Illinois' first significant wind farm didn't start up until 2003 in Lee County. Today, the state has an installed wind energy capacity of 1,121 megawatts. ...Significant wind energy generation in Southern Illinois below Interstate 70 is questionable at this point given the current technology, Borgia said. Average wind speeds need to be around 15 miles per hour, minimum, to generate enough power.

Wind turbines are responsible for the deaths of between 10,000 and 40,000 birds each year, according to the American Bird Conservancy. Debate over the significance of the threat turbine blades pose to migratory birds is about as old as the concept of wind farms themselves. It began in Altamont Pass, Calif., site of one of the first U.S. wind farms, where there were more than 4,000 turbines. Hundreds of bird carcasses were found on the farm grounds, leading bird conservationists to propagate information that wind turbines were inherently deadly to birds.

One of the most distinctive symbols in the iconography of clean, sustainable energy is the spire and blades of a wind turbine, glistening in the sunlight amid rolling hills, tranquil farmland or over the deep blue of the open ocean. These mammoth towers are statements in the paradigm shift taking place on the topic of energy. They produce no emissions, no residue or chemical waste, none of the traditional environmental concerns lamented by the green movement.

Despite protests and a "suggestion," when it came to a vote by the Champaign County Board on Thursday night, approval of a county wind farm ordinance was a breeze. After about two hours of discussion, with comments for and against, the wind farm ordinance was approved by a vote of 24-2 with one abstention.

Woodford County officials will wait a week to again take up an issue that is alternately called a critical wind farm safety issue or a thinly veiled attempt to shut down wind energy development. A contentious hearing before the Woodford County Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday ultimately was continued until next week with more than a dozen residents still seeking to testify on a proposal that would increase the setback distances of wind turbines from buildings, roads and property lines.

A hearing officer has recommended the DeKalb County Board approve, with conditions, a special use permit sought by an energy company that wants to build a wind farm on the Lee-DeKalb county border. The approval is a reversal of Hearing Officer David Dockus' original recommendation to deny the request from NextEra Energy Resources, which has proposed building and operating a 151-turbine wind energy plant.

A hearing officer has recommended the DeKalb County Board approve, with conditions, a special use permit requested by an energy company that wants to build a wind farm in four townships in the county. The approval is a reversal of Hearing Officer David Dockus's original recommendation, which was to deny the request from NextEra Energy Resources, which has proposed building and operating a 151-turbine wind-energy plant.

Navitas Energy filed an application Friday for a brand new wind farm project between Minonk and Benson. The application lists the construction of 52 wind turbines generating 100 megawatts of energy under the name of Roanoke Wind Farm LLC. It will be built on 6,000 acres west of Interstate 39. The land was first leased in 2005 and again last year. The turbines will be 410 feet tall.

A committee of the DeKalb County Board is the next stop for an application from an energy company that wants to build a wind farm in the county. A reopened public hearing regarding the application for a special-use permit from NextEra Energy Resources to build and operate a 133-turbine wind farm in the county concluded about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, county planner Paul Miller said.

A Chicago-based company wants to develop a wind farm on 28,000 acres in northeastern Champaign County and in western Vermilion County, and it hopes to begin construction by next spring. Invenergy LLC has signed agreements with property owners in Ogden and Compromise townships in Champaign County and Pilot Township in Vermilion County to host as many as 133 wind turbines, according to John Doster, business development manager with Invenergy.

An ordinance to regulate wind farms in Champaign County will go to the full county board later this month. Members of the county's Environment and Land Use Committee voted unanimously Monday night to send the ordinance to the county board for its May 21 meeting. The committee rejected a request by the city of Champaign to extend its extra- territorial jurisdiction by 1 mile, pushing the zone around the city to 2½ miles.

Much of the early session's testimony was dominated by attorneys and an expert witness in acoustics, who testified that wind turbines generate dangerous levels of low-frequency noise that can have a negative effect on health. Several residents of wind farms in other states also offered testimony, saying the turbines have negatively affected their quality of life. The biggest concerns expressed by the seven county residents who spoke in the six-hour early session were potential impacts on property values and health.

It only appeared Doug Huser was running Tuesday's marathon meeting of the county's conservation, planning and zoning committee. The first-term County Board member challenged Terry Pille, who chaired the meeting, about his intention to vote on wind farm issues. Both Pille and his wife are involved in a wind farm project in Minonk. At a previous meeting, Pille said he would seek the advice of State's Attorney Mike Stroh.

The bill, HB 3646, sponsored by Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, creates the Renewable Energy Production District Act, allowing any area within a single county to be incorporated as a renewable-energy production district. The bill was introduced by Black in the Illinois House of Representatives in February and passed March 29 on its third reading, 114-0. But it was held up in the Senate's Energy Committee on Thursday. Black said the bill is opposed by utility companies.

At the city's plan commission meeting this week, members voted 5-0 to not protest a proposed county zoning ordinance text amendment that would allow wind farms in the county Agriculture 1 zoning district with approval of a special-use permit by the Champaign County Board. But the plan commission is also suggesting - at the planning staff's recommendation - that the county board should not approve a wind farm unless it is at least 2 1/2 miles from a municipal boundary. That's a mile beyond what the county board had been considering.

McDonough County Board Chairman Scott Schwerer briefed members of the road and bridge committee Thursday on the status of a county wind farm ordinance. He said a draft could be ready for public comment next month.

Residents of western Sangamon County, where a Springfield company is planning to build a large-scale wind farm, insist that they are not opposed to wind energy. Instead, they want fellow landowners to have input in a project that, "may have tremendous impacts on the health, comfort and home values of families living nearby," according to an informational flyer put out by a group calling themselves Sangamon County Citizens for Wind Rights.

A Minnesota-based company will likely apply for permits soon to establish a sizable wind farm on property stretching across Stephenson, Ogle, and Winnebago counties southeast of German Valley. The company proposing this "tri-county" wind farm is Navitas Energy, based out of Minneapolis, Minn.

Despite earlier concerns from some area residents, a Libertyville company on Friday ceremoniously unveiled a 120-foot wind turbine it will use as an alternative energy source. Representatives of Aldridge Electric, 844 E. Rockland Road, say the turbine will save the company money and generate cleaner energy.

Libertyville officials are investigating complaints about noise generated by a 120-foot-tall wind turbine at a local business. The concerns arose just a few days before this Friday's planned ribbon-cutting ceremony for Aldridge Electric's turbine. The device was installed earlier this month to generate cleaner energy for the business, an electrical contracting firm at 844 E. Rockland Road.