April 26, 2019
Illinois

More wind towers coming to Knox County

Robert Connelly | The Register-Mail | Apr 24, 2019 | www.galesburg.com

GALESBURG – Two more data collection towers – a step before windmill turbines – are coming to Knox County.

Orion Renewable Energy brought two towers to Knox County after the board approved them last July. Those are in Henderson Township, which is directly north of Galesburg and includes the town of Henderson, and Ontario is in northern Knox County, which has the city of Oneida in its southeast corner.

Orion is seeking to bring two more towers to Knox County and had conditional use permits before the County Board Wednesday night. Each is to stand 196.5 feet tall and be in place for two years.

One would be in Walnut Grove Township, which has the village of Altona at its center, and another is planned for Lynn Township, which is the northeast corner of Knox County.

According to the Knox County Board packet, the County Zoning Board of Appeals has not heard any negative feedback since Orion installed its first two data collection towers in Knox County last July.

The idea behind the towers are to gauge the local wind resource aheaad of a potential wind farm development.

Both towers were approved without opposition by the 12 members present Wednesday night.

Board member John Hunigan, D-District 2, discussed the committee meetings that involved those towers and confirmed that the towers “will be part of a two-year study to see if that area is suitable for a wind farm.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/04/26/more-wind-towers-coming-to-knox-county/