Three Illinois wind farms within 100 miles of Chicago were acquired Monday by an Irish energy company making its first U.S. investment amid hopes that President Obama's economic stimulus package will bolster the renewable energy business. Dublin-based Mainstream Renewable Power bought the assets, which are at various stages of development, and plans to invest $1.69 billion over four years to fully develop them.

Just off I-39 lies rural El Paso, Ill. But it's hardly a quiet place. Some of its 2,700 residents got pretty worked up in 2007 after learning that Navitas Energy of Minneapolis wanted to build a wind farm in their back yard. It proposed 40 turbines, each peaking at 2 megawatts of electric output. Sitting in Woody's Family Restaurant on the town's main drag, roof truss salesman Kevin Moore explains that he worried the proposed windmills could hurt property values, stunt the town's growth and flick dangerous ice balls.

Shares of India's Suzlon Energy Ltd., the world's fifth-largest maker of wind turbines, crashed 39% on Friday after a report that a 140-foot-long blade had shorn off a turbine tower at a project financed by Deere & Co. in the U.S. Midwest. The accident is the latest and most serious in a series of blade splitting and other technical problems in the U.S. and India which have hurt Suzlon's image. ...Two other turbines, which sit atop 80-meter towers, were turned off after the accident, local media reported. A fourth turbine, reports said, hasn't worked all summer because of cracks on its blades.

With northern Logan County embroiled in a controversy over a plan that would dot the rural landscape with 400-foot-tall wind turbines, a new government report is predicting that in two decades, Americans could get as much electricity from windmills as from nuclear power plants. ...If achieved, it would be an astounding leap. Wind energy today accounts for only about 1 percent of the nation's electricity, although the industry has been on a growth binge with a 45 percent jump in production last year. ...But the report cautioned that its findings were not meant to predict that such growth would, in fact, be achieved, but only that it is technically possible.

Despite some bad news in the energy bill signed by President George W. Bush last week, construction will continue on Bureau County's wind farms, at least for now. By large margins, both the House and Senate approved the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007. Biofuels boosters were heartened by a five-fold increase in the production of ethanol. The mandate for U.S.-grown biofuels is 36 billion gallons per year by 2022, up from the current level of about six billion gallons. On the other side of the coin, those looking for power from the wind lost out with the loss of the production tax credit.

If wind farm, and or, wind turbine opponents had any doubt they are fighting an uphill battle in the debate on the Lancaster Wind Farm and EcoGrove Wind LLC, consider the opinions held by representatives at the federal level. Contacted Friday, spokesmen for both Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Egan) steered clear of opinions on what they termed "local" issues.

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.

Illinois' senators are blocking President Bush's nominee for a Federal Aviation Administration post as they seek his administration's answer to whether wind farms interfere with military operations.

GALESBURG - Could national security concerns slow the progress of two local wind farm projects? Not likely, but anything is possible when the federal government gets involved, according to the developers spearheading wind farms near Bishop Hill and Alexis.

Study to examine projects' effect on military operations

Jim Meenagh, with John Deere’s corporate office, said the times are a-changing, fuel costs a fortune, and “many progressive people” are looking at alternative energy sources such as wind power. One example is John Deere Credit (JDC). The company is looking to support and expand wind power — and there are many opportunities in the Midwest, Meenagh said.