The Marion County Board’s Community Committee Tuesday night heard details of a possible wind farm being constructed in the southern part of the county.
Jim Kuester of Cardelio Power and Tenaska says they are finding interest from property owners to lease their land if the large project moves forward.
“Approximately 250 megawatts is what they’re looking at,” Kuester said. “In terms of land acquisition that looks somewhere around 25,000 to 30,000 acres, keeping in mind that the vast majority of that land is not developed on. This looks to be around 50 to 75 wind turbines, and each of those takes up less than two thirds of an acre. Approximately 50 to 75 acres total would be what you see as above-ground infrastructure. The vast majority of the remainder of that land continues to be used for the same thing it’s being used for now.”
Kuester says that means the land can still be worked for crops. He explains why they need to lease so many acres.
“There’s a significant number of things that we have to take into consideration, both with the state of Illinois and federal agencies, to make sure we’re adhering to all the things we need to be, which requires us to have setbacks from non-participating landowners, from roadways.”
Kuester says in addition to the fees the farm would pay for power generated they plan to donate additional money.
“With the Mason County project, they’re currently putting around $400,000 a year to the community to spend on whatever they may need. They have a few guardrails, but the vast majority is at the discretion of the county itself as to what they need to use those funds for. It’s just a way for them to make sure that everybody is benefitting from their project.”
Kuester indicated they did not have any problem paying fees to locate in Marion County.
The county board is currently finalizing the fee agreement that will be presented at a special Monday night Marion County Board meeting. Board Chair Steve Whritenour is hoping the fees can help close an anticipated $750,000 budget deficit next year.
“We just talked briefly about animal control, animal housing, and how we’re going to pay for this,” Whritenour said. “How are we going to pay for a building when our budget’s not even half of that? They’re multi-gazillion dollar companies, they’ve got deep pockets. They’re willing to pay, because they’re making a multi-million-dollar investment in our county with their products. I want some of that money. I want some of the gazillion.”
While most of the ordinance has been finalized, the fees have not yet been set. Whritenour wants them in the middle range of counties that already have a development agreement in place.
Representatives of a solar development company that did not speak at the meeting also told WJBD-WSIQ news the development fees would not impact their decision to locate a facility in Marion County.
County Board members emphasized the agreements have nothing to do with zoning and the board is not interested in zoning for rural parts of the county.