Tiskilwa farm wind tower gets first OK
A Tiskilwa firm received preliminary approval Thursday night to erect a meteorological tower as a first step in possible construction of a small wind farm in southeastern Marshall County.
The county Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to recommend a special use permit to Stewardship Energy LLC to erect the 164-foot tower on a farm in Bennington Township, southeast of Toluca and near the Woodford County line.
The permit will need final approval from the County Board, which will meet Sept. 11, but that panel has a long history of approving ZBA recommendations.
The tower will gather data to study the feasibility of a project that would involve about 10 wind turbines and generate about 20 megawatts of electricity, project developer Ross Johnson told the ZBA. It would be on land owned by Frank Kandel and members of his family, who also would have land in the project if developed, according to the permit application.
Although the recent trend in much wind energy development has been toward larger projects, Johnson said after the hearing the company believes a small one also can be profitable. An unrelated 100-turbine project started operating last year around Camp Grove, on the Marshall-Stark County line.
Stewardship Energy, which is owned by Matthew and Joy Kauffman, has a four-turbine project operating in Tiskilwa now, Johnson said, along with several other projects ranging from 20 to 200 megawatts in various stages of development in Illinois and Indiana.
The data collection will continue for about a year, and the tower will then be removed, Johnson said. The ZBA placed a condition requiring a new permit if the tower remains longer than that.
By Gary L. Smith
of The Journal Star
30 August 2008
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