Wind power in Illinois
Encyclopedia
Wind power in Illinois has been supported by a renewable portfolio standard
Renewable Portfolio Standard
A Renewable Portfolio Standard is a regulation that requires the increased production of energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal...

, passed in 2007, and strengthened in 2009, which requires 10% renewable energy from electric companies by 2010 and 25% by 2025. Illinois has about 1,850 megawatts (MW) of wind power
Wind power
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships....

 installed, and the potential for up to 10,000 MW. In 2009, it ranked sixth among states for installed wind turbine capacity. A 2005 wind map shows that most of the state has class 2 and class 3 winds, and that utilizing the 1.2% of the state with the best winds could supply 9,000 megawatts of wind power.

The first wind farm in Illinois opened in 2003 and by 2009, it had over 1800MW installed statewide with thousands of MW more in the planning stages. The largest wind farm in the state is the 300MW Cayuga Ridge installation, while another seven windfarms each exceeded 100 MW capacity. The Twin Groves Wind Farm
Twin Groves Wind Farm
Twin Groves Wind Farm is a wind farm in the U.S. state of Illinois near the villages Arrowsmith, Saybrook, and Ellsworth in McLean County. It consists of 240 operating wind turbines. Each wind turbine stands 270 ft tall and has three 85 ft long blades. The wind farm was constructed from...

 was the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi when completed but has since been surpassed. Some smaller installations include a 0.66MW turbine at the Bureau Valley School District and a 2.5MW turbine at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, formerly part of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, now part of the University of Illinois.

External links

  • Illinois Wind, a project of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, Western Illinois University
    Western Illinois University
    Western Illinois University is a public university founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. Like many similar institutions of the time, Western Illinois State Normal School focused on teacher training for its relatively small body of students. As the normal school grew, it became...

  • Maps of operating and proposed wind power projects in Illinois
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