August 5, 2022
Illinois

Apex working on Cass County wind farm plans

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree, Reporter | Journal-Courier | Aug. 4, 2022 | www.myjournalcourier.com

VIRGINIA – Apex Clean Energy is working on plans for a wind farm in Cass County near Virginia that would include dozens of turbines, though construction is years off.

Apex is establishing Grey Fox Wind, which is proposed to be a 250-megawatt wind farm, said Josh Hartke, the Illinois Field Manager for Apex.

“We expect the project to comprise about 40-50 wind turbines,” Hartke said. “The project has not yet been designed, and final turbine locations have not been selected.”

Apex Clean Energy were the developers of the Lincoln Land Wind project in Morgan County, as well as a number of other wind projects in the country.

The wind farm is currently in the beginning stages of planning, with developers approaching land owners about the project. The process of gaining turbine locations could take several years.

The proposed project would be constructed between Virginia and Ashland.

“Once sufficient land is signed to support a project, we will begin project design and permitting,” Hartke said. “We would not expect this project to be entering construction any sooner than 2026.”

Because the project is still in the developmental stage and just starting the cost and revenues from the project have not been fully estimated. However, Hartke said a similar project of the proposed size cost about $300 million.

The project will also generate a tax revenue for local taxing bodies.

“We are working on an economic impact report, which will estimate the tax revenues for local taxing bodies,” Hartke said. “Again, as an estimate, a project this size would represent around $1 million per year for school revenues and another $1 million across the other property taxing bodies, like the county, local townships and community colleges. Again, those are estimates based on other projects of similar size. We will be able to be more accurate once our economic model is run at Illinois State University.”

Apex is gathering potential sites, but also working with the community to answer questions about the project.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2022/08/05/apex-working-on-cass-county-wind-farm-plans/