A Spanish global renewable energy firm has started its long-range process toward develop a wind farm in the northwest corner of Peoria County.
Repsol Renewables has applied for a special use allowance for its Four Creeks Wind Project, seeking to install approximately 113 turbines across an area north of Brimfield and west of Princeville, extending to the Knox and Stark county lines.
Andrew Braun, director of the county’s planning and zoning department, said the area would cover more than 27,000 acres and the wind turbines would have a maximum height of almost 660 feet.
“At this stage, Peoria County has 60 days, per the Illinois state statutes, to complete our public hearing process, and then 30 days thereafter to make a decision on the case,” said Braun, adding that a subsequent building permitting process would still be required.
“In reality, it very well could be 2031 before any construction commences. I don’t have a definitive timeline from the developer as to what their schedule moving forward looks like.”
Repsol’s corporate headquarters are located in Madrid, with its North American operations managed through its offices in Houston. It has solar farms in Texas and New Mexico, and is expected to bring its first U.S. wind farm online later this year in Wyoming.
Speaking in a promotional video, Repsol development manager Carson Robers said the project is “more than just building wind turbines.”
“It’s about investing in creating opportunities,” said Robers. “The Four Creeks Wind Project is going to be cost-effective, American-made electricity right here in Central Illinois, while creating jobs, enhancing the tax base and supporting everybody who calls this region home.”
The Four Winds turbines would be capable of generating up to 663 megawatts of wind energy. According to Repsol’s website for the project, the wind farm would have “the potential to power more than 160,000 homes in Illinois annually.”
Under Peoria County code, commercial wind energy conversion systems are permitted in specified agricultural zoning districts as long as conditions set in the unified development ordinance are met.
The planning and zoning department received the Four Winds application on Aug. 14. The first public hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Sept. 14 at the Holiday Inn & Suites Peoria at Grand Prairie.
“We anticipate that those hearings will last several days, and so we believe that that site can accommodate anybody and everybody who’d like to attend,” said Braun, pointing to plans for continued public hearings as needed Sept. 15-18 and Sept. 28-Oct. 1.
Braun said after the zoning board of appeals completes its fact-finding process and makes a recommendation, the special use request would be passed on to the land use committee and ultimately the county board for a final decision.
“The building permit stage would follow in the next five or so years, and it would require a whole laundry list full of additional regulations, checks and balances, financial securities, so on and so forth,” he said. “So this is really the first step in the process.”
Robers said the Four Creeks project will create hundreds of jobs in long-term operations and maintenance in addition to construction work.
“The Four Creeks Wind Project will provide hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the project to the taxing jurisdictions that encompass our project,” he said, estimating more than $5 million in revenue for the Princeville and Brimfield school districts in the first year.
“This will allow them to make investments in public infrastructure, the schools, and other critical needs here in the community.”
