The village, population 48, has long said it has such power within 1.5 miles of the village limits. Last year, the village enacted a zoning ordinance in the belief that it needed one to regulate nearby development of turbines.

General Illinois

I caution those for or leaning toward industrial turbines. First watch the documentary "Windfall" by Laura Israel. You'll see the farming town of Meridith, N.Y., transformed from congenial community to unfriendly factions, purposefully orchestrated by artful wind developers pitting neighbor against neighbor, strong-arming municipalities, targeting the town's council, and practicing the dirty politics of clean energy.

General Illinois

Energy Ventures Analysis (EVA) prepared this critique of the decommissioning estimate of the Green River Wind Farm Phase I a wind energy facilitiy proposed to be built in Lee County, Illinois. The executive summary and recommendations of the estimate are provided below. The full report along with the transcript when EVA experts were cross-examined under oath and the EVA slide presentation can be accessed by clicking the links on this page.

General Illinois

Whiteside County's zoning panel on Wednesday unanimously recommended the approval of a wind farm in the county's southeastern corner. The decision followed more than 2 months of public hearings, including much feedback from nearby residents opposed to the project.

General Illinois

Wind almost never blows when the weather is hottest and the demand for electricity is highest. That stark truth hasn't stopped state and federal policymakers from using consumer and taxpayer dollars to fund aggressive state renewable portfolio standards and generous federal subsidies to add expensive wind power to the nation's electricity grid.

General Illinois

“Really, the economy is what’s driving it. If we have a quick economic turnaround, and unemployment goes down and the factories get up and running again, that’s a much higher power demand and that’s going to change things fast.”

General Illinois

"When the parties entered into the performance contract, it was understood and agreed that JCI cannot control wind speed or consistency," Claudius Anderson, a Johnson Controls regional operations manager, said in an April 23 letter to Cox. ...The district's claim for payment for an "alleged energy savings shortfall is not consistent with - nor is it in the spirit of - the agreement," Anderson wrote.

General Illinois

JC Henrekin, a fourth-generation farmer from Deer Grove, thought a wind farm was a good idea at first. He changed his mind. Henrekin was among a number of Deer Grove residents who spoke out Wednesday. They attended the last of the public hearings for Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power's nine proposed turbines in southeastern Whiteside County.

General Illinois

By law, 25 percent of Illinois' electricity must come from wind, solar and other renewable resources by 2025. But as more municipalities elect to buy power from suppliers other than Commonwealth Edison Co. and Ameren Illinois, developers of renewable energy are losing confidence that their projects will be funded long term. Some have already given up on Illinois.

General Illinois

A company planning to build a wind farm spread across four central Indiana counties, including Madison, has obtained 125 building permits for the project's first phase and expects construction work to start this summer.

General Illinois

But 18 months later, no development of the Minonk Stewardship Wind LLC project has occurred, and county officials have begun to wonder if the project will move forward within a regulatory time frame set by county ordinance.

General Illinois

The ordinance, approved 6-0 last Thursday, amends Rankin's zoning code to give the village regulatory authority over commercial and private wind turbines within 1 1/2 miles of the town. Trustee Lynn Magers suggested the ordinance in February, saying she was personally concerned about possible "health issues" associated with wind turbines being built too close to homes.

General Illinois

With little fanfare, the Community Unit School District 300 Board drove a spike into an intergovernmental agreement to develop wind energy to power its schools. But, ...there was no feasible way to fund the venture without large upfront investment.

General Illinois

Attorneys for the major investors want reassurance that recent changes in the county's zoning ordinance concerning longer setbacks, more restrictions on shadow flicker and other factors will not affect the Minonk project. And they want it in writing, as a text amendment to the county ordinance.

General Illinois

The ordinance includes a setback of 1,400 feet between houses and turbines, which is what the county has required of wind farms on a case-by-case basis. The special committee, however, wants to increase that setback to 2,000 feet between nonparticipating landowners' property lines and turbines. That would be the state's longest setback.

General Illinois

The temporary ban has been extended six months. Mayor Terry Weppler wants more time to discuss proposed restrictions commissioners want placed on wind turbines. "I don't want to rule them out completely, but in my opinion the current ordinance almost virtually does," Weppler said.

General Illinois

The move is one step toward speeding up government approval and permits so that offshore wind farms can eventually be developed, officials said. But the action falls short of creating laws, regulations or even setting the evaluation standards. It does not establish how long it will take before offshore wind farms can go from being an idea to a reality.

General USA Illinois

Repeatedly, the developers of the Minonk wind farm have been told revised Woodford County zoning ordinances won't apply to their project. It appears they're taking a trust-but-verify approach.

General Illinois

"But we realized we weren't going to save any money with the agency," Crates said. "We could have done it for break even, but that wasn't one of our goals," Crates said. Plus, federal grants to help finance wind farms dried up last year, she said.

General Illinois

By an 8-7 vote, the board approved a change in the distance turbine towers need to be located from residences that aren't part of a wind farm. That distance expands from 750 feet to four times the tower height. A typical wind-turbine tower can be at least 400 feet tall.

General Illinois