Wind energy supporters say the order could hurt new investment, jeopardizing jobs, landowner payments and tax revenue that come with the projects.

Court records indicate taking down the turbines will cost about $450,000 — or $150,000 each.

"There's some risk that this will chill investment," said Bret Dublinske, a Des Moines attorney representing four of the five Fayette County wind developers.

"This isn't something that's happened before, where you have a development that played by the rules, got the permit, and to have that result in a forfeiture — the actual tearing down of the turbines," Dublinske said.

That "will make some people leery about whether the rules can change after the investment is made," he said.

'It has been a long and costly four years'

Resident Joyce Kerns said Fairbank is a beautiful little town that residents want to see grow.

It sits about 35 miles from Waterloo and 50 miles from Cedar Rapids, offering an alternative for families wanting to live outside of the big eastern Iowa cities, she said.

"A lot of younger couples have moved here," says Kerns, one of the landowners near the wind turbines. "It's a nice community with a lot of professionals."

The wind turbines, about a half mile from the city's northeast side, lie in the way of Fairbank's growth, say Vorwald and others.

The turbines sit near 36 lots the city approved for residential development. "That's a lot of homes for a small town," Vorwald said.

Landowners John W. Woods and Ron Woods, owner of Woods Construction, are longtime residents who are developing the addition and challenged the wind energy project. Ron Woods is a Fairbank council member.

The Woods family said in an email the turbines would have halted their development efforts. "It has been a long and costly four years of going to hearings and disputing the wind companies. We believe Fairbank will now continue to grow and attract new" residents, they said.

Flickers are like a '70s strobe light

Kerns said she grew up on a farm near where the turbines are now located.

She said the wind developers have been "bullies," moving ahead with building the turbines knowing local landowners had filed a lawsuit against the project.

"They just weren't considerate of the townspeople," said Kerns, who is concerned about the impact of the turbines on the health of neighbors.

MORE: Six common complaints about wind turbines

She said some residents have complained about nausea and sleep deprivation from the turbines. Flickers from the turbines create an effect "like being back in the '70s with the strobe lights," she said.

"In the short-term it's not bad. But over time, it's not good for your body," she said.

"Unless you live under a turbine, you don't understand what it's like," said Kerns, who built a home near her family's farm.

She said the turbines encroach on a nearby woods, where she played as a child. Since the turbines have stopped turning, "I can hear the birds chirping again," Kerns said.

'It's all about the money' 

Dublinske is unsure whether the dismantled turbines will find a new home.

Alliant Energy had purchased the wind energy generated near Fairbank.

"Those turbines will go into storage and ... hopefully, they'll be used somewhere else," Dublinske said.

"That's one of our big concerns. Having obtained the proper authorization ... to have this end up in millions of dollars of waste is unfortunate and unfair," he said.

MORE: Is wind power saving rural Iowa or wrecking it?

Iowa has embraced wind energy since adopting a renewable energy portfolio in 1983.

The state gets 37 percent of its electricity from wind energy generation, the largest share in the nation. Wind energy generation is second only to coal.

The American Wind Energy Association says utility and wind developers have invested $14.2 billion in Iowa over nearly three decades.

MidAmerican Energy, Iowa's largest utility, is betting heavily on wind. With its proposed $922 million wind expansion, it will have invested $12.3 billion in wind energy since 2004.

MidAmerican, owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, expects to generate as much renewable energy as its customers use annually.

Growing investment has brought opposition, including legal challenges in Fayette, Palo Alto and Black Hawk counties.

"The courts are the only place we have to defend ourselves," said Janna Swanson, a wind opponent who lives in northwest Iowa, where some neighbors are challenging whether the wind farms need state utility board permits to operate.

The Iowa Utilities Board says no, but the ruling is being appealed.

County officials and landowners who lease land to wind developers like the money the turbines bring, said Harold Youngblut, a Black Hawk County farmer who is fighting a $120 million wind project in court.

"It's all about the money," instead of about local residents' concerns, said Youngblut, whose attorney is challenging whether high-dollar farmland can be used to build large wind farms.

MORE: Utility's push for more wind turbines is blowing up trouble with Madison County residents 

MidAmerican Energy, for example, sent $16 million last year in payments to landowners and $20 million in property taxes statewide.

The Black Hawk County wind developer planned, but later killed, a turbine project across the street from Youngblut's family farm, where his son and family now live.

Still, Youngblut is sticking with the lawsuit.

"We need to stand up for what we believe is right," Youngblut said. "I don’t like being in a lawsuit. But I believe there are too many unanswered question about these turbines."