“It’s just very annoying, very unpleasant,” said Brenda DeLong, 61, interviewed on her front porch. ...From her porch, she hears a near-constant sound, like a plane flying overhead, from the turbines. On some mornings and evenings, when the sun is behind the turbines, she sees a flicker of shadows on the walls of her house. She feels like an essential part of her life — the outdoors around her home — has been taken away from her.

General Ohio

The four column-type wind turbines on top of One Government Center downtown — which were supposed to supplement the building’s energy use but instead sat idle for years — were finally removed at the taxpayers expense. It cost taxpayers $68,000 to remove the four turbines from the 22-story, state-owned building, said Tom Hoyt, Department of Administrative Services spokesman.

General Ohio

No new wind farm applications have been filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board since. Mr. Hite said some projects already approved before the stricter rules took effect would like to take advantage of new technology developed in recent years, but they fear that changing the projects’ designs now would open them to the tighter restrictions.

Safety Zoning/Planning Ohio

Why should the setback be shorter than turbine manufacturers’ recommended safety setback of 1,300 feet? They recommend their own technicians not be within 1,300 feet of an operating turbine, but it’s all right for Ohio’s rural residents to be well within that when it is measured to our homes.

Zoning/Planning Ohio

The recent cancelation of the proposed Camp Perry demonstration windmill was celebrated by the American Bird Conservancy of Virginia, and the Black Swamp Bird Observatory — a local bird research, conservation and education organization headquartered in Oak Harbor.

Impact on Birds Impact on Bats Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Renewable energy's struggle to grow in Ohio is expected to resume this fall following years of political battles over state energy mandates.

General Ohio

The wind farm's impact of greatest concern to birders and environmentalists involves the potential for high mortality rates due to collisions by birds and bats into the spinning fan blades. LEEDCo acknowledges this fear in its document, but warns that monitoring and documenting casualties from collisions are difficult and pose unique hurdles not found at land-based wind farms.

Offshore Wind Ohio

For the second time since 2014, the Ohio Air National Guard has backed away from its plans to erect a commercial-scale, $1.5 million wind turbine at Camp Perry — a decision that the region’s biggest birding organization hopes will put an end to five years of contentious litigation and send a message to other would-be developers.

Impact on Birds Legal USA Ohio

The victory sets an especially important precedent because many other wind energy projects are currently being planned around the Great Lakes, which could threaten the future of millions of migratory birds and bats. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has recommended that no turbines be built within 3 miles of the Great Lakes shoreline. 

Impact on Birds Legal USA Ohio

“Any settlement like this will help the project move forward,” Dagger said. “It ultimately may not look exactly like the initial project that was permitted.” There will likely be fewer turbines built, but the locations of those turbines will not change, he said.

Legal Ohio

The Black Swamp Bird Observatory and American Bird Conservancy dropped a federal lawsuit Thursday after the Ohio Air National Guard announced it had no plans to build a wind turbine at Camp Perry near Lake Erie.

Impact on Birds Legal USA Ohio

NexGen estimates the cost of repair at $250,000. Earlier this month, the company said it would need a 10-year extension to the contract set to expire in 2020 to make a repair project financially feasible. Conneaut is presently in the seventh year of the original 10-year contract.

General Ohio

CLEVELAND --- Ohio lawmakers are not going to allow electric utilities to seek rate increases solely to buttress sagging credit ratings, as requested by one state utility 

Energy Policy Zoning/Planning Ohio

The wind turbine industry's efforts to regain expansion in Ohio got a boost Tuesday with the inclusion of new rules governing how close a turbine can be to adjacent properties. But a request on behalf of Cuyahoga County to allow it to sign 20-year power purchase agreements for wind and solar power was rejected by the GOP-dominated committee.

Energy Policy Ohio

Ohio Sen. Cliff Hite, a Republican from Findlay, said his amendment would recalibrate how far a wind turbine must be from an unoccupied parcel of land, making it economical again for developers to build wind farms to generate electricity.

Safety Ohio

New wind farm development in Ohio has been stymied for three years because of a restrictive zoning provision inserted into a 2014 budget bill, say developers who are trying persuade lawmakers this week to return to the state's original regulations.

Energy Policy Ohio

Birding groups and environmentalists are heralding the state's decision this week to kick back a request to certify construction of a wind turbine project planned for Lake Erie in 2018.

Impact on Birds Ohio

the legislature has redoubled its efforts to do away with the standards. In a 65-31 vote last week, the Ohio House of Representatives passed H.B.114, a bill that again aims to repeal the renewable energy mandates and instead make them optional goals. H.B.114, which also targets state energy efficiency requirements, now goes to the Ohio Senate for consideration. 

Energy Policy Ohio

The provision would have allowed Ohio electric customers who shop for their power to avoid paying any extra charges approved to subsidize AEP's new power generation. Seitz said it would be unfair for customers who get their power from another provider to pay for AEP's investment. The charges instead should be bypassable, he said.

Energy Policy Ohio

The House voted 65-30 to pass House Bill 114, which would replace state-mandated thresholds of renewable energy with goals that would have no penalties attached for non-compliance. “It’s already happening,” said Rep. Bill Seitz (R., Cincinnati) as he argued that electric utilities are moving toward renewables anyway.

Energy Policy Ohio