A proposed wind farm for lakefront property in Conneaut has the endorsement of federal, state and county officials. Some on City Council, however, aren't so sure. SGR Site Associates of Willoughby is in talks with city leaders on the sale of some 150 acres within the city-owned East Conneaut Industrial Park. SGR wants to add the property to other parcels it would then test for their wind-powered electric generating potential. If tests are positive, the land would be marketed to utility companies.

"Western Ohio is seeing a renewed interest in companies taking a look at areas of the state to do energy development. Some companies are large, some are medium-size and some are small but we have identified 17 different energy development companies talking with farmers and offering leasing agreements in Northwest Ohio in the last year," he said. The primary reason Western Ohio is of interest is because the two distribution systems on the eastern half of the nation pass through this region. Though the corridor doesn't have as much wind as other states, it has enough.

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.

Additional wind energy proposed for the Bowling Green area last year will at best be delayed and at worst not occur at all. "It's really at a standstill right now," said Kevin Maynard, director of utilities for Bowling Green. "At this point there does not appear to be anything active on the project, but we certainly are looking at additional wind energy whether it is here in Bowling Green or elsewhere."

Wind turbines proposed for a portion of the East Conneaut Industrial Park would occupy land that now contains wetlands, not property earmarked for commercial growth, interim City Manager Edward Somppi said Thursday. "We wouldn't involve the good, developable land," Somppi said. City officials continue to talk with representatives of SRG Sites Associates of Willoughby, which wants to buy at least 159 acres of the 286-acre park and market it to a company that would install wind turbine generators.

Negotiations are proceeding, but the matter is still very tenuous, members said. ...Last week, council met 90 minutes in executive session to discuss a proposal from SGR Site Associates of Willoughby, which wants to buy 159 acres in the East Conneaut Industrial Park for an undisclosed client. The client is interested in building wind turbine generators on the parcel. Two other landowners adjacent to the park have also been contacted about the project, officials have said. One talking point may be the length of the option granted the buyer. Interim City Manager Edward Somppi said the city is looking at a one-year option on the land.

A sharp drop in stock prices and investor confidence in the global giant Babcock & Brown could have worldwide impact for the business, but a company spokesman said Friday it should not affect plans to develop wind turbines in eastern Logan County. ...Roger Brown, a Bellefontaine resident who has signed a lease with Babcock & Brown to put wind turbines on his Jefferson Township property, said he was not aware of the broader company's financial picture and said he has not been contacted about any plans to slow down or end the local project.

EverPower Renewables Corp. is making progress on a proposal that would eventually dot Champaign County with wind turbines, but in the meantime, residents got a chance to ask questions about the project. On Tuesday, June 10, dozens of residents filed into Triad High School, seeking information on the proposal that, if approved, would place between 120 and 150 wind turbines along a ridge that runs along the east side of Champaign County. ...Jim Bartlett, also of Champaign County, said he is not opposed to wind energy in general, but had concerns about how close the turbines would be to his home. Howard Petricoff, legal counsel for the project, said several studies, including the impact on birds and bats in the area, are still being conducted. EverPower will likely submit their application to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio sometime this summer.

Wind turbines will generate more than electricity in Morrow County if efforts to win the business of alternative energy companies succeed as local officials hope they will. Responding to interest expressed by companies in erecting wind turbines in northern Morrow County, the county board of commissioners recently added zoning regulations for the machines, which typically sit atop 200-to-300-foot-plus towers, said Pat Davies, the county's director of operations. ...Of primary concern for the commissioners was making sure setback regulations from public roads and occupied dwellings protected the county's residents and infrastructure, he said.

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.

After nearly eight months of meetings and discussion, the Champaign County Wind Turbine Study Group issued a report Wednesday outlining the results of the group's research and analysis of 14 issues related to the potential for wind power development locally. ..."There's a great deal of information in the report and new information is becoming available every day," she said. "It's very comprehensive." The study group was able to make recommendations to assist government agencies, but had no authority to tackle topics such as zoning, which is the domain of the townships.

But the scope of wind energy development in Ohio is far from certain, Shanahan said. What developers say and do are sometimes two different things, and a lot of details still need to be hashed out. For one, projects exceeding 50 megawatts will have to be approved by the Ohio Siting Board, which has experience with a single power plant, but not with 70 to 100 turbines spread over a wide geographic area. Turbines must be well-spaced to ensure, among other things, that they don't steal wind from each other. And the electrical cables from each turbine must be tied into a nearby transmission line. ...There are also local zoning issues.

''Ohio definitely has a lot of potential,'' said aycox, ''especially along the lake.'' According to Jaycox, Cuyahoga County is evaluating the possibility of installing turbines in the lake, as California has in the ocean. ''The only issue with the Great Lakes is that they do freeze,'' said Richard Stuebi of the Cleveland Foundation. Stuebi, however, didn't think the obstacle was insurmountable, as he stated, ''We're pretty confident that designs and technology can accommodate the icing.'' The lake, despite the ice, does have some advantages over oceanic sites. When compared to the ocean, Lake Erie has no waves or salinity. Stuebi also pointed out that the lake is considerably shallow compared to an ocean. Local officials are also excited about the considerable potential of the winds coming inland off the lake.

In recent weeks, J.W. Great Lakes Wind has signed long-term deals with an unspecified number of farmers and other landowners for leases to their property so it can erect an unspecified number of turbines. Peter Endes, the company's project manager, said he's being a bit cryptic at the moment because negotiations are pending. But he said J.W. Great Lakes Wind likes Seneca County because of its availability of wind and access to the region's electrical grid. He said the company did "two or three years" of research before entering into negotiations with landowners. He said it is focused on projects 50 megawatts or greater because they have more viable economies of scale than smaller projects, meaning the cost-per-turbine is less. And while leasing property doesn't commit his company to actually install turbines, it "wouldn't be at this stage of the game if we didn't have at least some reasonable degree of confidence to go forward with the project," he said.

"We want to brief community leaders and interested citizens on what opportunities are there and how to work effectively with wind turbine developers," Arnold said. JW Great Lakes Wind of Cleveland, the same company planning a wind farm in Wood County, has been in contact with landowners about lease agreements, he said. "There's also another development company working with farmers just across the Huron County line," he said.

Can wind power and wildlife co-exist in northwest Ohio? That debate won't be settled in this or in any other part of the country soon. But starting Tuesday night, a series of five public outreach meetings begins that should at least give residents of Erie, Lorain, Ottawa, Sandusky, and Lucas counties a chance to speak up and learn more about the issue. Right now, wind power is kind of like an unexpected gift: nice, but not something you can count on all the time. Wind, like other forms of renewable energy, is not a baseload source of energy. Baseload sources are those, such as coal-fired or nuclear power, that can be relied upon 24 hours a day.

Stacy, who testified January 23, cautioned the 25 percent renewable power mandate included in Senate Bill 221 would fail to achieve its environmental and economic goals. Moreover, he said, wind power would be ineffective in providing reliable electricity generation. "No matter what mandates or incentives are offered, wind energy will never replace a dispatchable source generation plant," Stacy told the committee. Dispatchable power is power that can be supplied as needed. "Today's unreliable windmills consume 30 to 200 times the square miles of visual presence of the next most intrusive plants," Stacy continued.

Jefferson Township voters won't get their say March 4 on whether they support the township's recently enacted wind turbine zoning amendment after a legal decision that could open the township to wind turbine development in the near future. The Ohio Supreme Court handed down a 6-1 ruling Tuesday that sided with property owners who challenged a citizen-driven petition to place the zoning amendment on the ballot. ..."It's unfathomable that they can take the rights of the citizens to vote away," he said. "I don't see how anybody could look at this and not be afraid by the way this whole thing was done." But the court said residents must bear part of the burden for not making sure the petition was filed correctly.

In the ruling issued yesterday, the court justices wrote that those who circulated the petitions did not follow proper procedure when filing it. The petition was hand-delivered to the home of a township trustee, who later gave it to the elections board.

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."