Wind power in Illinois

Mendota Hills Wind Farm in northern Illinois

Wind power in Illinois has been supported by a renewable portfolio standard,^[1] passed in 2007, and strengthened in 2009, which requires 10% renewable energy from electric companies by 2010 and 25% by 2025. At the end of 2011, Illinois had 2743 megawatts (MW) of wind power installed, having installed over 700 MW of capacity that year.^[2] Illinois has the potential for installing up to an estimated 249,882 MW of wind generation capacity at a hub height of 80 meters.^[3] In 2009, it ranked sixth among states for installed wind turbine capacity.^[4] A 2005 wind map shows that most of the state has class 2 and class 3 winds,^[5] and that utilizing the 1.2% of the state with the best winds could supply 9,000 megawatts of wind power.^{[citation needed]}

Illinois Wind Generation Capacity by Year

Megawatts of Installed Generating Capacity[6][2]

The first wind farm in Illinois opened in 2003 and by 2009, it had over 1800 MW installed statewide with thousands of MW more in the planning stages.^[7] The largest wind farm in the state is the 300 MW Cayuga Ridge installation, while another seven windfarms each exceeded 100 MW capacity.^[4] The Twin Groves Wind Farm was the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi when completed but has since been surpassed.^[8][9] Some smaller installations include a 0.66 MW turbine at the Bureau Valley School District and a 2.5 MW turbine at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, formerly part of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, now part of the University of Illinois.^[4] A proposed high voltage DC transmission line would transmit wind generated electrical power to the Chicago area from northwest Iowa.^[10]

[edit] Wind farms

[edit] Wind generation

Illinois Wind Generation in 2011

Source:^[12][13]

[edit] See also

• Wind power in the United States
• List of wind farms in the United States

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Media related to Wind power in Illinois at Wikimedia Commons

• Illinois Wind, a project of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, Western Illinois University
• Maps of operating and proposed wind power projects in Illinois

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