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.

The exact cause of a Perkins High School wind turbine's failure still isn't known, but officials hope to see all three spinning again this summer. Superintendent Jim Gunner met this week with representatives from Honeywell, ReDriven Power and Wilkes and Co. to discuss how to ensure the turbines are safe.

County planners aren't supporting Portage Township's attempt to relax wind turbine rules for residents. Portage Township Trustees have proposed changing its current zoning regulations on electric-generating wind turbines in residential districts to make them more accessible, said Portage Township Trustee Jack Stables.

This news report was submitted to Windaction.org by Scott Jackson, a reseller of Redriven windmills. Mr. Jackson is seeking to get the Redriven turbine de-certified in the State of California for safety reasons.

Energy service providers may soon set their sights on Lorain County as they look to plant wind farms across northern Ohio. Those providers have been installing wind turbines in the northwest part of the state for years but have steadily been moving east, according to Dale Arnold, director for energy services with the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.

One of the three 60-foot-tall wind turbines at the edge of the Perkins High School student parking lot lays on the ground. The pole was removed from the 4-foot deep, 60-ton concrete base. ..."We have no updates," he said. "The manufacturer is finalizing the investigation as to the malfunction of the blades."

Ohio's wind-energy system consists of five wind turbines, barely enough to power a small town. That wasn't much of a concern until May, when Gov. Ted Strickland signed a law that says investor-owned power companies need to get 12.5 percent of their capacity from renewable sources by 2024. Half of that energy needs to come from within Ohio. American Electric Power took a step toward the goal yesterday with the announcement that it will bring 100 megawatts of wind power to Ohio, the largest such transaction under the new law.

Three wind turbines at Perkins High School crashed Saturday when the blades broke off one of them. No one was hurt when parts of the fiberglass blades came off the turbine as it spun, winging the blades up to 40 yards away from the silver monopole tower, near the high school at 3714 Campbell St. The remaining two turbines will not be used until they are inspected and officials figure out what caused the blades to break.

A wind turbine at Perkins High School fell apart Saturday. ...He looked next door, where the three wind turbines at Perkins High School were spinning in Saturday's high winds, to see part of a turbine blade fly off and land in the student parking lot.

Cuyahoga County commissioners pressed President-elect Barack Obama Friday for $46.3 million in federal stimulus money that could be key to landing a wind turbine project in Lake Erie. The commissioners' top development officer said that the county and state are in talks with a European wind turbine manufacturer that "expressed willingness" to pay for half of a $56 million turbine project -- and establish a plant at the Cleveland port.

Pretty soon crops won't be the only things Paulding County farmers will be harvesting. ..."There are a number of groups looking at Paulding and Van Wert County as a source for wind farms," said Jim Lopshire, Ohio State University extension agent. "People have been receptive to the idea and open to wind energy. The big concern is there are lots of questions with in-depth contract and leases and making sure you feel comfortable with the arrangement."

The largest number of proposals for alternative energy in Ohio represent wind power followed by hydro and biomass, said Art Meyer, a DP&L senior vice president. Many are from out of state. "Most of the proposals are still in the design or developmental phase," he said. DP&L does not expect to forge an agreement for renewable power before 2011, but that won't stop new energy conservation initiatives starting in 2009. Here's what the future looks like.

Anna Locci, director of Squire Valleevue Farm, says all feedback looks good for approval of wind turbines there. Locci said farm owner Case Western Reserve University wants one turbine only and has no intention of having a wind farm or selling power. She said the farm's principal intention is education. Case does a lot of outreach programs with children there as well as research.

Both major wind development companies looking to build turbines in Logan County faced setbacks recently, though modified plans are still moving forward. "Basically we are still working on development plans for the Logan County project, but at this time, we have decided to release land owners from an area that will not be developed," said Matt Dallas, spokesman for Babcock and Brown.

The size of a planned wind farm in Groton and Oxford townships will depend largely on how many farmers want to lease their land to harvest money from the air, the development's project manager says. "Without you, there is no project," Matthew Krivos, project manager for JW Great Lakes Wind, told a group of about 50 rural landowners and others who assembled for a Wednesday night meeting at Groton Township Hall.

"If people are expecting to have a wind turbine supply all their energy needs, it's never been designed to do so. The fuel source is wind itself and wind doesn't blow constantly. It's designed to help supply more expensive intermediate-load electricity." Intermediate load capacity - as opposed to baseload capacity - is the extra electricity needed certain times of day to do certain activities around the home, such as using a hair dryer.

The presence of the federally-endangered Indiana bat may delay plans to install wind turbines in southern Logan County, but shouldn't have an impact on Champaign County, said a wind company representative Friday. "We are aware of the bat being found and we're working closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources," said Michael Speerschneider with Everpower Renewables.

A New York firm apparently is the only viable company remaining among three suitors interested in using publicly owned land on Conneaut's East Side for a wind turbine farm, City Council learned at Monday's work session. City administrators have heard nothing from two companies that months ago expressed interest in dozens of acres within the East Conneaut Industrial Park, council was told. As a result, the city will extend an invitation to BQ Energy to submit a proposal for the property, council agreed.

City officials are willing to pay to literally find out which way the wind is blowing. The City Council on Nov. 3 approved spending up to $16,000 as the city's share of a wind monitoring study with Grusenmeyer Land LLC. The funds, one-half the project cost, will be used to purchase, install, service and monitor an anemometer east of the city to test wind speed and direction.