About 25 to 40 trucks are cruising Iowa's roads every day with oversized trailers hauling huge wind turbine towers, extraordinarily long blades and other equipment en route to wind energy farms under construction here and in other states, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. ..."you get tower sections that are fourteen- and fifteen-feet wide and it becomes more difficult during the construction season to use the interstates."

Homeowners who want a wind turbine on their property will need to have at least an acre of land, the West Des Moines City Council decided Monday. That decision runs counter to a recommendation from the Plan and Zoning Commission last week to eliminate a lot size requirement for residential turbines that generate electricity. "This is uncharted territory for us," Councilman Jim Sandager said. "We certainly can go back and review it. We wanted to err on being more conservative."

Fayette County may be on the road to becoming the next gold mine for wind energy in Iowa. The county is being looked at by two different companies for large wind farms, one by Oelwein and another in the northwestern corner. Both projects are considered to be in the preliminary phases. "It'll certainly change the landscape," said Chuck Gray, the clerk for Bethel Township, where one of the projects is located.

Wind turbines may soon be allowed on West Des Moines residential properties, but proposed requirements would severely limit where in the city they could be located. Under the proposal, only lots that are an acre or larger are eligible, which disqualifies a majority of residential property. ...Chittenden said the city must find a delicate balance. "We're trying to respect the wishes and desires of residents, but we must also have some protection for neighbors as well," he said.

Tower by 260-foot tower, blade by 125-foot blade, a manmade forest of wind turbines is rising in a roughly 48-square-mile area between Zearing and Colo. The 100-tower wind farm will eventually generate 150 megawatts of electricity, to be fed into the Mid-Iowa power grid, according to Florida Power and Light spokesman Anthony Pedroni. ..."We'll work our way south, from Zearing toward Colo, at the rate of 10 to 14 turbines a week for the next six to seven weeks," Pedroni said.

With the looming possibility of Wind Energy Conversion Properties (wind farms) in Fremont County, officials are thinking ahead and taking action. Fremont County Assessor Karen Berry approached the Fremont County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 14 and proposed an ordinance be placed on the books pertaining to the assessment of wind farms. If the ordinance is passed, wind towers will be a local assessment when, and if, they come to Fremont County. "If we don't pass this ordinance and wind towers come in, they will be considered a utility and the state assesses utilities.

Everything is bigger about wind energy these days. The towers are taller, and the rotating turbines have greater diameter. Leases to landowners are becoming more lucrative. But as "big wind" owned by utilities and merchant generators gets bigger, voices for "little wind" - people who want to build backyard generators or farmers unhappy about the effects of towers - are beginning to make themselves heard. ..."If you're a farmer and used to a quiet environment, a wind turbine changes everything," said Heide ...At a meeting last week in Malcom, Heide warned landowners about broken tiles, damaged roads and fences during turbine construction, and noise and shadows from rotating turbines.

Smith said that Horizon does not yet have a contract with any major provider to purchase the electricity produced. "We hope to have a contract soon, but if we don't by next spring, we will be a merchant power facility, selling our energy to a daily marker," said Smith. "This is a new concept for wind energy, but we expect it will grow and become common in the future as the United States reduces its dependence on foreign oil." The Iowa Utilities Board granted a regulatory waiver in February to Horizon Wind Energy to create its Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm in Howard and Mitchell counties.

The Marshalltown City Council Monday looked to put some regulations on electricity-generating wind turbines. The move came on the heels of Marshalltown's first application for a large-scale wind turbine which was proposed to be put on a property off of Merle Hibbs Boulevard. While the turbines have caught on in rural areas, they have been slow to infiltrate urban areas. "There's nothing addressed in the section at all about wind turbines," said City Planner Stephen Troskey. "This section is all new."

The Carroll City Council Monday voted 5 to 1 to ban wind-turbine development in the 2-mile area around the city. MidAmerican Energy has planned a 100-turbine wind project that will stretch from Carroll to Breda. It is expected to be complete by the end of the year and seven of the turbines in the initial plan fell within the 2-mile area to the northwest of Carroll where the city has authority. The council's action runs counter to a Planning & Zoning recommendation for approval of the plan.

MidAmerican Energy is developing a 100-turbine wind-power project in Carroll County that will stretch from just inside Carroll's two-mile limit to Breda. The $300 million turbine project started in recent days with the construction of access roads and other initial work, Tom Budler, Mid-American's general manager for wind power, said in an interview with the Daily Times Herald. MidAmerican plans to move swiftly on the project. "It will absolutely be on the line by the end of 2008," Budler said. ...Budler and other MidAmerican officials were in Carroll Monday for a city council meeting to discuss a proposed ordinance that would affect seven of the 100 turbines. Those seven would be in the jurisdiction of the city, and officials want more information about height, setbacks and possible impact on other development before any ordinance goes into effect.

Hancock and Winnebago counties have seen increased traffic since last December as crews and trucks bearing heavy equipment began arriving in Crystal Lake for the start of a new Florida Light and Power (FPL) 100-turbine wind farm. Now, almost six months later the fruit of their labor is obvious to everyone. Although wind turbine components have been arriving by truck the last few months, May 9th was the first day crews began erecting the towers. Foundation work began in December and was finished earlier this spring.

Members of a city review board unofficially agreed Tuesday that installing a personal wind turbine on a residential property just inside the Marshalltown city limits would be a good fit, but they held off from steering the beginnings of a residential wind turbine policy that currently does not exist. "There are a litany of other issues. I have very little problem with your property," Board of Adjustment member Sherm Welker told Garland and Julie Schossow, who sought a variance to the 35-foot height limitation at their 1811 E. Merle Hibbs Blvd. home in order to put up a 71-foot tall windmill, "but if I say yes to you, how can I justify a no to somebody else? We're making up the rules as we go and even though we have the authority, I don't know if that's in the public's best interest."

A "green" project may be popping up out of the green fields of northeastern Pottawattamie County this summer. MidAmerican Energy is looking at the area as a site to build 64 wind turbines, a project that county officials said could be worth more than $120 million and generate about 96 megawatts of electricity. The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors will schedule a public hearing on tax incentives for the project in the next few weeks. ...The ordinance that will go before the County Board calls for MidAmerican to pay no property taxes on the equipment for the first year, then 5 percent of the assessed value in the second year. The tax amount would increase by 5 percentage points each subsequent year until it reaches 30 percent, which will be the maximum amount.

In other discussion, Clay County Zoning Administrator Tammy McKeever talked to the supervisors about possible changes to zoning ordinances in unincorporated areas of the county. McKeever noted the prevalence of wind turbines since zoning ordinances underwent an extensive review 18 years ago. "Right now, the way the zoning ordinances read is: We have a setback of 50 feet all the way around," for turbines, McKeever said. "Well, that's pretty close to a road and pretty unheard of in zoning. ...McKeever explained that county zoning has two major roles -- to protect prime agricultural land and to ensure individuals have an opportunity to enjoy their property. "If you have a wind turbine built 50 feet from your house that you didn't want necessarily, it could infringe on your enjoyment of your property, so that is what we're looking at," she said.

Here's another sign that wind energy is coming of age: Wind law is now piling up in court precedents and is being taught at law school. ...Hamilton's wind law course covers the gamut of the legal nitty-gritty about wind energy, including easements and leases, property issues, land-use regulations, utility regulation, metering and financing, and state and federal tax, energy and environmental policies. Hamilton's class is one of three in the United States. The University of Texas at Austin has a wind law class and so does the University of Oregon in Eugene. "With turbine farms going up all over Iowa, it's the next logical step,"

The Sac County, Iowa Sheriff's office says they're investigating what caused a semi to start a chain reaction accident that sent a utility pole into an Early, Iowa restaurant. Authorities say 38 year-old Glen Forbes was driving a trailer loaded with wind turbine blades when the rear steering malfunctioned.

Times have never been better for wind power. The industry's growth rate doubled last year, and additional turbines are going up across the country. But the industry is heavily dependent on a federal tax subsidy that's set to expire at the end of this year. And the industry's growth is steadily increasing the cost of the subsidy and making it tougher for lawmakers to keep it going. ...Last year, the industry added 5,244 megawatts of capacity, more than twice the 2,454 megawatts added in 2006. That brought the nationwide capacity to 16,818 megawatts. But that growth also means that continuing the subsidy for one more year, through 2009, would cost taxpayers $3 billion. "The problem with a long-term extension is that it's cost-prohibitive as long as the industry continues to expand. Budget-wise, it's hard to do it for an extended period of time," said Frank Maisano, an energy industry lobbyist.

Several Fayette County landowners are considering establishing a bloc of land suitable for generating wind energy. "We'd like to get between 8,000 and 10,000 acres in a single bloc and offer it to an energy company," said David Burrack of rural Arlington, coordinator of the effort. Burrack and several associates held a meeting Wednesday night at Starmont High School attended by more than 50 area landowners. "Right now we are just trying to see if enough landowners are interested," he said, adding that only 20 percent of proposed wind farms ever get built. Burrack said he believes a corridor covering about 60 square miles between Arlington and Maynard would be favorable for the generation of wind energy.

These roadways, also known as "service roads," are usually used by farmers who need to get from one end of their property to another, and are nowhere near strong enough to handle what MidAmerican has in store for them. Because the prospective sites for these wind turbines can be a considerable distance from highways and county roads, Level B roadways will need to be substantially beefed up to handle trucks carrying wind turbine parts weighing several dozen tons. The roadways would have to be widened to 33 feet, as well. ..."They've got equipment five times the legal load limit," he said. "On B level roads, there's not enough rock. It'll be adding rocks to dirt roads."