A Chicago-based wind energy company has submitted its first permit applications to build a massive wind farm south of Marseilles. La Salle County Environmental Services and Land Use department on Tuesday received 66 wind turbine permit applications from Invenergy LLC, based in Chicago, for the first phase of a large wind farm development in La Salle County. The development is projected to have 233 turbines spanning parts of Brookfield, Grand Rapids and Allen townships when it is finished. For now, La Salle County's zoning ordinance only allows one 100 megawatt wind farm to be constructed at a time. Since each turbine will produce 1.5 mega-watts, Invenergy must break the project into phases. The first phase will be no more than 66 turbines.

Plans for the £1.5m turbines in Carsington were approved on Wednesday after Derbyshire Dales District Council's decision to reject proposals was overturned after a public inquiry. Although the plans have now been approved, it is unlikely the wind farm will be in place before spring 2010. Neil Exton, land development manager at West Coast Energy, whose subsidiary company Carsington Wind Energy was granted planning permission, said: "There is a massive worldwide demand for wind turbines. They aren't available from a shelf. They're manufactured to order."

Offshore wind farms, such as the one planned off the Sussex County coast, will have to wait to gain federal approval because of a laborious effort to regulate the technology. Bluewater Wind, bolstered by an endorsement from four state agencies last week, hopes to build as many as 200 wind turbines in the Atlantic. The company says its turbines will generate pollution-free electricity at a stable price. At the direction of the state agencies, negotiations have begun between Bluewater and Delmarva Power for a long-term power purchase agreement. But even if they strike a deal, and the company wins state and local permits to build an offshore wind farm, Bluewater will have one time-consuming hurdle left.

An Erie, Pa.-based energy company wants to determine whether its feasible to develop a wind farm on property at the Lake County Landfill in Painesville Township. Lake County commissioners have approved an agreement with Lake County Winds, LLC, a subsidiary of BQ Energy, that allows the company to conduct a study to see if the land would be conducive for wind energy.

Wind turbines on Lake Erie could blow the rust off the region and mark it as a world leader in alternative-energy development, officials say. A Cuyahoga County task force on Thursday proposed the Lake Erie Wind Energy Center, featuring up to 10 wind turbines on the lake and a research center on land spurring new businesses and jobs. “We can change the entire image, from a rust-belt city to a city of the future,” Ronn Richard, head of the Cleveland Foundation, told a crowd of 60 at the Great Lakes Science Center. “This kind of push would help Cleveland reclaim its place as a major economic and cultural force on the world stage.”

A 4-25 agreement is not annexation, as it is only for an agreed, specified period, but would put that property under Chandler Township zoning, which has a wind energy development ordinance.

Local officials earlier this week rejected the Lake Township wind energy zoning ordinance that was referred by the local planning commission earlier this year. "It's was just too restrictive - no one could do anything with it," said Lake Township Supervisor Robert T. Smith on Thursday. During a special meeting Tuesday morning, the Lake Township Board of Trustees voted 3 to 1 to reject the ordinance.

A referendum asking residents to approve the adoption of the township's wind energy zoning ordinance was voted down 207-128 ...The ordinance was adopted by the township planning commission, but it did not go into effect because a petition was filed.

That moratorium - which was adopted in March - was created so the planning commission would have time to study issues dealing with siting, noise affects, health concerns, possible property value decreases and other problems the board fears could arise if not properly addressed in the township's ordinance, said Lake Township Clerk Valerie J. McCallum. "If a land use has the potential to disrupt one person's life in the community, the township should spend the time and money to do what is in the best interests of the community," reads the township's March 31 minutes which included the discussion and adoption of the moratorium. ...Before the planning commission writes a wind ordinance, there still are some questions that need to be answered, McCallum said. Those questions left to be answered include (1) what effects, if any, would wind turbines have on existing property values within the township, and (2) what possible effects, if any, would the turbines have on the health of the citizens living in proximity to any turbines.

Lake Township adopted a one-year moratorium on wind energy development in March 2008, so the planning commission would have time to study issues dealing with siting, noise effects, health concerns, possible property value decreases and other problems the board fears could arise if not properly addressed in a township ordinance the planning commission has been creating. Colletta said much progress has been made on the creation of a township wind ordinance.

Local officials briefly discussed Monday adopting the county's wind energy zoning ordinance to govern future wind developments in this township. The matter was proposed by Supervisor Robert T. Smith, who has been researching wind energy zoning ordinances since the Lake Township Board of Trustees voted April 20 to reject the wind energy zoning ordinance.

"Given the principles and ethics that I live by, I cannot continue to work at the township with a clear conscience. It is a conflict of interest for board members to vote on issues that they have a financial interest in, it is morally wrong to deliberately embarrass fellow board members at public meetings, and elected officials are not suppose to use the office to further their own personal agendas," Bolten's letter reads. "The voters of Lake Township have spoken, and the majority has shown their support for this type of government. I, however, cannot be a part of it." Much of the community's divisiveness stems from possible wind projects in the area.

Lake Township Board Trustee Dale Hartsell said he thinks it would be best to take a second look at the zoning ordinance before agreeing to the land transfer. "I'd like to keep our land in Lake Township and try to work on the ordinance some more to see if we can come up with something everyone can agree on," he said.

Lakeshore council chambers were filled to capacity when council voted 6-2 in favour of re-zoning five parcels of land east of the Naylor Sideroad, to allow the installation of five wind turbines that will make up the Naylor Wind farm. Several people spoke to council, some against the Gengrowth project and some for it. Many of the speakers who were in favour of the wind energy project were property owners who expect to have turbines on their land. Compensation for these turbines will amount to about $10,000 a year for each landowner.

A $30-million wind turbine project that threatens an airstrip owned by legendary Spitfire fighter pilot Jerry Billing got zoning approval Monday from town council in a 6-2 vote. ...Erik Billing told council that area pilots would be at risk trying to thread their way through some of the 120-metre high turbines just west of the airstrip. ...Essex County's official plan amendment dealing with alternative energy calls for a four-kilometer buffer around airstrips registered with Transport Canada.

Bluewater mayor Bill Dowson says the most common concern over wind turbines in the municipality is site lines along the lakeshore. Dowson says the municipality is looking at establishing a bylaw similar to the one passed in South Huron and proposed in Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh that would require a distance of 400 metres from homes and 600 metres from urban developments.

Local leaders propose a windy addition to the Lake Erie horizon - massive wind turbines that would crank out megawatts and spin off research, development and jobs. An energy task force will recommend to Cuyahoga County commissioners next month that the region pursue a demonstration project of four to 10 turbines, spinning at least three miles out on Lake Erie. It would be an unprecedented venture - while European countries have water-borne windmills, the United States has none, task force officials said. And there are no freshwater wind turbines in the world, they said.

West Wind Energy has lodged its planning application for a wind farm at Lal Lal, south of Ballarat. ...A planning panel will now be set up and a decision may not be made until next year. Project manager Grant Flynn says the size of the Lal Lal proposal has been reduced from 79 turbines to 64 to take locals' concerns into account.

A farmer’s bid to build two 70 metre-high wind turbines on the western edge of Dartmoor has been dismissed, because they would form a “restless intrusion” on the landscape.Carol and Robert Bradford, of Beech Farm, Lamerton, near Tavistock, had appealed against West Devon Borough Council’s decision to throw out the plans to build the turbines, each one-and-a-half times the height of Exeter Cathedral. They claimed the development would not have a detrimental effect on the surroundings, and said the windfarm was needed to create green energy. They had proposed that the turbines, which they claimed would provide enough power for up to 1,300 homes, would be run by a community trust. Their appeal was heard by Government planning inspector Richard Tamplin in October. This week, he released a report in which he dismissed the appeal. It read: “The turbines would form a restless intrusion into this quiet and reposeful upland, to its detriment.

The Lammermoor Range is of district significance, but stops short of being outstanding, according to a confidential landscape report obtained under the Official Information Act. The report was commissioned by the Central Otago District Council and presented by Meridian Energy on the last day of the Project Hayes wind farm hearing last week. Meridian counsel Andrew Beatson said his client had obtained the report through the Official Information Act and thought it surprising the information had been withheld from both Meridian and the hearings panel. It was clearly relevant and the three district council members had already seen it. Mr Beatson said the report showed the Lammermoor Range, the site of the proposed wind farm, to be of above average quality but not of such quality as to be outstanding. This corroborated Meridian's material, which showed the area was of no particular significance, Mr Beatson said.