A proposed wind farm in northern Peoria County would be the first one within the county boundaries.
Earlier this year, Houston-based energy developer ConnectGen was issued three temporary permits for meteorological towers to collect data on the viability of a potential Four Creeks wind farm in Millbrook Township.
The development would be among a growing number of renewable energy projects for the county, including an 80-acre solar farm proposed by Ameren Illinois.
Reporter Joe Deacon talks with Greater Peoria Economic Development Council CEO Chris Setti about the potential economic benefits of bringing a wind farm and other potential renewable energy projects to Peoria County.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
WCBU: What kind of economic impacts could a project like this have on the region?
Chris Setti: Wind farms and solar – well, I should say sustainability – have kind of a couple of different impacts. There's the immediate construction impact, the jobs that come with the installation of these wind towers, which is certainly important. It's a short-lived economic impact, but an economic impact nonetheless. We should always be excited whenever we see jobs created, whether those are temporary construction jobs or more long-term jobs, and I do believe – although I don't know a lot about the wind farm business – there are some ongoing maintenance and jobs that are associated with it.
I think from a government standpoint, there is considerably more property taxes are paid for the wind farm than the land that it occupies generally, which is usually – I'm just going to make the assumption that this Four Creeks area is largely farmland at the moment. So from an acre by acre contribution in property taxes, those wind farms tend to have a much higher property tax and that's obviously good for whether that's a local school district or park district or – this is probably in unincorporated Peoria County (and) might even stretch into Marshall County or Stark County – so good for them, usually as well. And unlike solar (farms), which kind of take up the entirety of the acreage of farmland, the footprint of a wind tower is much smaller. So you still get the productivity of the land around it, and it's usually really good for the farmer, too – or the property owner, I should say – that it provides consistent year-over-year income. As we know, farming can be sometimes a gamble right as to what the weather is; (there’s) so many elements, so many variables involved with farming, that having kind of one solid source of repeatable income is really great.
The other thing that I think is great, is just that it adds to the sustainability platform for the Peoria area. What we've seen over the last few years has been: how can we as a community carve ourselves out an identity for ourselves as being part of the sustainable economy? That ranges from all of the solar and wind, but we also have companies that are involved in that sustainability, like Natural Fiber Welding and nearby Rivian, other sorts of companies that are kind of in this green economy. So I think that having wind farms (and) solar farms is something that is attractive to individuals, and even to companies that are looking to make investments in a region.
Some people who push back against wind farms say the turbines are an eyesore, they generate noise pollution and pose a threat to wildlife, and wind is unreliable. Do you think the possible advantages outweigh these concerns?
Setti: I certainly think there are lots of advantages to wind farms. The unsightliness question, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? So I actually have met people who really liked the wind farms, and kind of the way they look across the landscape. So you're always going to have people who question. I don't know about – lots of things are dangerous to animals, including vehicles, and I don't know that we've often said we shouldn't be driving on the interstate because we might hit a deer, and that's not to diminish the value of animal life, but I think that – I'm sure now I'm going to get the local environmentalists mad at me, although they may also like the idea of sustainable energy.
But I do think that these (wind farms) have some real intrinsic value to them as a power generation. I think in the long run, we need to have variable sources of energy, and I think wind and solar are two of those sources of energy that can help us in the blend of whether that's nuclear or coal or natural gas or other sorts of things. One of our big concerns from an economic standpoint is the higher cost of energy now than this time last year, and more renewables can certainly help bring those costs down over time.
Another project proposed for the Trivoli area that would have straddled both Peoria and Fulton counties is now moving forward just in Fulton County. Why do you think it's taken so long for a wind farm development to come to Peoria County when all of the surrounding counties have wind farms?
Setti: So I don't know a lot about the wind industry, but I've actually had this conversation before. I think that in the earliest generation of wind farms, the technology was such that you needed to have a good wind corridor, and for whatever reason – Peoria County it has a lot of topography to it, whereas (when) you get out (to) like Woodford County and some parts of Marshall and Fulton counties, it’s considerably flatter. You know, southern Tazewell and Logan counties, considerably flatter Earth and likely then comes with it better wind corridors. So I think that the earliest technologies for wind farms just couldn't capture the right amount of wind (in Peoria County), and so the return on investment just wasn't worth it for whatever reason.
As the technology’s advanced – maybe the towers are taller, maybe they're broader, maybe they've got some other sorts of innovation – that allows them to go in areas previously not considered. I think you see that, right? When the early money, the early investment in wind farms, you want to maximize your profit and your return on investment, so you're going to go where the wind is the best. I think that's why this company that you had mentioned is going to just be erecting wind sensors, because they're not sure yet that this is something that will work for them. So for the next however many months or years of just testing the consistency of those wind patterns, to make sure that they can generate energy if they put the turbines up.
Do you have any other information on a potential timeline for when Four Creeks might become operational?
Setti: No, I don't. I imagine if they've made applications in Peoria County, then Peoria County may have some more ideas. But I think it’s the free marketplace, and when they are satisfied that their investment will pay off and they can get through whatever regulatory processes are involved here locally and at the state level, that I think that there would be no point for them waiting past that date.
What kind of role can the EDC play in trying to attract wind farms or other types of clean energy projects to Peoria County?
Setti: Our job is to tell the story, and we've been starting to even more specifically tell the story about sustainability in Greater Peoria and I think this is part of that. We have partners at Trajectory Energy, which is a solar (company); they’re doing some solar development in Tazewell County (and) I think they're doing one up in the Peoria County area, both utility-scale and community solar. There was just a story about community solar program, I believe, in Metamora a couple of weeks ago.
These are all important parts, and I think that when areas become known as places that are hospitable to alternative energy sources and that there's a local demand, that tends to bring with them those sorts of investments. So our job is to help tell that story and then ideally, in addition to just the wind farms or the solar farms or battery storage, we may be able to attract companies that are part of that supply chain. So is it a company that builds turbines, or build solar panels? That may not be immediate, but as the more opportunity there is here, the more likelihood that would happen.
I might also additionally say – this is maybe more for solar panels than for wind farms – is the opportunities for installation, and Illinois Central College has a grant to train people; they specifically look at reentry – people who are exiting the correction system – to train them to do solar panel installation. We are seeing that more and more, both at the individual household level and at the larger-scale level. Those are important jobs that people could take, so it's certainly something that we're supportive of.
So ideally, how many clean energy or renewable energy projects could you envision coming to Peoria County over the next 5 or 10 years?
Setti: I'm not sure I have some sort of crystal ball. I would think that as long as it makes sense for the marketplace, that is how many we’ll have. There are going to be regulations, a regulatory environment that says that they can't be so close to each other on the wind farm side. I know Tazewell County in the moment is looking at some revisions to their ordinances around wind farms. But I think that – I'm happy to let the market dictate how many of those investments there are, and I don't know that we have seen yet the last of what sorts of renewable energy opportunities there might be in the region.
