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. It consists of 240 operating wind turbines. [http://www.horizonwind.com/projects/whatwevedone/twingroves/] Each wind turbine stands 214 ft (65.23 m) tall and has three 85 ft (35.91 m) long blades. The wind farm was constructed from 2007 to February 2008. Twin Groves is the largest utility scale wind farm east of the Mississippi River. [http://www.frontiernet.net/~icnewsletter/newsletter-2008-08.htm]

Description

The Twin Groves Wind Farm lies in eastern McLean County just east of Bloomington on Illinois State Route 9. The wind farm consists of 240 wind turbines and is owned and operated by Horizon Wind Energy. [http://www.horizonwind.com/projects/whatwevedone/twingroves/] Total cost of Twin Groves was approximately $700 million. [http://media.www.dennews.com/media/storage/paper309/news/2006/11/13/OnlineExclusives/Wind-Energy.Comes.To.Mclean-2454680.shtml] The towers are spread out over 22,000 acres of McLean County, [http://www.horizonwind.com/projects/whatwevedone/twingroves/] near the villages of Arrowsmith, Ellsworth, and Saybrook. The current total capacity at Twin Groves Wind Farm is 398 megawatts. [http://www.horizonwind.com/projects/whatwevedone/twingroves/] The site produces enough power to power about 120,000 homes, or approximately 1.3 billion kilowatt hours annually. [http://www.horizonwind.com/news/articles/July72006.aspx] [http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/952542/growin_in_the_wind/index.html]

Revenue

As well as generating power, the wind turbines provide an added benefit to the local economy. Only 150-200 acres or (1%) of the total 22,000 acres will be taken up by the turbines. [http://www.horizonwind.com/news/articles/July72006.aspx] [http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/30/twin-groves-wind-farm-may-add-170-towers/] This will supplement local farmers who lost such land. Royalties are paid to owners of the land at $5,000 per wind turbine. [http://www.frontiernet.net/~icnewsletter/newsletter-2008-08.htm] [http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/30/twin-groves-wind-farm-may-add-170-towers/] The two adjacent school districts also benefit from the property taxes brought in, Ridgeview School District will start collecting $300,000 a year, [http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/30/twin-groves-wind-farm-may-add-170-towers/] while Tri-Valley School District will collect between $200,000-$250,000 a year. [http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/30/twin-groves-wind-farm-may-add-170-towers/]

Future

With 240 wind turbines already generating power, Horizon Wind Energy is considering to add an additional 170 wind turbines, to bring the total amount of wind turbines to 410. [http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/05/31/news/doc465deb82d2653471893880.txt] [http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/30/twin-groves-wind-farm-may-add-170-towers/] Test wind turbines are being placed in eastern McLean County to determine if additional wind turbines can be supported. [http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/30/twin-groves-wind-farm-may-add-170-towers/] If constructed, power generation estimates for the wind farm increase from 398 megawatts to 680 megawatts. [http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/05/31/news/doc465deb82d2653471893880.txt] The largest wind farm in the USA is the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Texas. It generates 736 megawatts of power, which more than Twin Groves even with the additional turbines. [http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/05/31/news/doc465deb82d2653471893880.txt] [http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/952542/growin_in_the_wind/index.html]

References

*http://www.horizonwind.com/projects/whatwevedone/twingroves/
*http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/05/31/news/doc465deb82d2653471893880.txt
*http://media.www.dennews.com/media/storage/paper309/news/2006/11/13/OnlineExclusives/Wind-Energy.Comes.To.Mclean-2454680.shtml
*http://www.horizonwind.com/news/articles/July72006.aspx
*http://www.frontiernet.net/~icnewsletter/newsletter-2008-08.htm
*http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/30/twin-groves-wind-farm-may-add-170-towers/
*http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/952542/growin_in_the_wind/index.html

Notes

*List of large wind farms
*Wind farms
*Wind power