Sugar Grove will allow residents to build wind turbines

Sugar Grove residents can now put up turbines to harness energy from the wind.

The village board removed a moratorium on their installation as it approved them in a "renewable energy ordinance" Tuesday night.

The ordinance sets forth rules about where and how turbines can be used.

It allows small turbines to be mounted on poles or rooftops. The top of a blade cannot be higher than 50 feet.

The turbines must be set back from all property lines by a factor of 1.1 - meaning a turbine that reaches 50 feet would have to be placed at least 55 feet inside a lot, said Paul Young, the village's community development director. Both horizontal and vertical units are allowed. They can be mounted on roofs or on poles.

Nobody has applied for a building permit for a wind turbine, Young said, but several people have inquired about them.

The moratorium was enacted to give the village time to come up with rules about height and placement.

Wind-energy proponents view it as a cleaner alternative to coal-, gas- and nuclear-fueled electricity-generating plants. There are various designs, including those with vertical blades, such as those seen in rural areas, which turn a rotor that transfers kinetic energy to a generator and onto the electrical service, or into a storage battery. New designs for low wind speeds and urban areas are coming out. One features a gearless design that enables energy to be generated at winds as low as 2 mph. The manufacturer's suggested retail price is $6,495. Another proposed design extends only 42 inches up from a rooftop.

"The technology is evolving quickly," Young said.

Wind speed generally increases with height, and the power generated increases with wind speed. Wind maps of Illinois indicate that at a height of 10 meters, or 33 feet, winds in the Kane County area averaged 8.52 to 9.59 mph in 2007, according to illinoiswind.org.

ComEd customers would be eligible for its net metering program, receiving credits for energy sent to the transmission grid over and above what they use. There are also federal tax credits available for qualifying devices.

Sugar Grove plans to add rules to the ordinance for other renewable energy devices, including solar and geothermal systems, Young said.