Progress Illinois

Back in July, we took note of an interesting development in Central Illinois' McLean County where a local school district used a new wind farm to generate desperately-needed education money. Encouragingly, other districts are following suit. Construction on a similar farm straddling neighboring Bureau and Lee counties is moving ahead and school officials already estimate that the 114-acre "Big Sky" project will bring in enough money to bail out a struggling local district. Ohio High School Supt. Sharon Flesher tells the News-Tribune that she estimates an additional $803,000 will flow into her district once the project is complete; another $735,000 will be freed up for local grade schools. That kind of money would double the high school's operating budget.  But Flesher noted that the district won't keep all of the money:

"One of the first things we want to do is reduce taxes in the community. The community has supported this school at a very high tax rate for a long time. This is the board’s way of being responsible and saying thank you,” Flesher explained.

The Big Sky project serves as a reminder of how wind development can provide crucial benefits to rural communities.

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Yesterday, we highlighted a rare bit of good news for Illinois schools: Revenue from large-scale wind projects are providing relief to some downstate school districts who've been struggling to cope with unreliable state funding. For instance, by next year, the Colfax school district will net an additional $1.7 million in new revenue from Horizon Wind Energy's Twin Groves Wind Farm. For a rural district operating on an $8 million annual budget, that is money that will go a long way.

The economic power of the wind industry -- which is anticipated to invest $1.9 billion in Illinois over the next 25 years -- looks equally promising for the state as a whole, according to some new research out of Illinois State University.  Economist David Loomis of the school's Center for Renewable Energy examined the economic impact of Illinois' 17 major wind projects (and the 1,118.76 MW of energy they've generated).  He found that the farms have succeeded in generating sizable and sustainable revenues, including upwards of $11.4 million in new property taxes each year.

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Struggling to stretch every dollar, a growing number of Prairie State schools have turned their attention to wind power over the past year as a way to curb energy costs. Aside from spurring some interesting collaborations (Wind for Illinois Schools is one good example), forward thinking education officials have helped shape the emerging wind agenda in the state legislature. In central Illinois, this strategy is paying off big time.

The Pantagraph reported last week that millions of new dollars are being added to local tax rolls -- and ultimately school district budgets -- as a growing number of new wind farms take flight.

As far as Colfax Superintendent Larry Dodds is concerned, the money couldn't come at a better time. While the state has  become less reliable at paying its bills on time, the wind-related revenue has offered his McClean County district "something to fall back on," he says.

Soon the money will amount to more than just a cushion.

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How big is the so-called green economy? That's the question the Pew Charitable Trust set out to answer in a study released yesterday. The report attempts to define the clean energy economy and then calculate the actual number of jobs, businesses, and investments associated with it.

But embedded in Pew's data (PDF) was a surprising local statistic: While Illinois' green economy employed 28,395 people in 2007 (making us one of "the nation's largest clean energy economies"), the job growth in this sector actually declined by 2.5 percent between 1998 and 2007. Considering that the green economy grew 9.1 percent nationally during that same period, it's worth asking: What's going on here?

For starters, Pew admits that their estimate is conservative. From the study's methodology (PDF): 

First, we developed a stringent definition of the clean energy economy; second, we used a new, labor-intensive methodology that counted only companies that we could verify online as being actively engaged in the clean energy economy; and third, we counted businesses and jobs supplying products and services generated by the clean energy economy, not the companies using these products and services to make themselves “greener” (i.e., we counted only companies and jobs on the supply side, not the demand side, of the clean energy economy).

Digging a bit deeper into the figures, it looks like the study may have short-changed the wind industry.

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We've written a great deal about the potential for wind power development in Illinois -- a position that was reaffirmed when the Windpower 2009 expo took place in Chicago last week.  In late April, Gov. Pat Quinn said he'd like to see turbines in "every nook and cranny of our state." 

But WTTW's Rich Samuels reminded us on Chicago Tonight Tuesday that this growth inevitably involves some "growing pains."  Watch his report, which focused largely on a planned wind farm in DeKalb County:

As Illinois environmental groups push for expanded renewable energy use, they will inevitably engage in some political give-and-take with traditional suppliers. A prime example is some dealmaking led by the Sierra Club almost three years ago. In that case, the nonprofit agreed not to oppose a new Dallman 4 coal-fired plant if the Springfield utility company City Water Light and Power's (CWLP) made other environmental concessions like purchasing wind power and reducing air pollution, mercury, and global warming emissions.

Ironically, while the deal put the Prairie State on the map as a wind purchaser, none of that wind power ever came through Springfield (home to the acrimonious negotiations). But that's about to change. Today, CWLP's largest customer, the state of Illinois, is agreeing to power up all of its 150 state buildings in the Capitol with the wind purchased as a result of the Sierra Club's efforts. The State Journal Register reports on the 10-year agreement that Gov. Pat Quinn and Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin are signing off on this afternoon:

“This agreement allows the state to carry out an obligation made by the previous administration to convert all CMS-managed buildings in Springfield to 100 percent wind power," [Quinn’s office said in a statement Monday evening]

“It will ultimately decrease our reliance on petroleum, reduce our carbon emissions and improve our electrical efficiency while reducing consumption.”

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While on hand to dedicate the downstate "gob knob" wind farm in Farmersville last week, Gov. Quinn had some rather enthusiastic praise for wind power, calling it "the wave of the future" and adding that he'd like to see turbines in "every nook and cranny of our state."

The fact that the new farm is mounted on top of a former coal mine certainly makes for a powerful symbol that renewables are the next generation of Illinois energy. But as Wind for Illinois' Kevin Borgia has pointed out to us before, if the Prairie State is really serious about hanging on to its edge in the wind market -- particularly as competition heats up nationally -- the General Assembly is going to have to be strategic about how to make investment in Illinois attractive. This week, some pretty significant wind legislation is moving through statehouse committees, which Borgia says demonstrates that lawmakers are taking the power of wind seriously:

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This week, a plan to build the nation’s first green infrastructure highway was unveiled. And with Illinois at the center of the project, more green jobs and environmental protections could be on the horizon here.

Michigan-based ITC Holdings Corp. has announced it plans build 3,000 miles of sorely-needed transmission lines—dubbed the Green Power Express—removing the single biggest obstacle to moving wind-generated electricity from rural areas like the Dakotas to big cities such as Chicago. The grid will stretch across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, where it will link up with established lines.

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Buried in a mountain of news about our financial woes, the State Journal-Register highlights one area of Illinois’ economy that continues to grow: wind power.

In downstate Logan County, reporter Chris Young looks on as a crew -- more than 200 workers in all -- hoses down blades at the 67-turbine Rail Splitter Wind Farm, which is under construction near the town Lincoln:

Just stopping at the row of construction trailers a quarter mile off Illinois 136 where various contractors have set up shop, it’s clear that wind energy has moved past the curiosity stage to big business.

“This is the tip of the iceberg in central Illinois as far as the wind industry is concerned,” says Michael Parker of Horizon Wind Energy of Bloomington.

The American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) latest industry analysis provides encouraging data. Not only did wind capacity increase by 50 percent across the country last year and cut 44 million tons of carbon emissions from the air -- the equivalent of taking 7 million cars off of the road -- the projects pumped $17 billion into the economy.  In fact, more people now work for the wind industry -- 85,000 last year -- than in coal mining. 

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For a bright spot in Illinois’ otherwise gloomy economic forecast, look no further than downstate Sheldon. Today the Daily Journal has the details on how a $350 million investment in a new 150-megawatt wind farm will help breathe new life into the slumping local economy by creating high-paying jobs and new spending on construction materials and other goods:

Construction would involve about 100 union jobs, some for specialists who will come into the area, some from local union halls, he said. Construction is expected to take about eight months.

Permanent employment will include “about 10 full-time and a significant number of part-time jobs” to maintain the operation at Sheldon…

The good news doesn’t stop there. The Sheldon project accounts for merely one of several large-scale wind farms that are on the horizon in Illinois. A project in Paxton is now moving full-speed ahead and its developer, E.ON Climate and Renewables, announced today that it plans to pursue another project located between Watseka to Martinton.

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