A lawsuit seeking to prevent the EcoGrove Wind LLC wind farm from being built northwest of Lena has been settled and dismissed from court. Project officials say development is proceeding on the 100-megawatt wind farm and that construction is set to begin in spring 2008.

Wind turbines may begin appearing in Logan and Tazewell counties in 2008. Texas-based Horizon Wind Energy, which built the Twin Groves Wind Farm east of Bloomington, is hoping to begin construction of a 67-turbine wind farm there in June. The wind farm is planned for the area called Union Ridge, east of Interstate 155. The turbines will be north of the town of Union, which is north of Lincoln and near the Tazewell County line, and south of Illinois 122, also known as Market Road, in Tazewell County.

If wind farm developers looked only at the bottom line, Illinois likely would be one of the last places they'd try to erect hundreds of wind harnessing turbines. Property tax rates are among the highest in the region. The permitting process varies from county to county, and roughly half of the petitions put forth so far have resulted in litigation with opposition groups. The strength and steadiness of the breeze is good but better elsewhere. ..."There's a tremendous wind resource, a tremendous renewable energy standard. . . . It's kind of a perfect storm right now," Link said. "(Illinois) truly is going to be a leading state when it comes to wind energy capacity."

McLean County has been added as a defendant to a lawsuit filed by a group of homeowners hoping to halt a planned wind farm near Carlock. Judge Charles Reynard granted a request from Information Is Power, the organization opposing the White Oak Wind Energy Center, to put include the county in the lawsuit. The group claims landowners' concerns were not fully considered by county officials who approved a special-use permit for the $250 million project.

The Illinois State University-based Wind Working Group hosted a conference in Peoria today in an effort to bring the community up to speed on some complicated issues related to wind farms. Developers say the growth in energy consumption and the new state regulations make wind a necessary alternative. Joel Link, who works for Chicago-based Invenergy said, "People have to realize that a 25 percent renewable energy standard by the year 2025 in Illinois amounts to thousands of wind turbines. We're the most power hungry country in the world. We have I-pods, and TV's in every room, and there's a consequence. The consequence is increased demand for power."

Horizon Wind Energy, which already has a presence in McLean County, is planning to build a wind farm that will stretch from Emden in Logan County to Delavan in Tazewell County. Construction for the project, which is being called the Rail Splitter Wind Farm, may begin in spring of 2008. ...Wind turbines in Tazewell County cannot be higher than 300 feet, and a qualified ornithologist must study the effect of the turbines on migratory birds in the area. The wind farm is expected to be fully operational by December 2008. Whitlock said Horizon Wind Energy has been planning the project since the spring of 2005.

While homeowners and farmers in the path of proposed high-voltage power lines harbor mixed feelings about Lee County's newest wind-farm project, an unexpected development tumbled out of the county Planning Commission on Monday night. The five-member panel promised a rural Amboy resident, whose 4-acre property soon will have transmission lines hanging 300 feet from his home, to take a closer look at the ordinances governing privately owned power lines. ...The Big Sky Wind development will be the third wind farm in Lee County, but it is the first to require installation of transmission lines.

Whitlock says the success of the first phase is also prompting investors to consider expanding beyond initial expectations, to possibly add as many as 140 more turbines. A third phase could have as many as 40 more turbines, on top of 120 already proposed. Depending on results of wind tests that could begin in a few months, Whitlock says investors could develop a fourth-phase with 100 turbines if they can negotiate with land owners living north of Route 9.

The Illinois State University-based Illinois Wind Working Group will host a conference on wind farms later this month in Peoria. ...Sessions will focus on the duties of county boards and zoning boards regarding wind development and the taxation of wind farms. Another session addresses opposition to wind energy projects.

The ordinance approving expansion of the Enterprise Zone to include the wind farm south of the city is a go as far as the city is concerned. During the regular bi-monthly meeting Wednesday evening, the Marseilles City Council adopted the ordinance amendment to include the multi-million dollar Grand Rapids Wind Farm in the La Salle-Grundy County 12.5-acre Enterprise Zone. "We're on board with that. We've made some financial arrangement with them," Mayor Jim Trager said of GRWF developer Invenergy Wind LLC of Chicago. Trager however, will not make the terms of the arrangement public until the next city council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5. "Invenergy is still out there bargaining with other municipalities, and so I'm not going to disclose what we received from them at this time," he said.

Under the proposed agreement, Ottawa's share will drop to 10 percent with the other 10 percent to be divided up among fire protection agencies in the expanded enterprise zone area. Commissioner Dale Baxter opposed the change since it cut the city's minimum potential revenue from $1.5 million to $750,000. ...I see no reason why we should give half of it away. My job is to argue for the citizens of Ottawa, and I'm not willing to vote to give $750,000 at a minimum back to that company when they're going to benefit by millions of dollars themselves." Commissioner Ed Whitney said the agreement did specify Ottawa was to respond, a provision that has been removed. "I know you don't like losing the money. I don't like losing the money and I think we can work on that. But I don't think the public health and safety of this community and our citizens should be up for sale."

Negotiations are under way for a more mutually beneficial understanding on emergency response to any mishaps at construction sites for the Grand Ridge wind farm. With the first construction phase of the 66-turbine wind farm south of the Illinois River now started, concern was sparked among area fire protection districts on a proposed agreement that would call for the Ottawa fire department to respond to locations outside its jurisdiction.

Around 70 people attended a meeting Wednesday night hoping to get answers from a Florida-based power company about a wind farm being proposed along the Lee-DeKalb county line, but some left feeling the meeting was more of a sales pitch than a dialogue. “What I got out of the meeting was, ‘Sign the papers and trust us,' and that's not a good way to do it,” Larry Anderson said. ...“They gave answers to some questions, but they were pretty vague,” Anderson said. “What I heard was, ‘Take it or leave it. If you don't want a turbine, someone else will.'”

Mike Arndt walked away from city hall Wednesday evening without the Enterprise Zone amendment he is seeking for a wind farm in a three-township area southwest of the community. Only because the Marseilles City Council tabled the issue until the next slated meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 21, while it attempts to find benefit in it for the municipality.

Ottawa city commissioners Tuesday put the brakes on an agreement to expand an enterprise zone to include a wind energy farm south of the city. In September, Chicago-based Invenergy asked the city to expand its enterprise zone that now stretches from Ottawa to Grundy County to include about 225 acres for a 66-turbine wind farm south of Ottawa. The turbines will be erected in Brookfield, Allen and Grand Rapids townships. ...for two commissioners, the crux of the arrangement entailed another part of the agreement. "I'm not in favor in that Grand Ridge (Energy) has asked the Ottawa Fire Department to provide emergency response services," said Ed Whitney, commissioner of public health and safety. "I know they're giving us a lot of money but I think we're selling ourselves out."

"It just seems like this is a perfect place for a wind farm, in big, open spaces," Town of Chilton resident Sandy Popp said. "In this project, there aren't many nonparticipating land owners, and I think that makes a huge difference. In our county, there will be hundreds of people who will not be participating who will be relatively close."

The fate of Marion Township has all but been sealed, but 25 residents drove to Dixon Thursday night to implore county officials to consider an ordinance restricting the placement of high-voltage power lines in Lee County. Big Sky Wind has spent the last several years hammering out plans and securing building permits for the construction of a wind farm in southern Lee County, and the final bit of planning dealt with the sensitive issue of how to get the power to Dixon.

The Hanover Park village board voted unanimously Thursday to allow a 150-foot-tall meteorological testing tower to be built, the necessary precursor to the permanent structure. But the wind turbine, which District 20 estimates would save $8 million over its predicted 30-year lifespan, is hardly a certainty. A yearlong, $60,000 study -- paid for by the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation -- must produce data that there's significant wind energy available. The study must also convince trustees that building a 300-foot, 100-ton wind turbine smack-dab in the middle of an urban setting is a good idea. Some officials cautioned that will be difficult, but they're willing to go along with the testing tower. Now the big question is where to put it.

A landowner near the site of a proposed wind turbine said he is not the problem in an ongoing dispute with the Erie School District and the company in charge of the project. 'Johnson Controls ought to rectify their mistake,' said farmer Luke Besse. Mr. Besse's property adjoins the site where the school district wanted to install a $3.5 million wind turbine. He's seeking compensation because the turbine's blades will go over his property's airspace.

The Erie School District wants its $3.5 million wind turbine project to move forward, but now may have to take another step back. The latest delay deal with the turbine's blades infringing on a nearby farmer's airspace. The school district has had one delay after another in its quest to get the unique project moving. There were delays in the spring with moving parts from East Coast ports to the Midwest. Once those parts arrived in June, the project seemed ready for construction. But Luke Besse has farmland next to the school district and the site where the wind turbine is scheduled to be built. Part of the turbine's 95-foot blades will go over Mr. Besse's airspace, superintendent Mike Ryan said.