Solar Tour

The wind also rises in Illinois

Illinois is on its way to becoming a major wind power state. With the opening of the first phase of the Twin Groves wind farm in east central McLean County, Illinois now has over 300 Megawatts of operating facilities as of the end of June, 2007. This moves the Prairie State up to 12th place among U.S. states in terms of electricity generated by wind. The U.S. now has over 12,000 Megawatts of capacity, which is near the top of world capacity. These 300 Megawatts are just the beginning. According to the Midwest Environmental Law and Policy Center, Illinois can host 7,000 Megawatts or more of wind power facilities, countering a large percentage of our electric production consumption and reducing large amounts of pollution.

What relationship is a Megawatt (MW) of wind power compared to your electricity consumption? Depending on the wind speed of the site, a 1 MW in Illinois can power anywhere from 300 to 400 homes for a year. So the equivalent of about 100,000 houses in Illinois get their electricity from wind farms originating in Illinois, about the number of houses in Rockford and Naperville.

Wind and solar power work very well together. More wind power is generated from fall through the spring and at night, complementing solar power’s daytime and summer time generating peaks.

Illinois’ wind resources, while not the highest in the United States, have significant advantages. In the northern and central parts of the state, there are sufficient wind speeds to make these clean power plants economically viable. More importantly, these sites are close to existing high-voltage power lines to permit cost-effective transmission, and are close to Chicago and other major Midwestern population centers.

Careful planning of wind power generating sites has resulted in minimal environmental, visual and ecological impact while generating large amounts of clean, local and secure power.  Illinois wind farms have proven to be economic development magnets, creating hundreds of construction jobs for each project and dozens of permanent service jobs to operate them. Wind farms also provide rental income to farmers and landowners, reducing the pressure to sell to suburban developers. These clean power generators are also significant property tax payers, providing revenue to schools and other public facilities.

There are also dozens of smaller-scale wind power projects in Illinois. Two are single large-turbine “community wind” projects operated by public school districts and rural electric cooperatives. Smaller wind power systems for individual building usage are also popping up in rural and even suburban and urban locations. Newer wind power technologies are available that are not your grandparents’ windmills. They have improved design for quieter and more reliable operation, along with improved aesthetics.