April 6, 2007
Illinois
Illinois
Construction is expected to begin about April 15 on a wind farm around Camp Grove, the Marshall County Board was told Thursday.
County engineer and highway superintendent George Meister said he and township road commissioners recently met with representatives of the developer and construction contractor to finalize preparations for work on Camp Grove Wind Farm LLC.
The project is expected to involve 100 1.5-megawatt turbines around the small county-line community, with 60 in Marshall County and 40 in Stark. The wind farm is being developed by California-based Orion Energy LLC, which was recently purchased by the multinational BP Alternative Energy, and will be constructed by Minnesota-based Mortenson Construction.
Construction is to begin in Stark County and progress southeast into Marshall, Meister said. He emphasized there will be a large increase in truck traffic once work begins.
“We’re expecting within the next month that things will get quite exciting over there.”
One change has been to move a temporary concrete plant from a site along Illinois Route 17 to a point a mile south of that highway on Marshall County’s LaPrairie Road, “which will increase the traffic on our road dramatically,” Meister added.
The developers have entered agreements to pay for any damage done to local roads but have not yet posted a required surety bond of about $1.5 million with Marshall County, Meister said. A bond has been posted with Stark County, he said.
“Technically, they can’t start till we have that,” Meister said.
By Gary L. Smith
Of The Journal Star
6 April 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/04/06/marshall-wind-farm-construction-to-begin/