The rolling ridges of the countryside aren't the only pieces of Northwest Missouri real estate ripe for wind power development. With its hills and tall buildings, St. Joseph holds potential for residents or businesses interested in generating their own electricity. The problem: The city does not have a set of rules available to grant a permit for or regulate where wind turbines may go. Not yet, at least.

Land in northern Jasper County near a site once eyed for a landfill now is being evaluated as a possible wind farm location. Representatives of Iberdrola Renewables met Thursday at Carthage Memorial Hall with about 200 landowners about potential property leases. "We are looking at Jasper County and meeting with interested landowners," said Paul Copleman, communications manager with the company. "But, it's very early in the process."

It took a St. Clair County jury less than an hour last month to find Wetzel guilty on four counts of forgery for falsifying a building permit on a 120-foot wind turbine he wanted to construct at his business, which sits near Illinois Route 157 and Interstate 64. Village attorney Duane Clarke, who did not prosecute the case, said each of the forgery charges resulted when Wetzel presented a demolition permit to the police and zoning departments to make it appear he also had permission to build the structure.

Average wind speeds in Missouri are lower than reported on a state-produced wind map, said a University of Missouri atmospheric scientist. This finding may affect utilities and private investors planning to build wind turbines to provide clean, renewable energy. Lower-than-predicted wind speeds also may make it harder to meet goals set in 2008 by Missouri Proposition C ...to obtain a gradually increasing percentage of their energy from renewable sources.

After last week's meeting between the Adair County Commission and Trade Wind Energy, it was apparent more discussion would need to be made to bring wind energy to the county. Over the last six months, Project Manager Rob Northway has been developing a plan to build a 14-mile long wind farm that could cost up to $300 million and accommodate nearly 500 megawatts. The only problem is funding.

Zoltek Cos. Inc. posted a loss in its fiscal third quarter as wind farm developers delay projects to see how they can cash in on the federal stimulus package. The company lost $1.4 million in the quarter ended June 30, compared with a profit of $2.3 million a year ago.

Some Missouri residents who power their homes with wind turbines or solar panels won't need extra insurance. The Missouri Public Service Commission on Thursday said it has changed course on requiring homeowners to buy liability insurance if they generate their own power and want to feed excess electricity back into the power grid.

Resident Charlie Porter is suing over the noise. His 20-acre farm north of King City is surrounded by the giant wind turbines. "On a bad day, what does it sound like?" KMBC's Kris Ketz asked Porter. "It sounds like a helicopter, or a train coming that never arrives," Porter said.

Representatives from Trade Wind Energy met with the Adair County Commission Wednesday to discuss a prospective wind electricity project in the northeastern part of the county. The group is looking at the Shuteye Creek area for the wind farm, which encompasses parts of Sullivan, Putnam and Adair counties. The project would cover nearly 60,000 acres of land with more than 25 percent located in Adair.

Wind energy has already come quite a distance in Northwest Missouri, but the industry is now encountering some turbulence. Critics now ask about the turbines' noise, how best to finance the farms and the impact on customer electric rates. One King City resident remains unconvinced that he can peacefully co-exist with the wind turbines of the Bluegrass Ridge Farm next to his house. Charlie Porter recently filed a lawsuit against Deere & Co. and the Wind Capital Group of St. Louis, alleging that the turbines have caused him to lose sleep and devalue his property.

A northern Missouri man has filed a lawsuit against farm equipment maker Deere & Co. and a wind energy company alleging nearby wind turbines have hurt his property values and made him ill. Charlie Porter filed the lawsuit in the 4th Circuit Court of Missouri against Deere and The Wind Capital Group, a St. Louis-based wind energy company.

Wind farms might reduce air pollution. But, one neighbor in King City, Missouri says they're a major source of noise pollution. Now, the man is suing the operators of Missouri's first wind farm. If wind farms are the nation's future, Charlie Porter says look out. He calls them a nightmare especially when he tries to go to bed at night.

The city is not getting as much wind power as it expected from the state's first wind farm, and costs are higher than anticipated. The city thought it would receive 2 percent of its monthly energy from Bluegrass Ridge Wind Farm in Gentry County in 2008, but the actual amount has been between 0.5 percent and 1.4 percent a month. Connie Kacprowicz of Columbia Water and Light said the reason the city hasn't received as much energy as it anticipated for much of 2008 has been cracked blades on turbines at the wind farm.

The idea was for the homeowners to be able to send any excess power back to utilities. But the Missouri Public Service Commission, which oversees the utilities, is requiring homeowners to buy insurance before they start feeding electricity to the grid. And it appears that no Missouri insurance companies sell the insurance.

A new state-federal program will pay farmland owners in 11 Missouri counties to set aside land as habitat and nesting grounds for prairie chickens, which once roamed the state's prairies in the hundreds of thousands. Iowa, New Mexico, and Texas are among the states making similar offers to their farmers to reverse the decline in prairie chicken habitat, according to the USDA's Farm Service Agency.

A legal center in St. Louis has filed suit against a Missouri commission, saying it believes a new insurance rule will discourage people from trying to produce their own solar or wind power. ...This fall, the PSC issued an order that customers who produce 10 kilowatts or less of energy need to carry $100,000 worth of liability insurance, and that those who produce more than 10 to 100 kilowatts of energy need to carry $1 million worth of liability insurance, the lawsuit said.

KTVO has discovered a conflict of interest in the Sullivan County wind project. Commissioner James Howard is on the list of landowners that stand to profit financially from having a wind mill on their property. Plus, KTVO has obtained an eight-pages of document show that Howard and his wife Linda signed a lease option agreement on the Shuteye Creek Wind Project. Howard confirmed that he has an interest in the project.

Officials in Sullivan County agree a wind farm would be a positive addition, but they don't agree on how much they should do to accommodate the company that would bring it there. The county commission wants to create an enhanced enterprise zone to give Tradewind Energy the tax incentives they say they need. County Clerk Mike Hepler and Assessor Karen LaFever say the enhanced enterprise zone would leave the county short changed. "To sell out too cheap is not representing the public interest, it's representing the private interest. I was elected to represent the public interest," Hepler says.

Crowder College officials say they are awaiting the delivery of computer hardware parts before the college's wind turbine can finally be functional. Exactly when that will be, however, hasn't been pinpointed. The plain fact of the matter is, it's risky to say, according to Dan Eberle, interim director of Crowder's MARET Center. As far back as January, it was hoped the turbine would be spinning within a few weeks. Many months later, the wind machine's three 750-pound blades remain still. ...Mounted on a 124-foot tower, the prominently visible 65-kilowatt turbine needs a replacement logic board, Eberle said, as well as new sensors.

The Gentry County wind farm's turbines are undergoing refurbishment in a national retrofitting program initiated after manufacturer Suzlon Energy Limited found cracks in the blades of its S-88 wind turbines. ...The national retrofit program calls for the strengthening of 1,251 wind turbine blades, 930 of which had been installed by March, according to a press release. During repairs, Suzlon will employ temporary replacement blades to minimize the time wind turbines stand inoperable.