In the name of transparency, the Woodford County Board on Tuesday tabled the vote that would have given Navitas Energy Inc. the special-use permits to build a 52-turbine Roanoke wind farm as well as a 100-turbine one in Minonk. The reason for that, said Larry Whitaker, who made the motion to table it for 30 days, was so that, "We can take this wind farm issue and take it out of these smoky township meetings and out into the open.

The Sugar Grove Village Board has slapped a moratorium on the installation of all wind energy devices within the village. The temporary ban began this month and is scheduled to expire in six months. Sugar Grove Village Administrator Brent Eichelberger said the moratorium should not be taken to mean that the village is opposed to the notion of wind energy generation.

The chairman of Woodford County's Conservation, Planning and Zoning Committee started Tuesday's meeting on an uncomfortable note when a resident asked him point-blank if he would resign. Vicky Kingdon, who read from a prepared statement, said Terry Pille should step down as a County Board member. She said he had a conflict of interest resulting from his involvement in a wind farm project in the county.

Residents of Benson say they are not opposed to having a wind farm in their community but would prefer them to be at least a mile and half outside the village limits. At a meeting of Woodford County's Conservation, Planning and Zoning Committee on Tuesday, a Village Board representative presented a letter asking the county to insert a 1.5-mile setback radius surrounding Benson to the wind farm permit.

Supporters of a requirement that turbines be at least a mile from "non-participants" in wind-farm developments estimate they have collected 450 signatures in support of the change in Sangamon County zoning rules. The developers of the first such farm in the county say the requirement would spell the end of the project. Cathy Bomke of Sangamon County Citizens for Wind Rights said Friday the group hopes to get a hearing as early as next month.

The Woodford County Zoning Board of Appeals has approved a special-use permit to allow Navitas Energy Inc. to move forward with a 52-turbine wind farm near Minonk and Benson.

Construction on a 100-turbine wind farm in the Carlock area is expected to start later this year. "We hope to start construction this year and be online by 2010," said Gina Wolf, director of business development for Invenergy of Chicago, which is developing the White Oak Energy Center. Ground grading is under way for a substation that will collect the wind turbine power and send it to the purchaser.

Village Board members unanimously approved an ordinance Tuesday night that puts a moratorium on construction of windmills, turbines and other energy-generating devices for a period of six months. The intent is not to prohibit construction of windmills and turbines permanently, but to give the village time to research their appropriateness in the village, board members and village staff said.

After neighbors reported a gravel road was being built without proper permits, a company that is building a wind farm in southwestern DeKalb County halted construction until it gets the required permits. ...Planning department staff ordered that the work stop, and the company readily complied.

Organizers of a project to build a $400 million wind farm stretching across Stephenson, Ogle, and Winnebago counties say they hope to start construction in mid-2010 and complete the facility in late 2011. This schedule is preliminary, however, and depends on a number of variables, said Andy Evans, project developer for Navitas Energy.

Talk about a bad Internet connection. Operators and engineers at a wind turbine off Interstate 55 near Farmersville said Thursday they hope the blades are turning for good after a weeklong shutdown caused by an interruption of high-speed Internet connections, among other problems. ...A faulty generator wire had been repaired Thursday, and adjustments also were being made to equipment that protects the turbine from lightning.

The city is moving forward with creating an ordinance specific to wind energy. The DeKalb Citizen's Environmental Commission met Wednesday evening to discuss the possibility of such an ordinance, which would regulate size, design, noise levels and other components of wind turbines that residents and businesses would want to install within city limits.

Opponents of a wind turbine adjacent to a residential neighborhood won an extension of a temporary restraining order to keep the turbine turned off until July 14. ..."At that hearing we will be expected to present our evidence that we are being harmed by the noise of the turbine," Gates said.

Citizens for Protection of Libertyville scored another victory in court this morning. Judge Mitchell Hoffman issued a 2nd temporary restraining order against Aldridge Electric and DPR Investments LLC that shut down the turbine until July 14, 2009. Citizens for Protection of Libertyville, a group of neighbors who live in the surrounding area, are suing the Village of Libertyville, Aldridge Electric Inc. and DPR Investments LLC to force the permanent shut-down of the 146' turbine that was erected within a few hundred feet of their backyards.

There was little air movement in the hot, stuffy gymnasium of Fieldcrest High School on Wednesday night, but proponents of wind energy won a victory when Woodford County officials unanimously recommended that Navitas Energy be allowed to build a 100-turbine wind farm called Minonk Wind Farm LLC. Seventy-five turbines would be in Woodford County, and the rest in Livingston County. The wind farm is expected to generate 200 megawatts of electricity annually.

Just days after the DeKalb County Board approved the county's first wind farm, its Planning and Zoning Committee will recommend to the full board a three-year moratorium on expansion or new wind farms. The committee approved the recommendation Wednesday by a 7-1 vote, with John Hulseberg casting the dissenting vote.

On the eve of public hearings on its proposal to build two separate wind farms in rural Minonk, Navitas Energy Inc. is hosting a picnic-style open house from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Westside Park pavilion at the corner of Fifth and Washington. ...Wind farms have been the target of objections and protests. Concerns range from aesthetics to the possibility ice debris will be thrown from turbine blades.

Sugar Creek Wind One representative Stan Komperda said the company must wait for more windy days before being able to compile all of the data necessary to apply for building permits in the New Holland/Middletown area to construct its wind farm project. This time of year is the least likely time to get accurate wind data in central Illinois. ..."I don't see us applying for permits until some time this fall."