The huge fan blade of the 126-foot wind turbine behind a Libertyville electrical contractor stands still now, a temporary concession to neighbors who find it a nuisance despite being touted as green energy. ...Shortly after the turbine was installed -- about 275 feet from one resident's backyard -- neighbors began complaining about noise, light from the turbine's reflective surface and the "flicker effect" created by the rotating fan blade.

A group of about three dozen residents likely will file a lawsuit in appeal of the county board's decision to grant a permit to an energy company to build a wind farm in the county, an attorney representing the group said Thursday. "I view it as highly likely we will be appealing," Rick Porter, an attorney for the anti-wind farm group Citizens for Open Government, said early Thursday afternoon.

The town will begin its review today of a plan submitted by the state's largest wind power developer to build a 34-turbine, 51-megawatt wind-to-energy facility along Oakfield Hills. The Wind Energy Review Facility Committee will start reviewing First Wind of Massachusetts' application to build the $120 million facility at 6:30 p.m. at the Oakfield Community Center, Town Manager Dale Morris said. He strongly urged residents to attend.

The DeKalb County Board granted permission in a 16-4 vote Wednesday for a wind energy company to build and operate 119 turbines in western portions of the county. The company plans to move dirt before the end of the month, and a group of neighboring landowners vehemently opposed to the wind farm say that a lawsuit may soon be filed.

Wind farm opponents got no reprieve from Woodford County on Tuesday, which voted to leave unchanged the ordinance that would increase the distance of wind turbines from adjoining structures. By an 8-6 vote, the Woodford County Board agreed with the county's Zoning Board of appeals not to increase the setbacks from the current 750 feet to 1,800 feet. To overturn the ZBA's recommendation would have required a super-majority vote.

Landowners should be more concerned about controlling the site plan of a wind tower than by how much money they'll get, a local attorney says. William Shay of Peoria was among those speaking during "Wind Energy 101, From a Landowner's Perspective."

The DeKalb County Board is expected to vote Wednesday on a special-use permit to the project's investors, NextEra Energy Resources. The permit comes with 34 conditions meant to benefit DeKalb residents with property near the turbines. Those include a guarantee to offset additional costs for crop spraying, a process for property owners who have unexpected problems with the turbines on their land, and a property value guarantee. ...None of the above conditions were requested or required by the Lee County Board, which approved its special-use permit in February.

A semitrailer was damaged Monday morning when it struck a 170-foot wind turbine blade being hauled on Illinois Route 130 on the north side of Charleston. No injuries were reported as a result of the collision that occurred shortly after 11 a.m. at the intersection of Route 130/Olive Avenue and Seventh Street adjacent to the Kirchner Building Center.

The two sides are scheduled to meet Tuesday night at the company headquarters to discuss the company's 120-foot wind turbine. It was installed in April "to help Aldridge Electric offset their retail rate electricity," according to a company news release. Since then, neighbors have complained of noise levels, light from the turbine's reflective surface, and the "flicker effect" created by the rotating fan blade.

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.

Illinois is trying to build on its status as a good place to build a wind farm. The Illinois House and Senate have passed a bill that would designate the developments as enterprise zones. That would give the developers incentives such as a sales tax waiver on building materials.

Horizon Wind Energy wants to more than double its Twin Groves Wind Farm by adding more than 300 turbines in Merna, Cooksville, Colfax and Anchor. "We've been talking to farmers since March last year," said project manager Caton Fenz. ...Four public meetings are scheduled this week and next so neighbors can learn more about the project and review a map with proposed turbine locations.

Judy Campbell, the Livingston County Board member who distributed a survey form in late May involving a proposed wind farm, was scheduled to meet with some area postmasters on Friday afternoon to discuss making amends for the manner in which deliveries of some of the questionnaires occurred. Campbell distributed 46 copies of the survey to rural residents in southern Broughton and northern Sullivan townships in Livingston County. The surveys concern a proposed K-4 wind tower project being proposed in these areas.

Sugar Creek Wind One has the potential to make history as the tallest wind farm in the U.S. Developers of the planned wind-to-energy project, to be constructed in the New Holland and Middletown areas, have asked Logan County zoning officer Will D'Andrea for a variance that would allow wind towers to be built taller than 500 feet.

A wind farm developer filed an application on Friday to put more wind turbines in Livingston County. The application was made by Minneapolis-based Navitas Energy for the proposed Minonk Wind Farm project, which would scatter 100 turbines over a 12,000-acre area from Minonk to Flanagan.

Aldridge Electric's new wind turbine has stopped spinning, while the company attempts to strike a compromise over what neighbors are calling excessive noise. On Tuesday, a group of nine residents who live near the Libertyville company, 844 E. Rockland Road, obtained a restraining order signed by a judge asking Aldridge to temporarily stop the turbine from spinning.

When some residents of the eastern side of Livingston County opened their mailboxes earlier this week they had a blank white envelope inside with their mail. According to the letter inside, Livingston County Board member Judy L. Campbell had delivered the non-addressed, non-stamped envelope to the mailbox. While Campbell may have identified herself as a county board member, Livingston County Board Chairman William Fairfield said the board has no part in this survey and did not even know of its existence.

Residents who spent weeks researching and discussing wind farm issues were dealt a blow Thursday when the Woodford County Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously against larger setbacks of wind turbines. In denying the motion, the five-member board voted against amending the wind farm ordinance so that towers would be set at least 1,800 feet back from any adjoining structure, and at least 1.1 times the tower height from a dwelling structure.

DeKalb County is one step closer to seeing more than 100 wind turbines erected on its landscape after the county board planning and zoning committee voted unanimously Wednesday night to grant a conditional special-use permit to NextEra Energy Resources that would allow the company to build the turbines.