Wind turbines get set to turn

August 28, 2008

By Deborah Gertz Husar

CAMP POINT, Ill. — Adams Electric Cooperative sees new energy opportunities blowing in the wind.

The Camp Point-based cooperative will use a $450,000 federal grant to buy and install two wind turbines at sites in Adams and Brown counties.

“We’ve got good wind resources in Adams and Brown counties that we ought to be taking advantage of,” General Manager Jim Thompson said. “We’d like to see them commissioned by the end of 2009, but a lot of things have to come into play before that. That’s our timeline, our goal.” Seventeen Illinois businesses, including Adams Electric and Country Fixins in Pittsfield, will share in $1.76 million in grants and loan guarantees announced Wednesday for renewable energy systems or to improve energy efficiency.

“This kind of investment can have a considerable impact on the environment and profitability for agriculture and small business,” Illinois Rural Development Director Doug Wilson said in a news release. “It also has the potential to improve the economy of rural Illinois and help us take advantage of our domestic energy resources.”

The funding comes through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Section 9006 Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements program. The program provides financial assistance to agricultural producers and rural small business to support renewable energy projects across a wide range of technologies — biomass, geothermal, hydrogen, solar and wind energy. Nationally, $35 million in grants and loans were awarded.

The Adams Electric turbine was one of the largest Illinois projects funded by the program. Work on the turbine project began in February 2007, and Thompson said each turbine will cost about $2 million and should produce 2.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to serve about 200 homes.

“We wanted to get involved with green energy, and we felt like (the turbines were) a good way to provide energy to our membership,” Thompson said. One unique feature of the project is Adams Electric will install the turbines and hook them into its own distribution system, removing the need to negotiate complicated “interconnection agreements” with another distributor. “We feel like it will be a good cost-effective energy source for our members,” Thompson said.

Thompson said the cooperative already has received $1.5 million in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds, a low-interest loan, and $150,000 from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation to put toward the project. The largest Illinois grant went to Adkins Energy, Inc., an ethanol plant in Lena, to expand to produce biodiesel from corn oil.

Other Illinois projects included eight energy- efficient grain dryer projects and energyefficient improvements for rural small businesses. Country Fixins will use a $7,155 grant to install a geothermal system at its new location in the Pittsfield industrial park. Business owners Jill and David Collard offer hand-crafted primitive-style furniture and decorative country items.

“I’m excited by the diversity of projects that received funding this year,” Wilson said. “This year we’re also providing farmers with money for a more energy efficient irrigation system, barn fans and the replacement of a shop that will be more energy efficient.”