Beloit Daily News - Monday, September 27, 1999

Artist Ken Loeber said he liked the concept until he started hearing turbine noise at his log home.

``It's more like we are living in an industrial park,'' said Loeber, 51, who moved into a rural area of Kewaunee County, seeking peace and quiet, in the early 1970s. ``It's so noisy that some nights we can't open our windows.''

Farmers Mose and Carolyn Alberts said they aren't bothered by the wind turbine a few hundred yards from their home.

``You hear it, but it's not anything that would keep you awake at night,'' Carolyn Alberts said. The couple said their TV reception has not been affected by the turbine, a complaint that some nearby residents have had about the power-generating devices.

Unlike the old-fashioned windmills used to pump water for livestock in farm fields, the new wind-generating towers have rotating blades and rise more than 30 stories.

Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay and Madison Gas & Electric Co. of Madison have erected 31 Danish-built wind turbines in the Kewaunee Count towns of Lincoln and Red River.

Although wind projects in Wisconsin currently provide enough power for fewer than 5,000 homes, the construction of so-called wind farms has been encouraged by state regulators who require utilities to start developing renewable sources of power.

MG&E has signed up more than 5,000 residential customers and more than 100 businesses to get some of their power from its wind farm.

While dismay over the wind farms in Kewaunee County is far from universal, the town chairmen in both Lincoln and Red River said last week that opposition has intensified since the turbines went up in June.

``There's problems,'' said Arlin Monfils, the Lincoln town chairman. ``There's more noise than people expected. And the problem is that it's almost constant.''

Some people complain that turbines foul up TV reception or ruin the night sky with their flashing red lights. For some residents, when the sun hugs the horizon, the shadows from the twirling blades create a strobe-light effect in their homes.

Both Wisconsin Public Service and MG&E say they are working to fix the problems.

``It's a big deal whenever someone is unhappy with what we do,'' said Gregory A. Bollom, executive director of market planning and electricity pricing for the Madison utility. ``As elegant as some people think a wind turbine is, they are still a machine, and some people aren't going to like it.''

Mick Sagrillo lives near the Kewaunee County wind farms and owns Sagrillo Power & Light, a company that consults with people on smaller residential wind projects.

``There's a problem here, no question about it,'' Sagrillo said. ``But I think the problem is solvable.''

Utility representatives say they are working to find solutions. Some residents are getting new TV antennas. Others, the utilities say, will have mature trees planted to block the view of turbines or their shadows. Industrial sound consultants also are being consulted.

Don Peterson, MG&E's senior director of energy products and services, expects most people, but not all, will get used to the sound of the machines, which utility tests indicate are at or below the noise level of a conversation between two people.

``Like any noise, if you don't like it, your brain is going to focus on it,'' Peterson said.