The $53,500 grant is being dispensed as part of the Value Added Agriculture Product Market Development Grant Program. The money will fund a feasibility study of wind energy including wind testing using altimeter.

The village of Elmore installed a 50-meter Meteorological Monitoring Tower Friday, Aug. 25, in conjunction with North Coast Wind & Power, LLC, on village property next to the Ohio Turnpike. The tower will monitor wind and weather conditions for a 12 to 18-month period to collect data for a feasibility study.

The speaker is set, the invitations are out. Now all Paul Hunter wants to know is, will the landowners show up? "There's a lot of potential," said Hunter, for a wind farm (in the sense of "farming" the wind) to be built in the eastern portion of Clinton County. The wind blows strong enough there for turbines to be commercially viable, he says.

Two power sources that lost their luster in recent decades will be increasingly important in meeting the growing demand for energy in this country, the leader of one of the nation’s largest utilities said. "We need to look at King Coal and . . . nuclear," Michael G. Morris, American Electric Power’s chairman and chief executive, said yesterday at the Columbus Metropolitan Club.

Another suitor has surfaced for city-owned land that could create a wind turbine farm on Conneaut's east side. Property Investment Enterprises of Geneva hopes to meet next week to open discussions about a possible one-year purchase agreement for all the unoccupied land within the East Conneaut Industrial Park, said Michael White, a partner in the business. "(The park land) is a fantastic location," he said. "It has a deep water port, railways and highways. Everything is there. That site is ideal."

A state employee was questioned Friday, Nov. 20, about a report he prepared for the Buckeye Wind Project. Champaign County Prosecutor Nick Selvaggio and Gil Weithman, city of Urbana law director, asked Nick Doss about methods he used to develop sections of a staff report concerning aviation and decommissioning of the Buckeye Wind Project.

Within the renewable energy debate is opportunity; the opportunity for communities to utilize their resources not only to address energy efficiency and environmental concerns, but also to stimulate business. According to Avon Lake Councilwoman Jennifer Fenderbosch, there might not be a better opportunity than in Avon Lake. She said she first considered the idea after attending meetings in Cleveland.

There's a battle brewing along the ridges of Western Ohio. Several wind energy companies might build hundreds of giant turbines to generate electricity. There's support -- but a lot of opposition. Along the glacial ridge above the tiny community of Zanesfield in Logan County, Page Mays built a comfortable home in an idyllic setting. "We went ahead and bought this property and built this house, figuring that we were going to see pretty much what we were going to see," Mays says. "But that ridge over there is where they want to put the wind turbines now. We didn't bargain for that." Touted as the ultimate in clean energy, hundreds of wind turbines may be erected on these hills which are among the highest in the state of Ohio. But the Mayes worry about the effect on their property values, their way of life and their health.

On May first, 2008 Governor Strickland signed a new energy and utility bill into law. Among other things, the bill established the long-awaited Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard - legislation requiring that by the year 2025, 12.5 percent of the state's power come from renewable technologies like wind or solar. But the bill's language is murky, and as ideastream's Gretchen Cuda explains, not everyone thinks it's a victory for green energy. ...An amendment to the bill says that if the cost of renewable energy increases overall rates by 3 percent or more, companies are off the hook for meeting the 12.5 percent renewable requirement. Ken Silliman is chief of Chief of Staff to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. He says that could become a major setback.

Bowling Green's former utilities director, Daryl Stockberger, has been lauded by numerous groups and public officials for getting Ohio's first four commercial-sized wind turbines built just west of the city. ...So what happened Oct. 1 when push came to shove - when Bowling Green City Council felt the city needed to lock itself into a long-term contract for its largest source of power? It aligned itself with coal. ...AMP-Ohio is pursuing a new coal-fired power plant because it is legally obligated to provide a reliable stream of what's known as "baseload" electricity, Mr. Carson said. That's power that can be pulled off the grid 24 hours a day. Wind and solar power are supplemental sources..."Until you find renewable fuels you can use to make baseload [electricity], an energy-consumptive society like ours is going to have to do the best it can," Mr. Scherer said.

Bowling Green already has four wind turbines generating electricity - and has had them since 2003. Dozens more may be on the way, reports News 11's Dick Berry. The tall, twirling turbines are easy to spot along US 6 near the Wood County landfill. If everything falls into place, rows and rows of wind turbines could be in place by 2009. And Bowling Green could become "Blowing Green." Bowling Green and the company responsible for building the original four turbines are looking at adding another 33.

In the three-way horse race to erect a wind turbine farm in the Conneaut area, BQ Energy may be leading at the turn. City Council members who attended a Thursday afternoon presentation by the wind energy company were blown away by what they heard. There's a good chance the firm will be invited to prepare a formal proposal, Council President James Jones said Friday. "We may be talking to them about a proposal," he said.

The Ohio Power Siting Board has rescheduled dates for hearings on the proposed Buckeye Wind Project, as requested by parent company Everpower Renewables after a July 31 OPSB order that required Everpower to file additional financial data, projected population estimates and ecological impact studies as part of the application to install a power-generating facility with 70 turbines scattered over approximately 9,000 acres in Champaign County.

EverPower Renewables Project Manager Mike Speerschneider answered questions of Wayne Township citizens at a meeting Wednesday night, addressing wind turbines and the possibility of turbines in Wayne Township. Speerschneider touched on issues concerning electricity, road damage, local labor and the health of citizens living near the turbines. He said the turbines will not generate a decrease in the cost of electricity for Wayne Township because there is "no way to definitively say what it's (turbines) going to do to the electric."

While state legislators have no real say in whether wind developers can come into the state, the three candidates for the 83rd House District seat offered their opinions Thursday on what should be done to help improve the situation. ..."The issue arises because of how township zoning works," said Mr. Burke, a pharmacy owner and former Marysville councilman. "That's its weakness and it's why a lot of big corporations pick townships rather than municipalities to do business with. I think the state needs to help townships fill in the gaps. "Working with large developers to design and review plans is not the forte of township officials," he said. "All across the state, it's costing money and headaches and the state needs to aid townships in those kinds of issues."

Case Western Reserve University wants to head up research for the proposed wind-energy center, which would feature wind turbines on Lake Erie. As part of its proposal to run the research center, the university has offered $200,000 toward an $800,000 study of a local task force's bold vision - up to 10 wind turbines in the lake and a world-class research center. Although Case was late in entering the project, it is likely to have a "leading role" if the research center is built, said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, chairman of the Cuyahoga Regional Energy Development Task Force.

Adding 70 wind turbines to the landscape in Champaign County would be the first step toward energy independence, supporters say, but some critics argue the plan could disrupt quality of life. A company called Everpower wants to put the turbines in Union Township, located southeast of Urbana, 10TV's Kevin Landers reported on Tuesday.

Champaign County officials began phase one of a proposed $30 million project to supply residents an alternative energy source. Everpower Renewables, a New York-based developer of utility grade wind projects, wants to construct at least ten 300-foot wind turbines beginning at Yankee Hill Road traveling north about 20 to 30 miles toward Mingo.

URBANA - A Union Township resident addressed the Champaign County commissioners Tuesday with his concerns about the possibility of wind turbines coming to the area. Bob McConnell, of the 4000 block of East U.S. Route 36, urged the commissioners to create a committee to gather information about the wind towers and plan properly for the proposed construction in the county.

Councilman-at-Large Jacob Chicatelli Monday night railed against peers reluctant to consider a contract with the first firm to publicly express interest in a wind turbine project on city-owned land near the state line. Chicatelli said the city is guaranteed to earn more than $300,000 through a pending contract with SGR Site Associates of Willoughby. Companies that want to lease the land, within the East Conneaut Industrial Park, can't promise a similar return, he said. Chicatelli said he will move to revive the SGR contract in time for next week's regular meeting.