North wind blowing into BV?

MANLIUS — Eyes in the Bureau Valley School District have been focused to the north for a couple of years now, anticipating new tax dollars flowing into the district from the proposed Walnut Ridge wind farm, a 150-turbine wind farm spread over 15,000 acres in Ohio, Walnut, Manlius, Bureau and Greenville townships.

That project, like many others, has been delayed due to the current economic situation, but BV Board member Don DeWaele is still looking north ... but this time all the way into Lee County.

At September’s school board meeting, DeWaele updated the board on the proposed Green River wind farm project. On June 15, Dublin-based Mainstream Renewable Power announced its purchase of three wind farm projects in Illinois with the potential to generate 787 megawatts by 2013. The company bought the projects from local wind farm developers Bruce and Joyce Papiech of FPC Services for an undisclosed price.

One of the projects was the Green River project, to be located primarily in Hamilton Township in Lee County, directly north of Walnut. At the time, the company described the project as a mid-stage development project, with a grid interconnection position already located in the project area, that was expected to be construction-ready by the endw of 2010.

The planned 467-megawatt Green River project is huge, including between 190 and 225 turbines, making it one of the largest in the Midwest. In comparison, there are 33 turbines in Crescent Ridge in Tiskilwa producing 54 megawatts, 36 turbines in Providence Heights in Tiskilwa producing 72 megawatts, and 114 turbines planned for Big Sky, which will generate an estimated 240 megawatts, once it is operational in the fall of this year.

A great many of the Green River turbines would be located in the Bureau Valley School District.

While all of the Bureau Valley school facilities are located in Bureau County, the district covers 340 square miles in Bureau, Lee and Whiteside counties, making it one of the largest geographic districts in the state. The current equalized assessed valuation of the district is about $106 million, $100 million of which is in Bureau County.