State agency contracts with Green River Wind Farm

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Municipal Electric Agency is contracting with the Green River Wind Farm to provide enough energy across the state to power about 16,000 homes a year.

The 194-megawatt wind farm project, slated to be finished in October, will have 74 turbines spanning about 13,000 acres in Lee and Whiteside counties north of Walnut.

The agency, a nonprofit trade organization that supplies 32 city utility systems with electricity, recently signed off on a 15-year contract with wind farm owner Geronimo Energy for 50 megawatts of wind energy a year.

“This project is a win for all involved,” IMEA President and CEO Kevin Gaden said. “As we continue to diversify our resource portfolio, this project fits our needs to cost-effectively add another source of green energy.”

The portfolio includes wind-generated power from the Lee-DeKalb Wind Energy Center, two completed solar projects in St. Charles and Rantoul, three more solar projects that are under construction in Rock Falls, Naperville and Altamont, and two municipally owned hydroelectric facilities in Rock Falls and Peru.

In Rock Falls, construction will begin this summer on a 1-megawatt solar system in the industrial park behind the city’s electric department.

IMEA supplies wholesale electricity to municipal plants in Altamont, Bethany, Breese, Bushnell, Cairo, Carlyle, Carmi, Casey, Chatham, Fairfield, Farmer City, Flora, Freeburg, Greenup, Highland, Ladd, Marshall, Mascoutah, Metropolis, Naperville, Oglesby, Peru, Princeton, Rantoul, Red Bud, Riverton, Rock Falls, Roodhouse, St. Charles, Sullivan, Waterloo and Winnetka.