to build an expansion of the Twin Groves Wind Farm expected to cost in excess of $400 million. The hearing, the first opportunity for opponents of the permit to give testimony, will be at 7 p.m. at the county's Government Center, 115 E. Washington St. Two more hearings for permit foes may be scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 9 and 10, also at the Government Center.