Wind Energy in Illinois
As of April 2008, Illinois had approximately 735 MW of wind energy capacity, the
majority of which was located at six wind farms located around the state. The largest
wind farm is the Twin Groves I and II wind farms located in McLean County which
came online in 2007 and 2008. The wind farms each have 120 turbines that total 198
MW in total capacity. Other major wind farms include Camp Grove Wind Farm (150
MW), GSG Wind Farm (80 MW), Crescent Ridge (54.45 MW), and Mendota Hills
(50.4 MW).
In addition to the existing projects, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic
Opportunity (DCEO) has indicated that four other projects are currently being
constructed. These projects include a 72 MW project in Bureau County developed by
Community Energy called Providence Heights. Midwest Wind Energy is currently
developing two projects in Illinois. The first project is called Big Sky Wind Farm which
will be a 239 MW wind farm in Lee and Bureau Counties when completed. The other
project will be Crescent Ridge II which will be a 74 MW farm also in Bureau County.
Considerable growth by the wind energy industry appears to be on the horizon for
Illinois. Over 35 wind projects are currently being proposed in Illinois. These projects
are in the planning stages and have been compiled by the DCEO based on newspaper
accounts and discussion within the industry. These projects may never go beyond the
planning stage but are presented here to highlight the high level of interest by the
industry. This high level of interest is largely due to Illinois’ available transmission
capacity, which can be problematic in other areas of the country where transmission lines
can be scarce. A list of these proposed wind projects in Illinois can be seen in Table 2.
TABLE 1. Existing Illinois Wind Energy Projects
Name County
Capacity
(MW) Units Owner Power Purchaser
Year
Online
Twin Groves II (08) McLean 36.3 22 Horizon Wind Energy
Constellation
Energy 2008
Camp Grove Wind Farm
Marshall &
Stark 150 100
OEG (Orion Energy
Group)
AEP-Appalachian
Power 2007
Twin Groves II (4Q07) McLean 161.7 98 Horizon Wind Energy
Constellation
Energy 2007
GSG Wind Farm
Lee and
LaSalle 80 40 Babcock & Brown N/A 2007
Sustainable Technologies
Museum
Lee and
LaSalle 2.5 1 GSG 3, LLC ComEd 2007
Twin Groves I McLean 198 120 Horizon Wind Energy N/A 2007
Crescent Ridge Bureau 54.45 33
Babcock &
Brown/Eurus Exelon 2005
Illinois Rural Electric
Cooperative Pike 1.65 1
Illinois Rural Electric
Cooperative
Electric
Cooperative 2005
Bureau Valley School
District Bureau 0.66 1
Bureau Valley School
District
Bureau Valley
School District 2004
Mendota Hills Lee 50.4 63 Babcock & Brown Exelon 2003
Source: AWEA
Existing Illinois Wind Energy Projects
