Wind farm proposed for Lee County

DIXON - A renewable energy company is looking to build a wind farm across 20,000 acres in Lee County.

Enel Green Power plans to create a 200-megawatt development north of Amboy and west of Harmon.

Development manager Emily Skill recently met with the county’s properties, planning and zoning committee members about the project, which is in very early stages.

The Bison Meadows Wind project would likely have fewer than 50 turbines. The company has secured about 7,000 acres so far in leases and commitments.

Preliminary work is being done, and the company likely won’t formally petition the county for a special-use permit to build the wind farm for another 18 months to 2 years. That would include a series of hearings with the Lee County Zoning Board of Appeals where evidence, testimony and public comment is collected.

That board would then make a recommendation to the Lee County Board for a final vote. If approved, construction would take place three or four years from now.

Enel Green Power has 59 projects across the U.S. and Canada totaling around 6,000 megawatts, which is enough to power 1.3 million homes.

Skill said the company has about 1,000 megawatts of development proposed in Illinois, and it has two operating wind farms in Logan County at 185 and 66 megawatts.

“We’re very committed to developing wind projects here in Illinois, and the Bison Meadows Wind project is one of our priority wind projects for the Midwest region,” Skill said.

The company has also opened a project office in Amboy at 10 E. Division St.